Poster - Libertad! F.A.I.

Freedom! by Carles Fontserè, 1936.

A peasant wields a sickle, in front of a red and black flag of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) to which the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) is affiliated.

Carles Fontserè i Carrió was born in an ultra-conservative Carlist family in Barcelona in 1916. After the start of the attempted coup, he joined the Sindicat de Dibuixants Professionals (SDP - Union of Professional Illustrators) and designed many posters, including ‘Libertad!’ and ‘Treballa per als que Lluiten’. He fought in the International Brigades and later crossed the Pyrenees to France where he escaped from the concentration camp in which he had been placed. He also fought with the Resistance against Nazi Germany. Between 1948 and 1973 he lived in Mexico and New York before eventually returning to Spain. He worked as an illustrator, comic book artist, set designer, poster artist, and photographer. He died in Spain in 2007.

The CNT was founded in November 1910, with a membership of 26,000 at a conference of workers societies in Barcelona and had its first national congress the following year. A general strike was immediately called in Barcelona and the CNT was declared illegal. By 1919 there were 700,000 members. As the CNT grew, employers became more worried and hired armed thugs (pistoleros) to intimidate or assassinate union members. The CNT took part in revolutionary strikes and uprisings throughout the period leading up to the 1936 Revolution and Civil War, including uprisings in Catalonia, Asturias and Andalusia. By 1937 the CNT had 1.5 million members.

From the start of the attempted coup in 1936, the CNT had a decisive role in events, but by May 1937 the Republican Government, under the influence of the PCE, was reversing its achievements, suppressing the collectives, forcing militias to join the regular army or be disbanded and arresting militants.

This is a digitally cleaned up print. The size is A3 (approx. 11.7" x 16.5"). Printed on good quality 170gm poster paper.

Printed by the Radical Poster Collective, UK

The Radical Poster Collective is dedicated to making good quality classic radical posters available at an affordable price. Posters are either digitally cleaned up to remove tears, stains, etc., or completely recreated to be as close as possible to the original.