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The Free Commune of Gibraltar, also known as the Commune of the Free Coal Haulers and Shipyard Workers of Gibraltar, was a revolutionary state established at the beginning of 1925, during the British Revolution. Initially formed by Spanish coal and shipyard workers, the local military garrison and sailors quickly joined it and declared the peninsula independent of Britain. The Commune was forcibly dissolved by Spain following invasion some weeks later.
History[]
Revolution in the Mediterranean[]
Following the Plymouth Mutiny in Britain, the local garrison in Gibraltar found itself chafing under its own pay cuts and worsening conditions. Anger boiled over into an attempted copy-cat strike beginning May 21 by sailors at the Dockyard though it was suppressed within days. Paranoia seeped into the local administration.
As the general strike unfolded in Britain, the mood on the peninsula was tense with local Spanish coal workers, porters, shipyard workers and other menial workers agitating for better pay and conditions following prior wage cuts. The garrison itself was under scrutiny owing to the aforementioned attempted mutiny and its own minor agitation over pay cuts. As the situation in the metropole began to tumble, the Gibraltar government found shipments of munitions limited and rations worsening. Illicit syndicalist literature and pamphlets became common contraband in the area as Governor Charles Monro began to bolster the still loyal police and military units.
Following the eruption of hostilities in earnest with the October establishment of the Cardiff Commune followed by English and Scottish revolutionary communes, tensions in Gibraltar reached a boiling point and the workers began to openly agitate against the British. In early December, inspired by the revolutionary action in Britain, the Spanish workers began a wildcat general strike and demanded new concessions such as shorter hours, better pay and better conditions in the shipyards. Some British workers joined them but these were few owing to pressure from the local administration.
By early 1925, no attempts to negotiate with the strikers had been made. After battles with the police, on January 4 the workers declared a 'Commune of the Free Coal Haulers and Shipyard Workers of Gibraltar' as an independent state. Despite pressure from Matt Giles, the representative of the moderate British Workers' Union in Gibraltar, the British labourers on The Rock soon joined their Spanish comrades, rebuilding a multinational, multilingual alliance many had thought permanently broken years prior by the previous Governor, Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien. Governor Monro declared martial law across the territory and ordered the British garrison to suppress the strike by any means necessary. Following their British workers' example, the soldiers mutinied and elected not to fire on the Spanish workers but instead join them and declare themselves loyal to the 'Free Commune of Gibraltar'.
Establishment of the Commune[]
Following the declaration, much of the garrison and sailors went into opening mutiny and began arresting any loyalist soldiers and officers. The governor immediately called for reinforcements but found none forthcoming and all loyalists not in syndicalist custody took refuge with the governor at his residence at in the Convent. The mutineers attacked the residence on January 6 and the remaining loyalist soldiers and officials were arrested and interned at the Rock until further notice. Governor Monro along with top officials deemed of a 'reactionary persuasion' were put before revolutionary tribunals and promptly executed. With scant information coming out of the Rock, British authorities became concerned and request their French allies in Algiers, send an expedition to ensure order. The French refused to provide any help, citing their own tenuous situation in regards to resources and that diverting troops to Gibraltar would put their own position in question while also proposing the possibility Spain had likely already taken over due its proximity.
With the governor and his cadres dead, the unruly soldiers began a proper purge with loyalist civil servants and officers facing similar revolutionary tribunals and purges. The striking workers declared the formation of a multilingual 'Gibraltar Trade Unions Congress', inspired by the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and its Gibraltarian affiliate, the Federacion de Sindicatos del campo de Gibraltar. The workers invested all governing power in the TUC until proper syndicates could be organised and elections held. Albert Risso, a veteran of the Gibraltarian trade union movement was elected as provisional Chairman of the TUC with the CNT representative and journalist Manuel García Liaño serving as provisional General Secretary.
Spanish Invasion[]
The workers' dream was cut short beginning January 25, when Spanish military forces attacked Gibraltar a bid to 'pacify rebellious elements' and restore stability. A bloody battle ensued as the garrison soldiers, sailors and local workers of Spanish, Gibraltarian and British extract took up arms to form impromptu worker militias. Over the course of the next weeks, the Spanish attackers slowly pushed back the syndicalist defenders with both sides suffering appalling casualties. With the British Empire behind it, the Rock had been thought almost impregnible. However, the new Commune's military leadership was inexperienced and could not count on resupply by sea. Spain was willing to take heavy casualties in its assaults and the initial gains, while modest even compared to Gibraltar's small size, alarmed the garrison and quickly sapped morale.
By February, Gibraltar was entirely under Spanish control and martial law was declared with a new Spanish military governor installed. Spanish Prime Minister, Miguel Primo de Rivera, propagandised the takeover as a glorious victory against syndicalism and the recovery of the long lost territory of Gibraltar but remained vague on long-term plans for the area. Risso and Liaño were arrested by the Spanish military authorities and held in custody in mainland Spain though both later escaped and fled to France.
Towards the middle of 1925, when the Union of Britain would begin to take over much of its island, the Imperial Collapse begun in earnest. Many British governors, fearing their own mutinies and suffering a similar fate to Monro invited foreign governments (primarily the German Empire) into their territory to maintain security and stability. While only a small and far away episode in the Revolution, the Commune of Gibraltar had far-reaching and global effects. Likewise, following similar syndicalist agitation in Malta, the Algiers regime would not make the same mistake and immediately deploy forces to ensure order.