“I relate this for those who are far from the rigor of our clandestinity”: Women and the Clandestine Struggle Against Franco’s Regime in the Testimonial Work of Tomasa Cuevas.

Abstract

The three volumes of testimonies edited by Tomasa Cuevas —Cárcel de mujeres (1939-1945) (1985); Cárcel de mujeres: Ventas, Segovia, Les Corts (1985); and Mujeres de la resistencia (1986)— mainly record the experiences of anti-Franco militants during their time in the regime’s women’s prisons. However, this is not the only experience of repression (and, in relation to this, of resistance) to be found in the stories, as the women themselves refer in their accounts to the numerous tasks and activities they carried out in the clandestine struggle against Francoism. In this paper, I propose to analyse the modalities of the clandestine struggle that appear in the testimonial accounts collected by Cuevas, among which the reorganisation of the Party in clandestinity, solidarity and support for prisoners and guerrillas, and the carrying out of support tasks, especially in relation to the maintenance and organisation of the propaganda apparatus, as well as the dissemination of clandestine press, stand out. We will also consider the specific textual dimensions of the testimonial narratives published in these volumes and the particularities of Cuevas’ mediation as compiler of these testimonies, as well as their insertion into the frameworks of debate contemporary to their publication and dissemination.