ABSTRACT
Foundation and early evolution of ETA In the early 1950s, a small group of nationalist students, who were very critical of the political passiveness of the PNV, began to discuss the need for a more effective strategy from a nationalist perspective. They did not decide any name for the group, but they would become known after the name of their bulletin, Ekin. Two main differences separated these young nationalists from the PNV. First, they wanted a progressive and non-Catholic organization. Second, they believed that action was urgently needed in the interior, i.e., the Basque territory under Franco’s rule. They felt that the defeat in the civil war and the subsequent situation represented “the slow death of the Basque essence,” and they regarded it as “a life-or-death struggle for existence.”1 Those young activists regarded themselves as citizens of a country completely repressed by Franco’s regime, and they believed that it was their duty to avoid the death of Basque identity. They were influenced by existentialism, an ethnic idea of Basqueness, the urgency to act to save a dying language, and an interest in the new anti-colonial struggles, such as the Jewish, Irish and Cypriot movements. Unlike the old PNV, they conceived “outright independence as the only real goal of Basque nationalism.”2 One of the founders stated that the driving force behind the new movement was “with no doubt patriotism, i.e., the living consciousness of national oppression, the fervent interest for everything Basque, the absolute discredit of Spanish politics, the ethnic idea of the Basque Country,” and “non-conformity and opposition to the passive policy of our elders; don’t wait but act.”3 Another founder also contends that they shared a sense of the urgency for action: “Something had to be done!”4 The members of Ekin devoted the early years of the organization to the study of Basque history, politics, culture, and language as training for political activism. Despite their criticism of the PNV, they made contact with the old party with the aim of joining forces. They even agreed to merge with the PNV’s youth organization, Euzko Gaztedi (EGI), first in Gipuzkoa, in 1955, and later in Bizkaia, in 1957. Yet, the old party and the new movement had a very troublesome, and brief, relationship. Their ideological and strategic disagreements turned out to be insurmountable, and, after some failed meetings intended to
save the union,5 the members coming from Ekin, already a majority in the combined organization Ekin-EGI, broke ties with the PNV to create a new separate organization.6 There are two versions of the date of birth of ETA. Many scholars have long considered that it was founded on July 31, 1959, the day when its members sent an official letter to the exiled lehendakari Agirre announcing the foundation of the new organization.7 However, based on direct testimonies by some of the founders,8 a collective work on ETA’s history stated that it was created in December 1958. According to the testimony of one of the founders, Iulen Madariaga, the name of the organization was decided in December 1958, and it appeared for the first time in a publication in January 1959.9 According to him, seven persons participated in the meeting at which the foundation and the name of the new organization were decided: José María Benito del Valle, José Manuel Agirre, Mikel Barandiaran, José Luis Alvarez Enparantza “Txillardegi,” Rafael Albisu, Iñaki Larrañaga, and Madariaga himself.10 Casanova specifies that the meeting at which the name of ETA was adopted was held in Deba, a coastal town west of San Sebastian.11 In a document recently seized from an ETA member, 1958 is considered as the founding date.12 In any case, in this book I will take 1959 to be the year of ETA’s official birth, as ETA’s first document dates back to that year. ETA defined itself as a movement, not a party, and declared that its objective was the national liberation of the Basque Country. From the beginning, ETA regarded violence as a legitimate method to respond to what they considered Spanish occupation, but they did not commit any major violent action until 1961. They saw Sabino Arana as a father of Basque nationalism, but they rejected his idea of basing Basque identity on race. Instead, ETA took the Basque language as the main defining element. According to Zulaika, “the agonic perception of the imminent death of the Basque language” was a fundamental factor justifying the decision to promote the use of violence, as “the preservation of the threatened Basque language and culture is presented as both a historical necessity and a moral imperative.”13 Letamendia summarizes the ideological components of the ETA founded by the Ekin militants in the following elements: a so-called historical regenerationism, in the sense of viewing the most relevant facts of the Basque history as landmarks in the long process of national liberation; the Basque language as a key element of national reconstruction; a “mythical-democratic conception” of the Basque character; rejection of the Church hierarchy and declaration of non-Catholicism; a social program according to the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church; total independence of the Basque Country; a rejection of racism, which began to be replaced by ethnism; national resistance as a public duty and as a personal moral imperative; a distinction between patriotism and politics, regarding patriotism as a superior activity; the conception of ETA as a patriotic movement instead of a political organization; and an ideological anticommunism but an admiration of communists for their methods of action.14 Initially, ETA was organized into six structures: secretary (including publications); groups (study, organization); Basque language (activity in favor of the
language); legal action (pseudo-legal mass actions); propaganda; and military actions.15 Although ETA considered that the Basque Country was occupied and oppressed by both Spain and France, they intended to use violence only against the Spanish regime, as a response to the dictatorship and its repression.16 In the beginning, they mostly engaged in propaganda and sabotage activities, such as murals and leaflets calling patriots to join the struggle, displays of Basque flags, and small explosive devices. The year 1961 saw an important increase of violence. On July 18, ETA tried to derail a train carrying veterans who were going to San Sebastian to celebrate the anniversary of the Alzamiento Nacional, the coup d’état of 1936. They prepared the action in such a way as to make sure that nobody would be hurt. Indeed, nobody was injured, and the train was not even derailed.17 Franco’s regime arrested more than 100 people, many of whom were tortured and imprisoned. The same day, the principal leaders of ETA-“Txillardegi,” Madariaga and Benito del Valle, among others-crossed the border to exile in the northern Basque land.18 The first killing by ETA and the first martyr of ETA did not happen until 1968, but the first killing related to the emergence of the Basque clandestine group occurred in 1961, four months earlier than the attempted derailment and the subsequent raid. On March 26, 1961, the Spanish Civil Guard machinegunned a car in which they wrongly believed that ETA militants were traveling. A thirty-three-year-old businessman, Javier Batarrita, was killed; one of his companions, José A. Ballesteros, was seriously injured and paralyzed; a third traveler emerged unharmed.19 Therefore, although usually forgotten by official institutions, academia, and the media, Batarrita was the first victim of the conflict after the founding of ETA. In contrast, the death of a twenty-two-month-old child, Begoña Urroz, has been wrongly considered by most of the Spanish media and even some official institutions as ETA’s first killing.20 Yet, most scholars on ETA’s history have always contended that the bombing of a train station in San Sebastian, which killed Urroz, and other bombings on June 27, 1960, were not committed by ETA, but by the DRIL.21 A Galician-Portuguese left-wing organization, the DRIL took some military actions to confront the dictatorships of Portugal and Spain. Official documents of Spanish police, disclosed in 2013, definitively established that the author of the bombings of June 27, 1960 had been the DRIL, and not ETA.22 During the 1960s, an ideological and strategic evolution took place in ETA.23 At their first assembly in 1962, they defined themselves as the Basque Revolutionary Movement of National Liberation. They established as their final goals an independent, united, and Basque-speaking country, and social liberation from a social democratic perspective. In the internal bulletin published right after the assembly, ETA made clear that they intended to use guns: “It is necessary to talk clearly. If we want national liberation for Euzkadi, we need the avenue of arms.”24 What Letamendia terms “organizational elitism” was born. ETA regarded themselves as a minority who fought for the wellbeing of the entire society, whose actions would stimulate and move the masses.25
