In the late 1980s I attended a film show in London on the achievements of anarchism during the Spanish Civil War. At one point an elderly Spanish anarchist sitting next to me began weeping quietly. The passion and conviction of Spanish anarchism had suddenly ˙been made manifest.
Later on I learnt that he was Joaquin Perez and was one of the last surviving members of the heroic band of anarchist fighters, the Friends of Durruti.
Joaquin Perez Navarro was born into a poor peasant family at Calpes de Arenso near Castillon on 4th August 1907, the eldest of three children - a sister and brother. He lost his father at the age of 11. He emigrated with his mother to Barcelona in 1918. There he worked as a hodcarrier's mate before becoming a waiter, a profession which he remained in for the rest of his working life.
In 1919 at the age of 12, he joined the mass anarchosyndicalist union the CNT.
He took part in the fighting in Barcelona against the Francoist uprising and then immediately went to fight on the Aragon front in one of the anarchist militia columns. He worked in the anarchist collectives of Gelsa and Pina de Ebro. ˙In 1937 he joined Los Amigos de Durruti (Friends of Durruti) a group of anarchists pledged to fight militarization and the betrayals of the Communist Party and named after the legendary anarchist fighter and militia commander Buenaventura Durruti. He fought with the Friends on the barricades in Barcelona in May 1937 (these events are depicted at the end of Ken Loach's film Land and Freedom). Later he fought with the Iron Column, an anarchist militia that had initially been constituted from prisoners released from the jails of the Republic. At the end of 1938 he was imprisoned and tortured by the Stalinists, who condemned him to death and put him in Montjuic prison.
He escaped from there with the fall of Barcelona to the Francoists and reached France. There he was imprisoned in the French concentration camps at Argeles and Barcares. Later on he was in a work gang building docks at Brest. With the German victory over France, he managed to escape to England.
In London he was involved in the activities of a Spanish exile anarchist group. Between 1969 and 1974 he was involved in a liaison commission of the CNT in Britain. When he first arrived in England he worked in the building trade but very soon transferred to catering and worked at the Berkeley Hotel in Mayfair for quite a few years. He then moved to the George & Dragon Restaurant in South Kensington (which was privately owned but eventually bought out by Wheelers) and retired from there at the age of 65. Joaquin was totally committed to the anarchist movement and time never faded his passion and fervour for the injustices that were committed during the Spanish Civil War. He could recall every detail and emotion as if it had only happened yesterday and, in fact, at the age of 92 he finally finished writing a book outlining his experiences during that time. By all accounts, Joaquin was quite a ladies' man, but in 1953 he was "caught" by Carmen, his best friend's sister-in-law - he had met her on her arrival at the airport, immediately fell in love and they married within Carmen's 3-month stay in the UK.
Carmen and Joaquin were married for 50 years but sadly he lost his beloved "Chati" two years ago and life was never really the same again. He is survived by their only daughter, Violeta.
Joaquin was a very content, gracious and quiet individual with very strong principles and high standards. However, he was also a charmer and flirted outrageously with most of the nurses and carers at the nursing home where he lived for the last year of his life and where he was given untold love and affection by all the staff.
In the last years of his life he wrote a number of books "Relato Poetico" his experiences as one of the Friends of Durruti (London1995), "SIM" on the activities of the Spanish secret police, jointly with Francisco Piqueras (Barcelona 1998) and "Yo luche por la revolucion social del pueblo espanol y de todos los pueblos del mundo " (Barcelona1999)
He died in his sleep in London on 21st August at the age of 99. He was the last surviving member of the Friends of Durruti (the group's founders, Jaime Balius and Pablo Ruiz had died a few years before). His body was cremated on the 30th August, wrapped, according to his wishes, in the red and black flag of the CNT and of anarchism.