Pep Brocal: "There is still a lot to write about Caritat del Río"

BarcelonaIn 2020, a 14-page comic biography of Caritat del Río made Pep Brocal (Terrassa, 1967) the first winner of the Premi ARA de Còmic. A few years later, the cartoonist revisits and expands that project in the form of a graphic novel –published by Garbuix in Catalan and Spanish– to continue delving into the chiaroscuros of one of the most mysterious figures of the 20th century, a spy in the service of communism who pulled the strings of history.

What drives you to turn the 14 pages of Caritat del Río into 144?

— The very fact that in 14 pages I had to greatly compress the story of Caritat del Río. The conditions of the prize forced me to do a very interesting synthesis exercise that was a great challenge. And when the editor Montserrat Terrones came with the proposal to turn it into a long book, I thought that would allow me to develop it. However, it could have been 400 pages, because the era allows for a lot: a civil war, a world war, the Cold War, Soviet espionage, communism, Barcelona, Moscow, Mexico, Paris... But, in the end, it is the story of a woman.

And what attracts you so much about this woman to have already dedicated two works to her?

— It is polyhedral and evolves over time. As a child, when she entered the Carmelites, she had mystical outbursts and wanted to dedicate her life to Jesus, but this did not last long. When she married Pau Mercader, son of the industrial bourgeoisie, what was expected of her was to be a lady from Sant Gervasi, a bourgeois. But she is a rebellious woman and the marriage did not make her happy, especially when her husband committed her to a psychiatric hospital. This would be the definitive break. But she had more loves, and with one she came to know communism closely. And when this man has an accident and disappears, Caritat enters into a self-destructive spiral and only communism rescues her. She will cling to it like a red-hot iron. Her faith, which was previously for Jesus, she deposited in Stalin. And for Stalin she marched to the front of the Civil War, but she realized that it was very dangerous and that there was another way to fight for communism: behind the scenes.

In the comic you quote a phrase from Dolores Ibárruri, thePasionaria, who said that she and Charity were equal, but that she worked in broad daylight and Charity moved behind the scenes. Both had lost a son fighting for communism.

— Yes, it is true. Charity finds her way to fight and tries to instill it in her son, Ramon, who is fighting on the front in Madrid. She goes to look for him specifically and tells him not to risk his life, that there are other ways to fight for his life.

But it ends up involving him in a plot to kill Trotsky with an ice axe, which doesn't seem like the safest way to fight for communism.

— It is the people of the POUM who place her behind the operation, as a soul in the shadow of the conspiracy. But over time all this has ended up being explained in other ways, and Caritat's direct involvement in the murder is not so clear. There is still much to be written about this woman, she will have more scope in the form of novels, comics... or in the audiovisual world: films will be made, of Caritat del Río, because she offers a lot of play.

The comic strip for the Premi ARA you made during confinement with the information you had at home. What have you discovered about Caritat del Río now that you have investigated her better?

— He explained about herself an infinity of exaggerations to make her legend bigger and that, at the same time, allowed her to do her job more peacefully. She had created a character and lied even to the Soviets about some things, saying: "And now, why is she lying to them?" Hence the subtitle of the comic: Truths, half-truths, and lies, because many things that are taken for granted are lies, and they are all things that depend on a single witness, which is herself.

It is a challenge to write a biography of such a character.

— Yes, that's why the subterfuge of half-truths in the subtitle, which is a kind of position from which I can work. An essay on Caritat del Río like Gregorio Luri's has to be measured, realistic, but comedy or a novel are in the dramatic realm and I have to take liberties so that it also works as a narrative.

The death of Trotsky in the award comic was much more brutal than in the graphic novel. Why?

— Because I had already done it before and to differentiate the two projects. Furthermore, it is easy for the character of Ramon Mercader to end up stealing many pages from his mother, and I want to tell the story of Caritat del Río. It is inevitable to address the facts of the assassination, but I tried to redirect the gaze so that it was not so present, and also because, sometimes, it works better if we have to imagine it.

It is curious that through Caritat del Río the great historical events of the 20th century can be traced.

— It is that Caritat del Río stars in the history of the 20th century. She is at the forefront of the communist vanguard and works for Stalin, but she is also one of the founders of the PSUC and, when the Civil War breaks out, she is seen with a rifle on La Rambla, she was directly involved. She also plays a prominent role in the arrest of General Godet and in the organization of the columns that went to the Aragon front. There is one that was called the Caritat Mercader column, where two bombs fell near her and she miraculously survived. Furthermore, she is the first foreign woman to receive the Order of Lenin, a great prestige for the Soviets. Beyond the Trotsky affair, she starred in many other missions: in Turkey, in the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, Hungary... Even in Franco's Spain.

Did he return after the war?

— He first tried in the 50s, and was denied permission. But in 1971 he seems to ask to enter and Arias Navarro grants him permission. All this is information that needs to be further investigated and verified. Perhaps it will never be fully known, but it is clear that he participates in the Cold War. In the same way that, towards the end of his life, he begins to be disillusioned with communism.

But his disillusionment has more to do with personal matters than with Stalin's purges and mass exterminations.

— Yes, it is a self-interested disillusionment: she is basically disappointed with the treatment she and her son receive. She is, after all, a salon revolutionary, and she believes her work is extremely important and deserves appropriate treatment. And for that, they give her caviar, a wonderful apartment in Moscow, and finally, a luxurious retirement with a lifelong pension in Paris, because it is so cold in Moscow that she cannot live there. Nevertheless, she is convinced that she deserves even more.

Deep down she never stopped being a lady from Sant Gervasi.

— Probably. What happens is that he also has the anarchist component that they instill in him from a young age. He is a character who takes a lot of risks, he puts himself into it body and soul. In Paris he already lives a period of decline and isolates himself in a circle of close friends. He dedicates himself to smoking, reading detective novels, and knitting and crocheting. He stops starring in history and wonders to what extent all this has been for anything. Why didn't she dedicate her life to horses, which made her so happy. From a fictional character you always expect them to be dynamic and evolve, and she was.

Speaking of evolution, how do you see that of Catalan in comics? When you won the Premi ARA you had never been able to publish in Catalan. Since then you have published two works in Catalan, El llibre de les bèsties and now Caritat del Río.

— The difficulties are still there. And for publishers it continues to be a risk to publish comics in Catalan. But I think we have to do it. Publishers and authors must bet on it. And readers too. There is a job to do in convincing and understanding that, if it's not for us, this won't get any further. Publishers, authors, and readers form a circle, a virtuous chain that we must keep feeding. Do we do it out of militancy? Yes. Now, what is the alternative? To give up. And that is not the solution to anything. It's up to all of us, as much as possible, to keep insisting. It's the only way to provoke change.

Behind the enthusiasm for the good news that Catalan comics have brought in recent years, could there also be an excess of complacency?

— Perhaps so. Catalans have always been prone to both complacency and defeatism. Neither is the solution to anything. And there is no reason to feel complacent.

By the way, after Caritat del Río you have published another comic with Astiberri, Anatomía de un esqueleto, your return to fiction.

— It's the story of a comic book artist who returns from love to reclaim his work, with a lot of lived experience but also a lot of fantasy.

And the transcendental line ofUnderworld or Alter and Walter or the invisible truth…?

— It has things of these works, because it is also a journey to the other side and, in some way, in search of oneself. It has an existentialist component behind it. It is difficult to get rid of some discourses and ideas.