Google translated text of pages 85-89 of 
JUEGOS OLÍMPICOS DE LOS TRABAJADORES. UNA VISIÓN ARTÍSTICA DESDE LAS VIÑETAS,
by Josep Sauret Pont

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In addition to the "official" cartoons issued by the CCEP and of which we will
speak later, we find some very little known. They are a series of three
(images 8, 9 and 10) that announce the celebration of an upcoming Popular
Olympiad of Barcelona during, and this is the surprising fact, the month of
September 1935.

With what paradoxes do we find ourselves? In the first place, the Popular
Front did not win the elections until February 1936 and, if we remember the
foregoing, this fact would be the trigger for the Olympiad in Barcelona. The
second contradiction is found in the fact that the CCPE was not constituted
until March 1936. Finally, the first official documents that mention the
interest of holding an Olympiad are a letter to the President of the Republic,
Manuel Azaña, a week after the celebration of the Thaelmann Cup and in
another note of April 22 to the Red Internacional del Deporte. As can be
seen, all these events are after the date of the vignettes.

Images 8, 9 and 10. The three vignettes have a very simple but powerful
design, with very precise drawings that repeat the figure of the athlete and
the red flag common to all the vignettes analyzed above. We emphasize that they
are vignettes of a design very advanced to their time, influenced by the
Bauhaus and the artistic movements inspired by it. In the first, the athlete
runs through what today we would call the "skyline" of Barcelona: this
arrangement is a very innovative concept for the time. In the second, and to
emphasize the event, this is announced on a podium. In the third bullet are, in
addition to the common images of the worker and the flag, symbols of modernity -
a skyscraper - and work - the cogwheel -.

As we have already commented, we are surprised that the vignettes refer to a
"popular Olympiad" when this expression will not be used in a broad way until
the spring of 36. The support of these illustrations is of poor quality and are
printed in two colors: red and black This is a typically anarchist chromatic
combination at a time when this movement had little influence and showed little
interest in the themes of sport and the Berlin Games. Our theory about the
issuer leads us to think about another organization: the vignettes were
promoted by the Cultural and Sports Workers' Federation (FCDO), an organization
created in Madrid after the victory of the Republic in 1931 and dominated by
the Communists since 1934. It seems that He tried to organize, for the summer
of 1935, a large anti-fascist sports demonstration in Barcelona since in this
city the newly inaugurated Montjuïc Stadium was available and had the support
of a powerful workers movement. This attempt failed due to the opposition of
the republican right-wing government of the time, but the vignettes to raise
funds were already printed and have reached our days.

Given the little real entity of this possible sporting event, we do not count
it as an independent Olympiad and we will consider these vignettes as
precursors of the failed Olympiad of 1936.

The CCPE issued a vignette on the occasion of the aforementioned Thaelmann
Cup, given that this sporting event was a kind of rehearsal for the Popular
Olympiad project, we will consider this vignette as a precursor to those of the
Popular Olympiad. Thaelmann was a German Jewish sportsman arrested by Nazi
power for his communist militancy. The Cup wanted to be a memorial to his
person and it was the first act that the aforementioned Committee organized.

In 1936, the Català pro Esport Popular Committee tried to organize different
Games without the encorsetamiento of the previous ones. Thus, for example,
delegations could register under three different groups: national, regional and
local. Due to these modifications it was possible to register Alger (French
colony at that time), the city of Oran, the Basque Country and Galicia.

International support and financing were sought. The French government, the
Spanish government and the Generalitat de Cataluña were the ones that
provided the largest subsidies that, given that the event was not held, did not
materialize.

The poster was commissioned by Fritz Lewy, Jewish German publicist, painter,
photographer, graphic designer committed to the Weimar Republic and
expatriate in 1933. The poster has a dynamic appearance, flee from political
symbols, contains three geometrized male characters that they represent the
different human races carrying a single flag; therefore, it has the symbolism
of the unity of the peoples and of the workers' internationalism as its sole
purpose. It also appears the shield of the host city.

Because the Generalitat de Catalunya, responsible for the organization, did
not have the power to issue stamps, the cartoons were created with the aim of
raising funds to finance the Games. In the end three were put into circulation,
with the same image, which reproduces the aforementioned Lewy poster with three
different texts. They were printed by Publicidad Coll, a printing press located
on Calle Tallers, number 7 in the city of Barcelona, in sheets of (18)
twenty-five units. We do not know the ones that were issued. In collector
circles it is relatively easy to find them. Circulated by the mail there are
very few at present.

Image 11. In this image we present the vignette that was issued to raise
funds. Printed in two colors, black and red, it is very simple design. The
images that appear in this vignette are the four bars of the Catalan senyera
drawn on a shield and a flag with the name of the Catalan Committee for Popular
Sports in its interior. The text tells us the city, the dates of completion of
the Cup and the price of the vignette. For all this, we see that it is not a
vignette that has the political burden present in many of those commented
above. We are surprised that the competition that promoted was an eminently
political act despite its sporting aspect. We think that, although the vignette
was designed quickly with collection interest, this fact does not explain the
little political intentionality of it.

10. Ninth Olympiad.
The ninth Olympiad corresponds to that of Antwerp in 1937. It should be noted
that, for the first time, representatives of socialist and communist
organizations participated together. The creation of popular fronts in France
and Spain to win the elections meant that the political entente influenced
sports organizations and resulted in a joint Olympic Games. 25,000 athletes from
seventeen countries participated and, for the first time, the Soviet Union.
Although Spain was already immersed in the Civil War, both the CCEP and a
Spanish delegation traveled to Antwerp to compete.

We present two vignettes corresponding to these Olympic Games.

Image 12. Like the others, incorporate the cost of the contribution in a
similar way to postage stamps. The text is clearly the publicity of the entity
organizer and, when they were printed, the dates of the
realization of the event, so it was decided to advertise the
sporting event and the month of the competitions, only.

Image 13. The text of the organizing entity, Comitè Català pro
Esport Popular and the planned dates of celebration are added (July 22-26).

Image 14. Due to the success of the number of registrants, it was anticipated
that it would be necessary to extend the dates of completion. This third bullet
announces the new planned dates: from July 19 to 26. Surprise the advance of dates
when the normal thing is to extend the days of the event from behind.

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