textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp000336.txt

Title:   THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
          ANARCHISM IN ACTION

Author: Eddie Conlon

Date: 1986

Published by the Workers Solidarity Movement

Description:  History of the political 
struggle in the Spanish Civil War and the
constructive attempts by the peasants and
workers to build a new society.

Keywords:  Anarchism, collectives, Spain,
Durruti, Stalin, CNT, FoD, Spanish Civil
War.

This was the original introduction as it 
appeared when this pamphlet was first 
published in 1986 to mark the 50th anniversary 
of the Spanish Civil War.

Introduction

**** picture  "Grenade throwers of the Durruti 
Column"  **

Make a search of all the history books you can 
obtain. You will find little, if any, mention 
of Captain Jack White after 1914.  It is as if 
the man who had proposed the formation of the 
Irish Citizen Army had literally disappeared 
from the face of the earth when the Dublin  
Lockout came to an end. In fact he lived on 
and remained active in the socialist movement 
until 1940. When James Connolly was sentenced 
to death it was White who rushed to South 
Wales and tried to bring the miners out on 
strike in protest. For that he served three 
months imprisonment. In England he worked for 
a time with Sylvia Pankhurst's Workers 
Socialist Federation, and during the General 
Strike of 1926 he wanted to organise a Citizen 
Army to protect the picket lines as he had 
done in Dublin.

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War saw 
White enlist with the Irish International 
Brigadiers who went to fight fascism. A 
comrade of his from the 1930's, Albert 
Meltzer, described White's experience "He was 
thrilled with the collectivisation in Spain, 
and also with the volunteer militias. He 
learned with amazement that this was the work 
of the Anarchists. In addition to his work 
with the Irish brigade at the front, he showed 
Spanish volunteer militia how to use firearms, 
and also trained women in the villages on the 
way to Saragossa in the use of small arms for 
defence. What, however, he could not stomach 
was the fact that the Irish, like the rest of 
the International Brigade, were being 
increasingly manipulated by the Communist 
Party. He had never accepted the CP; he had 
just not seen an alternative.  Now he saw an 
alternative".

White offered his services to the CNT, giving 
up his International Brigade membership. The 
CNT did not need foreign volunteers as they 
had enough support at that time but they did 
need arms. They needed people working for them 
outside Spain. He was asked to work for the 
CNT in London, to raise badly needed funds and 
solidarity. During his time in Spain he became 
a convinced Anarchist and shortly afterwards 
wrote a pamphlet simply entitled The Meaning 
of Anarchism.

That this is new information to the reader 
indicates how history can be falsified or even 
have whole episodes completely written out of 
the history books. Much has been written to 
mark the 50th anniversary to the Spanish Civil 
War but the contribution of the Anarchists has 
been either totally ignored or reduced to a 
few footnotes which were often composed of 
blatant lies or generalised slander referring 
to `wreckers'. To set the record straight this 
pamphlet was produced. It is not a history of 
the Civil War, that would require many 
hundreds of pages to do justice to the 
subject. It is an uncovering of the "hidden 
history" of the Anarchist participation in 
Spain's anti-fascist struggle.

It has not been written because of some 
academic interest but because Anarchism is 
still as relevant now as it was fifty years 
ago. We have seen the results of social 
democracy and it's Labour Parties, we have 
seen what the Stalinists have done in Russia, 
China, Albania and their satellites, we have 
seen how their left critics in the Trotskyist 
movement have been unable to come to grips 
with the real problem. And that real problem 
is the authoritarian idea that the world can 
be changed over the heads of the workers. It 
can, but it won't be much better.

Only Anarchism with its concept `of socialism 
based on individual freedom and the power of 
workers' councils stands apart from all this. 
That is why, despite four decades of 
repression, the CNT reappeared as a real union 
after the death of Franco. That is why a group 
of Irish workers seeking a genuine socialism 
formed the Workers Solidarity Movement in 
1984. We believe that Anarchism is not just 
another choice for those who want a better 
world, the history of all other `left' 
movements shows that Anarchism is a necessity.

***  Picture "Jack White"

 Glossary and Chronology at end Glossary


Chapter 1
    REBELLION AND RESISTANCE

In the 1930's Europe was experiencing one of 
its' worst ever slumps. The Wall Street crash 
came in 1931 and its repercussions were felt 
far and wide. Spain was no exception

   By 1936 unemployment had gone over 30% in 
many of the towns and cities Out of a total 
workforce of three million, one million were 
out of work. There was no dole and as prices 
rose by 80% in the five years up to 1936, many 
encountered severe hardship.

LAND

By European standards Spain was a particularly 
backward country. There had been little 
industrial development and 70% of the people 
still lived on the land. 52% of the workforce 
was employed in agriculture which accounted 
for between one half and two thirds of Spain's 
exports.

   The division of land was the worst in 
Europe. A massive 67% was in the hands of just 
2% of all landowners. In 1936, 10,000 
proprietors owned half of the national 
territory. The remaining land was owned by 
"middle owners" and peasants.  The "middle 
owners" were more numerous than the big 
landowners but they also had large estates 
worked by sharecroppers and landless 
labourers.

   The rest of the land was owned by peasants, 
of whom there were five million Because most 
of them had insufficient land they hired 
themselves out as day labourers. Others took 
to sharecropping.

BOOM 
Spain's boom period had been during World War 
I when it had remained neutral. Agriculture 
thrived due to the large foreign markets for 
its exports. At the same time some 
industrialisation took place. After the war, 
though, this boom came to an end, especially 
when tariff barriers were thrown up by Britain 
and France against Spanish exports.

   While the boom lasted the landowners reaped 
the benefits but when the slump arrived it was 
the peasants who suffered. conditions in the 
Spain of the 1930's were comparable with the 
Orient. Starvation was _normal_ between the 
harvests. The press of the time carried 
reports of whole districts living on roots and 
boiled greens.    The industrialisation that 
had taken place was mainly confined to one 
area- Catalonia. Situated in the Northeast 
bordering on France, Catalonia, especially its 
capital Barcelona, became the industrial 
centre of Spain, with 70% of all industry and 
50% of industrial workers. Many peasants left 
the land to seek work in Barcelona, which 
added to the already existing unemployment.


Other forces at the time were the Catholic 
church and the army. While there were 25,000 
parish priests there were a further 70,000 in 
religious orders. The Jesuits alone owned 30% 
of the country's wealth. The numbers in the 
orders actually outnumbered the total of 
secondary school students. While millions were 
kept illiterate (40% could neither read nor 
write) the church preached superstitious 
reports of incredible incidents such as 
statues seen weeping and crucifixes exuding 
blood.

   The Church was renowned for siding with the 
bosses and while the priests were living in 
luxury the peasants around them often starved. 
It is little wonder the Church was hated.

   The army was famous for its number of 
officers. There was one for every six 
soldiers! This officer caste had been 
developed under the monarchy (which was ended 
in I 931) and was responsible for the whole 
colonial administration along with much of 
that in the country itself. Drawn from the 
upper classes they were tied by kinship, 
friendship and social position to the 
industrialists and reactionary landowners.

THE REPUBLIC

The Spanish Republic was born in 1931. The 
workers and peasants, having gone through 
years of dictatorship, believed that maybe now 
the country would be modernised and their 
living standards would begin to improve.

   It was not to be so. One example will 
suffice. The republican government set up the 
Institute for Agrarian Reform to look into the 
redistribution of land. By its own admission 
its programme would have taken a whole century 
to implement.

   The republican/social-democratic coalition 
which came to power in 1931 did little to 
improve living conditions for the vast 
majority of workers. Unemployment remained 
high and the working class organisations, 
especially the CNT, suffered repression with 
many members being imprisoned. By June 1933 
there were 9,000 political prisoners.

   The government refused to take on the 
industrialists, landowners, army officers and 
bishops. It would not stand up to that 
minority which owned all the wealth and had 
all the real power. In the election of 1933 
they fell and a right-wing coalition came to 
power.

   This marked the beginning of what became 
known as the "bienno negro" the two black 
years. The right went on the offensive. The 
coalition of the wealthy and powerful now had 
state power and were determined to use it to 
smash working class and peasant resistance. 
Their privileges were to be maintained at the 
expense of the workers.

ASTURIA

Of course this was not taken lightly. The CNT 
organised as best it could against the 
government. A rising took place in Catalonia 
in December, shortly after the change of 
government. It was crushed after ten days. The 
following year the workers of the CNT joined 
with their fellow workers in the UGT (General 
Union of Workers, controlled by the Socialist 
Party) in a revolt in the Asturias region. The 
workplaces were taken over and the union 
members took up arms against the state. 
Unfortunately they were isolated from the rest 
of the country. The massacre that followed 
their defeat was unprecedented with at least 
3,000 being executed.

By the time this government was forced to 
resign and call elections for February I 936 
there were 30,000 political prisoners. The 
election was won by the Popular Front, a 
coalition of republicans, social-democrats and 
the Stalinists of the Communist Party. Their 
victory was mainly due to the CNT not running 
a campaign calling on the workers to abstain 
from voting. In previous elections they had 
done so because they believed that the ballot 
box was a con as you could only choose who 
would rule over you, not whether you wanted to 
be ruled or not. Instead they said workers 
should rely on their industrial muscle to 
change things.

   This time the CNT took no position, leaving 
it to individual members to decide The results 
made it obvious they had voted, mainly because 
the Popular Front had promised an amnesty for 
the prisoners.

   The workers, though, did not wait for the 
government to act. They opened the prisons 
themselves and released their comrades. It did 
not stop there. The election result was seen 
as an impetus to go on the offensive. They had 
voted for change and if the government was not 
going to deliver they would get results 
themselves.

STRIKES

Between the election in February and the 
fascist revolt in July there were 113 general 
strikes, 228 partial general strikes, 145 bomb 
explosions, 269 deaths, 1287 wounded, 215 
assaults and 160 churches burned. Of course 
all this was not part of the Popular Front 
programme which was watery and essentially 
aimed at maintaining anti-fascist unity. It 
was not aimed at smashing capitalism and the 
power of the Spanish elite. Sections of the 
Socialist Party, however, went beyond the 
Popular Front programme and many of them in 
the UGT again joined with their comrades in 
the CNT to fight the passivity of the 
government.

   On June 13th, 30,000 Asturian miners 
struck; on June 19th 90,000 miners throughout 
the country were on strike. Every city of 
importance had at least one general strike. 
Over one million were out in the first days of 
July. Strikers were not only fighting for 
economic demands, political demands were also 
made. On July 14th there was a large 
demonstration outside a ball at the Brazilian 
embassy. The workers carried placards saying 
"Republican Ministers amuse themselves while 
workers die".

   While the Republican government did all it 
could to get the situation under control, the 
Communist Party condemned the strikes for 
bringing workers into collision with the 
government. The government duly filled the 
jails and closed down the offices of the CNT.

COUP

As with all ruling classes that become 
desperate, they decided that parliamentary 
democracy was to be disposed of and the 
workers' organisation smashed. Bosses don't 
always oppose fascism because they know they 
sometimes have to resort to it. Their wealth 
and privileges come before all other 
considerations. As in Germany and Italy they 
decided the organised working class had to be 
put down so they could hang onto their wealth 
and continue to make profits. While some will 
initially oppose fascism, and in Spain some 
did, it is nevertheless a call of last resort 
and they will go along with it if they see it 
as necessary to maintain their power. In the 
Basque 

Country the nationalists initially opposed the 
fascists. But when the choice of fascism or 
social revolution became clear, they offered 
little resistance to Franco.

   The coup was to be launched on July I 7th. 
The initial step was taken when Franco seized 
Morocco and issued a "radical manifesto". This 
was picked up by a loyal radio operator who 
passed it on to the Minister for the Navy. The 
news of the coup was kept secret until 7pm on 
the 18th. The government assured the country 
it was in control. By this it meant it was 
trying to come to terms with the fascists. The 
cabinet resigned on the 18th and Borrios, a 
right wing republican, was made prime 
minister.

MASSES

This plan to come to a deal was only smashed 
by the activity of the organised working 
class. The fascists made some headway in parts 
of the country where little opposition was 
offered as a result of government hesitation. 
But in Catalonia, and especially in Barcelona, 
the workers of the CNT showed how to fight. 
They declared a general strike and took to the 
streets looking for arms which the government 
refused to give them. In the end they stormed 
the barracks, and took what they needed. They 
were aided by soldiers who had remained loyal, 
some of whom turned their guns on their 
officers.

   The workers immediately set up barricades 
and within hours the rising had been defeated. 
Arms were siezed and given to groups of 
workers who were dispatched to other areas to 
prevent risings occurring. Madrid was also 
saved because of the heroism and initiative of 
the workers. Hearing of what had happened in 
Barcelona they had stormed the Montana 
Barracks, the main army base in the city.

   In Valencia they surrounded the barracks, a 
situation which lasted for two weeks. Still 
the government refused to arm the workers and 
it was only after arms were sent from 
Barcelona and Madrid that the barracks was 
successfully taken. In Asturias the rebels 
were beaten after prolonged fighting leading 
to many deaths. Then the miners outfitted a 
column of 5,000 dynamiters who marched to 
Madrid.

   Throughout the country the initiative taken 
by workers and peasants was stopping the 
fascists in their tracks. This was the story 
in three quarters of the country. Elsewhere 
valuable time was lost due to the indecision 
of government officials. In Saragossa the 
workers failed to put down the rising. Juan 
Iopez, a leading CNT militant, put this down 
to the fact that they "lost too much time 
having interviews with the civil governor, we 
even believed in his promises".

   Thus by the action of the rank and file was 
"the Spanish Republic saved'. Not just the CNT 
but members of the UGT and the POUM (Workers 
Party of Marxist Unity) joined in the 
fighting. For these workers this was not just 
a war to defeat the fascists but the beginning 
of a revolution. Workers militias were 
established independently of the state. 
Workplaces which had been abandoned by the 
former bosses were taken over and in the rural 
areas the peasants seized the land. For the 
anarchists this was the chance to put their 
ideas into practice.


Chapter 2
     ANARCHISM IN ACTION

Anarchism is a most misunderstood set of 
ideas. It is constantly portrayed as meaning 
chaos and violence. Nothing could be further 
from the truth. Anarchists believe in creating 
a classless society. They oppose capitalism as 
a system that puts the profits of a small 
minority of bosses before the needs of the 
vast majority. It is a system based on the 
exploitation of workers, a system that 
inevitably causes poverty starvation and war. 
Anarchists oppose authority in the sense of 
opposing the 'right' of any small minority to 
have power over everyone else. They oppose the 
State (meaning government, army, police, 
courts) as an institution whose purpose is to 
enforce the will of a minority on the 
majority.

   Anarchists believe in class struggle, that 
the bosses and workers have no common interest 
and that the workers must organise to take 
over the running of society Ordinary workers 
are quite capable of running society. It would 
be done through a system of workers' councils 
with mass democracy which would be far more 
rational democratic and efficient than the 
existing set-up. Anarchists stand up for the 
freedom of the individual and oppose all 
oppression on the basis of race, sex or sexual 
orientation. The only limit on individual 
freedom should be that it does not interfere 
with the freedom of others.

   From early on the anarchists opposed the 
building of bureaucratic State Capitalism in 
Russia. Initially they supported the 
revolution but were against the attempts of 
the Bolsheviks to take power into their own 
hands and create the seeds of the 
"dictatorship of the party". Anarchists hold 
that how you organise will reflect the type of 
society you want. Small minorities can not 
liberate the working class, the working class 
will have to emancipate itself. Democracy and 
accountability are the cornerstone of 
anarchist organisation. Direct action is the 
method. Rather than relying on small groups 
they say workers do have the power and 
strength to change society. That strength lies 
in their ability to organise at the place of 
work, a strength that should be used not only 
to win immediate reforms from the bosses but 
eventually to overthrow the whole system of 
capitalism. This belief is central to 
anarchism Anarchists do not only want workers' 
control of industry, they want a society where 
all relationships of authority are abolished 
and people do not look to others to run their 
lives.

BUKUNIN

Anarchism had, and still has, a long tradition 
in Spain. In the middle of the last century 
anarchist ideas were brought to Spain by 
Fanelli, an Italian supporter of Michael 
Bakunin who was one of the founders of modern 
anarchism. A Spanish section of the First 
International was set up and the majority 
within it took the side of the anarchists in 
the International.


   Anarchism developed rapidly due to the 
harsh economic conditions that workers and 
peasants had to suffer. Workers increasingly 
took up the ideas of syndicalism or anarcho-
syndicalism, which were developed at the turn 
of the century. 1911 saw the formation of the 
CNT. Syndicalism developed as a response to 
the reformism of the existing trade unions and 
to the growing isolation of anarchist 
revolutionaries from the mass of workers. This 
had happened as a result of a small number of 
anarchists turning to terrorism and 
`propaganda by the deed', the belief that they 
could incite the masses to revolution by 
committing outrages.

   Syndicalism was an attempt to provide a 
link between the anarchist movement and the 
workers on the shopfloor. Its basic ideas 
revolved around all the workers being in one 
big union. All the employees in a workplace 
would join. They would link up with those in 
other jobs in the same area and an area 
federation would be formed. Delegates from 
these would go forward to regional federations 
who were united in a national federation. All 
the delegates were elected and recallable. 
They were given a clear mandate and if they 
broke it they could be replaced with new 
delegates.

BUREAUCRACY

Every effort was made to prevent the growth of 
a bureaucracy of unaccountable full-time 
officials. There was only one full-time 
official in all of the CNT. Union work was 
done during working hours where possible, 
otherwise after work. This ensured the 
officials of the union stayed in contact with 
the shopfloor. The fear of bureaucracy was 
such that Industrial Federations that would 
have linked together all the workplaces of 
particular industries were hotly opposed. They 
were eventually conceded in 1931 but never 
fully built.

   Syndicalists distinguished themselves from 
the other unions by their belief that the 
unions could be used not only to gain reforms 
from the bosses but also to overthrow the 
capitalist system. They believed the 
Syndicalist union would become the battering 
ram that would bring capitalism to its knees. 
They believed that the reason most workers 
were not revolutionaries was that their unions 
were reformist and dominated by a bureaucracy 
that took the initiative away from the rank 
and file members. Their alternative was to 
organise all workers into one union in 
preparation for the revolutionary general 
strike.

   The CNT experienced rapid growth from the 
time of its formation and by the outbreak of 
the civil war it had almost two million 
members. Its strongholds were in Catalonia and 
Andulucia. It also had large followings in 
Galicia, Asturias, Levant, Saragossa and 
Madrid. Its main strength was among textile, 
building and wood workers as well as amongst 
agricultural labourers. As it preached social 
revolution it was subject to vicious 
repression not only under the semi-
dictatorship which ruled until 1931 but also 
the `reforming' governments which followed. 
The Popular Front, with its social democratic 
and Stalinist supporters, joined this list by 
showing it no mercy.

A-POLITICISM

The CNT was not a revolutionary political 
organisation. It was an industrial union. 
Indeed it constantly played up its a-
politicism and argued that all that was 
necessary to make a revolution was for the 
workers to seize the factories and land. After 
that the State and all other political 
institutions would come toppling down. It did 
not believe the working class must take 
political power for them all power had to be 
immediately abolished.

   Because it was a union it organised all 
workers regardless of their politics. Many 
joined, not because they were anarchists, but 
because it was the most militant union and 
actually got results. In fact during the civil 
war its membership more than doubled (this 
happened to the UGT too) at least partly due 
to workers being obliged to join one or other 
union.

   So obviously the CNT was open to those who 
were not anarchists. There were many internal 
disputes, and tendencies did arise that were 
reformist. Because of this the Federation of 
Iberian Anarchists (FAI) was set up in I 9,7. 
It was based on local affinity groups and was 
not a political organisation as such. It was 
there to ensure that the CNT remained `pure' 
in anarchist (FAI) terms. It succeeded in this 
and many of its members became the leading 
lights of tile CNT. Other anarchist 
organisations that existed when the civil war 
broke out were the Iberian Federation of 
Libertarian Youth (FIJL) and Mujeres Libres 
(Free Women).

   There is absolutely no doubt that the 
initial response to Franco's coup was 
determined by the fact that the CNT and its 
anarchist ideas held sway among large sections 
of the working class. There was no waiting 
around for government ministers to act, the 
workers took control. Anarchist influence 
could be seen in the formation of the 
militias, the expropriation and reorganisation 
of the land, and the seizures in industry.

MILITIAS

The government found itself in a peculiar 
situation when the dust had settled after July 
I 9th. While it remained the government it had 
no way of exercising its authority. Most of 
the army had openly rebelled against it. Where 
the rebellion had been defeated the army was 
disbanded and the workers now had the arms. 
The trade unions and left-wing organisations 
immediately set about organising these armed 
workers. Militias were formed and these became 
the units of the revolutionary army. Ten days 
after the coup there were I 8,000 workers 
organised in the militias of Catalonia. The 
vast majority of these were members of the 
CNT. Overall there were 150,000 volunteers 
willing to fight whenever they were needed.

   This was no ordinary army. There were no 
uniforms (neck scarves usually indicated what 
organisation a militia member belonged to) or 
officers who enjoyed privileges over the 
ordinary soldiers. This was a revolutionary 
army and reflected the revolutionary 
principles of those in its ranks. Democracy 
was control.    The basic unit was the group, 
composed generally of ten, which elected a 
delegate. Ten groups formed a century which 
also elected a delegate. Any number of 
centuries formed a column, which had a war 
committee responsible for the overall 
activities of the column. This was elected and 
accountable to the workers. Columns generally 
had ex-officers and artillery experts to 
advise them - but these were not given any 
power.

   Workers joined the columns because they 
wanted to. They understood the need to fight 
and the necessity of creating a "popular 
army". They accepted discipline not because 
they were told to but because they understood 
the need to act in a co-ordinated manner. 
Members accepted orders because they trusted 
those who gave them. They had been elected 
from their own ranks. Militias were aligned 
with different organisations and often had 
their own newspapers. These were political 
organisations that understood the link between 
revolutionary politics and the war.    The 
militias formed in Barcelona lost no time in 
marching on Aragon where the capital, 
Saragossa, had been taken by the fascists. The 
Durruti Column, named after one of the leading 
CNT militants, led this march and gradually 
liberated village after village. The aim was 
to free Saragossa which linked Catalonia with 
the second industrial region - the Basque 
Country, which as well as being a source of 
raw materials had heavy industries and arms 
manufacturing plants.

*** Picture: "Anarchist militiamen and militia 
women leave Barcelona for the front."***

The Durruti column showed how to fight 
fascism. They understood that a civil war is 
apolitical battle, not just a military 
conflict.  As they gained victory after 
victory they encouraged peasants to take over 
the land and collectivise. The Column provided 
the defence that allowed this to be done.  The 
peasants rallied to them. They fed the worker-
soldiers and many of them joined. Indeed 
Durutti had to plead with some of them not to 
join so that the land would not be depopulated 
and the task of collectivisation could be 
carried through.

   As the anarchist militias achieved success 
after success ground was being lost on other 
fronts. Saragossa, though, was not taken and a 
long front developed. The militia system was 
blamed for this. The Stalinists said the 
workers were undisciplined and would not obey 
orders. They accused the anarchists of being 
unwilling to work with others to defeat the 
fascists.

   Of course this was nonsense. The anarchists 
continually called for a united war effort and 
even for a single command. What they did 
demand, though, was that control of the army 
stayed with the working class. They did not 
believe that establishing a united command 
necessitated re-establishing the old 
militarist regime the officer caste.

   The major problem facing the militias was a 
lack of arms. The munitions industry been cut 
off and the workers in Barcelona went to great 
lengths to improvise. Arms were made and 
transported to the front but there were still 
not enough of them. George Orwell (who fought 
in one of the POUM militias) described the 
arms situation on the Aragon front. The 
infantry "were far worse armed than an English 
public school Officers Training Corps, with 
worn out Mauser rifles which usually jammed 
after five shots; approximately one machine 
gun to fifty men (sic) and one pistol or 
revolver to about thirty men (sic). These 
weapons, so necessary in trench warfare, were 
not issued by the government.... A government 
which sends boys of fifteen to the front with 
rifles forty years old and keeps its biggest 
men and newest weapons In the rear is 
manifestly more afraid of the revolution the 
fascists".

   And how right he was. An arms embargo was 
imposed by Britain preventing the sale of arms 
to either side, but not until mid-August. The 
government which had 600,000,000 dollars in 
gold, could have brought arms. Eventually this 
gold was sent to Moscow in exchange for arms 
but when they arrived there was a systematic 
refusal to supply the anarchist-controlled 
Aragon front. The arms that did arrive were 
sent only to Stalinist-controlled centres. A 
member of the war ministry referring to the 
arms which arrived in September commented "I 
noticed that these were not being given out in 
equal quantities, but there was a marked 
preference for the units which made up the 
Fifth Regiment". This was controlled by the 
Stalinists. The Catalan munitions plants, 
which depended on the central government for 
finance were compelled to surrender their 
product to such destinations as the government 
chose. This withholding of arms was 
fundamental to the strategy of the Stalinists 
and their allies in government for breaking 
down the power and prestige of the CNT. The 
communists wanted to undermine the militias in 
their efforts to have the regular army 
restarted. But more of this later.

   This lack of arms did not only affect the 
Aragon front. Irun fell because of the 
shortage of weapons. One reporter described 
it. "They fought to the last cartridge (the 
workers of Irun. When they had no more 
ammunition they hurled packs of dynamite. When 
the dynamite was gone they rushed forward 
barehanded while the sixty times stronger 
enemy butchered them with their bayonets'. In 
Asturia the workers were bogged down trying to 
take Oviedo armed with little more than rifles 
and crude dynamite bombs. Although a few 
planes and artillery pieces were begged for, 
the workers were turned down. Again the 
government's fear of revolutionary workers 
took precedence over defeating the fascists.

   It is a common lie that the militias, 
supposedly undisciplined and uncontrollable, 
were responsible for Franco's advance. All who 
saw the militias in action had nothing but 
praise for the heroism they witnessed. The 
government made a deliberate choice. It chose 
to starve the revolutionary workers of arms, 
it decided that defeating the revolution was 
more important than defeating fascism.

THE LAND

The peasants did not have to be told by 
Durruti to take over the land. They had been 
attempting to do so since the foundation of 
the Republic. Indeed the first government of 
the Republic had sent troops to murder 
peasants who had taken land. In the Republic's 
first two years, 109 peasants were murdered. 
It was in the countryside that the Spanish 
revolution was most far reaching. The 
anarchist philosophy had been absorbed by 
large layers of the downtrodden peasants. 
Indeed at its 1936 Congress the CNT had gone 
into great detail as to how the anarchist 
society of the future would look. The 
peasantry took the opportunity to put these 
ideas into practice. Their efforts showed what 
could be done by working people (many of whom 
were illiterate) given the right conditions. 
They made a nonsense of the argument that 
anarchism is not possible because society 
would collapse without bosses ,government and 
authority.

   Collectivisation of the land was extensive. 
Close on two thirds of all land in the 
Republican zone (that area controlled by the 
anti-fascist forces) was taken over. In all 
between five and seven million peasants were 
involved. The major areas were Aragon where 
there were 450 collectives, the Levant (the 
area around Valencia) with 900 collectives and 
Castille (the area surrounding Madrid) with 
300 collectives. Not only was the land 
collectivised but in the villages workshops 
were set up where the local tradespeople could 
produce tools, furniture, etc. Bakers, 
butchers, barbers and so on also decided to 
collectivise.

   Collectivisation was voluntary and thus 
quite different from the forced 
"collectivisation presided over by Stalin in 
Russia. Usually a meeting was called in the 
village, most collectives were centred on a 
particular village, and all present would 
agree to pool together whatever land, tools 
and animals they had. This would be added to 
what had already been taken from the big 
landowners. The land was divided into rational 
units and groups of workers were assigned to 
work them. Each group had its delegate who 
represented their views at meetings of the 
collective. A management committee was also 
elected and was responsible for the overall 
running of the collective. They would look 
after the buying of materials, exchanges with 
other areas, distributing the produce and 
necessary public works such as the building of 
schools. Each collective held regular general 
meetings of all its participants.

   If you didn't want to join the collective 
you were given some land but only as much as 
you could work yourself. You were not allowed 
to employ workers. Not only production was 
affected, distribution was on the basis of 
what people needed. In many areas money was 
abolished. People come to the collective store 
(often churches which had been turned into 
warehouses) and got what was available. If 
there were shortages rationing would be 
introduced to ensure that everyone got their 
fair share. But it was usually the case that 
increased production under the new system 
eliminated shortages.

   In agricultural terms the revolution 
occurred at a good time. Harvests that were 
gathered in and being sold off to make big 
profits for a few landowners were instead 
distributed to those in need. Doctors, bakers, 
barbers, etc. were given what they needed in 
return for their services. Where money was not 
abolished a 'family wage' was introduced so 
that payment was on the basis of need and not 
the number of hours worked.

   Production greatly increased. Technicians 
and agronomists helped the peasants to make 
better use of the land. Modern scientific 
methods were introduced and in some areas 
yields increased by as much as 50%. There was 
enough to feed the collectivists and the 
militias in their areas. Often there was 
enough for exchange with other collectives in 
the cities for machinery. In addition food was 
handed over to the supply committees who 
looked after distribution in the urban areas.

   As with the militias, slander was also 
thrown at the collectives. It was claimed that 
each one only looked after itself and did not 
care about the others. This was rubbish as in 
many areas equalisation funds were set up to 
redistribute wealth from the better off areas 
to the poorer ones. It was ensured that 
machinery and expertise were shifted to the 
areas most in need of it. Indeed one indicator 
of the feeling of solidarity is the fact that 
1,000 collectivists from the Levant, which was 
quite advanced, moved to Castille to help out.

   Federations of collectives were 
established, the most successful being in 
Aragon. In June 1937 a plenum of Regional 
Federations of Peasants was held. Its aim was 
the formation of a national federation "for 
the co-ordination and extension of the 
collectivist movement and also to ensure an 
equitable distribution of the produce of the 
land, not only between the collectives but for 
the whole country". Unfortunately many 
collectives were smashed, not be Franco's army 
but by the soldiers of the Stalinist General 
Lister, before this could be done.

   The collectivists were not only concerned 
with their material well being. They had a 
deep commitment to education and as a result 
of their efforts many children received an 
education for the first time. This was not the 
usual schooling either. The methods of 
Francisco Ferrer, the world famous anarchist 
educationalist, were employed. Children were 
given basic literacy skills and after that 
inquisitive skills were encouraged. Old people 
were also looked after and where necessary 
special homes for them were built. Refugees 
from the fascist controlled areas were looked 
after too.

INDUSTRY

Although the revolution didn't go as far in 
the cities as it did in the country, many 
achievements are worth noting. It was in 
Catalonia, the industrial heartland and 
stronghold of the CNT, that most was gained. 
In Barcelona over 3,000 enterprises were 
collectivised. All the public services, not 
only in Catalonia but throughout the 
Republican zone, were taken over and run by 
committees of workers.

   To give some idea of the extent of the 
collectivisation here is a list provided by 
one observer (Burnett Bolloten, The Grand 
Camouflage by no means an anarchist book). He 
says "railways, traincars and buses, taxicabs 
and shipping, electric light and power 
companies, gasworks and waterworks, 
engineering and automobile assembly plants, 
mines and cement works, textile mills and 
paper factories, electrical 

and chemical concerns, glass bottle factories 
and perfumeries, food processing plants and 
breweries were confiscated and controlled by 
workmens's (sic) committees, either term 
possessing for the owners almost equal 
significance". He goes on "motion picture 
theatres and legitimate theatres, newspapers 
and printing, shops, department stores and 
hotels, de-lux restaurants and bars were 
likewise sequestered".

   This shows clearly that the portrayal of 
anarchism as being something to do with quaint 
small workshops is untrue. Large factories, 
some of them employing thousands of workers, 
were taken over and run by workers' 
committees.

   Often the workplaces were siezed because 
the owners had fled or had stopped production 
to sabotage the revolution. But the workers 
did not stop with these workplaces all major 
places of work were taken over. Some were run 
and controlled by the workers. In others 
"control committees" were established to 
ensure that production was maintained (these 
existed to exercise a power of veto on the 
decisions of the boss in cases where the 
workers had not taken over the power of 
management).

   In each workplace the assembly of all the 
workers was the basic unit. Within the factory 
workers would elect delegates to represent 
them on day-to-day issues. Anything of overall 
importance had to go to the assembly. This 
would elect a committee of between five and 
fifteen worker, which would elect a manager to 
oversee

the day-to-day running of the workplace - 
Within each industry there was an Industrial 
Council which had representatives of the two 
main unions (CNT and UGT) and representatives 
from the committees. Technicians were also on 
these committees to provide technical advice. 
The job of the Industrial Council was to set 
out an overall plan for the industry.

   Within workplaces wages were equalised and 
conditions greatly improved. Let us see how 
collectivisation actually made things better. 
Take for example the tramways. Out of the 
7,000 workers, 6,500 were members of the CNT. 
Because of the street battles all transport 
had been brought to a halt. The transport 
syndicate (as unions of the CNT were known) 
appointed a commission of seven to occupy the 
administrative offices while others inspected 
the tracks and drew up a plan of repair work 
that needed to be done. Five days after the 
fighting stopped 700 tramcars, instead of the 
usual 600, all painted in the black and red 
colours of the CNT, were operating on the 
streets of Barcelona.

   With the profit motive gone, safety became 
more important and the number of accidents was 
reduced. Fares were lowered and services 
improved. In I 936, 183,543, 516 passengers 
were carried. In 1937 this had gone up by 50 
million. The trams were running so efficiently 
that the workers were able to give money to 
other sections of urban transport. Wages were 
equalised for all workers and increased over 
the previous rates. For the first time free 
medical care was provided for the work force.

   As well as giving a more efficient service 
the workers found time to produce rockets and 
howitzers for the war effort. They worked 
overtime and Sundays to do their share for the 
anti-fascist struggle. To further underline 
the fact that getting rid of the bosses and 
rulers would not lead to a breakdown of order 
it can be pointed out that in the two years of 
collectivisation there were only six cases of 
workers stealing from the workshops.

   Extensive reorganisation took place to make 
industry more efficient. Many uneconomic small 
plants, which were usually unhealthy, were 
closed down and production was concentrated in 
those plants with the best equipment. In 
Catalonia 70 foundries were closed down. The 
number of tanning plants was reduced from 71 
to 40 and the whole wood industry was 
reorganised by the CNT Woodworkers Union.

   In 1937 the central government admitted 
that the war industry of Catalonia produced 
ten times more than the rest of Spanish 
industry put together and that this output 
could have been quadrupled if Catalonia had 
the access to necessary means of purchasing 
raw materials.

*** Picture: A Barcelona cafe collectivised by 
the UGT ***

   It was not only production that was taken 
over. Many parasitic 'middlemen' were cut out 
of distribution. The wholesale business in 
fish and eggs was taken over as were the 
principal fruit and vegetable markets. The 
milk trade in Barcelona was collectivised 
which saw over 70 unhygienic pasteurising 
plants closed down. Every where supply 
committees were set up. All of this made the 
middle classes very unhappy. To them, with 
their notions of becoming bigger bosses, the 
revolution was a step back.

   Again equalisation funds were established 
to help out the poorer collectives Indeed 
there were many problems. Many markets were 
cut off in the fascist zone and some foreign 
markets were also temporarily lost. Raw 
materials were short as sources of supply were 
cut off. and when they could be obtained funds 
were held back by the central government. This 
was one short-coming of the collectivisation. 

 The banks had not been seized and the gold 
reserve already referred to stayed in the 
hands of the government.  (The CNT did hatch a 
plan to seize it but backed down  at the last 
moment).

Despite all this production was increased and 
living standards for many working class people 
improved.  In October 1936 the government was 
forced to recognise the collectivisation by 
passing a decree that recognised the fait 
accompli.  It was also an attempt to control 
future collectivisation.

SOCIAL REVOLUTION

This is only a very brief look at the 
collectivisation that happened.  In keeping 
with anarchist beliefs the revolution did not 
stop there.  For the first time in Spain many 
workers had the benefit of a health service - 
organised by the CNT Federation of Health 
Workers.  The Federation consisted of 40,000 
health workers - nurses, doctors, 
administrators and orderlies.  Once again the 
major success was in Catalonia where it 
ensured that all of the 2.5 million 
inhabitants had adequate health care.

Not only were traditional services provided 
but victims of the Civil War were also 
treated.  A programme of preventive medicine 
was also established based on local community 
health centres.  At their 1937 Congress these 
workers developed a health plan for a future 
anarchist Spain which could have been 
implemented if the revolution had been 
successful.

The role of women also changed.  Many gains 
were made by them.  In relation to their role 
during the Civil war observers have pointed 
out that they played a full part in the anti-
fascist resistance.  They were present 
everywhere - on committees, in the militias, 
in the front line.  In the early battles of 
the war women fought alongside the men as a 
matter of course.  It was not merely a case of 
women filling in for men who were away at the 
front.  (Which is usually the case in wartime.  
When the war is over and women are no longer 
needed in the labour force, they are pushed 
back into the home).

They were in the militias and fought alongside 
the men as equals.  They were organising the 
collectives and taking up the fight against 
the sexist attitudes of the past which have no 
place in any real revolution.

The Anarchist women's organisation, Mujeres 
Libres (Free Women), had 30,000 members.  It 
had been active before the Civil War 
organising women workers and distributing 
information on contraception.  During the war 
abortion was legalised in the 'republican 
zone'.  Centres were opened for women, 
including unmarried mothers and prostitutes.

>From all accounts there truly were changes in 
attitudes to women.  One woman participant in 
the Civil War has said "it was like being 
brothers and sisters.  It had always annoyed 
me that men in this country didn't consider 
women as beings with human rights.  But now 
there was this big change.  I believe it arose 
spontaneously out of the revolutionary 
movement..." Margorita Balaguer quoted in 
Blood of Spain ed.  Ronald Fraser, page 287.

Everywhere change was apparent.  The whole 
character of Barcelona changed. Posh 
restaurants no longer existed.  Collective 
eating houses took their place.  A spirit of 
comradeship was in the air.

Everywhere councils of workers and peasants 
had taken over administration. The Defence 
Council of Aragon was one of the highest 
expressions of this.  It ran the province and 
co-ordinated the work of the collectives and 
militias.  All the anti-fascist forces were 
represented on it but the anarchists were in 
the majority.  In Catalonia a Central 
Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias was set up 
on July 21st. Of its fifteen members five were 
anarchists, three were UGT, POUM had one, the 
Communist Party had one and the republicans 
had four.  Although the anarchists were 
supreme in this province they hoped by sharing 
power that similar committees would be formed 
where the CNT was weaker.

This was the situation in 1936.  Although the 
Popular Front government still existed it had 
no power.  It was shorn of the repressive 
organs of the state.  Power was split into 
countless fragments and scattered in a 
thousand towns and villages among the 
revolutionary committees that had taken 
control of the land and factories, means of 
transport and communication, the police and 
the army.  The military, economic and 
political struggle was proceeding 
independently of the government, and, indeed, 
in spite of it.

Such a situation is known as one of "dual 
power".  The power of the government was too 
weak to challenge the power of the workers and 
peasants.  And that power was not conscious 
enough of the need to dispense with the 
existence of the government.  Failure to do 
this allowed it to restore its authority and 
become master of the situation.  In trying to 
understand how this happened it is necessary 
to look at the role of the Communist Party and 
that of the CNT leadership.


Chapter 3
    THE COUNTER REVOLUTION

The behaviour of the Spanish Communist Party 
and the United Socialist Party of a Catalonia 
(PSUC) had more to do with what was in the 
best interests of Stalin than what was in the 
best interests of the Spanish working class.  
They went out of their way to deny that a 
revolution had taken place.  Then they did all 
they could to repress this revolution they 
pretended had not happened.  As far as they 
were concerned the Civil War was only about 
restoring democracy to Spain.  To see why they 
took this attitude we have to look outside 
Spain.

STALIN

Stalin believed that above all else 
"socialism" in the USSR had to be defended.  
The interests of the European (and indeed the 
world) working class had to take second place 
to the strategic interests of the ruling 
bureaucracy in Russia.  And they felt very 
threatened in the 1930s.  Hitler had come to 
power in 1933 and despite the fact that Stalin 
was seeking no quarrel with Germany (three 
months after the nazi take-over Stalin had 
signed an extension to the 1926 German-Soviet 
Pact) relations between the two countries soon 
cooled.

Stalin's fear was that the British and French 
would do a deal with Hitler and thus leave 
Russia open to attack.  He believed they would 
be content to sit back and watch Germany and 
Russia slog it out.  When both had exhausted 
themselves Britain and France would move in as 
masters of Europe.

Because of this Stalin signed a Mutual 
Assistance Pact with France in 1935. There was 
no commitment to mutual military assistance in 
this.  For the French it was a way of removing 
any remaining links between Germany and Russia 
while at the same time getting the French 
Communist Party to drop its opposition to 
their government's defence programme.

So to prevent the British and French settling 
their differences with Hitler at the expense 
of the Soviets, in order to guarantee that the 
Franco-Soviet Pact would not fall by the 
wayside and in order to conclude similar pacts 
with the governments of other countries, 
notably Britain, it was essential that 
governments hostile to German aims in Eastern 
Europe should be brought to power.  It was to 
this end that the Popular Front line was 
adopted at the 7th World Congress of the 
Comintern in August 1935.  This body, also 
known as the Third International, collected 
together all the Communist Parties under 
Russian leadership.

POPULAR FRONTS

The immediate aim of this policy was to bring 
the middle classes and sections of the bosses 
into a wide anti-fascist peoples front.  To do 
this Communist Parties were to play down 
revolutionary politics.  This was to be a 
struggle to preserve bourgeois democracy; and 
to attract middle class republican and liberal 
parties extreme positions were never adopted.

The Popular Front policy was quite successful.  
Early in 1936 Popular Front governments were 
elected in France and Spain.  The programmes 
of these governments were very moderate.  In 
Spain a socialist proposal that the land be 
nationalised was dropped because of republican 
opposition.  There the Popular Front consisted 
of the Republican Party, the Republican Union, 
the Socialist Party, the POUM, the Syndicalist 
Party, Basque and Catalan nationalists (who 
saw their autonomy under threat from the 
right) and of course the Communist Party.

When the Civil War broke out Stalin's 
instructions were clear.  All of the 
Communists' efforts were to be directed to one 
end - winning the support of Britain and 
France and persuading them to drop their 
neutrality.  A non-intervention agreement had 
been signed in August 1936 with the hope of 
preventing the extension of the conflict.  
Stalin believed that if Britain and France 
were to drop this policy the Civil War could 
ultimately develop into a much larger conflict 
(Germany and Italy were already giving 
military aid to the fascists).  This conflict, 
from which Russia would remain aloof would 
bring the warring parties to the point of 
mutual exhaustion and the Russian bosses would 
then emerge as the new masters of Europe.  
Thus the revolutionary aspects of the Civil 
War were to be denied and, the struggle was to 
be portrayed (and was to become), a struggle 
that- went no further than basic democratic 
demands.  Initially the Stalinists had felt a 
need to talk of making a revolution after the 
fascists were defeated.  Even this empty talk 
soon stopped.

Of course the Stalinist (and Leninist) 
Conception of socialism, is quite different 
from that of the anarchists.  It is central to 
anarchism that the masses take control and run 
society through a system of councils.  For the 
Stalinists socialism entails nationalising 
everything and turning over the running of 
society to the State, which will be dominated 
by the Party.  Control passes into the hands 
of professionals, technicians and bureaucrats 
who begin to develop their own class 
interests.  Even if the Stalinists had decided 
to fight for 'socialism' they would still have 
had to undermine the anarchists.

This policy of wooing the British and French 
ruling classes was from the beginning doomed 
to failure - not only because of their 
military unpreparedness but because of their 
belief that if they became involved at this 
stage in a war with Hitler, both they and the 
Nazis would be weakened and thus the position 
of Russia would be enhanced.  At all times 
right up to the outbreak of W.W.II the British 
sought to come to terms with Hitler which 
would leave him free to attack Russia in the 
East.

NAVY

The activities of the Navy, which had remained 
loyal to the Republic, were severely curtailed 
so as not to upset Anglo-French interests in 
the Straight of Gibraltar. The navy had been 
very successful in harassing Franco's base in 
Morocco but their activities were halted to 
keep the two foreign powers happy.  In line 
with this the Republican government refused to 
give Morocco its independence and thus deprive 
Franco of his base - To do this would have 
upset British and French colonial interests in 
North Africa.  The example of Spanish Morocco 
could have given other subject nations ideas.  
Indeed at one stage the government offered to 
give Britain and France interests in Spanish 
Morocco in exchange for their intervention.

The revolution that had broken out was of 
supreme embarrassment to the Communists.  
Whatever chance they had of winning over 
Britain and France was lessened by the fact 
that a social revolution had started.  There 
was no way the British and French governments 
would intervene on the side of 
revolutionaries.  Thus the revolution was to 
be hidden and eventually suppressed.  The 
power of the collectives and militias was to 
be smashed.

At the outbreak of the Civil War there were 
40,000 members of the Spanish Communist Party.  
The question naturally arises as to how such a 
small organisation could so decisively 
influence the course of events and in time 
become the dominant group in the Popular Front 
camp.

In building their Party the Communists placed 
a lot of emphasis on Catalonia as this was the 
heartland of the revolution.  The 
collectivisation movement seriously upset the 
middle classes.  Small businesses were closed 
and everywhere 'middle-men' found their role 
abolished as the workers committees took over 
distribution.  The middle classes would have 
turned to their traditional parties but viewed 
them as incapable of stemming the 
collectivisation movement.  The Communist 
Party seemed the only party serious about 
protecting their property or getting it back 
from the workers.  One former Communist 
commented "In Murcia and elsewhere I saw that 
our placards and leaflets appealed for 
shopkeepers' membership with the promise of 
absolute support for private property".

LEAPS AND BOUNDS

Membership of the Communist Party grew in 
leaps and bounds.  Within a few months of the 
outbreak of the war  76,700 peasant 
proprietors and tenant farmers along with 
15,485 members of the urban middle classes had 
joined up.  Its influence among these layers 
went far beyond these figures as thousands of 
members of the intermediate classes, without 
actually joining the Party, placed themselves 
under its wing.  As a means of protecting the 
interests of the urban middle classes in 
Catalonia the Communists organised 18,000 
tradesmen, handicraftmen and small 
manufacturers into an organisation called the 
C.E.P.C.I Solidaridad Obrero (Workers 
Solidarity) the paper of the CNT commented 
that some of those in this body were 
"intransigent employers, ferociously anti-
labour".  By March 1937 the Communist Party 
had 250,000 members.

Other measures were also taken to extend its 
influence - Only four days after the military 
uprising, the Communists merged with the 
Catalan Socialists to form the PSUC.  The 
local UGT came under PSUC dominion.  Leading 
members of both the Socialist Party and the 
UGT in other areas defected to the Communists, 
some secretly.  Many members of the Socialist 
Party could see little difference between 
their line and that of the Communists winning 
the war came before the revolution, 
conciliatory attitudes towards foreign powers, 
etc. - But because the Communists had the 
stronger Party apparatus (reinforced as it was 
by Moscow) it was able to recruit at the 
expense of the Socialists.  Many joined 
because of its "proselytising zeal, immensely 
skillful propaganda, its vigour, its 
organising capacity and the prestige it 
derived from Soviet arms".

The Communists gained control of the JSU 
(United Socialist Youth).  This grouping 
resulted from a merger of the Communists and 
Socialist youth organisations. It had 50,000 
members and was formed shortly before the war 
began.  Most of the leading members of the 
Socialist Youth defected to the Communists 
with the merger and thus ensured Communist 
control of the new organisation.

It would be wrong to suggest that the counter- 
revolution that came was only as a result of 
the line and activities of the Communists.  
The Republicans and Socialists agreed with 
them.  The Republicans, who lacked any real 
base among the masses, retired to the 
background and ceded to the Communists the 
delicate job of opposing the social revolution 
and defending the middle classes.  Even Largo 
Caballero, who became Prime Minister in 
August, the one time left wing Socialist and 
leader of the UGT, declared on forming the 
government that it was "necessary to sacrifice 
revolutionary language to win the friendship 
of the democratic powers" and the "Spanish 
government is not fighting for socialism but 
for democracy and constitutional rule".  
Although Caballero did not go all the way with 
the Communists there were many in his party, 
even his closest allies, who worked for the 
Communist line against the social revolution.

It must also be stated that the participation 
of members of the CNT in the government helped 
the growing counter-revolution.  They entered 
the Catalan government in September (it must 
be remembered that Catalonia was semi-
autonomous) and the national government in 
November 1936.  This will be dealt with in 
more detail in the final chapter, suffice to 
say their participation lent the government a 
certain credibility with the masses.  The key 
element in proving to the world that the fight 
in Spain was simply to restore democracy, to 
rebuild the shattered state machine and return 
to the government the authority and power that 
was in the hands of the armed workers.  CNT 
participation served to put a check on the 
masses and make them believe they had a stake 
in the government and should defend it.

RUSSIAN ARMS

The point about the Communist Party is that 
they directed the counter-revolution. They 
called the shots.  They were the only people 
who were clear about the 'necessity' for the 
counter-revolution and had the determination 
to carry it through. Their ability to do this 
was derived from the prestige that came with 
the fact that Russia was the only country 
supplying major quantities of arms to the 
Republic. (Mexico was the only other country 
to help, supplying a small quantity).  The 
Russians not only supplied arms but also 
military advisors and technicians who 
gradually took over the running of the war.

Stalinists will tell you that Russia provided 
arms right from the beginning.  This is a lie 
- Stalin at first agreed to the non-
intervention pact for fear of antagonising the 
West.  The first arms did not arrive until 
October and then it was out of fear that 
German and Italian arms would give a decisive 
edge to the fascists.  Aid was given "covertly 
and in order to limit the possibility of 
involving Russia in a war" (Krivitsky In 
Stalin's Secret Service p.  81 - Krivitsky was 
Stalin's Chief of Intelligence in Western 
Europe).  Because of this fear of involvement 
in war with Germany and Italy, aid was limited 
to bolstering the resistance until such time 
as Britain and France might intervene.  This 
aid had to be paid for - the Spanish gold 
reserve was moved to Moscow.

The Communists knew that if a far reaching 
counter-revolution was to be enforced the 
State, with their support, would have to 
regain control of the army and the police.  
There was no point in telling workers to drop 
collectivisation and give up their arms if 
this order could not be imposed.  All States 
rest on this use of force and that is why a 
successful revolution can only be made when 
the people are armed.

Because of Soviet aid it was easy for the 
Communists to gain control of the armed 
forces.  It was not because of the amount of 
arms sent but the fact that the Soviets were 
the major purveyors of war materials.  The 
Navy and Air Minister, Prieto, often made fun 
of his office declaring that he "was neither a 
Minister or anything else because he received 
no obedience from the air force.  The real Air 
Minister was the Russian General Duglas".

MILITARISATION

Because of this control of arms the 
Communists, supported by the others, enforced 
militarisation.  The militia system was broken 
up.  A regular army was rebuilt with officers, 
regimentation, saluting and differential rates 
of pay.  The militias who refused to come 
under the command of the War Ministry (and 
many CNT and POUM militias did refuse) were 
starved of arms.  They were left with no 
choice.

The new army was built under Communist 
control.  They knew that without control of 
the army they could not hope to control the 
anti-fascist camp.  Because the Fifth Regiment 
(the major Stalinist controlled unit) took a 
lead in disbanding, the Communists gained 
control of five of the six brigades of the new 
army.  They also gained control of the General 
Commissariat of War which was set up for the 
purpose of exercising political control of the 
army through the medium of political 
commissars.  As most of these were Stalinists 
they controlled the flow of political papers 
to the front.  Invariably the anarchist papers 
were held up.  All the soldiers read were the 
lies of the Communist Party.

Not only the army was rebuilt but also the 
police, especially the hated Civil Guards who 
had been a bulwark of repression against the 
CNT.  They were now to be called the National 
Republican Guard.  The Assault Guards were re-
established and had 28,000 recruits by the 
beginning of December.  The Carabineros, who 
were the border police in charge of customs 
and under the control of Minister of Finance 
Negrin (a known Communist sympathiser) grew to 
40,000 members.  Before the War there were 
only 16000 of them and that was in the whole 
of Spain.  Negrin's under- secretary made it 
clear what their role was "You are the 
guardians of the state and those visionaries 
who believe that a chaotic situation of social 
indiscipline and licentiousness is permissible 
are utterly mistaken because the army of the 
people, as well as you Carabineros, will know 
how to prevent it".

The state was giving itself a monopoly of 
force.  The workers' patrols which had sprung 
up in July were disbanded.  Workers were 
ordered to hand in their arms and those who 
declined to do so were considered 'fascists'.  
It was said that these arms were needed at the 
front.  While it is true that arms were needed 
at the front this argument was only put 
forward as a means of disarming revolutionary 
workers. There were plenty of arms under the 
control of the police.  George Orwell observed 
after the May Days in Barcelona "the 
Anarchists were well aware that even if they 
surrendered their arms, the PSUC would retain 
theirs, and this is in fact what happened 
after the fighting was over.  Meanwhile 
actually visible on the streets, there were 
quantities of arms which would have been very 
welcome at the front, but which were being 
retained for the 'non-political' police forces 
in the rear".  (Homage to Catalonia p.151).

The counter-revolution now moved against the 
Collectives.  On January 7th 1937 the 
dissolution of the workers supply committees 
was declared.  Distribution of food was handed 
over to the G.E.P.C.I.  This led to shortages 
and hoarding to inflate prices.  For the first 
time in the war Barcelona experienced hunger 
yet there was plenty of food.  The collectives 
were blamed but it was well known that if you 
joined the PSUC you could be guaranteed food.

NATIONALISATION

Credit was withheld from those workplaces who 
refused to come under government control.  As 
said earlier the banks had not been taken over 
so the government had a huge lever against the 
workers.  Nationalisation of major industries 
was declared thus bringing them under 
government control.  They claimed this was 
necessary for the war effort.  They claimed 
the collectives were inefficient and that each 
workplace was only concerned with its own 
profits.  It cannot be denied there were 
problems with some better off collectives.  
But the CNT was aiming at co-ordination 
through socialisation under the control of the 
workers.  To do this all private ownership of 
the means of production would have to end.  Of 
course the Communists would not allow this as 
it threatened their cherished middle classes.

On the land collectivisation was allowed only 
for the lands of fascists, the estates of 
those who supported the Republic were to be 
handed back.  How far the Communists were 
prepared to go was illustrated by the invasion 
of Aragon.  The Defence Council of Aragon was 
declared illegal in August 1937.  This 
declaration was followed by the invasion led 
by General Lister's (a PSUC member) 11th 
Division.  According to the CNT the land, farm 
implements, cattle and horses which had been 
confiscated from supporters of the right wing 
were returned to their former owners.

In some villages farms were deprived of the 
seed needed for sowing while 600 CNT members 
were arrested.  In all, 30% of the collectives 
were destroyed and the sowing of crops was 
disrupted.  As can be imagined nothing but 
hatred, resentment and disillusionment 
resulted from this invasion and the repression 
that followed.  The peasants began to wonder 
what they were fighting for.  The resultant 
disillusionment no doubt contributed to the 
collapse of the front a few months later.  
Similar attacks were made on the collectives 
in Levant and Castille.

*** picture captioned "Enrique Lister, the 
Moscow trained organiser of the Fifth 
Regiment" ***

This showed how far the 'socialists' of the 
Communist Party were prepared to go to follow 
Stalin's instructions.  A more sinister aspect 
of this was the existence in Spain of prisons 
belonging to the Soviet secret police, the GPU 
(forerunners of the KGB).  Their existence has 
been established beyond all doubt.  In 
December 1936 Pravda declared "As for,  
Catalonia, the purging of the Trotskyists and 
the Anarcho-Syndicalists has begun, it will be 
conducted with the same energy with which it 
was conducted in the USSR".

Here is what Krivitsky had to say about the 
activities of the GPU in Spain, the decision 
to establish it having been taken at an 
emergency conference in Moscow on September 
14th.  "The GPU had its own special prisons.  
Its units carried out assassinations and 
kidnappings.  It killed in hidden dungeons and 
made flying raids. The Ministry of Justice had 
no authority over the GPU.  It was a power 
before which even some of the highest officers 
in the Cabellero government trembled.  The 
Soviet Union seemed to have a grip on loyalist 
Spain, as if it was already a Soviet 
possession".  (In Stalin's Secret Service p. 
102).

The aim was to eliminate revolutionaries.  
Anybody who dared to speak out against what 
they were doing could be the next to suffer.  
Nin, the leader of the POUM, was murdered by 
the GPU as was Camillo Berneri, an Italian 
anarchist who was critical of the CNT 
leadership.  He published a paper, Guerra di 
Classe, which argued for a revolutionary war 
against fascism.  He was murdered by so called 
'socialists' for his principled revolutionary 
position.  In July 1937 60 members of the CNT 
`disappeared', a term used then as now for 
those killed by the secret police, though 
today it applies to the dictatorships of Latin 
America.

TWO ROADS

Thus two mutually exclusive ways of fighting 
fascism emerged.  Firstly you could view it as 
the Stalinists and their supporters did.  Go 
out of your way to placate the bosses in 
England and France and hope against hope they 
would intervene.  So fight it as a Civil War a 
war over who were the legitimate rulers of 
Spain.  Relegate politics to a secondary role.  
Put revolutionary politics on the back burner.  
Tie up thousands of arms in the rear 
repressing the workers' movement.  Smash 
collectivisation and sacrifice the gains of 
the workers and peasants to the international 
interests of Stalin.

Opposed to this was the view that a 
revolutionary war should be fought.  Make 
revolutionary politics your central weapon.  
Give the land and factories to those who work 
them.  Make propaganda behind the fascist 
lines.  Give the peasants a real reason to 
fight Franco.  Make it clear that 
collectivisation would benefit them.  As it 
was many lived in fear of the Stalinists 
smashing their collectives.  Giving the land 
to the peasants and making that a central 
plank of the fight would have deprived Franco 
of many soldiers who were the sons and 
daughters of peasants.

Give freedom to Morocco.  Organising an 
uprising there against Franco would have 
deprived him of a central source of supplies 
and arms.  Appeal directly to the European 
working class (whose governments had no 
interests in supporting -the Spanish 
Revolution. Appeal to the French workers, who 
in 1937 were entering the second year of an 
upsurge which had begun with mass strikes the 
previous year. Their action could have 
prevented intervention against the revolution 
by France, and indeed Britain.

Seize the gold reserves and expropriate the 
banks.  Use this money to buy arms and make 
sure arms went to the fronts where they were 
needed. These were the sort of things that 
should have been done.  They were no guarantee 
of victory but could have lit a spark which 
could have ignited right throughout Europe and 
broken the isolation of the Spanish 
Revolution.  It could have marked a turning 
point for the whole of Europe.  Instead Spain 
was to be yet another victim of fascism - and 
the Civil War a prelude to a bloody world war. 
The Popular Front could not have carried out 
these actions because it was based on an 
alliance of classes.  The workers needed to 
take complete control.  This was possible, 
especially in Catalonia where a regional 
congress of workers councils should have been 
called to establish a Workers Republic.  This 
example would have been followed throughout 
Spain and a revolutionary war could then have 
been fought. Not a war to put the Communists, 
Socialists and Republicans back in government 
but a war to liberate the toiling masses.

But the working class did not take power.  The 
CNT, which was in a central position to do 
this, refused.  It opted for collaboration and 
supported decree after decree undermining the 
revolution.  Objectively the leaders of the 
CNT and FAT became counter-revolutionary.  In 
a dual power situation either the workers 
overthrow the ruling class and take power or 
the ruling class regains control.  There is no 
middle way.  The CNT in collaborating could go 
only one way.  Revolutions cannot be half 
made.  The working class must assert itself or 
the revolution is doomed.  So why didn't the 
anarchists take power?  We will now turn to 
this.

Chapter 4   A Fresh Revolution

As said earlier Anarchists are against the 
state - all states, whether they be liberal 
democratic, monarchist or totalitarian.  
Anarchists view the state (the standing army, 
police, government, bureaucracy) as the organ 
through which the ruling class maintains its 
control over the majority of the population.  
Central to anarchism is the belief that the 
state must be smashed and replaced by a system 
based on workers' and community councils.  
Delegates from each workplace and community 
would go to regional councils which would then 
send delegates to a national and, eventually, 
international council.  Delegates would be 
clearly mandated and all major decisions would 
be made at assemblies of workers.

Often these councils spring up spontaneously 
or as organs of defence like the Soviets 
during the Russian revolution.  Initially they 
started out as strike committees but quickly 
developed into bodies on which the new society 
could be built. This idea is central to 
anarchism.  A free society cannot be built on 
the old structures, new ones have to be built 
through which the producers can be directly 
represented. Revolutions do not happen through 
parliaments or governments, or trying to take 
over the already existing state machine.

The councils and collectives that emerged 
during the Civil War, were the organs on which 
the revolution could have been built.  But 
they needed to be brought together at a 
regional and national level so the power of 
the workers and peasants could assert itself 
and push the regional and central governments 
aside.  This would have meant refusing to 
share power with the remaining elements of the 
ruling class, it would have been a major step 
in making the revolution complete.

C.N.T.

The CNT refused to do this.  After July 9th 
its leaders in Catalonia were called into the 
office of Companys, the Prime Minister of 
Catalonia.  Basically he told them they were 
in control of the region and he would be their 
faithful servant if they took over. They 
refused.  Instead they called for the 
formation of the Central Committee of Anti-
Fascist Militias.  This was the first step in 
collaboration.  All parties including 
Republicans were represented on this body.  It 
existed side by side with the Catalan 
government.  The Central Committee was 
displaced in September I 936 when the CNT 
entered that government.  In November four 
members of the CNT entered the national 
government in Madrid.  Two of them were also 
in the FAI.

This is a far cry from what was stated in the 
CNT-FAI Information Bulletin of September 
1936.  In an article entitled The Futility of 
Government it said that the expropriations 
that were taking place would lead ipso facto 
to the "liquidation of the bourgeois state 
which would die of asphyxiation".  Their 
members were now joining the government of 
this very same state.

A number of reasons were put forward for this.  
Essentially they amounted to swallowing the 
argument about Britain and France.  It was 
said that if a social revolution was made it 
would be crushed and no arms would be 
forthcoming from the western powers (they 
never came anyway!).  They had decided that 
winning the war and making the revolution were 
two different things and that winning the war 
came first.  That meant collaborating in the 
broad anti-fascist front "...  in order to win 
the war and save our people and the world,  it 
(the CNT) is ready to collaborate with anyone 
in a directive organ, whether this organ be 
called a council or a government" (CNT, paper 
of the CNT in the Madrid region, October 23rd 
1936.)

Another reason put forward was that by 
entering the government they could consolidate 
the gains that had been made.  They could 
"regulate the political life of Spain by 
giving legal validity to the revolutionary 
committees" (Juan Lopez, Anarchist Minister of 
Commerce).  There was even an argument put 
around that entry into government was only for 
international consumption, the revolution 
would still go on under the veil of legal 
government.

For these reasons anti-fascist unity was 
maintained and anything that threatened to 
split this unity was repressed.  The 
government knew it was very useful to have CNT 
representation, it was an additional means of 
controlling the masses.  However it must be 
pointed out that the decision to enter the 
government was taken by the National Committee 
without any consultation with the rank and 
file membership. This was a real break from 
tradition, the necessity of acting with a 
minimum of delay was the reason given by the 
leadership.

MAY DAYS

The role of the CNT played in government was 
clearly illustrated by what became known as 
the May Days.  On May 3rd 1937, three lorry 
loads of police led by the Stalinist Salas, 
Commissar of Public Order, attempted to take 
over the telephone exchange in Barcelona which 
had been controlled by a joint CNT-UGT 
committee since the outbreak of the war.  The 
aim of this was to wrest control of the 
building from the workers and to remove 
control of the telephone system from them.  
The telephonists had been able to keep tabs on 
what was going on by listening in on the calls 
of government ministers.  It was also the 
beginning of an effort by the government to 
occupy strategic points in the city in 
preparation for an all-out attack.

The police captured the first floor because of 
the surprise nature of their attack but got no 
further.  Firing started.  Word spread like 
wildfire and within hours the local defence 
committees of the CNT-FAI went into action 
arming themselves and building barricades.  
The POUM supported them and soon the workers 
were in control of most of the city.  The 
government had control of only the central 
area, which could very easily have been taken.

In other areas of Catalonia action was also 
taken.  Civil Guards were disarmed and offices 
of the PSUC were seized as a "preventive 
measure".  There was no firing on the first 
night and by the second day the workers were 
spreading the barricades further into the 
suburbs.  Also involved were the Libertarian 
Youth (FIJL).  Being in control the workers 
could have taken over but an order from Casa 
CNT (the H.Q.) forbade all action and ordered 
workers to leave the barricades.

The leaders of the CNT entered into 
negotiations with the government, which had 
the effect of giving the government forces 
more time to fortify buildings and to occupy 
the Cathedral towers.  All day Tuesday (May 
4th) the Regional Committee of the CNT 
appealed again and again over loudspeakers for 
the barricades to be dismantled and for a 
return to work.  As these appeals were made 
negotiations went on and appeals came into 
Casa CNT from other workers centres who were 
now coming under attack.  The CNT government 
ministers were recalled from Valencia (where 
the central government was now situated) to 
make further appeals to the workers.

The negotiations which went on, led to nothing 
as regards control of the telephone phone 
exchange.  The workers were ordered off the 
barricades and unfortunately they went.  On 
Thursday (May 6th) the building was vacated 
and the PSUC took it over.  On the same day 
the railway station was taken over by the 
PSUC.  The CNT had also controlled that.  This 
happened throughout Catalonia.

On Friday 5,000 Assault Guards arrived from 
Valencia.  The repression that followed was 
severe.  The May days left 500 dead and 1,100 
wounded.  Hundreds more were killed during the 
"mopping up " of the next few weeks.

It was in May that control over public order 
in Catalonia passed to Valencia and in effect 
Catalan autonomy ceased to exist.  After May 
the CNT ministers along with Cabellero were 
disposed of.  The new government was clearly 
under Stalinist control.  The CNT ministers 
had served their function and were no longer 
necessary. The counter-revolution broke out in 
earnest after May with decree after decree 
undermining the revolutionary committees.  
This was now possible as the backbone of the 
revolution - the Catalan workers had been 
crushed.

FRIENDS OF DURRUTI

During the May Days an alternative to the 
policies of the CNT National Committee emerged 
in the form of the Friends of Durruti (FoD).  
This group, formed in March 1937, consisted of 
CNT militants opposed to the policy of 
militarising the militias. They took the name 
of Durruti who had led the Aragon militias and 
had defended the social revolution to the 
hilt.  When it was suggested to him that the 
CNT should enter the government to legalise 
the gains of the revolution, he responded 
"When the workers expropriate the bourgeoisie, 
when one attacks foreign property, when public 
order is in the hands of the workers, when the 
militia is controlled by the unions, when, in 
fact, one is in the process of making a 
revolution from the bottom up, how is it 
possible to give this a legal basis?".

In March Jaime Balius, one of the leading 
militants of the FoD, had said that "We 
anarchists have arrived at the limits of our 
concessions...  not another step back.  It is 
the hour of action.  Save the revolution.  If 
we continue to give up our position there is 
no doubt that in a short time we shall be 
overwhelmed.  It is for this fundamental 
reason that it is necessary to develop a new 
orientation in our movement".

By this new direction was meant an end to a-
political anarchism.  "To beat Franco -we need 
to crush the bourgeoisie and its Stalinist and 
Socialist allies.  The capitalist state must 
be destroyed totally and there must be 
installed workers' power depending on rank and 
file workers' committees.  A political 
anarchism has failed".  During the May Days 
they called for the setting up of a 
Revolutionary Junta.  They called for the 
disarming of the police, the socialisation of 
the economy, the dissolving of the political 
parties that had turned against the working 
class.  In effect they called for workers' 
power.  They called on the workers to stay at 
the barricades until they had control of 
Catalonia.  On Tuesday May 6th the Regional 
Committee of the CNT issued a statement 
disowning the FoD as 'agents provocateurs'.  
The same day the FoD containing a blistering 
attack on the CNT leadership and saying a 
revolutionary opportunity had been wasted.  
The FoD were expelled from the CNT at the end 
of May.  Their offices were taken over by the 
police and their organisation was outlawed.

*** FoD membership card **

 JUNTA You may be surprised by the idea of 
anarchists calling for a 'junta', but what was 
meant by it?  In their pamphlet Towards a 
Fresh Revolution issued in mid-1938, the FoD 
explained what the junta would be.  They 
described it as a slight variation in 
anarchism.  "The body will be organised as 
follows: members of the revolutionary Junta 
will be elected by democratic vote in the 
union organisations.  Account is to be taken 
of the number of comrades away at the front.  
These comrades must have a right to 
representation.  Posts are to come for re-
election so as to prevent anyone growing 
attached to them.  And the trade union 
assemblies will exercise control over the 
junta's activities."

These were no self-appointed group of leaders, 
but a democratic organ through which workers 
could run society and complete the revolution.  
There was no representation for non-working 
class organisations or political parties.  
This was a far cry from Lenin's idea of the 
dictatorship of the proletariat (read Party) 
which had such disastrous consequences in 
Russia.

The FoD was a break with the traditional a-
politicism of the CNT.  They recognised that 
state power would not just disappear but would 
have to be smashed and replaced with the power 
of workers' councils.  They accepted that 
revolutions were totalitarian in so far as 
"What happens is that the various aspects of 
the revolution are progressively dealt with, 
but with the proviso that the class which 
represents the new order of things is the one 
with the most responsibility."

They understood the defects of syndicalism.  
Nothing can be taken away from the militancy 
of the CNT.  The rank and file literally tore 
down capitalism and put workers' and peasants' 
collectives in its place.  They fought 
heroically in the militias and the members of 
the CNT surpassed all others with their 
bravery.

But because of the CNT's a-politicism after 
the factories and lands had been sleazed they 
did not know what to do next.  For them the 
state should have died a 'natural death'.  But 
it didn't.  Although the CNT had great ideas 
of what the anarchist future would look like 
and on the need for the working class itself 
to make the revolution, it could not make a 
link between the revolutionary situation and 
the goal of libertarian communism.  As the FoD 
stated "We (CNT) did not have a concrete 
programme.  We had no idea where we were 
going.  We had lyricism aplenty but when all 
is said and done we did not know what to do 
with our masses of workers or how to give 
effect to the popular elffusion".  They held 
that the CNT ought to have "leapt into the 
driver's seat in the country, delivering a 
severe coup de grace to all that is outmoded 
and archaic".

The CNT did not understand this.  They posed 
the question as one of democratic 
collaboration - or an 'anarchist 
dictatorship'.  Garcia Oliver, one of the CNT 
Ministers and an FAI member, said "The CNT and 
FAI decided on collaboration and democracy, 
renouncing revolutionary totalitarianism which 
would lead to the strangulation of the 
revolution by the anarchist and confederal 
dictatorship".  They were afraid of taking the 
reins.  But it was not a question of imposing 
an `anarchist dictatorship' but of creating 
new organs through which the revolutionary 
masses could assert their power.  Syndicalism 
could not see this as it believes the unions 
(i.e.  the CNT) are the bodies upon which the 
new society would be built.

Because the state did not die the CNT felt 
they had to participate in it to have some 
control.  They ended up concluding this was 
the only way they could have some say.  They 
went even further and some of the drivel they 
came out with was a direct result of their 
need to justify their participation.  Take for 
example "At the present time, the government, 
as the instrument that controls the organs of 
the state no longer represents a body that 
divides society into classes.  And both will 
oppress the people even less now that members 
of the CNT have intervened".  (Solidaridad 
Obrero, November 4th 1936).

ALTERNATIVE

The FoD was an expression of opposition to 
this kind of thought.  Not only in their 
paper, The Friends of the People, but in 
countless local publications of the CNT, and 
indeed of the UGT, POUM and Libertarian Youth 
you can find such opposition.  However it must 
be said this was only given a clear expression 
when it was too late.  The FoD did not have 
enough time to win the masses to their 
position.  They understood the need for a 
regroupment to take on the leadership of the 
CNT.  "The vanguard i.e.  the revolutionary 
militants and Friends of Durruti, P0UM and the 
Youth must regroup to elaborate a programme of 
proletarian revolutionaries".

Here we see a recognition of the need for a 
revolutionary minority to organise itself to 
provide leadership to the masses.  Not a 'we 
know it all' leadership but a leadership of 
ideas.  An understanding of what has gone 
wrong and what needs to be done.  That the FoD 
did not set themselves up as "all-knowing 
leaders' is clear In their proposal for a 
Junta.

The Spanish Revolution does not negate 
anarchism.  If anything, long before Poland, 
Czechoslovakia or Hungary it showed the 
bankruptcy of Stalinism and the State 
Capitalism of Russia.  The activities of the 
Stalinists were far from what real socialists 
would have done.

On the other hand the anarchist masses threw 
themselves into a fight against fascism, and 
its cause, capitalism.  Unfortunately the 
revolution was not complete, the CNT leaders 
held it back.  Indeed their behaviour 
highlights the effect that power can have on 
even those who lay claim to anarchism.  Spain 
provided important lessons for anarchists.  It 
showed the inadequacy of syndicalism, the need 
for political anarchism and the need for an 
anarchist political organisation.  We have to 
understand that the state and political power 
does not 'die'; it has to be smashed.

Above all.  Spain showed what ordinary people 
can do given the right conditions. The next 
time somebody says workers are stupid and 
could not take over the running of society, 
point to Spain.  Show them what the workers 
and peasants (most of whom were illiterate) 
did.  Tell them Anarchism is possible.

***   Books and Pamphlets about 
        the Spanish revolution

Lessons of the Spanish revolution    
by Vernon Richards 
Collectives in the Spanish Revolution   
by Gaston Level 
The Anarchists in the Spanish revolution 
by Jose Peirats 
Durruti: The people armed   
by Abel Paz 
Towards a fresh revolution   
by the Friends of Durruti 
A chronology of the Friends of Durruti   
by Paul Sharkey

All these are available from the WSM 
bookservice, write for prices to   WSM PO Box 
1528, Dublin 8, Ireland.

Glossary CNT (Confederacion Nacional de 
Trabajo) - anarchist-Syndicalist trade union 
founded in 1911. The most militant and 
revolutionary union. Sought to organise all 
workers into one big union. Based itself on 
the ideas of anarchism and revolutionary 
syndicalism.

FAI (Federacion Anarquista Iberlca) - loose 
federation of anarchist groups in Spain and 
Portugal, formed in 1927. Primary purpose was 
to combat reformist tendencies in the CNT and 
maintain it's anarchist profile. Also acted as 
the 'armed wing' of the CNT at the time 
employers were hiring pistoleros to murder 
leading CNT members. In so far as the FAI had 
a theory about the role of a revolutionary 
organisation it was a belief that a minority 
could, by insurrection, light a spark that 
would inflame the masses for revolution. They 
organised risings in January 1932, January 
1933 and December 1933 all of which were 
unsuccessful.

FIJL (Federaction Iberica de Juventudes 
Libertarias) - anarchist youth organisation

Friends of Durruti - left opposition group 
within the CNT, FAI and FIJL founded in early 
1937. Was against CNT entry into government 
and argued for complete social revolution as 
the only way to defeat Franco. Named after the 
famous anarchist militia leader killed in 
November 1936.

Mujeres Libres - anarchist womens' 
organisation.

PCE (Partido Communista de Espana) - pro-
Russian Communist Party founded in 1921.

POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista) 
- anti-Stalinist Communist party formed in 
1935 with the joining together of a Trotskyist 
group and dissidents from the PCE. Contained 
many revolutionaries but was essentially a 
party that vacillated between reformism and 
revolution. The writer George Orwell fought in 
their militia.

PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol) - 
known as the 'Socialist Party'. A democratic 
party formed in 1879.

PUSC (Partilo Socialista Unificado de 
Cataluna) - the United Catalan Socialist 
Party. Formed in 1936 from a merger of 
Socialist and Communist groups. Affiliated to 
the Commintern and effectively the PCE in 
Catalonia.

Republican Party - party of the radical middle 
class founded in 1934.

Republican Union - a split from the government 
party of 1933-35.

UGT (Union General de Trabajadores) - trade 
union connected with the PSOE 

Chronology of Events

   1931
April   Republic proclaimed. Alfonso XIII goes 
into exile.
June   Election of Republican/Social 
Democratic government.

   1932
November   Right wing electoral victory, 
beginning of Bienno Negro.

   1934
October     United but isolated workers rising 
in Asturias crushed by
   the army.

   1935
June   7th Congress of the Commintern approves 
tactic of Popular
   Fronts. Formation of Popular Front proposed 
by PCE.

   1936
January     Popular Front pact signed by the 
Republicans, Socialists,
   Communists, UGT, POUM and the tiny 
Syndicalist Party.
February     Popular Front wins election.
April   Socialist and Communist youth 
organisations merge and
   become JSU under Stalinist control.
May   CNT Congress in Saragossa.
June   Popular Front government elected in 
France. French workers
   launch mass strikes and factory 
occupations.
July 17-20     Military uprising begins in 
Morocco. Start of the Civil War.
July 18     Barrio (Republican Union) becomes 
Prime Minister.
July 19     Barrio resigns. Jose Giral (left 
republican) becomes Prime
   Minister. Uprising defeated in Barcelona.
July 20     Uprising defeated in Madrid. 
Committee of Anti-Fascist
   Militias formed in Barcelona.
July 24     Catalan militia columns head for 
Aragon.
September 4     Fall of Giral government. 
Largo Caballero (Socialist Party)
   forms new government.
September 26    CNT joins Generalitat (Catalan 
government).
September 30    Decree militarising the 
militias, creation of Popular Army.
October 12     Arrival of first Russian aid.
November     CNT joins the central government.
November 6     Government flees Madrid for 
Valencia.
November 20    Durruti dies in the defence of 
Madrid.
December     Organisation of mixed brigades of 
the new Popular Army
December 17    POUM ousted from Generalitat 
government.
December 23    Popular support forces the 
government to recognise the Council    of 
Aragon.

   1937
February 5-24    Famous battle of Jarama where 
many Irish volunteers fall
   fighting against the Francoist encirclement 
of Madrid.
May 3-7     The MAY DAYS in Barcelona. 
Anarchists and POUM confronted        by 
Communist and government forces. Appearance of
   Friends of Durruti literature calling for a 
Revolutionary
   Junta of workers' delegates. Invasion of 
Catalonia by government    Assault Guards.
May 17     New government formed under Dr. 
Juan Negrin (a Socialist
   member but Communist sympathiser).
June 16     POUM outlawed and its leaders 
arrested.
August 10     Invasion of Aragon by government 
forces under General
   Lister. Council of Aragon dissolved and 
collectives smashed
   (This contributes to the collapse of the 
Aragon Front
   March 1938).

   1938
April 3     Franco forces reach Catalan 
border.
April 14     Republican zone cut in two by 
rebels.
July 24     Popular Army launches Ebro 
offensive.
November 26    End of Ebro battle with Popular 
Army having to retreat.

   1939
January 26   Fall of Barcelona.
February 5    Government politicians begin 
fleeing to France.
February 10     Conquest of Catalonia 
completed.
March 27   Fall of Madrid.
April 1     End of Civil War.

1st published 1986 
2nd edition 1993 
e-mail addition 1994

The printed version of this pamphlet is 
available wholesale on a
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WSM.  Write for details

Workers Solidarity Movement, P.O. Box 1528, 
Dublin 8.