HIST A390 Spanish Civil War PowerPoint

1. Anarchism in an Authoritarian Age
The Spanish Civil War 1936-39

2. Revolutionary syndicalism
• Federalism over centralization, insistence on local
autonomy
• Economic action over political
• Use of the General Strike as the supreme
revolutionary strategy
• Abolition of political state; replaced by a federal,
economic organization and new social organization
based on trade unions

3. Collective Action and Individual Gestures
• Syndicalist Movements: France Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) f.
1895; England Industrial Democracy League (IDL) f. 1913; Italy (USI or
Union Sindacale Italiana (USI) f. 1912
• Economic warfare to gain control of the workplace; "workers' control"
• Destruction of capitalism to establish workers' ownership and control of
the means of production
• Reject reformism of moderate trade unionism and socialist parties

4. Giuseppe Fanelli
(1827 – 1877)
Bakuninist
Anarchism and Spain: Some Men
Francisco Ferrer
(1859-1909)
Education
Isaac Puente
(1896-1936)
Anarcho-naturism

5. And Women!
Frederica Montseny speaks at the CNT in
Barcelona (1977), first one after 36 years
of Franco dictatorship
Lucía Sánchez Saornil,
leader of Mujeres Libres in 1933

6. Growth of Spanish Anarchism:
Nineteenth-Century Bakuninist Roots
Giuseppe Fanelli, Italian contemporary and colleague of Bakunin,
headed to Madrid and Barcelona and launched movement, formed
section of International
Spanish radicalism shaped more by Bakuninism than Marxism
Spanish middle-class attracted to Proudhon’s federalism
Landless farm workers, southern peasants, new urban workers
attracted to anarchist ideas. Links to countryside.
Agrarian society failing to modernize.
Landlord, state, and Catholic church as enemy
Monarchy relied on military to crush unrest

7. Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909)
• Established “Modern School” movement, focus on libertarian
education marked by militant atheism. Inspired by the works
of William Godwin. Non-violent.
• School enrollment small (33-50 students) but notorious
• Falsely arrested in 1906 and acquitted (assassination attempt
on king and queen)
• In 1909 during Semána Tragica (Week of Tragedy) became
scapegoat for revolutionary unrest in Barcelona, arrested,
tried without evidence, and executed on Oct. 13, 1909
• Provoked international outcry similar to Sacco and Vanzetti

8. Anarchist Activities and Organizations Before 1936
• 1910 Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) established,
modeled after French CGT, anarcho-syndicalist and
decentralized. Libertarian communism.
• 1917-1923 CNT engaged in series of strikes and agitation,
period of severe economic hardship, gov’t unable to handle
situation, Spain on edge of civil war
• By 1919 CNT 700,000+ strong, by 1931 over half a million
members (some figures given as high as 1 ½ million members
during Republic)
• Barcelona CNT stronghold

9. Things Get Messy
• 1923 Miquel Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship established (fell
1930)
• 1927 Anarchist group Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI)
formed in Valencia, membership between 5,000-30,000
• From 1927-1936, CNT comes under FAI influence.
• FAI Bakuninist; modeled on Bakunin’s Social Democratic
Alliance. See Juan Gomez Casas, Anarchist Organization: The
History of the F.A.I. (1986)
• King Alfonso XIII dismissed Primo de Rivera in 1930; abdicated
1931, Republic established (1931)
• CNT no longer clandestine, can go public and grows

10. Wider context of world economic crisis:
Republic not up to challenges
• The 1930s: Economic distress combined with social outrage
• Between 1931-36 anarchists attempt to set up a series of insurrectional
communes—unsurprisingly, suppressed
• Most famous example small Andalusian village of Casas Viejas. See Jerome
R. Mintz, The Anarchists of Casa Viejas (1982)
• In 1933, landless laborers declared village a libertarian commune. Gov’t
forces arrive, crush commune, 25 anarchists killed.
• James Joll: “The episode was typical of such anarchist risings in its
courage, optimism, and hopelessness; but at the same time the savagery
of the government’s response . . .” (The Anarchists, p. 250)

11. Landlord, state, and church as enemy
photo from L'Illustration, Jan. 1933

12. The anarchists of Casas Viejas

13. Weak Republic and Failure to Reform
• CNT’s official line was to boycott Republic; abstain
from elections. Slogan: Frente a las urnas, la
Revolucion Social (Social Revolution rather than the
ballot boxes)
• Nov. 1933 Left defeated in elections; right-wing gov’t
dismantled limited reforms on church and landlords
• 1933-1936: “bienio negro” dark years of repression;
Popular Front alliance 1936 to defend basic liberties,
Anarchists abstain from voting
• By Feb. 1934: CNT and Socialist UGT agree to limited
joint action; coalition wins elections. Anarchist
supporting a Republic.

14. The Spanish Civil War, 1936-39

15. Outline of a Civil War: Fighting Fascism
• 17 July 1936: General Francisco Franco (1892-1975) led right-
wing revolt, including fascist Falange Party, in Morocco
• 19 July 1936 General Strike
• 20 July 1936: CNT established control over Barcelona,
anarchist stronghold
• Workers’ control established, self-management and
collectives. By 1937: 3 million ppl living in rural communes
• Spanish Communist Party (PCE) small in number but supplied
from USSR. Communists stress centralization, discipline, and
order.
Francoist demonstration in Salamanca (1937):
Note Franco banners and use of Roman salute.

16. The Revolutionary Moment
• Left defending a Republic that it did not really support;
Republic survived because Left fighting for it.
• “Thus the left became the last defenders of the bourgeois
order.” Geoff Bailey, “The Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War”
(International Socialist Review Issue 24, July-August 2002).
Trotskyist journal.

17. Proudhonian Lesson Relearned?
Anarchists collaborate with Popular Front and
join gov’t:
• Juan Peiro—Minister of Industry
• Juan Lopez Sanchez—Minister of Commerce
• Garcia Oliver—Minister of Justice
• Federica Montseny—Minister of Health

18. Homage to Catalonia
• May 3, 1937: Barcelona erupts—400 killed,
1,000 wounded.
• Anarchists and communists break, anarchist
ministers resign and communists gain stronger
gov’t influence
• Jan. 26, 1939: Barcelona falls
• March 28, 1939: Madrid falls
• April 1, 1939: USA recognizes Franco
• May 19, 1939 Franco Victory Parade

19. Bombing in Barcelona 1938

20. Some reflections
• George Orwell: the anarchist militias were
“notoriously the best fighters amongst the
purely Spanish forces.” (Homage to Catalonia)
• “The defeat of the anarchist movement in
Spain did not result from a failure of anarchist
theory and tactics but rather a failure to carry
through the social revolution. If the latter had
not been sacrifice for the war effort, and the
Communists had not seized power, the
outcome may well have been very different.”
Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible, 467

21. Death and Destruction
British historian Antony Beevor: Franco's "white
terror" resulted in the deaths of 200,000 people;
the "red terror" killed 38,000. Julius Ruiz:
"Although the figures remain disputed, a
minimum of 37,843 executions were carried out
in the Republican zone, with a maximum of
150,000 executions (including 50,000 after the
war) in Nationalist Spain".

22. The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939:
Working-Class Heroes and Political
Compromises
Spain “ground zero” for anarchism in
action, greater influence than anywhere
else—Why Spain?

23. They shall not pass!
Republican banner in Madrid: "Fascism
wants to conquer Madrid. Madrid shall be
fascism's grave." during the siege of 1936–
39

24. Dali’s Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil
War) (1936)

25. On 26 April 1937 the Condor Legion
bombed the town of Guernica, killing 200–
300 and causing significant damage
Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937)

26. Ruins of Guernica

27. Mujeres Libres Empower Working Class Women
Mujeres Libres (Free Women) Spanish
anarchist women's organization
1936 founded by Lucía Sánchez Saornil,
Mercedes Comaposada, and Amparo Poch
y Gascón
Approximately 30,000 members
"double struggle" for women's liberation
and social revolution
the two objectives equally important and
should be pursued in parallel.

28. A tram under workers’ self-management,
Barcelona, 1936

29. Movie ticket for a theatre managed by the CNT

30. Campo! The weekly country magazine
The first edition of Campo! was published
February 6, 1937 in Barcelona.

31. The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), The
National Confederation of Labour, a confederation of
anarcho-syndicalists, still operating today. The
Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI), Iberian Anarchist
Federation, organization of anarchist militants active
within the CNT.
Anarchists at the forefront of the battle against
Franco’s forces during the Spanish Civil War, and
produced a huge number of posters rallying the
public to their movement.
This poster urges ‘Workers! Joining the Iron Column
strengthens the revolution.’ The Iron Column was a
battalion of anarchists.

32. In this image (c. 1936), the acronyms of three prominent
anarcho-syndicalist political organizations are stacked on top
of each other as an impassible barrier to advancing fascist or
Nationalist troops that are standing on a partially obscured
swastika. The stacking of the acronyms emphasizes not only
their strength to resist fascist troops but also their solidarity
and unity.
The sun in the background may be rising behind the
acronyms suggesting a new dawn of the political rule of
these groups the Confederación Nacional del
Trabajo (CNT), Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI), and
the Asociación Internacional de Trabajadores (AIT).

33. CNT Poster ‘Hail the Heroes’

35. Poster endorsed by CNT and the International
Workers Association promoted worker-run
railways.

36. Buenaventura Durruti in 1936
Anarchist poster from the Spanish Revolution
showing Durruti as an example and the people's hero
Buenaventura Durruti (1896-1936): the
Spanish Makhno and his column of 3,000
men head to Madrid, funeral in Barcelona
draws 200,000 supporters (Kropotkin like
scenario)—last great anarchist
demonstration

37. In this poster, a farm laborer-turned-
militiaman has impaled a monstrous
representation of capitalism on his rifle and
is tossing the man over his shoulder like a
bale of hay. The laborer, depicted in red
tones to indicate his revolutionary
character, stands astride an outline of the
Iberian Peninsula, thus adding visual
support to the caption, which reads: "Land
worker! The revolution will give you the
land."

38. Masked soldier wreathed in the vapors of a gas attack.

39. Tomorrow the world, today Spain

40. This poster states the opinion that revolution and war are inseparable,
with the chimney and cannon reflecting industry and struggle. The
design bares the stamp of both CNT and FIJL, Federación Ibérica de
Juventudes Libertarias, The Iberian Federation of Anarchist Youth, an
organization created in 1932 in Madrid. Towards the end of the war
Stalin issued the order from Russia that the Spanish anarchists should
be liquidated. The communists accordingly murdered many members
of FIJL.
The Foreboding Propaganda Posters of the Spanish Civil
War

41. ‘¡No pasarán!’ – ‘They shall not pass!’ Men and women fight
and fall on the front line against the fascists.
Republican leader Dolores Ibárruri Gómez used the slogan in
a speech during the Siege of Madrid in 1936. When Franco’s
forces conquered the city his reply was ‘Hemos pasado’ –
‘We have passed.’

43. Railway workers! Boycott all
merchandise from fascist Spain

44. This poster depicts worker-run public transport. The trains,
metro, buses and taxis are stylishly decorated in black and
red, the traditional colours of the anarcho-syndicalists.

45. This poster comes from the mattress makers of
Barcelona, and demonstrates how all aspects
of industry were deemed essential in the
battle against fascism.

46. ‘Freedom!’

47. https://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/visfront/c
ampesino.html
Republican Left. Defend small private
property. Death penalty to the thief (1937)

49. We charge the rebels as assassins!
Innocent children and women die. Free
men, repudiate all those who support
Fascism in the rearguard

50. Saving the crop is equivalent to winning
a battle against the enemy

51. Intensifying reproduction is
revolutionary work
Released in the winter of 1937, during a
campaign called the Batalla del Huevo
(the Battle of the Egg), designed to
increase egg production within the
Republican zone.

52. Farm woman!! Your work in the fields
strengthens the spirits of those who are
fighting.

53. Books and Newspapers to the Front

54. Don't give details about the position of the
fronts. Not even to your comrades. Not
even to your siblings. Not even to your
girlfriends

56. The Sower
The caption under the upper image reads:
"The sober laborer has a home; his family
lives happily." The caption under the lower
image reads: "The drunkard causes the
ruin of his family." These two statements
are enhanced by the visual representation
of the two different households.

57. The final blow must be struck:
CNT, FAI, AIT

58. Homes. The best hotels are turned into
homes for refugee children
Republicans oversaw the evacuation of
30,000–35,000 children from their zone

59. Farmers, listen to the radio programs
broadcast by the ministry of Agriculture
every Tuesday and Friday at 7:30 p.m.

60. Murderers! Seeing this, who wouldn't pick
up a rifle to end fascism's destruction.
Children killed by rebel bombs in Madrid,
innocent victims of the horrible war
unleashed by the enemies of Spain.

61. What are you doing to stop this?
Esperantists of the World, Pit Your
Strength against International Fascism!