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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.
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
1/3 discount sale or return basis from the
WSM. Write for details
Workers Solidarity Movement, P.O. Box 1528,
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