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Title: Mujeres Libres Author: Aileen O'Carroll Date: June 1998 Language: en Topics: Mujeres Libres, anarcha-feminism, Spanish Revolution, Workers Solidarity Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120124211601/http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws98/ws54_mujeres_libres.html Notes: This article is from Workers Solidarity No 54 published in June 1998
Mujeres Libres (Free Women) were a group of women anarchists who
organised and fought both for women's liberation and an anarchist
revolution during the Spanish Civil War. The work they did is truly
inspirational. Their example shows how the struggle against women's
oppression and against capitalism can be combined in one fight for
freedom.
As anarchists they rejected any relegation of women to a secondary
position within the libertarian movement. In the 1930's feminism had a
narrower meaning than it does now, and they rejected it as a theory
which fought for 'equality of women within an existing system of
privileges'. They argued "We are not, and were not then feminists. We
were not fighting against men. We did not want to substitute a feminist
hierarchy for a masculine one. It's necessary to work, to struggle,
together because if we don't we'll never have a social revolution. But
we needed our own organisation to struggle for ourselves".
They said: "We are aware of the precedents set by both feminist
organisations and by the political parties... We could not follow either
of these paths. We could not separate the women's problem from the
social problem. Nor could we deny the significance of the first by
converting women into a simple instrument for any organisation, even..
our own libertarian organisation.
The intention that underlay our activities was much broader: to serve a
doctrine, not a party, to empower women to make of them individuals
capable of contributing to the structuring of the future society,
individuals who have learned to be self- determining, not to follow
blindly the dictates of any organisation".
Mujeres Libres had a two pronged strategy, of capacitacion (preparing),
and captacion (incorporation or participation). Their early work was a
combination of consciousness raising and direct action.
In order to gain mutual support, they created networks of women
anarchists. Attending meetings with one another, they checked out
reports of sexist behaviour and worked out how to deal with it. Flying
day-care centres were set up in efforts to involve more women in union
activities.
A journal was produced, distributed and advertised via existing
anarchist networks. In it women reported on what work they were actually
doing. Consciousness raising was important, every issue had an article
about exceptional women, and they also published a column in other
anarchist magazines. In addition their journal printed articles on
cultural themes, on education, on movies, on sport. Finally there were
articles that would have been seen in any women's magazine, on the value
of gas, on childcare, on fashion. Later on books and pamphlets would
supplement the journal.
Propaganda work was carried out via radio broadcasts, travelling
libraries and propaganda tours. One member, Pepita, described her
experience on propaganda trips: "We would call the women together and
explain to them... that there is a clearly defined role for women, that
women should not lose their independence, but that a women can be a
mother and a companera at the same time...
Young women would come over to me and say "This is very interesting.
What you're saying we've never heard before. It's something that we've
felt, but we didn't know"... The ideas that grabbed them the most? Talk
about the power men exercised over women... There would be a kind of
uproar when you would say to them, "We cannot permit men to think
themselves superior to women, that they have a right to rule over them".
I think that Spanish women were waiting anxiously for that call".
Many of Spain's workers and peasants were illiterate. In response, the
women of Mujeres Libres set up literacy programmes, technically oriented
classes, and classes in social studies. Between 600-800 women were
attending these classes each day in Barcelona in December 1938. In
co-operation with the anarchist unions they sent up apprenticeship
programmes.
Hand in hand with producing propaganda came the day-to-day work
necessary to defend their revolution from fascist attack. They supplied
food to the militias and set up community dining rooms. They organised
support for women in the militias, setting up shooting ranges and target
practice classes. They set up a school for nurses and an emergency
medical clinic to treat those injured in the fighting.
Teresina, despite her lack of experience in the medical field was named
administrator. Here she speaks with pride of her role "I remember how
many times fathers would come up to me in the clinic to request
something, and I would say. "Please, here all of us are equals" And they
would say to me, "Here, you really have made the revolution." I had such
satisfaction from this. Because I administered the whole thing without
any education... What I believed, that's what I put in practice there...
and that's what I can tell you of what I did for the revolution. The
rest, I did what everyone else did. But this was something I did".
However the revolution was more than defeating fascism, it was about
building a new society which cared for the needs of all. Travelling
through Catalonia and Aragon members of Mujeres Libres helped to
establish rural collectives. Many women went with representatives of the
anarchist union (CNT) and the anarchist federation (FAI) with makeshift
loud speakers calling on peasants to "come over to our side".
In Barcelona they ran a lying-in hospital, which provided birth and
post-natal care for women, as well as classes on child and maternal
health, birth control and sexuality. An institute of Maternal and
Childcare, named after the French anarchist, Louise Michel, was set up
in Barcelona in February 1938.
Mujeres Libres provide a living example of many important aspects of
anarchist theory. Firstly, they understood that the collective is only
as strong as the individuals that make it up. In order to build a strong
anarchist movement, they encouraged and supported women to fulfil their
full potential. Indeed many members of Mujeres Libres were only 13 or 14
years old when the revolution started. Yet, like Teresina above, they
discovered that they did have the ability to undertake the challenging
task of building a new world.
Secondly Mujeres Libres understood the importance of direct action and
self-activity, both in making revolutionaries and making a revolution.
They didn't make an artificial distinction between propaganda and
organising, between ideas and action. Their ideas were formed by their
experiences on the ground.
Finally, the Mujeres Libres showed that ideas are never set in stone, to
be implemented when the right time comes. Their ideas grew and
developed, changed and became influential.
Revolution is a messy business. In order to change society
fundamentally, long held ideas about what is normal and natural have to
be challenged. New revolutionaries and a new revolutionary society will
result from the arguments and debates that are held in many different
places - the home, the supermarket, the pub - by many different people.
Mujeres Libres saw the revolution as far more than a single overnight
event. It is also a process, continually changing, as disagreements are
resolved, and new disputes are identified. They showed that revolution,
far from being a dry academic endeavour is like life; never simple and
straightforward, but dynamic.