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Title: The Freedom to Succeed Author: Deirdre Hogan Date: March 1999 Language: en Topics: Anarcho-Collectivism, collectives, Spanish Civil War, Workers Solidarity Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120312170516/http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws99/ws56_spain.html Notes: This article is from Workers Solidarity No 56 published in March 1999
Many people, upon hearing about Anarchism, consider a society based on
anarchist principles as unrealistic, idealistic and naive — the vision
of dreamers. Given the homogenous view of the world represented in the
media, it is often difficult for people to imagine a society where such
universally accepted institutions as the state, the judiciary system,
the police, armies, and nations no longer exist.
For a glimpse of how such a society would function it is useful to look
to the social revolution that took place in Spain in 1936, when, over a
period of two years, people took power into their own hands and started
to construct a completely different society based on anarchist
principles.
Anarchist ideas had been gaining strength in Spain since the second half
of the 19^(th) century. The CNT, an anarcho-syndicalist trade union, was
formed in 1910, and by 1936 was very powerful, having a membership of
1.5 million. By that time anarchist ideas were strong in the minds of
the peasants. In fact, collectivisation had actually started in some
areas of the countryside before the revolution.
On July 17^(th) a military coup took place in Spanish Morocco which
spread the next day to the peninsula. In the cities and villages the
workers organised themselves to defeat the military uprising and thanks
to their courage and initiative the fascist revolt was stopped in
three-quarters of Spain. These people however were fighting not only to
crush the fascist attempt to seize power, they were also fighting for a
new social order in Spain.
As soon as the fascists were defeated, workers’ militias were set up
independent of the state. The factories in the cities were taken over by
the workers, and in the rural areas the lands of the fleeing fascists
and fascist sympathisers were taken over. In the rural parts of the
Republican zone, under the influence of CNT and FAI (Federation of
Iberian Anarchists) members, collectivisation was the most far reaching.
Usually it was the members of the CNT or the FAI who called general
meetings in the villages and pushed for collectivisation.
At these meetings people voluntarily pooled whatever land, tools and
cattle they possessed. To this was added whatever land had been
expropriated from the large land owners. “People who had nothing to
bring to the collective were admitted with the same rights and duties as
the rest”. [1] Soon almost two-thirds of all the land in the area
controlled by anti-fascist forces was taken over and collectivised. In
all between five and seven million people were involved.
The smallest unit of each collective was the work group, usually
numbering five to ten members, but sometimes more. Everyone in a
collective, where possible, was obliged to work.
“The collective was the free community of labour of the
villagers.....The group might consist of friends, or the neighbours on a
certain street, or a group of small farmers, tenant farmers, or day
labourers.” [2]
Each group was assigned land by the collective and they were then
responsible for the cultivation of this land. Within each work group a
delegate was elected who, while working alongside her comrades most of
the time, also represented the views of her group at the meetings of the
collective. In some collectives there was an Administrative Commission
which met with the delegates from each work group and drew up the work
plan for the next day.
The Administrative Commission or management committee was responsible
for the day to day 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”.[3]
Members of the management committee were elected at general assemblies
of all participants of the collective. The general assembly of
collectivists was sovereign when important decisions were made.
Federations of collectives were also created. In Aragon, where there
were 450 collectives involving half a million people, the most
successful federation was set up. Here, district federations and
regional federations were established. Collectives in the same local
area joined to form a district federation which was made up of delegates
elected in each of the collectives. The district federation maintained
warehouses to store agricultural produce from the collectives. It was
also responsible for communication and transport between affiliated
villages, and supported cultural progress in the area.
Regional federations, such as the Regional Federation of Aragonese
Collectives and the Regional Federation of Peasants, were also founded
which were made up of delegates from the collectives. These federations
were set up for various purposes. Among others to set up technical teams
to improve agricultural and livestock production; to offer training for
young people; to collect production statistics; to create regional
reserves; and to offer credits and aid, without interest, to the
collectives.
All this took place through the initiative of the peasants. Although the
government 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.”[4]
In numerous collectives food and other supplies for local consumption
were located in the churches, which made ideal warehouses. The method of
local distribution varied from collective to collective. In some
collectives a family salary was introduced. In others, the members of
the collective decided to pay each person a daily salary fixed by the
collective. Payment was made on the basis of need and not on the hours
worked.
Other collectives abolished state money altogether and either used their
own local money or else money was replaced by “tokens” or “coupons”
exchangeable for goods.
Often participants of a collective could take as much of certain
provisions, such as bread, vegetables, fruit and in some cases wine
(Muniesa) and even tobacco (Beceite), as they needed and without
restriction. The collectives operated on the basis of ‘to each according
to need, from each according to ability’.
In all collectives when articles were scarce rationing was applied.
“Everyone, whether able to work or not received the necessities of life
as far as the collective could provide them.”[5] The working age ranged
from 14 to 60. Sick days were counted as work days. Old people were
taken care of and where necessary special homes were built for them.
“Single women worked in collective workshops or in branches of the
distribution co-operatives. Married women, detained by household chores,
were free from these obligations, though in times of need they also
contributed their efforts. Pregnant women were given special
consideration. Everyone worked according to physical ability.”[6]
Whenever collectives chose to pay salaries it seems that women were
universally paid less than men. In fact, although women played an
extremely active role in the revolution in the cities, in the
countryside the traditional role of women does not appear to have
changed drastically. We hope to look at the issue of women in the
Spanish collectives in more detail in our next issue.
Unlike in Soviet Russia, collectivisation was not forced on people and
those who did not wish to join the collectives were allowed to do so on
one condition: they could keep only as much land as they and their
family could work and could not hire anyone to work for them. People who
refused to join collectives were called “individualists”.
In keeping with the anarchist principle that there is no freedom unless
everyone is free, people believed that participation in the collectives
should always be voluntary. The collectivists were by far the majority
in the countryside, however they made special efforts to respect the
choice made by the individualists and they were not condemned. In many
areas the individualists, encouraged by the example set by the
collective, eventually joined the collectives voluntarily and their
numbers declined.[7]
The individualists often benefited from the collectives. In Calanda for
example they received free electricity and paid no rent. They also paid
low prices for any goods bought from the collective.
The aim of the collectives was “to produce collectively and to
distribute the product of their labour with justice to all”.[8] With the
abolition of private property, a profound transformation took place in
the mind-set of the people. The way in which the collectivists acted
during this period shows that the excessive greed evident in today’s
capitalist society is not an inherent part of human nature.
Communities were not interested in possessing more land purely for the
sake of increasing their domain, but instead they wanted only as much
land as they could work themselves. There was a strong feeling of
solidarity between the different collectives. For example, 1,000
collectivists from the Levant, which was quite advantaged, moved to
Castille to help out. The collectives sent food and provisions regularly
to the Front and also to the cities.
The collectivists in Albalate de Cinca sent the following to the
unconquered city of Madrid in March 1937: ten live hogs, 500 kilos of
bacon; 87 chickens; 50 rabbits; 2.5 tons of potatoes; 200 dozen eggs;
vegetables and several dozen goats. “There was no question of payment or
requisition by the military”.[9] Refugees fleeing from areas conquered
by the fascist advance were also taken care of in the remaining
collectives.
With the creation of the collectives people were no longer in
competition with each other. They were also free from having to follow
the orders of some boss, working land they did not own for little reward
but instead had control over their work and had equal input in any
important decisions made concerning the organisation of work and the
management of resources. Thus liberated, the initiative and enthusiasm
of the Spanish peasants knew no bounds. “Collectivisation has all the
advantages of free co-operation: humane collective labour. Freedom and
equality are its foundation.”[10]
New modern methods of farming were employed. Experimental farms were set
up. Resources were used to modernise the farms and get new machinery.
Communities gained greatly from having pooled resources. Expert
technical advice was made available by the Regional Federation. In
addition, parasitic middlemen and the wasteful bureaucracy and other
control mechanisms necessary for maintaining a capitalist system were
dispensed with.
Production greatly increased in the collectives. In some cases harvests
increased by up to five times their pre-revolution level. In Alcoriza
the collectivists established a sausage factory in an old convent.
“Daily production has reached 500 kilos. This production is sent to the
anti-fascist militia. They have also built a shoe factory where they
produce leather and fabric footwear, not only for the residents of their
village, but also for neighbouring communities.”[11]
In no collective did unemployment exist. This was a big change from life
in Spain before the collectives where often peasants would be unemployed
for half of the year.
The collectivists were not only concerned with their material well
being. They were deeply committed to education and during this period
many schools were set up, based on the methods of Francisco Ferrer, the
world famous anarchist educationalist. As a result of their efforts many
children received schooling for the first time.
In Calanda, “The school is the outstanding program in the village. It
follows the philosophy and the guidelines of Francisco Ferrer. 1,233
children attend the school. It is built in an old convent. Gifted
children are sent to the Lyceum at Capse. The collective pays the cost.”
[12] The Libertarian Youth Federation, in particular, were very active
in cultural activities setting up libraries, cinemas and community
centres.
The initiative of the peasants can be seen clearly in the original uses
they made of the former churches. Churches became cinemas, cafes,
butcher shops, carpenters’ workshops, hospitals, noodle and spaghetti
factories and in one case a barracks. Perhaps a more typical example of
the new role of the church in the collectives is the use put to the
former church in Alcaniz:
“The priests fled. The church was not burned. It serves as a warehouse
for the collective. The different sections are marked on the church’s
pillars: shoes and sandals here; soap and other cleaning materials:
meats and sausage; preserves and other provisions; fabrics and cloth.
Potatoes are stored near the main altar......
Offices have been set up. Nothing can be obtained with money, only with
vouchers. Each member of the collective has a membership card and a book
of vouchers. People are given what they request and it is recorded in
the book of vouchers. The public enters through the main front door. The
side doors are used for delivery of supplies. The church is the local
market place.”[13]
The Spanish revolution is unique in history insofar as it is the only
time when the masses consciously put anarchist theories into practice.
Although the collectives were not given the chance to develop fully and
were not perfect, they were nonetheless a great success while they
lasted. They show how ordinary people are perfectly capable of
organising a just and efficient society given the right conditions. The
peasants and workers in Spain showed that anarchism is possible.
[1] Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution, Jose Peirats, page 139;
[2] With the Peasants of Aragon, Augustin Souchy Bauer, page 20;
[3] The Spanish Civil War, Anarchism in Action, Eddie Conlon, page 18;
[4] ibid, page 23;
[5] With the Peasants of Aragon, Augustin Souchy Bauer, page 21;
[6] Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution, Jose Peirats, page 141;
[7] With the Peasants of Aragon, Augustin Souchy Bauer, page 57;
[8] ibid, page 28
[9] ibid, page 81;
[10] ibid, page 71;
[11] ibid, page 41;
[12] ibid, page 37;
[13] ibid, page 29