Terror and Violence: The Dark Face of Spanish Anarchism 1 (original) (raw)
Salvaging the Revolution: Anarchist Historiography on the Spanish Civil War
Anarchist Studies Blog, 2019
In our latest AnarchistStudies.Blog article, Morris Brodie tracks 80 years of historiography on the Spanish Civil War, from caricatures of anarchists as idealistic and/or bloodthirsty (by fascist, liberal and orthodox communist historians) to an ‘anarchist renaissance’ in civil war historiography in the last twenty years. He includes a list of further reading on anarchists in the Spanish Civil War. Available at (https://anarchiststudies.noblogs.org/article-salvaging-the-revolution-anarchist-historiography-on-the-spanish-civil-war/)
The Spanish anarchist guerrilla through the example of Francisco Sabaté ('El Quico')
Kajos Luca Fanni et al. (eds.): 11th Interdisciplinary Doctoral Conference 2022 : Conference Book, 2023
The dictatorial rule of General Francisco Franco, who came to power in consequence of his victory in the Spanish Civil War, was met with widespread opposition from within Spain and in the exiled communities from the moment of its birth. Among the opponents of the regime, the anarchists were a dominant force, and their activities were very diverse. These included peaceful and non-violent, although mostly illegal activities from clandestine reorganization of the movement to prisoner aid and the distribution of propaganda publications. But we can also speak about various forms of active armed resistance that complemented and deepened the mentioned methods, ranging from expropriations to political assassinations and guerrilla activities in urban and rural areas. Francisco Sabaté Llopart (a.k.a. ’El Quico’) was probably the most notorious figure of the Spanish anarchist guerrillas, who, alone or with his comrades, carried out a number of courageous and successful actions against the institutions, representatives and supporters of the dictatorship. He remained a constant threat to Franco’s Spain until his death in 1960, long after the guerrilla movement had been wiped out. Therefore his death can be seen as a symbolic end to the guerrilla war in Spain. Results My research examined the life of Francisco Sabaté and its turning points, examining the material circumstances and ideological driving forces behind his activities. Through an insight into his personality and actions, I have come closer to understanding both the armed anarchist resistance during the Franco era and the theoretical and tactical debates within the Spanish Libertarian Movement (MLE), both at homeland and in exile, which generated a number of tensions. In my view, Sabaté’s activity is as well-suited to modelling guerrilla methods as it is for tracing the dictatorship’s reactions to them, and thus even to comparing them with guerrilla movements in other regions of the period. Conclusions Francisco Sabaté played an important role in the anarchist resistance against Franco’s regime, and can be considered the soul of the armed guerrilla struggle. Because of the length of time he was active and the number of actions he carried out, he is well-suited to be analysed as a prototype of the Spanish anarchist guerrilla and, through his actions, to provide a picture of the guerrilla movement as a whole. Sabaté is also relevant as an influence on armed guerrilla fighters in other countries.
Danny Evans and James Michael Yeoman - New Approaches to Spanish Anarchism.pdf
This article introduces the themes of a special edition of the IJIS on Spanish anarchism and transnational studies, presenting the case that the history of Spanish anarchism needs to be situated within a broader, international history of the left. This view helps to disrupt the image of anarchism as ‘exceptional’, without losing sight of its specific manifestation in Spain. It proceeds to outline the five articles that make up the remainder of the edition.
Although the history and theory of the anarchist movement remains relatively unknown in official intellectual circles, some still seem disturbed by establishing a hybridization between the academy and anarchism-two worlds that are so different in principle. But already in the 1970s, the anarchist Diego Abad de Santillán wrote in the preface to a work by one of his disciples, Fidel Miró: Anarchism, as humanism, is today more relevant than ever, more than at the time of its delivery to the labor movement, more than during the outbursts of heroic rebellion, more than in the era of its exemplary role during the war. It finds its resurgence in modern thought, philosophy, and sociology; among economists and thinkers of all languages and climates; in the nonconformist youth that is shaking the old pillars of society that refuses to be community. All this will and should be reinforced by anarchism like a humanist flag, without adjectives. Here lie the root and the strength to build a better world, a world of the twenty-first century in which we live already. 2 1 A review of Contemporary Anarchist Studies.
THE CONSCIENCE OF THE SPANISH REVOLUTION: ANARCHIST OPPOSITION TO STATE COLLABORATION IN 1937
University of Leeds, 2016
This thesis analyses the opposition mounted by anarchists to the policy of state collaboration, which was adopted by the principal organisations of the Spanish libertarian movement at the outset of the civil war. Collaboration is understood in broad terms as the involvement of libertarian individuals and organisations in the reconstruction of the Republican state following its near collapse in July 1936, a process that implied not only participation in the organs of governance, but also in the ideological reconstitution of the Republic as a patriarchal and national entity. Using original sources, the thesis shows that the opposition to this process was both broader and more ideologically consistent than has hitherto been assumed, and that, in spite of its heterogeneity, it united around a common revolutionary programme. Focusing on the strategies adopted by oppositional anarchists over the course of 1937, from the radical interpretation of the CNT’s socialisation campaign to the insurrectionary mobilisation of May and finally to the defence of federalism within the libertarian organisations, the thesis also sheds light on the turbulent relationship between the responsible committees of the libertarian movement and its ‘mid-level’ union and affinity group delegates. The ‘conscience’ of the Spanish revolution, like its Russian precursor, both recognised and struggled against the role that the principal revolutionary organisation in the country had assumed in the reconstruction of the state. In the Spanish case, the resistance to state reconstruction was informed by the essential insight of anarchism: that the function and purpose of the modern state cannot be transformed from within. By situating the struggles of the radical anarchists within the contested process of state reconstruction, the thesis affirms the continued relevance of this insight to the study of the Spanish revolution.
The Journal of Modern History, 2016
painfully obvious to the Italian participants that they could never reach the same position or serve in the diplomatic corps. In this case as well, the women of the "Lost Wave" argued, laws excluded women from participating in all the services necessary for running the country and therefore denied them full citizenship and equality with men. The question of opening up all public careers to women had a long and tangled history, but on August 5, 1960, Cocco presented a bill supported by eighteen deputies that would have done so, and it was officially published on February 9, 1963. However, that was not the end of the matter; it took years to get to the point where all public careers (including careers in the police and the military) were open to women. In the book's conclusion, the author tells about her interviews with surviving "Lost Wave" women and their assessments of their own work. In all, Tambor's work is a good contribution to the historical literature and clears the way for scholars who might want to expand our understanding of women's roles in postwar Italy.
Violence, Continuity, and the Spanish State: Some Considerations
Journal of Contemporary History, 2016
Massacres and repressive regimes have plagued mankind since the beginning of time. Yet, the emergence of organized state governments by the twentieth century made such phenomena all the more horrific, increasing the scale and efficiency with which death could be inflicted on political, ideological, ethnic, and social enemies. Indeed, by the end of the Second World War, this new kind of state-led extermination demanded a new term: genocide. The American historian Timothy Snyder recently broadened our understanding of this phenomenon, expanding it beyond its Nazi-centered perspective, to refer to Central and Eastern Europe as the 'Bloodlands'. In his book he outlines how ideology and deep cultural and ethnic tensions planted the seeds for the exterminatory policies of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Indeed, Snyder notes the extraordinary state-sponsored violence by these two states separated 'east European history from west European history'. 1 Paul Preston's The Spanish Holocaust disputes this last assertion. 2 Given the scale and proportion of deaths resulting from the Spanish Civil War and the bloody repression of the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco which followed, Preston rightly seeks to place the Spanish experience firmly in the context of the broader 'European Civil War'. Preston's use of the word 'holocaust'-stopping short of the term 'genocide' used by a handful of Spanish historians-makes the historical and moral association of the Francoist cause with that of Nazi Germany all the more explicit. While such links make some scholars-as well as a significant minority of the Spanish population-uneasy, few historians of twentieth-century Spain would dispute the fact that the Spanish Civil War and the first phase of the Franco regime were particularly violent and bloody.
Since 2008, the effects of the current economic downturn are displaying the criminal essence of the Spanish governmental regime. Not surprisingly, most of the last legal reforms have been focused on repressing those who suffer the consequences of this criminal essence – rather than trying to fix the serious causes of social unrest. The main targets of the current rearrangement of control devices are basically identified among the protests against social harm. The public policies that produce and deliver this social harm will be considered as a 'primary – political – level of punishment' on the following pages. The increase in 'administrative repression' runs parallel to those policies of damage-expulsion-abandonment. The new Penal Code, the Law on the Protection of Citizens' Security and a Private Security Law, together with some other new norms, project a 'multiple legal reform' focused on stopping the anarchist minority movements, but also on hindering any radical trend in the social movement. This is called here the 'secondary – penal – level of punishment'. All these reforms are conceived to extend punitive control in those public spaces and activities where 'democratic' legitimisation has been most affected. The aim of these new laws is to criminalize dissent, create a climate of consensus, and – on the way – fight all anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist, autonomous or anti-State organizations. They – we – are the current 'proper scapegoats'. Along with this multiple penal reform, databases of suspects, investment in anti-riot agents and materials, and operations against the 'anarchist monster', the 'counter-terrorism device' performs a populist theatre play with the full force of the raison d'état.
Spain’s Generación X is better known for partying than protesting, restiveness than resistance, and popular prose than populist pamphlets. However, today’s youth, often dubbed the “Generación perdida,” project quite a different image of themselves. Growing frustration with systemic unemployment has eroded the apathy long associated with Spanish youth culture and sparked their indignation. This sentiment has been channeled into an anarchistic impulse to dismantle or overhaul the capitalist system and has led to a movement known as Movimiento 15-M for the massive protests that took place all across Spain on May 15, 2011. Various aspects of this movement are anticipated in the Gen X novels Historias del Kronen (1994) by José Ángel Mañas and Okupada (1997) by Care Santos, which offer different perspectives of anarchism in Spanish urban youth culture. The contrast between the treatments of anarchism in these novels provides a platform for fruitful discussion about the reconfiguration of the concept and practice of anarchism in contemporary Spain, the relationship between anarchism and individual autonomy, and the intersection of anarchism and utopia/dystopia in sociopolitical thought. Moreover, an analysis of the anarchistic appropriations of capitalist landscapes reflects the hierarchical relationships established in these novels.