Anarchism in Spain has historically gained
more support and influence than anywhere else,
especially before Francisco Franco's victory
in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39.
There were several variants of anarchism in
Spain: expropriative anarchism in the period
leading up to the conflict, the peasant anarchism
in the countryside of Andalusia; urban anarcho-syndicalism
in Catalonia, particularly its capital Barcelona;
and what is sometimes called "pure" anarchism
in other cities such as Zaragoza.
However, these were complementary trajectories,
and shared a great deal of ideological similarities.
Early on, the success of the anarchist movement
was sporadic.
Anarchists would organize a strike and ranks
would swell.
Usually, repression by police reduced the
numbers again, but at the same time further
radicalized many strikers.
This cycle helped lead to an era of mutual
violence at the beginning of the 20th century,
in which armed anarchists and pistoleros,
armed men paid by company owners, were both
responsible for political assassinations.
In the 20th century, this violence began to
fade, and the movement gained speed with the
rise of anarcho-syndicalism and the creation
of the huge libertarian trade union, the Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).
General strikes became common, and large portions
of the Spanish working class adopted anarchist
ideas.
There also emerged a small individualist anarchist
movement based on publications such as Iniciales
and La Revista Blanca.
The Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI,
Iberian Anarchist Federation) was created
as a purely anarchist association, with the
intention of keeping the CNT focused on the
principles of anarchism.
Anarchists played a central role in the fight
against Francisco Franco during the Spanish
Civil War.
At the same time, a far-reaching social revolution
spread throughout Spain, where land and factories
were collectivized and controlled by the workers.
All remaining social reforms ended in 1939
with the victory of Franco, who had thousands
of anarchists executed.
Resistance to his rule never entirely died,
with resilient militants participating in
acts of sabotage and other direct action after
the war, and making several attempts on the
ruler's life.
Their legacy remains important to this day,
particularly to anarchists who look at their
achievements as a historical precedent of
anarchism's validity.
== History ==
=== Beginning ===
In the mid-19th century, revolutionary ideas
were generally unknown in Spain.
The closest thing to a radical movement was
found amongst the followers of Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon, known as federalists, the most famous
of whom was Francesc Pi i Margall (named,
upon his death, "the wisest of the federalists,
almost an anarchist" by anarchist thinker
Ricardo Mella).
Ramón de la Sagra was a disciple of Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon and founded the world's first anarchist
journal El Porvenir, which was closed by Ramón
María Narváez, Duke of Galicia.
Feelings later associated with anarchism,
like anti-clericalism and distrust of government,
were widespread but part of no focused worldview.
There was a history of peasant unrest in some
parts of the country.
This was not related to any political movement,
but rather borne out of circumstances.
The same was true in the cities; long before
workers were familiar with anarcho-syndicalism,
there were general strikes and other conflicts
between workers and their employers.
The earliest successful attempt to introduce
anarchism to the Spanish masses came in 1868.
A middle-aged revolutionary named Giuseppi
Fanelli came to Spain on a journey planned
by Mikhail Bakunin in order to recruit members
for the First International, an international
organization that aimed to unify groups working
for the benefit of the working class, which
later came to be dominated by Marxists.
Fanelli spoke in French and Italian, so those
present could only understand bits of what
he was saying, except for one man, Tomás
González Morago, who knew French.
The effect, however, was the same.
Anselmo Lorenzo gives an account of his oratory:
"His voice had a metallic tone and was susceptible
to all the inflexions appropriate to what
he was saying, passing rapidly from accents
of anger and menace against tyrants and exploiters
to take on those of suffering, regret and
consolation...we could understand his expressive
mimicry and follow his speech."
These workers, longing for something more
than the mild radicalism of the day, became
the core of the Spanish Anarchist movement,
quickly spreading "the Idea" across Spain.
The oppressed and marginalized working classes
were very susceptible to an ideology attacking
institutions they perceived to be oppressive,
namely the state with its corruption and brutality,
capitalism with its gross divide between wretched
poverty and grand wealth, and the supremely
powerful and coercive institution of organized
religion.
A chapter of the First International was soon
set up in Madrid.
A few dedicated anarchists, first introduced
to "the Idea" by Fanelli, began holding meetings,
giving speeches, and attracting new followers.
By 1870, the Madrid chapter of the International
had gained roughly 2,000 members.
Anarchism gained a much larger following in
Barcelona, already a bastion of proletarian
rebellion, Luddism, and trade unionism.
The already militant working class was, as
in Madrid, introduced to the philosophy of
anarchism in the late 1860s.
In 1869, a section of the International was
formed in Barcelona.
These centers of revolutionary activity continued
to spread ideas, through speeches, discussions,
meetings, and their newspaper, La Solidaridad
(English translation: Solidarity).
Anarchism had soon taken root throughout Spain,
in villages and in cities, and in scores of
autonomous organizations.
Many of the rural pueblos were already anarchic
in structure prior to the spread of "anarchist"
ideas.
An important event in these years was the
Congress of 1870 in Barcelona, where delegates
from 150 workers' associations met, along
with thousands of common workers observing
("occupying every seat, filling the hallways,
and spilling out beyond the entrance", according
to Murray Bookchin).
The Spanish section of the International was
here renamed the "Spanish Regional Federation"
(also known as simply the Spanish Federation),
and outlines for future organization were
discussed.
The Congress had a clear anarchist flavor
despite the presence of non-anarchist members
of the International from other European nations.
It was looked upon with disdain by the mainstream
press and the existing political parties,
for the Congress openly attacked the political
process as an illegitimate means of change
and foreshadowed the future power of syndicalist
trade unions such as the CNT.
Socialists and liberals within the Spanish
Federation sought to reorganize Spain in 1871
into five trade sections with various committees
and councils.
Many anarchists within the group felt that
this was contrary to their belief in decentralization.
A year of conflict ensued, in which the anarchists
fought the "Authoritarians" within the Federation
and eventually expelled them in 1872.
In the same year, Mikhail Bakunin was expelled
from the International by the Marxists, who
were the majority.
Anarchists, seeing the hostility from previous
allies on the Left, reshaped the nature of
their movement in Spain.
The Spanish Federation became decentralized,
now dependent on action from rank-and-file
workers rather than bureaucratic councils;
that is, a group structured according to anarchist
principles.
=== Early turmoil, 1873 to 1900 ===
In the region of Alcoy, workers struck in
1873 for the eight-hour day following much
agitation from the anarchists.
The conflict turned to violence when police
fired on an unarmed crowd, which caused workers
to storm City Hall in response.
Dozens were dead on each side when the violence
ended.
Sensational stories were made up by the press
about atrocities that never took place: priests
crucified, men doused in gasoline and set
on fire, etc.The government quickly moved
to suppress the Spanish Federation.
Meeting halls were shut down, members jailed,
publications banned.
Until around the start of the 20th century,
proletarian anarchism remained relatively
fallow in Spain.
However, anarchist ideas still remained popular
in the rural countryside, where destitute
peasants waged a lengthy series of unsuccessful
rebellions in attempts to create "libertarian
communism".
Throughout the 1870s, the Spanish Federation
drew most of its members from the peasant
areas of Andalusia after the decline of its
urban following.
In the early 1870s, a section of the International
was formed in Córdoba, forming a necessary
link between the urban and rural movements.
These small gains were largely destroyed by
State repression, which by the mid-1870s had
forced the entire movement underground.
The Spanish Federation faded away, and conventional
trade unionism for a while began to replace
revolutionary action, although anarchists
remained abundant and their ideas not forgotten;
the liberal nature of this period was perhaps
borne out of despair rather than disagreement
with revolutionary ideas.
Anarchists were left to act as tigres solitarios
(roughly "lone tigers"); attempts at mass
organization, as in the Pact of Union and
Solidarity, had some ephemeral success but
were destined to failure.
The lack of revolutionary organization led
many anarchists to commit acts of violence
as a form of direct action, and occasional
uprisings broke out, as in Jerez appeared
the secret organization La Mano Negra, with
the attribution of four murders, and the burning
of several crops and buildings.
The government came to equate anarchism with
terrorism and responded in kind.
Six people died in June 1896 when a bomb was
thrown at the Corpus Christi procession in
Barcelona.
Police attributed the act to anarchists who
met with the severest repression.
As many as 400 people were brought to the
dungeons of the castle of Montjuich in Barcelona.
International outrage followed reports that
the prisoners were brutally tortured: men
hanged from ceilings, genitals twisted and
burned, fingernails ripped out.
Several died before being brought to trial,
and five were eventually executed.
The Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo assassinated
the Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas
in 1897, in part as retaliation for the repression
in Barcelona.
The anarchist idea was propagated by many
periodicals like El Socialismo started by
Fermín Salvochea.
Salvochea is considered one of the earliest
pioneers in the propagation and organization
along anarchist lines.
=== The rise of syndicalism ===
Terrorism by extremists became less common
around the start of the 20th century.
Anarchists saw the obvious need for a form
of direct action capable of overthrowing the
State and capitalism.
The idea of syndicalism became popular (or,
after the early 1920s, anarcho-syndicalism
to differentiate from the reformist syndicalism
in other parts of Europe).
Purist "Anarchist Communists" were unwilling
to adopt syndicalist ideas and became marginalized,
although the two groups soon became indistinguishable.
A new organization, the Federation of Workers'
Societies of the Spanish Region, was formed
in 1900.
The organization adopted syndicalism on socialist
libertarian principles.
Its success was immediate: general strikes
swept across Spain within a year.
Many of these strikes had no visible leadership
but were initiated purely by the working class.
As opposed to reformist strikes, many of these
strikers made no clear demands (or intentionally
absurd demands; for example, the demand to
be given seven and a half rest hours in an
eight-hour day); in some cases workers demanded
no less than the end of capitalism.
The Spanish government responded harshly to
these developments, and the Federation of
Workers' Societies was suppressed.
But the decentralized nature of anarcho-syndicalism
made it impossible to completely destroy and
attempts to do so only emboldened the spirit
of resistance.
==== "The Tragic Week" ====
Two events in 1909 bolstered support for another
general strike in Barcelona.
A textile factory was shut down, with 800
workers fired.
Across the industry, wages were being cut.
Workers, even outside the textile industry,
began to plan for a general strike.
At around the same time, the government announced
that military reserves would be called up
to fight in Morocco, where tribesmen were
skirmishing with Spanish troops.
The reservists, mostly working men, were not
keen to risk their lives or kill others to
protect what they characterised as the interests
of Spanish capitalists (the fighting was blocking
routes to mines and slowing business).
Anti-war rallies sprang up across the country,
and talk of a general strike could be heard.
The strike began in Barcelona on July 26,
a few weeks after the call for reserves was
made.
It quickly developed into a widespread uprising.
Anselmo Lorenzo wrote in a letter: "A social
revolution has broken out in Barcelona and
it has been started by the people.
No one has led it.
Neither the Liberals nor Catalan Nationalists,
nor Republicans, nor Socialists, nor Anarchists."
Police stations were attacked.
Railroad lines leading into Barcelona were
destroyed.
Barricades sprang up in the streets.
Eighty churches and monasteries were destroyed
by members of the Radical Party (who, it should
be noted, were generally much less "radical"
than anarchists or socialists), and six individuals
were killed during the disturbances.
After the revolt, about 1,700 individuals
were indicted on various charges.
Most were let go, but 450 were sentenced.
Twelve were given life imprisonment and five
were executed, including Francisco Ferrer,
who was not even in Barcelona at the time
of the insurrection.
Following this "Tragic Week", the government
began repressing dissidents on a larger scale.
Unions were suppressed, newspapers were shut
down, and libertarian schools were closed.
Catalonia was put under martial law until
November.
Rather than giving up, the Spanish working
class became emboldened and more revolutionary
than before, as workers adopted syndicalism
as a revolutionary strategy.
=== The rise of the CNT ===
The anarchist movement lacked a stable national
organization in its early years.
Anarchist Juan Gómez Casas discusses the
evolution of anarchist organization before
the creation of the CNT: "After a period of
dispersion, the Workers Federation of the
Spanish Region disappeared, to be replaced
by the Anarchist Organization of the Spanish
Region....
This organization then changed, in 1890, into
the Solidarity and Assistance Pact, which
was itself dissolved in 1896 because of repressive
legislation against anarchism and broke into
many nuclei and autonomous workers' societies....
The scattered remains of the FRE gave rise
to Solidaridad Obrera in 1907, the immediate
antecedent of the [CNT]."
There was a consensus amongst anarchists in
the early 20th century that a new, national
labor organization was needed to bring coherency
and strength to their movement.
This organization, named the Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) was formed in October
1910 during a congress of Solidaridad Obrera.
During this congress, a resolution was passed
declaring that the purpose of the CNT would
be to "hasten the integral economic emancipation
of the entire working class through the revolutionary
expropriation of the bourgeoisie...."
The CNT started off fairly small, with about
30,000 members across various unions and confederations.
The national confederation was split into
smaller regional ones, which were again broken
down into smaller trade unions.
Despite this many-tiered structure, bureaucracy
was consciously avoided.
Initiatives for decisions came largely from
the individual unions.
There were no paid officials; all positions
were staffed by common workers.
Decisions made by the national delegations
did not have to be followed.
The CNT was in these respects much different
from the comparatively rigid socialist unions.
A general strike was called a mere five days
after its founding by triumphant, and perhaps
overzealous, workers.
It spread across several cities throughout
Spain; in one city, workers took over the
community and killed the mayor.
Troops moved into all major cities and the
strike was quickly crushed.
The CNT was declared an illegal organization,
and thus went underground only a week after
its founding.
A few years later it continued with overt
strike actions, as in the general strike organized
in tandem with the Socialist-dominated UGT
(a rare occurrence, as the two groups were
usually at odds) to protest the rising cost
of living.
==== General Strike of 1917 ====
A general strike broke out in 1917, mostly
organized by socialists but with notable anarchist
activity, particularly in Barcelona.
There barricades were built, and strikers
tried to stop trolleys from running.
The government responded by filling the streets
with machine guns.
Fighting left seventy people dead.
In spite of the violence, the strike's demands
were moderate, typical of a socialist strike
of the time.
==== The CNT following World War I ====
Spain's economy suffered upon the decline
of the wartime economy.
Factories closed, unemployment soared and
wages declined.
Expecting class conflict, especially in light
of the then recent Russian Revolution, much
of the capitalist class began a bitter war
against unions, particularly the CNT.
Lockouts became more frequent.
Known militants were blacklisted.
Pistoleros, or assassins, were hired to kill
union leaders.
Scores, perhaps hundreds, of anarchists were
murdered during this time period.
Anarchists responded in turn with a number
of assassinations, the most famous of which
is the murder of Prime Minister Eduardo Dato
Iradier.
The CNT, by this time, had as many as a million
members.
It retained its focus on direct action and
syndicalism; this meant that revolutionary
currents in Spain were no longer on the fringe,
but very much in the mainstream.
While it would be false to say that the CNT
was entirely anarchist, the prevailing sentiment
undoubtedly leaned in that direction.
Every member elected to the "National Committee"
was an overt anarchist.
Most rank and file members espoused anarchist
ideas.
Indeed, much of Spain seemed to be radiant
with revolutionary fervor; along with waves
of general strikes (as well as mostly successful
strikes with specific demands), it was not
uncommon to see anarchist literature floating
around ordinary places or common workers discussing
revolutionary ideas.
One powerful opponent from the upper classes
(Diaz del Moral) claims that "the total working
population" was overcome with the spirit of
revolt, that "all were agitators."
Whereas anarchism in Spain was previously
disjointed and ephemeral, even the smallest
of towns now had organizations and took part
in the movement.
Different parts of the CNT (unions, regions,
etc.) were autonomous and yet inextricably
linked.
A strike by workers in one field would often
lead to solidarity strikes by workers in an
entire city.
This way, general strikes often were not "called",
they simply happened organically.
==== General Strike of 1919 ====
In 1919, employers at a Barcelona hydroelectric
plant, known locally as La Canadiense, cut
wages, triggering a 44-day-long and hugely
successful general strike with over 100,000
participants.
Employers immediately attempted to respond
militantly, but the strike had spread much
too rapidly.
Employees at another plant staged a sit-in
supporting their fellow workers.
About a week later, all textile employees
walked out.
Soon after, almost all electrical workers
went on strike as well.
Barcelona was placed under martial law, yet
the strike continued in full force.
The union of newspaper printers warned the
newspaper owners in Barcelona that they would
not print anything critical of the strikers.
The Government in Madrid tried to destroy
the strike by calling up all workers for military
service, but this call was not heeded, as
it was not even printed in the paper.
When the call got to Barcelona by word of
mouth, the response was yet another strike
by all railway and trolley workers.
The Government in Barcelona finally managed
to settle the strike, which had effectively
crippled the Catalan economy.
All of the striking workers demanded an eight-hour
day, union recognition, and the rehiring of
fired workers.
All demands were granted.
It was also demanded that all political prisoners
be released.
The government agreed, but refused to release
those currently on trial.
Workers responded with shouts of "Free everybody!"
and warned that the strike would continue
in three days if this demand was not met.
Sure enough, this is what occurred.
However, members of the Strike Committee and
many others were immediately arrested and
police effectively stopped the second strike
from reaching great proportions.
The Government tried to appease the workers,
who were clearly on the verge of insurrection.
Tens of thousands of unemployed workers were
returned to their jobs.
The eight-hour day was declared for all workers.
Thus, Spain became the first country in the
world to pass a national eight-hour day law,
as a result of 1919's general strike.
After the 1919 general strike, increasing
violence against CNT organizers, combined
with the rise of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship
(which banned all anarchist organizations
and publications), created a lull in anarchist
activity.
Many anarchists responded to police violence
by becoming pistoleros themselves.
This was a period of mutual violence, in which
anarchist groups including Los Solidarios
assassinated political opponents.
Many anarchists were killed by gunmen of the
other side.
=== The FAI ===
During the Primo de Rivera years, much of
the CNT leadership began to espouse a "moderate"
revolutionary syndicalism, ostensibly holding
an anarchist outlook but holding that the
fulfilment of anarchist hopes would not come
immediately, and insisting on the need for
a more disciplined and organised trade-union
movement in order to work towards libertarian
communism.
The Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI)
was formed in 1927 to combat this tendency.
Its organization was based on autonomous affinity
groups.
The FAI remained a very secretive organization,
even after acknowledging its existence two
years after its formation.
Its surreptitious nature makes it difficult
to judge the extent of its membership.
Estimates of FAI membership at the time immediately
preceding the revolution range from 5,000
to 30,000.
Membership dramatically increased during the
first few months of the Civil War.
The FAI was not ideally libertarian, being
dominated by very aggressive militants such
as Juan García Oliver and Buenaventura Durruti.
However, it was not authoritarian in its actual
methods; it allowed freedom of dissent to
its members.
In fact the overall organization of the FAI
was very loose, unlike Bakunin's "Alliance"
which was, however, an important precedent
in creating an organization for pushing forward
anarchist ideology.
The FAI was militantly revolutionary, with
actions including bank robberies to acquire
funds, and the organization of general strikes,
but at times became more opportunist.
It supported moderate efforts against the
Rivera dictatorship, and in 1936, contributed
to establishment of the Popular Front.
By the time the anarchist organizations began
cooperating with the Republican government,
the FAI essentially became a de facto political
party and the affinity group model was dropped,
not uncontroversially.
=== The fall of Rivera and the New Republic
===
The CNT initially welcomed the Republic as
a preferable alternative to dictatorship,
while still holding on to the principle that
all states are inherently deleterious, if
perhaps to varying degrees of severity.
This relationship did not last long, though.
A strike by telephone workers led to street
fighting between CNT and government forces;
the army used machine guns against the workers.
A similar strike broke out a few weeks later
in Seville; twenty anarchists were killed
and one hundred were wounded after the army
besieged a CNT meeting place and destroyed
it with artillery.
An insurrection occurred in Alto Llobregat,
where miners took over the town and raised
red and black flags in town halls.
These actions provoked harsh government repression
and achieved little tangible success.
Some of the most active anarchists, including
Buenaventura Durruti and Francisco Ascaso,
were deported to Spanish territory in Africa.
This provoked protest and an insurrection
in Terrassa, where, like in Alto Llobregat,
workers stormed town halls and raised their
flags.
Another failed insurrection took place in
1933, when anarchist groups attacked military
barracks with the hope that those inside would
support them.
The government had already learned of these
plans, however, and quickly suppressed the
revolt.
None of these actions had any success.
They resulted in thousands of jailed anarchists
and a wounded movement.
At the same time, infighting between the syndicalist
Treintismo and the insurrectionalist FAI hurt
the unity of the anarchist struggle.
=== Prelude to revolution ===
The national focus on Republic and reform
led the anarchists to cry "Before the ballot
boxes, social revolution!"
In their view, liberal electoral reforms were
futile and undesirable, and impeded the total
liberation of the working classes.
An uprising took place in December 1933.
Aside from a prison break in Barcelona, no
gains were made by revolutionaries before
the police quelled the revolt in Catalonia
and most of the rest of the country.
Zaragoza saw ephemeral insurrection in the
form of street fighting and the occupation
of certain buildings.In Casas Viejas, militants
quickly surrendered when they were outnumbered
by police forces.
However, one old anarchist called "Six fingers"
barricaded himself in his home with his family
and vowed to resist arrest.
His house was burned down, his family was
killed, and the anarchists who previously
surrendered peacefully were shot.
This massacre provoked torrents of condemnation,
even from conservative Republicans.An important
strike took place in April, again in Zaragoza.
It lasted five weeks, shutting down most of
Zaragoza's economy.
Other parts of the country were supportive;
anarchists in Barcelona took care of the strikers'
children (about 13,000 of them) while the
CNT federation of Logroño had offered to
take care of as many as 5,000.
==== Asturias ====
Perhaps the clearest prequel to revolution
(and civil war) came in 1934, in the mining
districts of Asturias.
The strike here was a cooperative effort of
communists and anarchists, with the former
having more representation, but with events
mirroring more closely an anarchist mindset.
Communists had some influence, but their numbers
were small; the Communist Party had perhaps
1,000 members in 1934 compared with the UGT's
1.44 million and the CNT's 1.58 million.The
miners' strike began with attacks on barracks
of the Civil Guard.
In the town of Mieres, police barracks and
the town hall were taken over.
Strikers moved on, continuing to occupy towns,
even the capital of Asturias in Oviedo.
Workers had control over most of Asturias,
under chants of "Unity, Proletarian brothers!"
The ports of Gijón and Avilés remained open.
Anarchist militants defending against the
imminent arrival of government troops were
denied sufficient arms by suspicious communists.
So fell the uprising, with great violence
upon the rebels, but also with great unity
and revolutionary fervor amongst the working
classes.
The crushing of the revolt was led by General
Francisco Franco, who would later lead a rebellion
against the republic and become dictator of
Spain.
The use of the Foreign Legion and the Moorish
Regulares to kill Spaniards caused public
outrage.
Captured miners faced torture, rape, mutilation,
and execution.
This foreshadowed the same brutality seen
two years later in the Spanish Civil War.
==== The Popular Front ====
With the growth of right-wing political parties
(Gil Robles' conservative Spanish Confederation
of the Autonomous Right, for example), leftist
parties felt the need to join together in
a "Popular Front."
This included Republicans, Socialists, Communists,
and other left parties; Anarchists were not
willing to support it but refused to attack
it, either, thus helping it get into power.
The more radical elements of the CNT-FAI were
not satisfied with electoral politics.
In the months after the Popular Front's rise
to power, strikes, demonstrations, and rebellions
broke out throughout Spain.
Throughout the countryside, almost 5 km2 of
land were taken over by squatters.
The Popular Front parties began to lose control.
Anarchists would continue to strike even when
prudent socialists called it off, taking food
from stores when strike funds ran out.
The CNT's national congress in May 1936 had
an overtly revolutionary tone.
Among the topics discussed were sexual freedom,
plans for agrarian communes, and the elimination
of social hierarchy.
=== Spanish individualist anarchism ===
Spanish individualist anarchism was influenced
by American individualist anarchism but mainly
it was connected to the French currents.
At the start of the 20th century people such
as Dorado Montero, Ricardo Mella, Federico
Urales, Mariano Gallardo and J. Elizalde translated
French and American individualists.
Important in this respect were also magazines
such as La Idea Libre, La Revista Blanca,
Etica, Iniciales, Al margen, Estudios and
Nosotros.
The most influential thinkers there were Stirner,
Émile Armand and Han Ryner.
Just as in France, Esperanto, anationalism,
anarcho-naturism and free love were present
as philosophies and practices within Spanish
individualist anarchist circles.
Later Armand and Ryner started publishing
in the Spanish individualist press.
Armand's concept of amorous camaraderie had
an important role in motivating polyamory
as realization of the individual.Recently
historian Xavier Diez wrote on the subject
in El anarquismo individualista en España:
1923-1938 y Utopia sexual a la prensa anarquista
de Catalunya.
La revista Ética-Iniciales(1927–1937) deals
with free love thought in Iniciales.
Diez reports that the Spanish individualist
anarchist press was widely read by members
of anarcho-communist groups and by members
of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union CNT.
There were also the cases of prominent individualist
anarchists such as Federico Urales and Miguel
Gimenez Igualada who were members of the CNT
and J. Elizalde who was a founding member
and first secretary of the Iberian Anarchist
Federation.Federico Urales was an important
Catalan individualist anarchist who edited
La Revista Blanca.
The individualist anarchism of Urales was
influenced by Auguste Comte and Charles Darwin.
He saw science and reason as a defense against
blind servitude to authority.
He was critical of influential individualist
thinkers such as Nietzsche and Stirner for
promoting an asocial egoist individualism
and instead promoted an individualism with
solidarity as a way to guarantee social equality
and harmony.
In the subject of organization he was highly
critical of anarcho-syndicalism as he saw
it plagued by too much bureaucracy and thought
that it tended towards reformism.
He instead favored small groups based on ideological
alignment.
He supported the establishment of the Iberian
Anarchist Federation (FAI) in 1927 and participated
in it.An important Spanish individualist anarchist
was Miguel Giménez Igualada who wrote the
lengthy theory book called Anarchism espousing
his individualist anarchism.
Between October 1937 and February 1938 he
started as editor of the individualist anarchist
magazine Nosotros, in which many works of
Han Ryner and Émile Armand appeared, and
also participated in the publishing of another
individualist anarchist magazine Al Margen:
Publicación quincenal individualista.
In his youth he engaged in illegalist activities.
Igualada's thought was deeply influenced by
Max Stirner, of which he was the main popularizer
in Spain through his writings.
He published and wrote the preface to the
fourth edition in Spanish of The Ego and Its
Own from 1900.
He proposed the creation of a Union of Egoists,
a Federation of Individualist Anarchists in
Spain, but did not succeed.
In 1956, Igualada published an extensive treatise
on Stirner, which he dedicated to fellow individualist
anarchist Émile Armand.
Afterwards, he travelled and lived in Argentina,
Uruguay and Mexico.
=== Spanish anarchist naturism ===
Anarcho-naturism was quite important at the
end of the 1920s in the Spanish anarchist
movement In France, later important propagandists
of anarcho-naturism include Henri Zisly and
Émile Gravelle who collaborated in La Nouvelle
Humanité, Le Naturien, Le Sauvage, L'Ordre
Naturel, and La Vie Naturelle.
Their ideas were important in individualist
anarchist circles in France as well as Spain,
where Federico Urales (pseudonym of Joan Montseny)
promoted the ideas of Gravelle and Zisly in
La Revista Blanca (1898–1905).
Isaac Puente, an influential Spanish anarchist
during the 1920s and 1930s and an important
propagandist of anarcho-naturism, was a militant
of both the CNT anarcho-syndicalist trade
union and Iberian Anarchist Federation.
He published the book El Comunismo Libertario
y otras proclamas insurreccionales y naturistas
(en:Libertarian Communism and other insurrectionary
and naturist proclaims) in 1933, which sold
around 100,000 copies, and wrote the final
document for the Extraordinary Confederal
Congress of Zaragoza of 1936 which established
the main political line for the CNT for that
year.
Puente was a doctor who approached his medical
practice from a naturist point of view.
He saw naturism as an integral solution for
the working classes, alongside Neo-Malthusianism,
and believed it concerned the living being
while anarchism addressed the social being.
He believed capitalist societies endangered
the well-being of humans from both a socioeconomic
and sanitary viewpoint, and promoted anarcho-communism
alongside naturism as a solution.The "relation
between Anarchism and Naturism gives way to
the Naturist Federation, in July 1928, and
to the lV Spanish Naturist Congress, in September
1929, both supported by the Libertarian Movement.
However, in the short term, the Naturist and
Libertarian movements grew apart in their
conceptions of everyday life.
The Naturist movement felt closer to the Libertarian
individualism of some French theoreticians
such as Henri Ner (real name of Han Ryner)
than to the revolutionary goals proposed by
some Anarchist organisations such as the FAI,
(Federación Anarquista Ibérica)".
This ecological tendency in Spanish anarchism
was strong enough as to call the attention
of the CNT–FAI in Spain.
Daniel Guérin in Anarchism: From Theory to
Practice reports:
Spanish anarcho-syndicalism had long been
concerned to safeguard the autonomy of what
it called "affinity groups."
There were many adepts of naturism and vegetarianism
among its members, especially among the poor
peasants of the south.
Both these ways of living were considered
suitable for the transformation of the human
being in preparation for a libertarian society.
At the Saragossa congress the members did
not forget to consider the fate of groups
of naturists and nudists, "unsuited to industrialization."
As these groups would be unable to supply
all their own needs, the congress anticipated
that their delegates to the meetings of the
confederation of communes would be able to
negotiate special economic agreements with
the other agricultural and industrial communes.
On the eve of a vast, bloody, social transformation,
the CNT did not think it foolish to try to
meet the infinitely varied aspirations of
individual human beings.
=== Anarchist presence in the Spanish Civil
War ===
The Republican government responded to the
threat of a military uprising with remarkable
timidity and inaction.
The CNT had warned Madrid of a rising based
in Morocco months earlier and even gave the
exact date and time of 5 am on July 19, which
it had learned through its impressive espionage
apparatus.
Yet, the Popular Front did nothing, and refused
to give arms to the CNT.
Tired of begging for weapons and being denied,
CNT militants raided an arsenal and doled
out arms to the unions.
Militias were placed on alert days before
the planned rising.
The rising was actually moved forward two
days to July 17, and was crushed in areas
heavily defended by anarchist militants, such
as Barcelona.
Some anarchist strongholds, such as Zaragoza,
fell, to the great dismay of those in Catalonia;
this is possibly due to the fact that they
were being told that there was no "desperate
situation" by Madrid and thus did not prepare.
The Government still remained in a state of
denial, even saying that the "Nationalist"
forces had been crushed in places where it
had not been.
It is largely because of the militancy on
the part of the unions, both anarchist and
communist, that the Rebel forces did not win
the war immediately.
Anarchist militias were remarkably libertarian
within themselves, particularly in the early
part of the war before being partially absorbed
into the regular army.
They had no rank system, no hierarchy, no
salutes, and those called "Commanders" were
elected by the troops.
The most effective anarchist unit was the
Durruti Column, led by militant Buenaventura
Durruti.
It was the only anarchist unit which managed
to gain respect from otherwise fiercely hostile
political opponents.
In a section of her memoirs which otherwise
lambastes the anarchists, Dolores Ibárruri
states: "The war developed with minimal participation
from the anarchists in its fundamental operations.
One exception was Durruti..."
(Memorias de Dolores Ibarruri, p. 382).
The column began with 3,000 troops, but at
its peak was made up of about 8,000 men.
They had a difficult time getting arms from
a fearful Republican government, so Durruti
and his men compensated by seizing unused
arms from government stockpiles.
Durruti's death on November 20, 1936 weakened
the Column in spirit and tactical ability;
they were eventually incorporated, by decree,
into the regular army.
Over a quarter of the population of Barcelona
attended Durruti's funeral.
It is still uncertain how Durruti died; modern
historians tend to agree that it was an accident,
perhaps a malfunction with his own gun or
a result of friendly fire, but widespread
rumors at the time claimed treachery by his
men; anarchists tended to claim that he died
heroically and was shot by a fascist sniper.
Given the widespread repression against Anarchists
by the Soviets, which included torture and
summary executions, it is also possible that
it was a USSR plot.Another famous unit was
the Iron Column, made up of ex-convicts and
other "disinherited" Spaniards sympathetic
to the Revolution.
The Republican government denounced them as
"uncontrollables" and "bandits", but they
had a fair amount of success in battle.
In March 1937 they were incorporated into
the regular army.
==== CNT–FAI collaboration with government
during the war ====
In 1936, the CNT decided, after several refusals,
to collaborate with the government of Largo
Caballero.
Juan García Oliver became Minister of Justice
(where he abolished legal fees and had all
criminal dossiers destroyed), Diego Abad de
Santillán became Minister of the Economy,
and Federica Montseny became Minister of Health,
to name a few instances.
During the Spanish Civil War, many anarchists
outside of Spain criticized the CNT leadership
for entering into government and compromising
with communist elements on the Republican
side.
Those in Spain felt that this was a temporary
adjustment, and that once Franco was defeated,
they would continue in their libertarian ways.
There was also concern with the growing power
of authoritarian communists within the government.
Montseny later explained: "At that time we
only saw the reality of the situation created
for us: the communists in the government and
ourselves outside, the manifold possibilities,
and all our achievements endangered."
Indeed, some anarchists outside of Spain viewed
their concessions as necessary considering
the grim possibility of losing everything
should the fascists win the war.
Emma Goldman said, "With Franco at the gate
of Madrid, I could hardly blame the CNT–FAI
for choosing a lesser evil: participation
in government rather than dictatorship, the
most deadly evil."To this day, the issue remains
controversial among anarchists.
=== 1936 Revolution ===
Along with the fight against fascism was a
profound anarchist revolution throughout Spain.
Much of Spain's economy was put under worker
control; in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia,
the figure was as high as 75%, but lower in
areas with heavy socialist influence.
Factories were run through worker committees,
agrarian areas became collectivized and run
as libertarian communes.
Even places like hotels, barber shops, and
restaurants were collectivized and managed
by their workers.
George Orwell describes a scene in Aragon
during this time period, in his book, Homage
to Catalonia:
I had dropped more or less by chance into
the only community of any size in Western
Europe where political consciousness and disbelief
in capitalism were more normal than their
opposites.
Up here in Aragon one was among tens of thousands
of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class
origin, all living at the same level and mingling
on terms of equality.
In theory it was perfect equality, and even
in practice it was not far from it.
There is a sense in which it would be true
to say that one was experiencing a foretaste
of Socialism, by which I mean that the prevailing
mental atmosphere was that of Socialism.
Many of the normal motives of civilized life—snobbishness,
money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc.—had
simply ceased to exist.
The ordinary class-division of society had
disappeared to an extent that is almost unthinkable
in the money-tainted air of England; there
was no one there except the peasants and ourselves,
and no one owned anyone else as his master.
The anarchist held areas were run according
to the basic principle of "From each according
to his ability, to each according to his need."
In some places, money was entirely eliminated,
to be replaced with vouchers.
Numerous sources attest that industrial productivity
doubled almost everywhere across the country
and agricultural yields being "30–50%" larger,
demonstrated by Emma Goldman, Augustin Souchy,
Chris Ealham, Eddie Conlon, Daniel Guerin
and others.
Of the resulting industrial output, Republican
military commander Vicente Rojo Lluch said
"Notwithstanding lavish expenditures of money
on this need, our industrial organization
was not able to finish a single kind of rifle
or machine gun or cannon."Anarchic communes
often produced more than before the collectivization.
Yields were increased by as much as 50% as
a result of newly applied scientific methods.
However critics often dispute these claims.
Currency remained in use as a 'family wage'
in some areas, while in other areas the use
of currency was abolished.
The newly liberated zones worked on entirely
socialist libertarian principles; decisions
were made through councils of ordinary citizens
without any sort of bureaucracy.
(The CNT-FAI leadership was at this time not
nearly as radical as the rank and file members
responsible for these sweeping changes.)In
addition to the economic revolution, there
was a spirit of cultural revolution.
For instance, women were allowed to have abortions,
and the idea of "free love" became popular.
In many ways, this spirit of cultural liberation
was similar to that of the "New Left" movements
of the 1960s.
==== Counter-revolution ====
During the Civil War, Communist Party gained
considerable influence due to the necessity
of aid from the Soviet Union.
Communists and "liberals" on the Republican
side gave considerable effort to crush the
anarchist revolution, ostensibly to bolster
the anti-Fascist effort (the response was,
"The revolution and the war are inseparable").
Pravda announced in December 1936 that "...the
mopping up of Trotskyists and anarcho-syndicalists
has already begun.
It will be carried out with the same vigor
as in the USSR."
Another communist boldly proclaimed in an
interview that they would "make short work
of the anarchists after the defeat of Franco."
Their efforts to weaken the revolution were
ultimately successful: hierarchy was eventually
restored in many of the collectivized areas,
and power was taken away from workers and
unions, to be monopolized by the Popular Front.
Most important, perhaps, were the measures
to destroy the militias, who were arguably
leading the war effort in spirit as well as
in action.
The militias were eventually declared illegal
and technically merged with the Popular Army.
This had the effect of demoralizing the soldiers
and taking away what they had ultimately been
fighting for: not for the Soviet Union, but
for themselves and for freedom.
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, working in Spain
for Joseph Stalin, had predicted this in 1936:
"Without the participation of the CNT, it
will not, of course, be possible to create
the appropriate enthusiasm and discipline
in the people's militia/Republican militia."
Indeed, the counter-revolutionary fervor often
served to weaken the anti-Fascist war effort.
For example, a huge cache of arms was allowed
to fall to Francoist forces for fear that
it otherwise would end up in the hands of
the anarchists.
Troops were pulled off the front lines to
crush anarchist collectives.
Many able soldiers were assassinated for their
political ideology; a leader of the repressive
efforts, Enrique Líster, said that he would
"shoot all the anarchists [he] had to."
It was revealed that many anarchists were
being held in prisons under Communist orders,
rather than fighting on the front, and that
furthermore many of these prisoners were tortured
and shot.
In what became known as the "Barcelona May
Days", the most dramatic repressive effort
against the anarchists came in May 1937.
Communist-led police forces attempted to take
over a CNT-run telephone building in Barcelona.
The telephone workers fought back, setting
up barricades and surrounding the Communist
"Lenin Barracks."
Five days of street fighting ensued, causing
over 500 deaths.
This tragic series of events greatly demoralized
the workers of Barcelona.
Afterwards, the government sent in 6,000 men
to disarm the workers, and the FAI was outlawed.
However, the Communist workers were allowed
to keep their weapons; only the anarchists
were forced to turn them in.
This is not surprising considering that the
Police and government in Barcelona were overtly
Communist-run by this point.
The militant Friends of Durruti group encouraged
the fighting to continue, feeling that defeat
by the Communists would ruin the strength
of the anarchist movement.
Their call was not heeded.Throughout the Civil
War, the various Communist newspapers engaged
in a massive propaganda campaign against the
anarchists and the Workers' Party of Marxist
Unification (POUM).
They were often called "Hitlerites" and "fascists"
in the pay of Franco, as George Orwell notes
in Homage to Catalonia: "Just imagine how
odious it must be to see a young 15-year-old
Spaniard brought back from the front lines
on a stretcher, to see, poking out from under
the blanket an anemic, bewildered face and
to think that in London and Paris there are
gentlemen dressed to the nines, blithely engaged
in writing pamphlets to show this little lad
is a covert fascist."
The unreliability of these newspapers peaked
when not even one reported the events of May
1937.
=== The Franco years ===
When Francisco Franco took power in 1939,
he had tens of thousands of political dissidents
executed.
The total number of politically motivated
killings between 1939 and 1943 is estimated
to be around 200,000.
Political prisoners filled the jails, which
were twenty times more populous than before
the war.
Forced labor camps were opened up, where,
according to historian Antony Beevor, "the
system was probably as bad as in Germany or
Russia."
Despite these actions, underground resistance
to Franco's rule lingered for decades.
Actions by the Resistance included, among
other things, sabotage, releasing prisoners,
underground organizing of workers, aiding
fugitives and refugees, and assassinations
of government officials.
Little attention was paid to the Spaniards
who refused to accept Franco's rule, even
by those who had been against him during the
War.
Miguel Garcia, an anarchist jailed for 22
years, describes their circumstances in his
1972 book: "When we lost the war, those who
fought on became the Resistance.
But to the world, the Resistance had become
criminals, for Franco made the laws, even
if, when dealing with political opponents,
he chose to break the laws established by
the constitution; and the world still regards
us as criminals.
When we are imprisoned, liberals are not interested,
for we are 'terrorists'...."
The guerilla resistance (referred to in Spain
as Maquis) was effectively ended around 1960
with the death of many of its more experienced
militants.
In the period from the end of the war until
1960, according to government sources, there
were 1,866 clashes with security forces and
535 acts of sabotage.
2,173 guerillas were killed and 420 were wounded,
while the figures for government forces lost
amount to only 307 killed and 372 wounded.
19,340 resistance fighters were arrested over
this time interval.
Those who aided the guerillas were met with
similar brutality; as many as 20,000 were
arrested over the years on this charge, with
many facing torture during interrogation.
The Spanish government under Franco continued
to prosecute criminals until its demise.
In the earlier years, some prisons were filled
up to fourteen times their capacity, with
prisoners hardly able to move about.
People were often locked up simply for carrying
a union card.
Active militants were often less fortunate;
thousands were shot or hanged.
Two of the most able Resistance fighters,
Jose Luis Facerias and Francisco Sabater Llopart
(often called "Sabaté"), were simply shot
by police forces; many anarchists met a similar
fate.
During World War II, Spanish anarchists worked
with the French Resistance, engaging in actions
both on the homefront and abroad.
They worked especially to smuggle Jewish families
into Spain, forging passes for them and helping
them find safety, in order to protect them
from Nazi oppression.
The then-underground CNT was also involved:
in 1962, a secret "Interior Defense" section
was formed to coordinate actions of the resistance.
The Anarchist Black Cross was re-activated
in the late 1960s by Albert Meltzer and Stuart
Christie to help anarchist prisoners during
Franco's reign.
In 1969, Miguel Garcia (see above) became
International Secretary of the ABC.
=== Today ===
The CNT is still active today.
Their influence, however, is limited.
The CNT, in 1979, split into two factions:
CNT/AIT and CNT/U.
The CNT/AIT claimed the original "CNT" name,
which led the CNT/U to change its name to
Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) in
1989, which retains most of the CNT's principles.
The CGT is much larger, with perhaps 50,000
members (although it represents as many as
two million workers), and is currently the
third largest union in Spain.
An important cause for the split and the main
practical difference between the two trade
unions today is that the CGT participates,
just like any other Spanish trade union, in
elecciones sindicales, where workers choose
their representatives who sign their collective
bargaining agreements.
CGT has an important number of representatives
in, for example, SEAT, the Spanish car manufacturer
and still the largest enterprise in Catalonia
and also in the public railroad system, e.g.,
it holds the majority in Barcelona's underground.
CNT does not participate in elecciones sindicales
and criticizes this model.
The CNT–CGT split has made it impossible
for the government to give back the unions'
important facilities that belonged to them
before Franco's regime seized them and used
them for their only legal trade union, a devolution
also still pending in part for some of the
other historical political parties and worker
organizations.Anarchist ideas enjoy a considerable
popularity in parts of Spain, as they have
throughout the world in the last few decades.
Large May Day demonstrations occur annually.
In all Spain, but above all in Barcelona,
squatting is widespread; many of these squatters
hold anarchist views.
Anarchists produce a local calendar called
Info Usurpa that lists around forty explicitly
anarchist squats that are organized as social
centers (Centros Sociales).
These social centers put on events ranging
from concerts, community dinners, and workshops
to language courses and free internet cafés.
They have faced strong opposition from the
authorities, including raids and evictions.
In 2004, following the eviction of the squat
L'Hamsa, squatters smashed the windows of
banks and real estate offices, set dumpsters
on fire, attacked police cars, and spray painted
slogans on the city's walls.
During the first years of the 2000s, the Iberian
Federation of Libertarian Youth in Spain started
to evolve towards insurrectionary anarchist
positions and its differences with anarcho-syndicalism
became more evident due to the influence of
the Black bloc in alterglobalization protests
and the examples of developments from Italy
and Greece.
Afterwards it will receive some important
repression from the state which leads it towards
inactivity A new generation of anarchist youth
decides to establish a new FIJL since 2006.
It starts trying to establish a clear difference
with the other insurrectionist FIJL while
defending anarcho-syndicalism critically.
In the year 2007 it re-establishes itself
as the FIJL since it did not have news from
the other insurrectionist organization, but
after finding out of a communique by the insurrectionist
organization it decides to name itself "Iberian
Youth of Anarchist Youth" (spa: Federación
Ibérica de Juventudes Anarquistas or FIJA
but knowing that they are the continuing organization
to the previous FIJL from the 1990s to the
past.
They publish a newspaper called El Fuelle.
In March 2012 the FIJL of insurrectionist
tendencies decides to not continue and so
the FIJA goes to call itself again FIJL.
Today, the FIJL has presence in Asturias,
Cádiz, Donosti, Granada, Lorca (Murcia) and
Madrid.
== Violence ==
Although many anarchists were opposed to the
use of force, some militants did use violence
and terrorism to further their agendas.
This "propaganda of the deed" first became
popular in the late 19th century.
This was before the rise of syndicalism as
an anarchist tactic, and after a long history
of police repression that led many to despair.
Los Desheredados (English translation: "the
Disinherited"), were a secret group advocating
violence and said to be behind a number of
murders.
Another group, Mano Negra (Black Hand), was
also rumoured to be behind various assassinations
and bombings, although there is some evidence
that the group was a sensational myth created
by police in the Civil Guard (La Guardia Civil),
notorious for their brutality; in fact, it
is well known that police invented actions
by their enemies, or carried them out themselves,
as a tool of repression.
Los Solidarios and Agrupación de los Amigos
de Durruti (Friends of Durruti) were other
groups that used violence as a political weapon.
The former group was responsible for the robbery
of Banco de Bilbao which gained 300,000 pesetas,
and the assassination of the Cardinal Archbishop
of Zaragoza Juan Soldevilla y Romero, who
was reviled as a particularly reactionary
cleric.
Los Solidarios stopped using violence with
the end of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship,
when anarchists had more opportunities to
work aboveground.
In later years, anarchists were responsible
for a number of church burnings throughout
Spain.
The Church, a powerful, usually right-wing
political force in Spain, was always hated
by anti-authoritarians.
At this time, their influence was not as grand
as in the past, but a rise of anti-Christian
sentiment coincided with their perceived or
real support of fascism.
Many of the burnings were not committed by
anarchists.
However, anarchists were often used as a scapegoat
by the authorities.
Rarely was violence directed towards civilians.
However, there are a few recorded cases in
which anarchists enforced their own beliefs
with violence; one observer reports incidents
in which pimps and drug dealers were shot
on the spot.
Forced collectivization, while exceedingly
rare, did occur on several occasions when
ideals were dropped in favor of wartime pragmatism.
In general, though, individual holdings were
respected by anarchists who opposed coercive
violence more vigorously than small-scale
property possession.
Despite the violence of some, many anarchists
in Spain adopted an ascetic lifestyle in line
with their libertarian beliefs.
Smoking, drinking, gambling, and prostitution
were widely looked down upon.
Anarchists avoided dealing with institutions
they proposed to fight against: most did not
enter into marriages, go to State-run schools
(libertarian schools, like the Catalan Ferrer's
Escuela Moderna, were popular), or attempt
to aggrandize their personal wealth.
This moralism starkly contrasts with the popular
view of anarchists as anomic firebrands, but
also is part of another stereotype that the
anarchism in Spain was a millenarian pseudo-religion.
== Feminism ==
Feminism has historically played a role alongside
the development of anarchism; Spain is no
exception.
The CNT's founding congress placed special
emphasis on the role of women in the labor
force and urged an effort to recruit them
into the organization.
There was also a denunciation of the exploitation
of women in society and of wives by their
husbands.
Women's rights had been integral in anarchist
ideas such as coeducation, the abolition of
marriage, and abortion rights, amongst others;
these were quite radical ideas in traditionally
Catholic Spain.
Women had played a large part in many of the
struggles, even fighting alongside their male
comrades on the barricades.
However, they were often marginalized; for
example, women often were paid less in the
agrarian collectives and had less visible
roles in larger anarchist organizations.
A Spanish anarchist group known as Mujeres
Libres (Free Women) provided day-care, education,
maternity centers, and other services for
the benefit of women.
The group had a peak membership of between
20,000 and 38,000.
Its first national congress, held in 1937,
with delegations from over a dozen different
cities representing about 115 smaller groups.
The statutes of the organization declared
its purpose as being "a.
To create a conscious and responsible feminine
force that will act as a vanguard of progress;
b.
To establish for this purpose schools, institutes,
lectures, special courses, etc., to train
the woman and emancipate her from the triple
slavery to which she has been and still is
submitted: the slavery of ignorance, the slavery
of being a woman, and the slavery of being
a worker."
Eskalera Karakola is a current squat in Madrid,
Spain, which is held by feminists and works
on autogestion principles.
It was situated in the Lavapiés barrio from
1996 to 2005, and is now in Calle Embajador.
The squat organizes activities focussing on
domestic violence and women's precarity in
post-industrial capitalism.
In 2002, it created a Female Workers' Laboratory
(Laboratorio de Trabajadoras), and has carried
out anti-racist activities, in particular
with female immigrants, since 1998.
Eskalera Karakola also took part in the organization
of the GLBT Pride and the forum "Women and
Architecture".
It participated in alter-globalization events
such as the European Social Forum and is part
of the European nextGENDERation network.
It publishes a review, Mujeres Preokupando
("Concerned Women").
== See also ==
La Mano Negra, alleged violent anarchist secret
society operating in Andalusia around 1880.
Vivir la Utopia, Film about Anarchism in Spain
by J. Gamero.
Antorcha, a 1930s anarchist newspaper from
Las Palmas
== References ==
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
Anarchism in the Spanish Revolution of 1936
- Spanish Civil War.
Spanish Anarchists Oral History Collection
at the International Institute of Social History
