Organized Labor in the Spanish Revolution

Description

In this session, we will focus on the way that the major anarchist unions operated within Spain in the 1930s, especially the CNT, and how union organizing was correlated with anarchist politics more generally. We will also discuss how the anarchist unions differed from communist and liberal unions.

Readings

• “They were all wearing overalls”: How labor used newspapers in the Spanish Revolution (TWC blog)
• Anarchist Union Reverses Firings at Port of Barcelona Through Militant Strike (IWW International Solidarity Commission)
• To Remember Spain: The Anarchist and Syndicalist Revolution of 1936 by Murray Bookchin (The Anarchist Library)
• What Equality Would Actually Look Like: Lessons from Anarchist Spain on Equality, Temporality and the Art of the Possible by James Martel

Discussion Questions

1. What does it mean to be an anarchist in terms of coordination and organizing, especially under conditions of dire threat such as the Spanish anarchists faced on many fronts?
2. Must anarchism be a "pure" position apart from all forms of archism or is it more the case that anarchism is always in relation to archism and hence never quite free of it or its techniques and attitudes?
3. How does the history of the Spanish anarchist and syndicalist positions reflect on our own time? What has changed and what is possible now that was not possible then — or impossible now that was possible then?

Additional Resources

• Equality in Anarchist Spain (audio interview, KPFA)
• Living in Utopia (documentary)