1930s

Labour Rebellions of the 1930s in the British Caribbean Region Colonies - Richard Hart

A brief overview of the numerous struggles which occurred in the British Caribbean during the 1930s, which led to the introduction of many trade union rights across the region, written by Jamaican trade unionist Richard Hart.

Published in 2002 jointly by Caribbean Labour Solidarity and the Socialist History Society.

About the author

1934: The Asturias Revolt

An account of the 1934 uprising by Asturian miners in Spain. Beginning as part of a nationwide general strike, the revolt grew into one of the most widespread rebellions of the pre-revolution era.

The 1933 elections in Spain had seen a massive victory delivered to the right, represented by the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA), a coalition of largely Catholic conservative groups and Monarchists. Led by José María Gil-Robles, the CEDA soon allied itself with the close runner up of the elections, the Radical Republican Party, led by Alejandro Lerroux.

1935: Battle of Ballantyne Pier

A short history and background of the 1935 dockers' strike and subsequent bloody confrontation with police in Vancouver that became known as the Battle of Ballantyne Pier.

The story of the Battle of Ballantyne Pier can be traced back to 1912 when the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), began organising amongst waterfront workers in Canada, and alongside the Lumber Handlers’ Union in Vancouver.

Self management and the Spanish revolution - Point Blank

An article by Situationist journal Point Blank on the militias and workers' councils during the Spanish Revolution.

Self-Management and the Spanish Revolution

1936 ~ 37

I

Class War on the Home Front (PDFs)

Class War on the Home Front, a history of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation, in printable PDF format.

Front Page
Contents
History
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The Anarchist Revolution in Spain - New Statesman

Account by Cyril Connolly in the New Statesman or 21st November 1936 of the anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War

"It is in Barcelona that the full force of the anarchist revolution becomes apparent. Their initials, CNT and FAI, are everywhere. They have taken over all the hotels, restaurants, cafes, trains, taxis, and means of communication, as well as all theatres, cinemas, and places of amusement.

The Battle of Cable St, 1936 - Joe Jacobs

Joe Jacobs was in 1936 a local Communist Party activist in London's East End. This is his account of his involvement in the famous defence of the East End against an attempted march by Mosley's fascists.

Joe describes events leading up to the march, including the changes in the CP leadership's tactics as they finally realised their calls for a peaceful demonstration elsewhere would be ignored. His account corrects false impressions later created by official Communist versions of the events.

1931: The Invergordon mutiny

A short account of a strike by a thousand sailors of the Royal Navy that occurred in Northern Scotland in 1931 against proposed wage cuts.

The government attempted to supress all memory of the strike, and although the strikers won partial concessions, the cuts were still imposed and many sailors were punished for taking part.

Class collaboration - old and new, and Open letter to the CNT, 1937

"Class collaboration - old and new", a timely reminder of working class political experience by Joseph Wagner, and A. Shapiro’s Open letter to the CNT which criticised its actions during the Spanish Civil War.

Published in the IWW's One Big Union Monthly, August, 1937

Workers Power and the Spanish Revolution - Tom Wetzel

Tom Wetzel's historical article and analysis of the Spanish Civil War and Revolution, and in particular the activities of the Spanish anarchists within it. In text and PDF format.

Available here as a PDF.

Puente, Isaac, 1896-1936

A short biography of Spanish anarchist Isaac Puente Arnestoy, who was executed on the dawn of the 1936 Revolution.

Isaac Puente Arnestoy was born in 1896 in Las Carreras, near Vizcaya, in the Basque country in Spain, the son of a Carlist soldier.

Statistical information on socialisation in the Spanish Revolution

Statistics on agrarian and industrial collectivisation in the Spanish Civil War, the numbers of collectives and workers involved.

Adequate statistical information is difficult to obtain, but the following data should give a general idea of the extent of the libertarian revolution on the land and in the cities.

1921-1953: A chronology of Russian anarchism

A brief timeline of the anarchist movement and anarchist activity in the USSR, and its repression by Soviet authorities following the Russian Revolution.

“But we do not fear you or your hangmen. Soviet 'justice' may kill us, but you will never kill our ideals. We shall die as anarchists and not as bandits.”
- The anarchist Machanovskii at his trial before the Petrograd Revolutionary Tribunal, 13th and 22nd December 1922

1941: Disney cartoonists strike

A short history of a strike by Disney animators in 1941 and the organisation in the years building up to it.

Throughout the 1930s workers of the flourishing entertainment industry of Hollywood had been organising themselves into unions. Stagehands, actors, directors, editors and writers had all successfully, albeit slowly, formed their own organisations through this massive drive for union recognition.

Day the East End said 'No pasaran' to Blackshirts

Next Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the day that the workers of the East End of London united in defiance of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and refused to let them march through their streets.

From The Guardian (Saturday September 30, 2006) by Audrey Gillan.

They built barricades from paving stones, timber and overturned lorries. Women threw the contents of chamber pots on to the heads of policemen and children hurled marbles under their horses and burst bags of pepper in front of their noses.

1932: The Geneva Massacre

An account of the shooting of over 100 people by the Swiss army at an anti-fascist demonstration.

In 1932, the sympathisers of the Union Nationale fascist party led by Georges Oltramare planned to assemble on 9th November at the Salle Communale of Plainpalais in Geneva to publicly accuse the Socialist leaders Nicole and Dicker. The Socialist Party called a counter-demonstration.

Victorio, José Siliceo, 1906-1934

A short biography of widely-respected anarchist militant in pre-war Spain, José Siliceo Victorio.

José Siliceo Victorio
Born 1906 - Bienvenida, Spain, died, 1934 - Oran Algeria

Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell

George Orwell's famous 1938 account of the Spanish Revolution and Civil War, from his point of view as a volunteer in the POUM militia.

Though the POUM were socialists, he wrote "as far as my purely personal preferences went I would have liked to join the Anarchists."

His vivid descriptions of classless anarchist Barcelona following the revolution and terrorised Stalinist Barcelona after the counter-revolution are a timeless reminder that a 'revolutionary state' is a contradiction in terms.

Looking back on the Spanish War - George Orwell

“In essence it was a class war” - George Orwell reflects on his experiences as a volunteer militiaman in the Spanish Revolution and Civil War. Written in 1943.

[8,000 words]

1
First of all the physical memories, the sounds, the smells and the surfaces of things.

1918-1937: Anarchist activity in Nazi Germany

Target - Anarchist assassination attempts failed

Some notes on the activity of anarchists in Germany immediately preceding and soon after the Nazis' gained power, including accounts of attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

After World War II, the police archives were taken by the Americans and when these were opened to scholars they found that German anarchist resistance through the ages had been extremely large. There had been an extremely active and influential working class anarchist movement in a line from that under Bismarck to that under Hitler.