Spain

War or revolution: The dilemma of the Spanish Civil War – Rudolf De Jong

The war and the revolution are indivisible

A short essay by the former director of the Spanish Section of the International Institute of Social History on the so-called “dilemma” of the Spanish Civil War, in which the author claims that there was no “dilemma” at all for the Republicans and Stalinists, who simply wanted to use the war to stop the revolution, while the Socialist Party (Largo Caballero), riddled with traitors and communist infiltrators, totally failed to even explicitly address the “dilemma”, which was finally suppressed among the libertarians by the “committee-ocracy”, a precursor of the forms of the social democratic welfare state of the postwar period.

The Platform of the Workers Alliance – Valeriano Orobón Fernández

A 1934 newspaper article by Valeriano Oborón Fernández, a leading theoretician of the CNT, in which he explains why he is in favor of a “Workers Alliance” entailing the tactical unity of the CNT, UGT and PCE—particularly aimed at the proletarian rank and file of these organizations—for the purpose of not only defeating the fascist threat by means of revolution, but also for ensuring the predominance of “revolutionary working class democracy” in the post-revolutionary society, and outlines his suggestions for the basic principles of such an Alliance.

Origins and Development of Workers Autonomy in Spain (1970-1976) – Miguel Amorós

Submitted by Alias Recluse on Nov 21 2018 20:33

A chronicle of the rise and fall of the fortunes of the assembly movement in Spain during the early 1970s, with brief accounts of strike movements all over Spain, the rise of assemblies as forms of autonomous organization of the struggle, and the subsequent repression and police violence, highlighting the nefarious role played by the Communist Party and its trade union front organization at a time when it seemed that Spain was on the verge of a social revolution and that only the Communist Party and its allies could effectively prevent the workers’ assemblies from associating, organizing their self-defense, and becoming a system of workers councils.

Spanish anti-fascist ‘prisoners of war’ in Lancashire, 1944–46

Submitted by Anonymous on Oct 10 2018 14:26

Spanish anti-fascist prisoners in Chorley

Fascinating and detailed paper by Richard Cleminson examining the appalling treatment of Spanish anti-fascist resistance fighters during World War II being detained in internment camps in Britain alongside Nazi and fascist prisoners.

Jorge from Distrito 14 collective (Madrid) on the verge of imprisonment

Submitted by Dannny on Sep 23 2018 12:02

Article translated from the Madrid-based anarchist publication Todo Por Hacer relating to the likely jail time faced by anti-eviction activist Jorge Jiménez from the anti-capitalist, feminist and anti-fascist collective Distrito 14.
Original article here: https://www.todoporhacer.org/jorge-distrito-14/

Anarchy #12

Twelfth issue of the second series of Anarchy magazine focussing on Spain in the 1970s.

Amazon Strikes on Prime Day

Submitted by BenS6 on Jul 21 2018 09:46

Amazon warehouse workers came out on strike against appalling conditions for three days from July 16th in Madrid. 96% of the workers came out on strike. Many of these are temps. On the second day of the strike, workers were brutally attacked by riot police in an unprovoked attack resulting in several beatings.