What Lessons Can Those Seeking Radical Social And Poitical Change Take From The Spanish Civil War?

What lessons can those seeking radical social change learn from the Spanish Revolution?

The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, and the collectivisation of both industrial and agrarian production across vast swathes of Catalonia, has been cast by Murray Bookchin as the farthest-reaching movement that the Left ever produced (1994: p.1). This essay seeks to extract the lessons that can be learnt from an analysis of two key factors within the Spanish Revolution revolutionary consciousness, and the experiences of workers within the collectivist model of socio-economic organisation - for those seeking radical social change. It begins with an analysis of the conditions that encouraged the worker-led efforts to collectivise agrarian and industrial productive centres by Spanish workers following General Franco s pronunciamiento in July 1936 (Bookchin, 1994: p.3) and the way in which revolutionary consciousness was cultivated. The essay then discusses the relative successes and failures evidenced by the collectives, on the one hand arguing that the process of collectivisation, modernisation and standardisation of industry shows that alternative socio-economic arrangements offer plausible alternatives to the capitalist mode of production, whilst also addressing the limitations of class consciousness that manifested themselves within collectives once membership began to be extended outside of those dedicated to the collectivist project. The essay concludes with a brief analysis of the lessons that contemporary activists can draw from the experience of the Spanish collectives as to the need for radical, autonomous political spaces of organisation and association within capitalist society.

The inculcation of a revolutionary, anarchistic class consciousness in the pre-revolutionary phase was due to two main factors: the socio-economic history of Spain and material immiseration of the working classes (Bookchin, 1994: pp.46-48, Seidman, 1982: p.413 and Castells Duran, 2002: p.127-128) and the efforts of anarchists in spreading an understanding of anarchist ideas and philosophy across the country (Ovejero, 2010: pp.524-525). The socio-economic background of Spain is raised in much of the literature around the origins of the revolution as evidence of the fertile basis for revolution and revolutionary ideas. Bookchin illustrates the origins of revolutionary sentiment amongst the Spanish working class in their modes of social organisation, established in opposition to the distance from society and community that was exhibited by the church and the aristocratic/bourgeois Spanish classes (1994: pp.47-48). The working class, he argues, existed in highly sociable urban Barrios centred on cafes and community centres, grounding a sense of community, enfranchising the lowest ranks of society, and self-organisation through direct action (Bookchin, 1994: pp.47-49). A further, economic layer to the emergence of revolutionary sentiments amongst the working classes, is presented by both Castells Duran and Seidman, who highlight weak Catalan industry and finance (Castells Duran, 2002: p.127) and the immiserating material conditions of the working class, manifest in high illiteracy, unsuitable housing and living/working conditions, and weak protection in the workplace (Seidman, 1982: pp.411-413). The pre-existing socio-economic conditions of the Spanish working class, it can be argued, laid the foundations for the acceptance and spread of alternative ideas that manifested itself in the proliferation of anarchist sentiments in the early 20^th century.

The success of the spread of anarchist ideas through education and awareness building by activists can be seen to have had a large impact on the revolutionary consciousness of the Spanish proletariat, and serves as an important lesson as to the necessity of encouraging the cultivation of ideas of radical political change prior to any actual material revolutionary action. Ovejaro argues that for decades Spanish anarchism had been inculcating to their followers mainly through education, a collectivistic and anti-individualistic ideology and that this spread of ideas allowed for the uprisings that were seen in response to Franco s attempted coup (2010, p.525). Anarchists in the workplace and neighbourhoods had been busy cultivating amongst workers and neighbourhoods the ideals of an anti-capitalist world, and the rejection of the church (Getman-Eraso, 2008: pp.96-97), whom many working class perceived to have abdicated all claims to public service (Bookchin, 1994: p.48). The prescience of anarchists in educating their followers meant that workers were in a position to react to the 1936 coup by collectivising the means of production based on their understanding of how to organise an alternative socio-economic. It is easy to understand why both Bookchin and Castells Duran emphasise the leaderless, spontaneous and successful nature of the worker-led appropriation and collectivisation of industry in 1936 (1994, p.44 and 2002: pp.129-130), as there was no necessity for an order to be given by any central body the revolutionary consciousness and understanding was already there to be unleashed when the situation called for it. The real revolution, as Richards argues, was manifest in the anonymous men and women, in the fields and factories and in the public services, in the villages and among the militiamen of the first days... (1972: p.185). The inculcation of revolutionary understanding and consciousness amongst a pre-revolutionary working class is arguably the most effective way to achieve immediate socio-economic change as it supplies activists with blueprints with how best to immediately organise society in the event of a successful revolution, diminishing the potential for counterrevolutionary forces to act against such manoeuvrings. The essay will now show how the collectives exemplify functioning and concrete alternative ways to organise social relations, emphasising the need amongst those seeking radical social change, for the establishment of autonomous political spaces.

In Anarchist areas like Barcelona and other regions of Catalonia, collectivisation was pursued by workers with dogged resolve following the outbreak of civil war in July 1936 (Seidman, 2000: p.210) an estimated three-quarters of the economy of the region was placed under the control of workers collectives (Bookchin, 1994: p.43). Barcelona saw between 70 and 80 percent of factories collectivised as well as workers going on to establish associations that brought under one roof the majority of plants in a specific industry, sector or geographical area (Castells Duran, 2002: p.133). Many have praised the worker-oriented approach of the collectives, organised as they were along anti-hierarchy, horizontal premises of direct democracy and worker participation in the form of workers assemblies, committees and councils (Castells Duran, 2002: pp.133-134), as examples of the way in which the socialisation of beliefs, values and cultural practices can be achieved through participation in direct democratic structures (Ovejero, 2010: pp.521-522).

Despite the progress towards increasing productive capacity achieved within the Spanish collectives by marrying Taylorism, standardisation and modernisation of industry with increased worker benefits (Seidman, 1983: pp.418-421), Seidman highlights the proliferation of resistance from rank and file workers that challenges the optimistic interpretation of the collectives (1982: p.430). This manifested itself in absenteeism, theft, hoarding, low productivity and the clashes over wage differentials between technical workers whose expertise was so necessary in the pursuit of gains in standardisation and modernisation within collectives (1982: p.422), and the militant anarchist unionists committed to egalitarian wages and the eradication of piecework (Seidman 1988: p.195). Compromises came in the form of increasing sanctions, surveillance (Seidman, 1988: p.198-201) and the reintroduction of piecework (linking wages to output) as a way of incentivising work amongst those resisting it, despite widespread belief amongst anarcho-syndicalists at the time that it contributed to the miserable conditions of the workers (Seidman, 1988: p.195). The idea of the voluntary nature of membership of a un ion or collective has also been challenged, with Seidman pointing to the fact that many joined the unions and collectives for the simple fact that life without a un ion card was made too difficult for many, and not because they believed, or were willing to participate, in the principles for which the collective stood (2000: pp.211-212 and 1982: p.427).

These difficulties encountered by the core of militant unionists in the collectives in Barcelona stand as a lesson to those seeking radical social change as to how to inculcate a sense of solidarity and collective empowerment amongst a membership of an organisation that has expanded from the initial cadre of political and philosophical adherents to the aims of the organisation. To this extent, the earlier discussion of the pertinence of knowledge and recognition of both the social, political, cultural and economic background of potential working class revolutionaries, as well as a focus on education and providing a setting, as Ovejero argues, in which beliefs, values and cultural practices can be socialised (2010: p.521). This issue is addressed directly by Richards in his discussion of the misguided view of the Anarcho-Syndicalists and their failure to recognise that not all workers are revolutionaries, particularly if they have been socialised within reformist and reactionary trade unions (Richards, 1972: p.198). Richard s analysis of the socialised and learnt behaviour of workers accounts for the presence of workers resistance within the collectives, and the clearly differing conceptions of class consciousness (Seidman 1988: p.203) held by the un ion militants, who conceived of class consciousness in terms of control and development of the productive forces (Seidman, 1988: p.204) and the rank-and-file, who conceived the avoidance of the workplace and resistance to work as expressions of class consciousness (Seidman, 1988: p.204).

The clear lesson from the collectivisation project of the anarchists is the need for an active, lived politics participation in living by the principles that radicals espouse and the creation of experimental and autonomous spaces whereby this can be achieved. Emphasis on a politics of autonomous spaces is essential, as:

[autonomy] enables the enjoyment of liberty as a necessary basis for building self-esteem and it opens up a space in which to attempt collectively to overcome social problems (Chatterton, in Brown, 2007: p.2688)

The recent Occupy movement shows how the politicisation and reclamation of public space as an autonomous, radical space can be utilised in order to highlight the possibilities of alternative political organising based on non-hierarchical and egalitarian organisation (Lubin, 2012: p.187), in a similar vein to the beliefs held by the Spanish Anarchists. Activists such as Occupy can utilise these radical spaces as a means by which awareness of the root causes of inequality can be highlighted (Lubin, 2012: p.191), a clear social problem emphasised in the % of wealth figure touted by Occupy movements worldwide.

In addition to Occupy s creation of radical autonomous spaces based on horizontality, the Social Centres movement analysed by Hodkinson and Chatterton (2006) provides a strong example of the way in which the occupation of private and public space allows alternative economic models based on need and not profit (Hodkinson and Chatterton, 2006: p.311) to be explored. The Social Centres movement is of particular interest in regards to practical recognition of the necessity for education and the dissemination of ideas, seen to be problematic within the Spanish Revolution, as they act as free political meeting places or hubs where activists and other concerned citizens can have political exchanges, network, and organise and the way in which they bring the various fragments of social movements together under one roof where a process of dialogue, contamination and greater unification can take place (Hodkinson and Chatterton, 2006: p.310) and in engaging the public through organised events (Hodkinson and Chatterton, 2006: p.311). Such an approach is not without its pitfalls non-participation is still problematic within social centres, and tasks regarding the day to day running of the centre often fall to the same group of activists (Hodkinson and Chatterton, 2006: p.312), but the attempts to engage those outside of this group such as the wider public, show that there exists a recognition of the need to disseminate radical ideas of organisation, direct democratic participation, self-help and horizontality. Viewing the emphasis on practicing alternative political cultures, self-help strategies, empowerment, participatory institutions and practices through the perspective that such approaches are designed to counter the bureaucratic and elitist tendencies that define contemporary political and organisational decision processes (Fischer, 2006: pp.20-21), it can be seen that the contemporary socio-political movements discussed have already paid attention to the historical struggles and alternatives proposed, in particular, by the militant Anarcho-Syndicalists during the Spanish Revolution.

This essay has detailed two major lessons that can be learnt from the Spanish Revolution, namely the importance of a dissemination of radical ideas sensitive to the nature of the socio-political nuances of a society, and the necessity of radical and active participation in models for political organisation. The Spanish collectives provide concrete examples of the way in which successful experiments in alternative social, economic and political organisation can be undertaken, and that worker-oriented horizontal organising, manifest in worker representation on councils and committees within both associations and individual collectives does not mean that such enterprises will be unsuccessful in terms of production. The essay has given examples of the way in which contemporary political movements have taken these lessons of the Anarchist Spanish Revolutionaries, the necessity of the radical reappropriation of space and have used this as a means by which to disseminate messages and social, political and economic alternatives. It is worth ending on the assertion that, due to the climate of Civil War, the threat of Franco and the eventual communist attacks on the collectives, much left to be desired from the experimentation in collectivisation and worker-led economic life. Had there been more time, or a less hostile environment, it is likely that many of the problems experienced by the collectives could have been reconciled. Ultimately, the Anarchist collectivist project showed was that the realisation of the impossible is possible (Ovejero, 2010: p.531).

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