Andorra during anarchist Catalonia

[Skyhilist]

For those who don't know, Andorra is a small country on the border between Spain and France. It directly borders the Spanish province of Catalonia, where some of the heaviest anarchist influence was during the Spanish civil war. Given that the very small country of Andorra was literally right next to it, how did it influence its political landscape?

Were there a good amount of anarchists in Andorra as a result? Or was the popularity of anarchism almost completely confined to Spain? Either way, why did anarchist popularity either spillover or not spillover into Andorra? I ask, because given its extremely small size, it seems like a country that could change vastly politically in a very small amount of time.

I literally haven't been able to find anything on this, so I'd appreciate it, thanks.

[The Feral Underclass]

Good question. I've never even considered it. If you find some information, I'd quite like to see it.

[Skyhilist]

There's hardly any material on the subject at all, but here's what I found: France lent Andorra seven border guards during the Civil War, with the microstate's ten-man ceremonial army (which never once used live ammunition) having been disbanded and replaced by a police force in 1931 (which has since developed into a modern 240-man force complete with "counter-terror" units). Andorrans volunteered on both sides of the Civil War in unknown numbers, although the state's own neutrality was maintained by the presence of that single French unit (which withdrew in early 1939, at the close of the conflict). 24 days after the opening of World War II, Andorra legally terminated its state of war with Germany which had existed on paper since World War I (which Andorra committed no troops to), probably so as to avoid aggression from Hitler's new ally to the south (it didn't help, as Spanish Civil Guards illegally set up a recruitment center for the German-Spanish Blue Division in Andorra in 1942). A Catalan, Joan Català Balañà, fought with the Durruti Column and helped people flee Francoism via Andorra and France during World War II. There were apparently others like him, known as passeurs.

Thanks, that's very helpful. Sounds like based on that that Andorrans didn't have a very high involvement on either side if they couldn't influence the neutrality of a state that was being maintained by a single French unit.

[erupt]

From what I gather, it's a banking haven, having more in common with Monaco than Spain, regardless of the predominant Catalans in the country.

[Jolly Red Giant]

If you google 'anarchists in Andorra' you get the following newspaper articles from 1933 -

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19331128&id=rBYvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TqgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3437,3588768

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19331201&id=akowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TKgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6802,95698

A page from a book here -

http://books.google.ie/books?id=zaaRvUxm0ZAC&pg=PA387&lpg=PA387&dq=anarchists+in+andorra&source=bl&ots=xpZFO0Empp&sig=lm2KTowfx1KZxcdUkZGIafOHIPw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EYYGU_WKCKGJ7AafnYDADw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=anarchists%20in%20andorra&f=false

And there is some stuff from libcom here -

http://libcom.org/library/collectives-leval-2#ch5.4

[Durruti's friend]

And there is some stuff from libcom here -

http://libcom.org/library/collectives-leval-2#ch5.4
This link is about the collectivization process in the Aragonese town of Andorra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra,_Teruel), not about anything in the Principality of Andorra. The two tend to be confused.

But yeah, this is a really interesting subject, keep it up.

[Jolly Red Giant]

This link is about the collectivization process in the Aragonese town of Andorra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra,_Teruel), not about anything in the Principality of Andorra. The two tend to be confused.

I stand corrected - I just ran a google search and linked in the first few things that popped up that seemed connected.