The Spanish Civil War

[ElliDisaster]

Im not sure if this goes into history .... But egal ^^

Does anybody know the ideologies of the Communists and Anarchists in the Spanish Civil war? And whatever sites you can get information?
Because all the sites i have been on, there isnt a answer that makes sense and one website contradicts the other... Any help would be great ^^

Cheers

[Ander]

I have a great fascination with the Spanish Civil War and can help give you a rundown of the main groups and ideologies on both sides of the war. To say that it was a war between fascists and communists is quite ignorant (not in reference to you.) There was a variety of political ideas running around the scene and its far more complicated then that. Many people do not know this but there was a lot of reaction on the side of the Republicans.

Firstly, for the Nationalist side:
Spanish Military Union - Would eventually be led by Franco and was made up of conservative military officers.
Carlists - A group of monarchists whose main political goal was to maintain the line of Borbon kings as the rulers of Spain.
Falange de las JONS - These are the only official fascists on the entire Nationalist side! The Falange was a fascist party that was formed by the son of a former dictator (Primo de Rivera.) The JONS (Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista) was a fascist organization which was heavily into organizing unions in Spain. These two groups formed to make one movement and pulled in thousands of members.
Church - Roman Catholic officials supported Franco because he was a staunch Catholic and promised a return to traditional values, etc.

Republican side:
Government - A coalition of several parties, the government ascribed generally to liberalism.
UGT - The socialist trade union that was associated with the government side.
Communist Party of Spain - The main communist party in the country, it was a Moscow (therefore Stalin) directed party.
PSUC - The communist party of Catalonia under direction of the CPS. It was pretty much responsible for the crushing of the Trotskyist parties in Barcelona and other areas of Catalonia.
POUM - Worker's Party of Marxist Unification, it was a Trotskyist alternative to the other communist groups. It opposed the Stalinist leaders of the PSUC and was subsequently declared illegal and butchered for it.
CNT-FAI - The CNT was the Anarchist trade union while the FAI was the militant wing within the organization. Active in the worker militias at the outbreak of the civil war.
Basque Nationalists - Reactionary separatists who sought only Basque autonomy. Several of my relatives fought against Franco on the side of the Basque Nationalist Party.

There is a neat little chart here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_civil_war#Political_parties_and_organizati ons) that tells you some of the groups involved in the conflict.

[ElliDisaster]

Thankyou ,, see im doing it for a history project ...other poeple are doing other ideologies.... But thankyou ... life is now a tad easier

[Vargha Poralli]

Everything provided by Jello is correct but this one cannot be said as accurate


POUM - Worker's Party of Marxist Unification, it was a Trotskyist alternative to the other communist groups.

In fact POUM broke up with Trotsky over some issues as early as 1936. The purely Trotskyist group was called Bolshevik-Leninists. Of course they too were blamed as fascist collaborators and faced severe repression along with POUM and some much militant Anarchists.

[rebelworker]

Just wanted to add a few things.

Along with the FAI, which was an anarcist federtion set up to try and maintain anarchist positions within the large CNT (representing 80% f the working class in Barcelona, understandable not all were dedicated anarchists), there was also the friends of Durruti Group or FoD, which was closer to an actual anarchist revolutionary organisation, set up during the revolution, it grouped togeather CNT millitants who pushed for a truly revolutionary line in the face of the collaboration with the govt from some elements of the CNT leadership who did not see revolution as an immediate goal.

They were the only group that called for a second revolutionary push during the attempt of the Stalinist to re take the Workplaces from the revolutionary workers around may day in 37.

They were small compared to the other groups that called themselves revolutionary, but they were the only group to consistantly call for a revolutionary transformation.

In all fairness, it was easier for them to do so, because of the numerical strength of the anarchists, than say for the POUM which was very politically isolated.

[welshred]

Which group did orwell fight with, was it the POUM?

[The Feral Underclass]

Friends of Durruti also continued fighting after Franco took power.


Originally posted by welshred
Which group did orwell fight with, was it the POUM?

Yes.

[Enragé]

the POUM also pushed for a second revolution in '37

in fact, the POUM newspaper, La Batalla, printed a combined statement FoD-POUM statement calling for such a revolution.

So much for leninism and anarchism are completely irreconcilable.


oh and some minor corrections to what jello said;

The carlists (aka traditionalists) were also vehemently catholic and decentralist (the latter being a point of great difference with the fascist Falange).
The carlists and Falange were, regardless of differences, forced into a merger by Franco and became Falange de las JONS/Traditionalista (or something along those lines, look it up ^^ )

Government of the republic was largely left leaning, for example de Izquierda Republicana.
The Basque nationalists were also fiercely catholic.

Besides the ideologies of the various factions, regionalism, traditionally strong in Spain, played a very big role. For example Catalonia had always been rebellious in face of the centralised Madrid government, and had its own parliament (Generalitat), and basque reactionaries even chose regionalism above ideology.