One source of this left-wing opposition was anarchism, gathered round its trade union CNT, born during the bloody social conflicts of Barcelona in the early years of the century. The CNT’s creed was anarcho-syndicalism, the belief that revolution would lead to total workers’ management. ibid.
They rejected all governments, monarchies or republics. They fought for a society of equal cooperating human beings freed from the curse of private property, god and bosses. ibid.
In 1936 with elections approaching once more, most of the left united in a popular front; the anarchists did not join but supported the popular front in order to rescue their own imprisoned supporters. ibid.
A climate of violence allowed the Falange to flourish. ibid.
The civil war became the battlefield for international ideologies. Before then it was Spain’s own revolution and counter-revolution. Justice was swept away by random brutality. The Spanish Civil War II: Revolution, Counter-Revolution and Terror
Around the country some sections of the army stayed loyal to the Republic. So did half the Spanish people. A pattern for the division of Spain was set. ibid.
The coup became a civil war, and the resistance became a revolution. ibid.
‘A lot of hatred had been accumulated.’ ibid. peasant
The anarchists had more than half a million supporters all over the country. ibid.
The War provided the opportunity to achieve a freedom and justice that they argued was impossible under bourgeois democracy. They claimed that war and revolution were inseparable. ibid.
Industry was collectivised, women were liberated, abortion was legalised. Barcelona celebrated its freedom. This was a revolution. ibid.
At the front the Republican militias were getting beaten. ibid.
Picasso’s painting Guernica … For nearly fifty years it has echoed in the conscience of the world. Spain in the 1930s was in many ways still struggling out of the nineteenth century, but it found itself the arena and battlefield of ideologies of the twentieth. The Spanish Civil War III: Battleground for Idealists
Franco had appealed to the Fuhrer for help. ibid.
As France closed its borders, the Spanish republic felt let down. ibid.
For two generations the Spanish Civil War has been remembered for the international brigades. ibid.
In Catalonia some anarchists feared their revolution was being taken over by communists. ibid.
‘A cause of poets and of writers, a cause of freedom.’ ibid. British writer
General Franco called the uprising against the Republican government a Crusade, a fight for Christian civilisation; others called it fascism. It was for nearly three years the world’s moral arena. The Spanish Civil War IV: Franco and the Nationalists
By the age of thirty-three he [Franco] was a general. He had commanded the Spanish foreign legion for four years. ibid.
The social upheavals of the Republic had led to a progressive breakdown of law and order. ibid.
Francisco Franco emerged as the undisputed leader and called himself head of state. ibid.
Many different groups had supported their rising: first the conservatives … the monarchist … the Carlists … Falange – the fascist party outlawed by the Republic. ibid.
Franco had never claimed to be a politician but he was of the intuitive right, an instinctive defender of capitalism … his programme: no working-class trade unions, help for peasants but land for landowners, concord with the church, above all no democracy. ibid.
These aims of the Spanish right could only be secured by oppression. ibid.
Rome’s approval was a great reinforcement to the devout. ibid.
The people of Barcelona celebrated. Within days of the army rising, revolution had burst out spontaneously in most of Republican Spain. The Spanish Civil War V: Inside the Revolution
In these first weeks of the civil war the militias were the only real defence of the Republic. ibid.
Catalonia was the anarchists’ stronghold. ibid.
For them, the campaign was not just against the army rebels but against capitalism itself. ibid
Everyone now worked only for the community. ibid.
As the anarchists weakened, the communists became stronger. ibid.
Two years which had transformed Republican hopes into memories of failure. The Spanish Civil War VI: Victory and Defeat
The popular army had attempted to match the enemy in regular combat and failed. ibid.
There was a huge increase in German military aid to the Nationalists. ibid.
Catalonia had fallen: for these people the war was over. ibid.
‘The mushroom workshop idea is the same process for any of the edible mushroom.’ The Anarchist Community in the Rain Forest: Poole’s Land, down on the commune, Vice TV 30:55
Welcome to Poole’s land: ‘I heard that it was a commune where you could live for free and get paid in drugs.’ ibid. Manisha, presenter
‘For people who want to be loved.’ ibid. lady
‘Semi anarchistic in a sense. But there are some basic rules …’ ibid. site welcome dude
‘No-one’s died here. And there has been some heroic doses.’ ibid. site dude
‘You can call this place a political act.’ ibid.
We are told to remember the idea not the man … An idea can still change the world. I’ve witnessed first hand the power of ideas. I’ve seen people kill in the name of them. V for Vendetta 2005 starring Hugo Weaving & Natalie Portman & John Hurt & Stephen Rea & Stephen Fry & Tim Pigott-Smith & Rupert Graves & Roger Allam & John Standing & Eddie Marsam & Ben Miles et al, director James McTeigue, opening commentary
The only verdict is Vengeance. ibid. hero
Our job is to report the news not fabricate it – that’s the government’s job. ibid. television executive
People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people. ibid.
At the heart of the community were an anarchist group of artists and radicals called The Diggers. The Summer of Love: How Hippies Changed the World II: Where Have All the Flowers Gone? BBC 2017
Anarchist is not a singular ideology with a singular definition, a singular purpose … It’s an ecosystem of ideologies. The Corbett Report: James Corbett on the Anarchist Ideologist, James Corbett online 2014
This is against government per se or is this against all forms of hierarchical organisation? ibid.
On the ethical principle that all forms of human association should be voluntary in nature … and that’s what I identify with. ibid.
We can learn how to negotiate and interact with others in peaceful and voluntary ways. ibid.
We will have to grow up and become independent adults … a revolution in consciousness. ibid.
Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals. Lucy Parsons
Common to all Anarchists is the desire to free society off all political and social coercive institutions which stand in the way of development of a free humanity. Rudolf Rocker