Anarchism in Spain's Second Republic: strikes, uprisings and internal conflict

The Spanish Second Republic was a battleground for anarchism, divided between those seeking reform through the union and those committed to immediate insurrection, clashing constantly with the state and other political forces.

The proclamation of the **Second Republic** in Spain that April of **1931** was met with widespread enthusiasm. For many, it meant the start of reforms, a breath of fresh air after decades of monarchy. Socialists saw it as a necessary step towards a fairer society. But for anarchists, things looked different. The republic, to them, was nothing more than a change of facade; the capitalist system remained intact. Their goal was not a republic but social revolution, genuine transformation.

Despite the reservations of their leaders, thousands of workers, many of them members of the **CNT** (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, Spain's anarcho-syndicalist union), took to the streets to celebrate the king's fall. They hoped things would improve. The CNT, however, maintained a watchful stance, ready to begin its "gigantic undertaking". And did they ever. General strikes, uprisings, insurrections... They did not hold back.

## Two souls within the CNT

Inside the CNT, things were not so clear-cut. There were two major currents fighting for control. On one side, the anarcho-syndicalists, with figures like **Juan Peiró** and **Ángel Pestaña**. They saw the Republic as an opportunity to strengthen the union, to improve workers' living conditions through reforms and strikes, postponing revolution to a better-prepared future. They believed revolution had to be a mass action, not the work of a daring minority. Their manifesto, the "Manifesto of the Thirty" of August **1931**, made their position clear: revolution, yes, but when the CNT was ready.

On the other side were the purer anarchists, those of the **FAI** (Federación Anarquista Ibérica, the Iberian Anarchist Federation). They believed the revolution was due yesterday. The Republic, for them, was the perfect breeding ground for their activity, a regime of liberties that facilitated direct action. Their organisation was based on small groups, ideological cells with strong cohesion. For the FAI, the moment of the revolutionary general strike had arrived, the moment to overthrow those in power. They saw the Republic as bourgeois, not proletarian, and blamed the lack of revolution on the CNT's "lack of revolutionary preparation". They lamented having missed the "psychological moment", that instant of indecision in which an idea can prevail. Their lesson was clear: militants should have taken to the streets, occupied buildings and launched the people into revolution.

## The Republic and confrontation

The CNT, under FAI influence, soon showed its most combative face. An early and bloody example was the strike at the **Compañía Telefónica de España** in July **1931**. The incidents in Seville left **thirty dead** and some **two hundred injured**. The anarchists discovered that the Republic could be as harsh as the monarchy.

Strikes trinc one after another, in the cities and in the countryside, where day labourers occupied estates demanding agrarian reform. The CNT was aware of the sympathy the Republic aroused among workers, with whom it had maintained close ties since the late nineteenth century. Figures like **Farga Pellicer** and **González Sarracena** had been pioneers of the republicanism that later drifted towards anarchism, influenced by the **International** and the Bakuninists.

The CNT's confrontational policy, driven by the FAI, had its repercussions. It strengthened the insurrectional tendency over the syndicalist one. The FAI saw the Republic as a bourgeois regime and blamed the lack of revolution on the CNT's "lack of revolutionary preparation". They lamented having missed the "psychological moment", that instant of indecision in which an idea can prevail. Their lesson was clear: militants should have taken to the streets, occupied buildings and launched the people into revolution.

## The rural battleground and the UGT

The countryside was another constant flashpoint. Peasants lived in misery, and the Provisional Government's attempts to alleviate their situation with decrees ran into the opposition of the large landowners. The Guardia Civil, the rural police force, often paid and housed by the landowners, acted more in defence of the latter than of the law.

The **UGT** (Unión General de Trabajadores, the socialist trade union), the country's other major union, led by **Francisco Largo Caballero** at the head of the Ministry of Labour, adopted a different strategy. It promoted the **Jurados Mixtos**, a kind of joint committees seeking negotiation between employers and workers. The CNT saw this as an opportunistic manoeuvre favouring the UGT and eliminating one of its defining traits: direct action and negotiation outside the state.

This rift between the CNT and the UGT became evident in the countryside. The Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de la Tierra (FNTT), the UGT's rural section, grew from **35,000 members** in June **1930** to more than **390,000** in June **1932**. The CNT, for its part, called strikes that often ended in violent clashes, with neither the strikes nor the new labour legislation managing to improve workers' conditions. Employers often ignored agreements. The latifundio owners mockingly told the labourers: "Didn't you want a Republic? Then eat the Republic!".

## Insurrections and repression

The Republic was shaken by several anarchist insurrections. In January **1932**, the miners of the Alto Llobregat rose up in arms. The repression was brutal: dozens arrested, dismissals, closure of CNT premises and a ban on its press. This uprising, not called by the confederal organisation, brought no gains and only weakened the CNT. **Ángel Pestaña** left the CNT's general secretariat in March **1932**, and the FAI consolidated its control over the organisation.

In January **1933**, another insurrection, this time with greater support in Catalonia, the Levante and Andalusia. The revolutionaries proclaimed libertarian communism, destroyed property deeds and entrenched themselves awaiting the revolution. These uprisings were closely tied to the misery of the countryside and to the slowness of, and resistance to, the implementation of agrarian reform.

The case of **Casas Viejas** (11 and 12 January **1933**) became a symbol of repression. After a peasants' strike in Cádiz and Seville over unemployment, the peasants of Casas Viejas joined the insurrection. The arrival of the security forces, led by Captain **Rojas**, triggered a massacre: a house set on fire with members of a family inside, the execution of **14 peasants** and dozens of detainees with allegations of torture. The government of **Manuel Azaña** defended the security forces' actions before knowing the facts. In the subsequent trial, **Rojas** was sentenced to **21 years** in prison, but was released in March **1936**.

Faced with this escalation of repression, the CNT focused its protests on denouncing the government, especially the socialists, whom it held responsible. It called **48-hour** general strikes for May **1933**, but turnout was low, partly due to the closure of many unions.

## Elections, abstention and the December revolution

In the November **1933** elections, the CNT did not take part and advocated abstention. Its strategy was twofold: if the right won, to trigger an insurrectionary movement; and if not, to try to delegitimise the system through low turnout. They believed the CNT could not succeed alone and needed the collaboration of other left-wing forces, pushing the socialists towards insurrection.

The CNT was wrong again. Abstention was one thing, launching into insurrection quite another. In December **1933**, the CNT staged a revolutionary attempt on its own, the most organised and largest of the republican era. The strike failed in Catalonia, but had an impact in Aragon, La Rioja and Navarre. Zaragoza was the scene of pitched battles. The insurrection claimed the lives of **125 people** (insurgents, civilians and security forces alike) and left **186 injured**. The repression was even harsher, with arrests, torture and mock executions.

## The Asturias Revolution and the Popular Front

After these events, some regional committees of the CNT began to consider an agreement with the UGT. In October **1934**, when the socialists called an insurrection, the CNT did not support it, except in Asturias, the only place where the revolution succeeded. There, the CNT joined the **Alianza Obrera** (Workers' Alliance) promoted by the UGT. A revolutionary committee was formed, led by the socialist deputy **Ramón González Peña**. In Asturias, an attempt was made to organise life according to CNT principles: socialisation of wealth, abolition of authority and capitalism. A Supply Committee was created for food distribution. Despite these efforts, violence against property owners and clergy was uncontrollable.

In the February **1936** elections, the CNT was divided: some advocated the traditional abstention, others left workers free to vote, and some called for a vote for the **Frente Popular** (Popular Front), which promised amnesty for prisoners. After the left's victory, the CNT and the FAI maintained their hostility towards the Popular Front government, advocating insurrection as the method to achieve libertarian communism.

In May **1936**, the CNT's Confederal Congress in Zaragoza reaffirmed its goal of libertarian communism and offered a revolutionary alliance to the UGT to "completely destroy the existing political and social regime". The UGT refused, antiestéticaring a break with the Popular Front. Libertarian communism was defined as the abolition of private property, the state, authority and classes, with direct administration of production and consumption by the producers' organisations. The CNT's strategy hinged on allying with the UGT, provided it abandoned Marxism-Leninism and broke with the republican parties. The UGT did not yield, and tensions between the two unions grew, compounded by the increasing presence of the PCE (Spanish Communist Party), which saw the anarchists as an obstacle.