Frank Mintz’s classic study of collectivisation and economic experimentation during the Spanish revolution is available here for the first time in English. This is the chronicle of the anarcho-syndicalists of Spain, who—with and without the help of their own organizations—fought and built a new world alongside everyday labourers in the chaos of revolution and Franco’s fascist coup. Participants in rural and industrial collectives totaled over 1,800,000—within an overall population of 6,000,000 in Republican Spain. Their experience as the backbone of revolution resonates still in today’s global anticapitalist movements.
Sixteen appendices reinforce Mintz’s analysis and insight, offering case studies of collectivization in particular regions and towns, economic experiments, and the role Marxist totalitarianism and Francoist fascism played leading up to and after the revolution.
Frank Mintz’s book was originally published in 1970 in France and, along with titles like Noam Chomsky’s Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship, began to chip away at what Chris Ealham describes as the “conspiracy of silence” built up around the anarchists’ achievements during the revolution. Historical narratives of the twentieth century—whether fascist, communist, or liberal—systematically excluded the Spanish anarchists. Today we can add Anarchism and Workers’ Self-Management in Revolutionary Spain to the English-language canon—that includes works by Abel Paz, Stuart Christie, Agustín Guillamón, Martha Ackelsberg, Chris Ealham, and José Peirats—that break the silence forever.
About the Author
Frank Mintz is a retired professor of Spanish who lives in Paris, France and is active with the CNT labor union. He is the recent author of Histoire de la mouvance anarchiste 1789–2012.
Includes a prologue by Chris Ealham, who is a specialist in Spanish labour history and movements and author of Anarchism and the City: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Barcelona, 1898–1917.
Translated by Paul Sharkey, who has made a vast body of anarchist texts available in English.