Excerpts from ANARCHISTS IN THE SPANISH REVOLUTION by José Pierats #1

Excerpt from ANARCHISTS IN THE SPANISH REVOLUTION
Part 1 - Preface
by José Pierats
Published by Freedom Press, London, 1990

Regarding the Spanish Revolution and the Paris Uprising:

The Spanish revolution has had both an external and an internal continuity. Until recently the exterior had a monopoly, because virtually all of the works on the Spanish revolution were published abroad. This literature suffered at first from political writers, who with rare exceptions distorted the history to fit their particular perspective. Hence the conspiracy of silence concerning the revolutionary accomplishments of the CNT, FAI and part of the revolutionary socialists. But beginning in the 1950's, and continuing to the present the revolutionary truth of those accomplishments has begun to be known. Scholars in Anglo-saxon countries and others made major contributions to the process of demystifying the Marxists and fellow travellers, in their effort to understand fully and profoundly the "War in Spain" (for they did not refer to it as the "Spanish Revolution"). From then on there began to be available a true, historical account of the Spanish struggle, which, consciously or unconsciously, broadened the debate and made a significant mark on the spirit of a new generation of students. This extension of the Spanish revolution came forth with the explosion of the events of May in Paris, which not only shook the world, but which also sparked a set of demands that until then had remained quiescent.

Of course we must disabuse ourselves of the notion that the Spanish revolution was the only inspiration behind the May days. But we can affirm that it did have considerable effect in shaking anarchism out of its lethargy throughout the world, to the point of causing alarm in the well-prepared ranks of the Stalinists, who rushed like any firemen to put out a dangerous fire. One need only recall the indecent instructions of the French Communist Party to gauge the heat they felt from the left, which threatened their control over their domesticated masses. If they were able to repel the assault it was because the rebelling youth was not well-grounded in the history of the last 40 years. But the events of Paris in 1968 had the virtue of arousing not only rebellious youth, but also a great number of adults, social and national groups. Today we see them concerned with a series of issues that until recently were taboo, such as conscientious objection, abortion, divorce and regional autonomy movements. In these areas anarchists have a broad field of concrete issues which they can influence without neglecting what could be called their philosophical or doctrinal tenets, for decades their only preoccupation. With its collectivist accomplishments, the Spanish revolution opened the way to the consideration of concrete problems - if only through an understanding that specific accomplishments have a far greater effect than lenten sermons. Today there is much talk of self-government or se If-ad ministration. For many this is still a mystification of true collectivisation. Confusions of this kind occurred in Spain, also. in certain milieu of revolutionary collectivists. This is not surprising since it is difficult to shake off ancient prejudices from even the most sublime ideas.