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Spanish Anarchist Sketches o f Libertarian Society

Although the Spanish anarchists endorsed different aspects o f the Bakunin and K ropotkin versions o f anarchist philosophy at various times, they did not officially present a detailed picture o f the kind o f society they w anted to create to displace capitalism until M ay 1936, tw o m onths before the outbreak o f the Civil W ar. As early as 1919 the C onfederación N acio n al del T ra b a jo had gone on record as favoring libertarian com m unism , it w as not until the Z ara g o z a congress o f the C N T in M ay 1936 that they adopted a long resolu tion setting forth their ideas concerning the details o f the reo rgan iza tion o f the Spanish econom y, polity and society.

There were those in the Spanish libertarian m ovem ent who were strongly o p p o sed to any attem pt to sketch the future libertarian society. For instance, Federica M ontseny wrote in A ugust 1931: ‘A narchism is an ideal w ithout boundaries. It cannot be enclosed within the confines o f a pro gram m e.’1

M o st sketches by Spanish anarchist leaders o f the future liber tarian com m unist society tended to be general and vague in term s o f specific post-revolutionary institutions and how they w ould func tion. X avier Paniagua has noted that m any, if not m ost, o f them saw the anarchist society as being overw helm ingly rural and basically co m m un alist.’ A num ber o f them were specifically anti-industrial in their thinking.2 Som e were even vocally anti-urban.3 At least a few

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wrote nostalgically a b o u t a ‘return to the M iddle A ges’ o f agrarian com m unities.4

How ever, during the decades preceding the Civil W ar, a num ber o f anarchist leaders and intellectuals had presented more or less detailed accounts o f their concepts o f the kind o f anarchist society they w anted to create. Before recounting at som e length the outline o f the Z a ra g o z a resolution, it is therefore worthwhile to discuss a few o f these concepts.

L a N u e v a U to p ia o f R ic a rd o M e lla

R icardo M ella w as one o f the outstanding Spanish anarchist leaders o f the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Other anarchist writers, including Ju an D iaz del M o ral, D iego A bad dc Santillan and M a x N ettlau , called him ‘the m ost gifted o f anarchist thinkers’.5 He wrote ab o u t m any aspects o f anarchist theory and policy, and sum m ed up his vision o f the future libertarian society o f Spain in a novel, L a N u ev a U topia. A s the name o f the w ork im plies, it had a go od deal in com m on with the ideal societies characteristic o f the U topian Socialists o f the nineteenth century. G eorge Esenwein noted:

The social system o f N ueva U topia is grounded on two fun dam ental principles: liberty and equality. N atu ral resources - that is, the forests, oil, gas, iron ore a s well as the bountiful fruits o f the soil - now belong to everyone . . . The citizens themselves are related through a system o f reciprocally binding pacts . . . These vital links, which are the only m eans by which individuals form econom ic and social relations, are highly flexible in that they can be rescinded or annulled at any time . . . Another unifying force in society is the general feeling o f social solidarity. N o longer plagued by political, religious and other sou rces o f social friction which form erly divided society into opposition factions, the people o f L a N ueva U topia have only to worry ab ou t the general welfare o f so c ie ty . . .

The society that em erges in M ella ’s talc is one which in nearly

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every way conform s to the principles o f all anarchist schools. It is not, for exam ple, dom inated by a particular kind o f econom ic system - although M ella m akes it clear in the story that collectivism is w ithout question the superior form o f econom ic arrangem ent. M en and w om en are free to choose w hatever form o f exchange they are predisposed to: ‘if the w orker wishes to reserve the right to exchange the products o f his labou r, no one will impede him, if he wishes to donate his products to the com m unity at large, no one will stop him, if he w ants to turn them over to a cooperative, he is free to do s o .7

O ro b ó n F ern á n d ez’s V ersion o f L ib ertarian Society

V aleriano O robón Fernández w as one o f the leading figures o f the C N T in the pro-Civil W ar period who died soon after the W ar began. In 1 925, he provided a sketch, although an abbreviated one, o f the post-revolutionary libertarian society:

The m ost elemental m anifestation o f this regime w ould be the ‘Unity Production C o o perative’, in lightly popu lated areas. This organism w ould include all the people o f the Com m une capable o f w orking. The Sindicato o f today is potentially to m o rro w ’s pro ducers’ cooperative. Consequently, where the form er exists, the second will be viable . . . In more heavily populated areas, the a m o st adequate econom ic organism would be the ‘Specific Industry C o o p erative’. Its pu rp ose w ould not be different from the other, except that in the circum stances it w ould confine itself to its specialty. Generally, its m ission would be the sam e: taking over the m eans o f production, establishing the conditions and m ethods for a new organization o f labor, etc. The simple tran sform ation o f our Industrial U nions . . . w ould give us this second type o f co o p e ra tiv e . . .

On organization o f the econom y beyond the local level, O robón Fernández wrote:

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The connection am ong the cooperatives could be the establish ment o f the two grou ps: 1. T h at o f ‘specific nature’ through the creation o f Federations o f Industry which w ould grou p the specific cooperatives o f the cities and specialized sections o f the com m unal cooperatives. Their pu rp ose w ould be to apply m eas ures o f a general nature to im prove the industry, regularize the adm inistration o f raw m aterials, etc. 2. T h at o f ‘general rela tions’ o f all the active o rganism s through the constitution o f a G eneral Intercooperative C onfederation, the m ission o f which w ould be inter-industrial collaboration o f firms on a national level. A lso, it w ould assum e representation o f the country in its international re la tio n s. . .8

H igin io N o ja R u iz ’s V iew o f P o st-R ev olu tion ary A n arch ism

H iginio N o ja Ruiz, an anarchist p ro fesso r at the University o f V alencia and contributor to the libertarian periodical E stu d io s, published in 1933 an extensive pam phlet discussing, am ong other things, the future organization o f libertarian society. H e argued:

With the triumph o f the revolution, each locality will take possession within its m unicipal limits o f the exploitation in com m on o f its riches. In so far as possible, parcelization and the developm ent o f sm all property should be avoided a s one o f the m ost serious im pedim ents to the installation o f a com m unist regime. But where this can n o t be entirely avoided, it m ust be established that all production, both that resulting from individ ual cultivation and collectivized cultivation m ust p a ss through the adm inistration and distribution o f the C om m une, free M unicipality or Com m ittee o f the Local T rade Union Federation, depending on which each locality adopts.

T his prescription w as follow ed in m ost o f the rural collectives set up by the anarchists during the Civil W ar, particularly in those o f A ragon.

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N o ja Ruiz went on to argue: i n the large po pu latio n centers, production m ust be in the hands o f the Sindicatos, w hose co m mittees, aided by W orksh op Com m ittees and Factory Councils, in accordance with the w orkers o f local units and general neces sities, will undertake to regulate it. General adm in istration would seem m ost likely to be carried out by the C om m ittees o f the L o cal Federations, form ed by one or m ore representatives o f each Sin d icato .’

T his anarchist writer appended to his article several charts outlin ing various ph ases o f the future libertarian econom ic organization. These charts are rem iniscent o f the structures sketched by the Industrial W orkers o f the W orld o f the United States a quarter o f a century earlier.

N o ja R u iz’s charts indicated the relationship o f the individual factory com m ittee to the local industrial union, to the respective national industrial union; alongside a structure leading from the local com m une, to regional federations o f com m unes, to a national co n federation o f com m unes. Similarly, N o ja Ruiz sketched a national organization o f agricultural production, starting with a local co m mittee o f exploitation, to an agricultural sin d icato , to the national agricultural federation. Finally, he joined factory councils through their respective local unions and federations o f unions, a s well as their national industrial federations and regional union con fed era tions, to the Confederación N acio n al del T ra b a jo , which w ould have a n ation al lab o r council to coordin ate all o f the econom y. On each level there would be specific dependencies for collecting statistics and other pu rposes.

N o ja R uiz sum m ed up his notion o f the future libertarian eco nom ic organization thus: i n all these graph s it is seen that all organization begins with the individual, to the collective invariably. The auton om o u s individual in the au ton om o u s section; the a u to n om ous section in the au ton om o u s sin d icato; the sindicato in the Federations and C onfederations, also a u to n o m o u s.’9

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Isa ac Puente’s V ersion o f L ib ertarian Society

A year before the publication o f N o ja R u iz’s pam phlet, D r Isaac Puente had published his own interpretation o f the future libertarian society. Puente w as a m edical doctor who w as one o f the principal Spanish anarchist intellectuals in the period before the Civil W ar. He died during the conflict.

Isaac Puente started out by defining libertarian com m unism : \ . . the organization o f Society without the State, and w ithout private property. For this, there is no need to invent anything, or to create any new organism . The nuclei o f organization, around which the econom ic future will be organized are present in to d ay ’s society: they are the Sindicato and the Free M un icipality.’ 10 H e added: ‘Social organization has no other objective than to m ake com m on every thing which constitutes social w ealth, that is to say, the m eans and factors o f production and the products themselves, to m ake com m on also the obligation o f contributing to production, each according to his ability and aptitude, and to undertake then to distribute products am ong all, in accord with individual need.’ 11

Puente outlined the principles for organization o f both urban regions and rural com m unities. H e set forth several basic points with regard to the form er, which included the follow ing:

C onsidering that each professional grou p is capable o f o rg anizing its own a ffairs, tutelage is not necessary, and the State is superfluous. Initiative p asses to profession al organizations. Control o f teaching to the teachers. H ealth to health p ro fe s sion als. C om m un ications to its employees. The internal regime o f a factory is decided by the technicians and w orkers m eet ing in assem bly, and the Federation o f Sindicatos controls p ro d u c tio n . . .

Men are grou ped by the identity o f their preoccupation s and needs in the Sin d icato, and for convenience o f location and com m unity o f interests in the free M unicipality . . . All citizens are made equal only as producers. Officers are adm inistrative, tem porary, w ithout allow ing exem ption from production, and alw ays at the d isp osal o f the decisions o f the A ssem blies . . . In

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economic organization, the hierarchy goes from the base. Accords o f a C om m ittee can be revoked by a Plenum; those o f the latter by the Assem bly, and those o f the A ssem bly by the P eople.12

Isaac Puente added:

The Sindicato brings together individuals, associating them by their type o f w ork . . . W orkers o f a factory or w orkshop, constituting the sm allest cell, with auton om y in w hat is peculiar to it. These cells, brought together with their counterparts, form the section within the Sindicato o f C raft or Industry . . . The Sindicatos o f the locality are federated, constituting the Local Federation, which has a Com m ittee chosen by delegations o f the Sindicatos to a Plenum, made up o f all the Com m ittees and by the General Assem bly, which is wrh at has m axim um sovereignty . . . The Free M unicipality is the Assem bly o f the w orkers o f a sm all locality, village or ham let, with sovereignty to take care of lo cality .13

It is in the countryside that the realization o f Libertarian C om m unism is easiest, since it m eans only putting into practice the Free m unicipality. The Free M unicipality or C om m une is the meeting in Assem bly o f all the neighbors o f a village or w ard , with sovereignty to adm inister or order all local m atters, but first o f all production and distribution. There will not e xist private property except in the use o f w hat each needs, such as housing, clothing, furniture, to ols, the garden left to each neighbor and sm all anim als or chickens which he m ight w ant for consum ption. Everything beyond w hat is necessary can be taken over at any time by the M unicipality, after agreem ent o f the Assem bly, since all that we accum ulate with out needing it does not belong to us, since we take it from others.

All neighbors will be equal: 1. T o produce and cooperate in m aintenance o f the com m une, except for differences in aptitude . . . 2. T o participate in adm inistrative decisions in the A ssem blies, and 3. T o consum e in accordance with their needs or

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Puente saw distribution o f consum er g o o d s as being organized by ‘the producing sin d icato s, using C ooperatives or the buildings o f stores and m ark ets.’ Each sin d icat o m em ber w ould have a producer’s card which would give its p o sse sso r the follow ing rights: ‘ 1. T o consum e in accordance with rationing or his need, all the products distributed in the locality. 2. T o have the use o f a decent house, indispensable furniture, yard fow l or a garden if the collective decides so. 3. T o use public services. 4. T o take p art in the voting decision o f the factory or w orksh op o f the Section, the Sindicato and the Local Federation .’

The local federation ‘will take care o f providing the needs o f the locality and developing its specific industry, either for better distribu tion or for meeting national n eeds.’15

In so far as the organization o f the national econom y w as co n cerned, Puente argued that ‘above local organ ization , there is no need for a superstructure, except those with a special function which can n o t be undertaken locally. C ongresses are the only things which interpret the national will and will carry it ou t in passin g and transitionally, the sovereignty which is given them by the votes o f the assem b lies.’ The only exceptions to this rule, Puente argu ed, were national union federations o f com m unications and tran sp ort w orkers, which are clearly in need o f nation al o rgan ization .16

A lfo n so M artin ez R iz o ’s V ersion o f L ib e rtarian Society

Another version o f the post-revolutionary society w as presented in 1933 by A lfon so M artinez R izo, vice-president o f the C N T ’s sin d icato o f Intellectual W orkers. Like the other w riters we have discussed, M artinez sketched the libertarian organization o f both urban and rural parts o f the econom y, but placed special em phasis on the im portance o f the d isappearance o f m oney, and dealt with other problem s not alw ays touched upon by all anarchist theorists.

Beginning his detailed description o f post-revolutionary society, M artinez argued:

The norm and guide can and m u st be the present functioning o f

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the C onfederación N acio n al del T ra b a jo , since it is governed by the sam e principles. With proclam ation o f libertarian co m munism , and the Sindicatos taking over all econom ic activities, its o rgan ism s w ould take over general adm in istration. In those o rganism s . . . offices are o f six-m onth duration, those holding them being eligible for re-election. O f those, the president, secretary and treasurer, arc elected in the Assem bly by all the mem bers. Each au ton om o us section has its A dm inistrative Ju n ta and elects delegates to the Plenum o f the Com m ittee. The Plenum elects am ong its m em bers the vice-president, vice-sec- rctary, accountant, and librarian. All these posts arc carried out w ithout pay. It will a lso be logical that the present trade union jurisdiction and federal organization co n tin u e . . } 7

M artinez argued that the reorganization o f the econom y along the lines he suggested would be undertaken im m ediately on a national basis: ‘ On Libertarian C om m unism being proclaim ed there would meet a N atio n al C on gress, which would establish the p oin ts, fun dam ental and secondary though basic, o f a federal p act o f all local c o m m u n itie s.. . ,18

M artinez went into som e detail on the reorganization o f the urban econom y: T h e w orkshop com m ittees will take the place o f the bourgeois specialists . . . the factory council that o f the adm ini strators. The industrial union that o f the em ployers grou ps. The local, regional federations and national confederation, the place o f local, regional and national capitalist conglom erates, the national labor econom ic com m ittee that o f the national econom ic council. The industrial federations and the labor econom ic council will have only technical functions, and the other o rganism will have both technical and social o n es.’

M artinez went on to say:

All these will be subject to a Com m ittee or Council nam ed in general assem bly o f w orkers or by representatives o f these meeting in N atio n al Congress. T his N atio n al Com m ittee or Council, charged with executing the accord s o f the assem blies or congresses, will be revocable at any time, and consequently will

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be subm itted to perm anent control o f the w orkers, not exercis ing delegated a u th o rity . . .

The N atio n al C onfederation will also have a technical council form ed by representatives o f the industrial federations and that will be the L ab o r Econom ic Council . . . T his L a b o r Econom ic Council will inform the regional econom ic councils which will distribute w ork to the local econom ic councils and these to their respective industrial unions, thus connecting production with exchange and consum ption. T his L a b o r Econom ic Council will be controlled by the N atio n al Com m ittee o f the C N T , resp on sible to the Sindicatos. The L a b o r Econom ic Council w ould also control international trade, seeking to m aintain the country’s balance o f pay m en ts.19

In so far as the rural econom y w as concerned, M artinez said: ‘Given the basic auton om y o f our system , the local agrarian com m unities can decide, in accord with the indications o f the L a b o r Econom ic Council and supported by the agreem ents o f the national congresses, w hat cla ss o f cultivation and w hat kind o f cro p s should be grow n, and then the products will be exchanged for industrial products o f equal value in term s o f hours o f w ork. In these conditions, with the agrarian w orkers receiving the full product o f their lab or, or its equivalent, the level o f all will be im proved under the new

9 ñ reg im e . . .

M artinez stressed the suppression o f traditional money, and the substitution o f another m eans o f distribution, with som e sim ilarity to the ideas o f Proudhon. ‘The new m oney will be evaluated and denom inated in hours o f w ork. It will con sist o f bonds emitted by the unions, equivalent to the hours o f w ork o f every w orker. These bo n ds will be issued weekly and only will have value during the follow ing week. So that each can meet his needs, the w orkers who have children or a wife who cannot w ork, once this is indicated to his union, will receive, on collecting his weekly bond, others to m eet the needs o f his family m em bers. Invalids will receive forty-eight hours o f w ork per week from the social assistance offices.’

Prices o f g o o d s w ould be set in hours-of-w ork’ term s, by each locality, so a s to clear the m arket, in the light o f the value o f the

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bo n ds issued to the m em bers o f the com m unity. The bonds would be valid only in the local com m unity.21

As for com m erce am ong various com m unities, M artinez w rote: ‘For . . . exchange am ong different au ton om o u s com m unities, p ro d ucts will be evaluated in hours o f w ork, paym ent being in tokens which will then be exchanged to equalize sales and purchases. T hus, then, there will be two prices: one representing the exact num ber o f hours o f labor invested in production and which will be used for exchange between different au to n o m o u s m unicipalities; the other, which will be the sam e m ultiplied by a variable factor, which will serve in each locality to facilitate the sale to the public o f all g o o d s .’22

M artinez also dealt with tw o problem s which were not economic. These were crime and the arm ed forces. In relation to crime, M artinez wrote:

With the disapp earan ce o f yours and mine and authority attributed to anyone, there will disapp ear autom atically alm o st all kinds o f crime. The criterion that no one can exercise authority suppresses the p o sts o f m agistrates and judges. T h at is not to say that justice will d isapp ear, that will be carried o u t by plebiscite by the collective . . . We consider the delinquent o f passion as disturbed, and we only feel that he merits treatm ent a s a sick person. In our peculiar concept, in libertarian co m m unism there will only continue one punishm ent for the only crime which can continue in such a regime. The crime is disobedience to the agreem ents o f the collective or to the prin ciples o f libertarian com m unism . The only punishm ent that the author conceives o f is exile to bourgeois countries, so long as those continue; when one no longer exists, exile from the collective, which will force him to live alone at the co st o f individual w o rk .23

In the face o f the attack on a revolutionary libertarian Spain by capitalist states, which he expected w ould take place, M artinez adm itted that m ilitary defense w ould be necessary, in spite o f the an arch ists’ tradition al anti-m ilitarism . H ow ever, his solution to the

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problem w as one which w as undoubtedly w idespread in anarchist ranks, and w as to raise serious problem s for the libertarians with the outbreak o f the Civil W ar. He wrote:

M any times I have heard the objection that libertarian co m munism is incapable o f w ar, since it requires that there be those who com m and and those w ho obey, which is contrary to its principles. T h is objection com es from confusing tw o different things, the exercise o f authority and technical direction. A lso in the w orksh op the w orker will have to w ork a s the technician indicates and not as he pleases, and the technician will neither be an authority nor will com m and; he will be a w orking co m panion and his way o f w orking will be precisely that o f studying how the m anual w orker m ust w ork to get the best o u t p u t ...

Equally, in the units o f the proletariat in arm s, pow er will alw ays be the result o f decisions o f the collective which puts in the w orkers hands the arm s to defend it. The organic units will have the m ission o f fulfilling and seeing fulfilled the agreem ents o f the collective, and in that, as in anything else, there will be the w o rksh o p com m ittee and the technicians, who will be the officers. The latter will decide in every case how the soldiers should operate to obtain the hoped-for triumph over the enemy. The com m ittee will supervise his action. The soldier who does not behave a s the officer indicates will be guilty o f the sam e fault that the w orker docs who refuses to follow the indications o f the technician.24

T h e L ib e rta rian Society A cco rd in g to G a sto n L ev al

Another significant sketch o f the post-revolutionary libertarian society by an anarchist theoretician w as that o f G aston Leval. A lthough he w as by birth a Frenchm an, G asto n Leval (real nam e, Pierre Filler) w as a m em ber o f the Spanish Confederación N acio n al del T ra b a jo from at least the First W orld W ar. H e w as a member o f the C N T delegation to R u ssia in the early 1 9 2 0 s, and w as one o f those who strongly o p p o sed affiliation o f the C N T to the Red International o f

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L a b o r Unions. D uring the Civil W ar, Leval w as one o f the m ost im portant publicists o f the achievements o f the anarchists after July 18 1936. He spent som e years in Argentina before returning to Spain a couple o f m onths after the Civil W ar began.25

L ev al’s sketch o f the future libertarian society a p p e ars to have been published in Barcelona in 1 936, shortly before the outbreak o f the Civil War. It w as revised and reprinted in 1937.

Leval started out by attackin g several ideas in anarchist thinking which he thought were either excessively em phasized or were m is taken. One o f the over em phasized w as autonom y:

There has been repeated and there has been written . . . the mentioned form ula: ‘the individual is free within the grou p , the group is free within the federation’ . We have alw ays, on hearing it, our m ental reservation . . . If we arc really free, if we can or not fulfill a resolution taken, if for every debated problem there is form ed a m inority in rebellion, w hat other practice could be carried out, how is it possible to live together? M alatesta has already insisted on the necessity o f fulfilling the accord s taken by the m ajority, and this necessity is being accepted by those who understand that w ithout com prom ise collective and individual existence is not p o s s ib le . . .

On entering a grou p , I do not consider m yself free. I am subject to a com m on norm , to a responsibility, to a task from which I cannot flee. I am not auton om ous. I abdicate part o f my autonom y to contribute to the welfare o f all, that m ay or may not react in my favor. Unless one w ants to play with w ords, subtle philosophy o f different dialectics separated from truth, when a revolutionary joins with others, he is not going to exercise his freedom , but to fulfil a social duty, forgetting ab ou t him self.26

G asto n Leval also attacked the argum ent which K ropotkin put forth in one o f his b o o k s in fav or o f national autarchy: ‘It is not an ideal that each region is sufficient unto itself; as an asp iration , much superior and much m ore noble is a v ast and perm anent cooperation throughout the e a r th . . . ’

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G asto n Leval a lso o pposed the degree o f heterogeneity for the libertarian econom y which R icardo M ella had advocated. ‘H o w can one conceive o f econom ic relations am ong com m unist producers’ gro u p s and collectivist ones? Som e offer m oney in exchange for products. O thers w ant products for products. The eases multiply. H o w can one reach understanding? H undreds o f entities will practise a concept o p p o sed by hundreds o f others. Econom ic life would deteriorate quickly.’ He said that only the kind o f local self-suf- ficiency advocated by K ropotkin w ould m ake this kind o f system viable, and added: ‘T h is is com pletely im possible, and as soon as one observes the multiplicity o f articles necessary for civilized life, and the productive possibilities o f each region, province or corner o f whatever part o f the w orld, he im position o f exchange and general cooperation is o b vious; to carry out this exchange, the regime o f relations m ust be the sam e.28

Leval sketched the hierarchy o f organizations which would co n duct econom ic affairs under libertarian com m unism : ‘ 1. The w orkers considered as individuals; 2. The craft sections form ed by these w orkers; 3. The industrial unions com posed o f the related craft sections; 4. The federations o f industry m ade up o f industrial unions; 5. The Industrial C onfederation m ade up o f the industrial federa tio n s.’

He described the w ay in which the levels o f organization would function:

1. Each craft section nam es a technical delegate, and the craft delegates constitute the A dm inistrative Com m ittee - generally this representation ap p ears to us more necessary than that o f the factory or w orksh op Com m ittees - m ore revolutionary than technical, while we m ust look at organization from the point o f view o f production; that is to say, with an eminently technical criterion. 2. The C ongress o f the Industrial Federation nam es a Com m ittee co m po sed o f delegates o f certain industrial zones, in accordance with their im portance and special characteristics; this w ould perm it the Central Com m ittees to m aintain m ore direct contact and know better the general reality o f the country. 3. The C onfederation C ongress w ould in their turn name a

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Central Federal C om m ission and without dou bt various regional ones, m ade up o f delegates o f the v ariou s industrial federations, in p roportion s dictated by the circum stances (numerical im p ort ance o f each federation, intensity and characteristic o f the w ork to be carried on, e tc . . ,29

In so far as the organization o f the rural econom y w as concerned, Levai argued:

The p easan ts m ust organize themselves com m unally - and not be organized in unions - in accordance with their tra d itio n s. . . This form would respond to the objectives sought. The o b jec tives o f peasan t activity are the provision o f the cultivated products o f the land, the chicken co o p s, the m eat and other anim al products, skins, w ool, e t c . . .

The w ork o f the p easan t m ust respond to general need, not to his caprice or particular interpretation o f t h in g s ... It is a dangerous norm , and false to affirm , as is done to o often, that the p easan ts will give for exchange, after keeping w hat they need, the excess products. It is equally false to think that w ay ab o u t any kind o f production.

. . . A s in industry the adm inistrative m echanism w ould be federalist, the decisions taken in the congresses, and the w ork determined by the perm anent com m issions w ould com e from the wishes expressed by the rank and file, by congresses ranging from specialized regional federations, to the General C ongress o f Agriculture and G ra z in g .. .30

D istribution o f both industrial and agricultural products, according to Levai, would be through cooperatives:

There w ould be circulation o f products, from productive zones to consum ing zones. The cooperatives w ould be charged with carrying it o u t . ..

T o their central d eposits w ould com e, in the cities, the excess product o f local industrial production. These cooperatives would n o t distribute haphazardly, or according to the sporadic

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dem and o f each locality. Each would specialize in one or various types o f articles, each w ould have its own district to supply; a certain num ber o f sm all cities or localities. The inhabitants o f that district would be directed to it according to a generally established order. T hus there w ould be form ed a vast network w hose activities w ould cover all points and all consum ption o f the te rrito ry . . .

These cooperatives w ould transm it them to the centers o f the productive organism s diverse requests, which would permanently reflect oscillations o f dem and. And they w ould become the sources o f inform ation o f the federations and the Industrial and Agricultural-G razing C onfederations, contributing to the direc tion o f productive activities.’31

Leval pro posed union m em bership as the basis o f distribution o f go o d s to consum ers: T h e best form that occurs to us consists o f creating a network o f distributive o rgan ism s in connection with the producing o r g a n is m s ... There could exist, in parallel, a general cooperative asso ciated with the sam e union, which w ould have sections in contact with sections in the neighborhoods. The w orkers, or their fam ilies, will go to the sectional cooperative o f their union to look for consum er articles. The presentation o f the trade union card w ould be enough to accredit the producer with the right to consum e.

T h e Id eas o f D ieg o A b ad de San tillan

Finally, D iego A bad de Santillan, who earlier had been o ppo sed to trying to sketch the future libertarian com m unist society, published early in 1936 The E con om ic O rgan ization o f the R evolution, which did just that. G om ez C a sa s has noted o f this w ork:

The author condem ns econom ic separatism and su p p orts the idea o f federal organization o f the econom y, beginning with factory councils or local trade or industrial unions and m oving up to local and regional councils, assisted by technical and

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statistical d ata, and up to the national or federal econom ic council. The local council, co ordin ato r o f local organizations, w ould replace m unicipalities and elected b o d i e s ... A ccording to Santillán, the federal econom ic council w ould replace the State. There would be no political pow er, only an econom ic and adm inistrative r e g u la t o r ... Since decisions w ould be based on figure’s and statistics, com pulsion by any organization w ould be counter-productive and im possible. Such a coordin ating body would guarantee a free society o f producers and consum ers, w ould coordinate the plan s developed by all the organizations, and w ould respect the relative auton om y o f all the federated bo d ies.33

N a tu re o f the C N T Z a r a g o z a R e so lu tio n

All o f the sketches which we have so far discussed represented the opinions o f individual anarchist leaders and theorists. H ow ever, in M ay 1 9 3 6 , the C onfederación N acio n al del T ra b a jo adopted an official outline o f the kind o f society which it wanted to establish after the hoped-for revolution.

C ésar Lorenzo, the son o f one-time C N T national secretary H o racio Prieto, said o f this docum ent: ‘After sixty-seven years o f tests and many experiences rich in lessons, it presents an idyllic program . . . in which puerility and U topia are given free rein, with total disregard o f the peculiarities o f Spain, the international situ a tion, the historic m om ent and the m eans o f attaining the new prom ised lan d .’34

The C N T ’s Z a ra g o z a resolution seem s to reflect considerably more the K ropotkin version o f anarchist ideas, and even that o f Pierre Proudhon, than that o f M ichael Bakunin. Certainly there seemed to be relatively little roo m in the docum ent for national industrial unions a s the center for the reorganization o f the national econom y and society. R ather, the em ph asis w as on the kind o f com m unal organization that had been suggested by Peter K ropotkin .

Although the Z ara g o z a resolution conceded that ‘. .. to construct with m athem atical precision the society o f the future w ould be

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ab su rd , since often there exists a real chasm between theory and p ra c tic e . . . ’ it did in fact sketch in considerable detail how the future society w ould be organized.

How ever, before doing so, the resolution noted: ‘The revolution can n o t be based either on m utual aid, on solidarity or on the archaic idea o f charity. These three form ulas . . . m ust be recast and perfected in new norm s o f social relations which find their clearest interpreta tion in libertarian com m unism : to give to each hum an being that which his needs require, w ithout the satisfaction o f these having other lim itations than those im posed by the needs o f the newly created econom y.’

D etails o f the Z a r a g o z a R esolu tion

The C N T ’s Z a ra g o z a resolution then began to describe the new society:

With the violent aspect o f the revolution term inated, there will be declared abolished: private property, the State, the principle o f authority, and consequently, classes which divide m an into exploiters and exploited, oppressed and o ppresso rs. Wealth socialized, the organization o f the producers, now free, will undertake direct adm in istration o f production and co n su m p tion. With establishm ent in each locality o f the Libertarian Com m une, we shall pu t into place the new social m echanism. The producers o f each branch o f trade, united in their Unions and in their w ork places will freely determine the form in which these will be o rg a n iz e d . . .

The resolution set forth a general principle for the reorganization o f the economy: ‘the economic plan o f organization, throughout national production, will ad ju st to the strictest principles o f social econom y, directly adm inistered by the producers through their various organs o f production, designated in general assem blies o f the various organ ization s, and alw ays controlled by them .’

In the urban areas, the resolution established ‘as the o rgan o f

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relations within the Com m une and in the w orkplace, the w orksh op or factory Council, reaching pacts with other labor centers. As organ o f relations o f Union to Union (association o f producers) the C ouncils o f Statistics and Production, which will federate am ong them selves, form ing a network o f con stan t and close relations am ong all the producers o f the Iberian C o n federatio n .’

In the rural areas, the resolution provide:

As the base, the producers o f the C om m une, which uses all the natural riches o f its political and geographic area. As o rgan o f relations, the Council o f C ultivation, which will include techni cal elements and w orkers belonging to asso ciatio n s o f agricul tural producers, charged with orienting the intensification o f production, indicating the land m ost approp riate to that, in accord with its chem ical com position. These C ouncils o f C u lti vation will establish the sam e netw ork o f relations a s the W orkshop, Factory C ouncils and those o f Production and Statistics, com plem enting the free federation represented by the Com m une as a political entity and geographic subdivision.

The resolution set forth n o t only how production w ould be organized, but how consum ption would be determined. It provided that ‘letters o f the producer, issued by the W orksh op and Factory Councils will be sufficient for them to acquire w hat is necessary to fulfil their needs. The pro d u cer’s letter constitutes the basis o f exchange, which will be subject to these tw o regulating elements: First, th at it be intransférable; second, that there be adopted a procedure through which the letter indicates the value o f labor by days o f w ork and that this value have at m o st a year o f validity to acquire products. For dependent elements o f the popu lation , it will be the Com m unal C ouncils which issue the letters o f co n su m p tio n . . . ’

This provision w ould seem to be more like Pierre P roudhon’s labor banknote scheme than like the ‘to each according to his need’ preached by Peter K ro potkin . It perhaps introduced a note o f co n fu sion, when two m onths later the C N T ’s m em bers set ab ou t establish ing peasan t collectives and organizing m anufacturing firms which they had seized. The form er tended to follow the K ro potkin form ula,

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w hereas the factory w orkers often m ore nearly approached the Proudhon prescription.

For dealing with national econom ic problem s, the resolution p ro vided that ‘Both the A ssociation s o f industrial producers and A sso cia tions o f agricultural producers will federate nationally . . . if, carried to this point by the process o f w ork to which they are dedicated, they esteem it convenient for the m ost fruitful developm ent o f the Econom y; and sim ilarly there will be federated those services needed to facilitate logical and necessary relations am ong all the Libertarian Com m unes o f the Peninsula.’

The resolution also set forth the basis o f the political reo rgan iza tion o f post-revolutionary Spain. T h e political expression o f our revolution m ust be based on this trilogy: The Individual, the C o m mune, and the Federation . . . The b asis o f this adm inistration will consequently be the Com m une. T hose Com m unes will be au to n om ous and will be federated regionally and nationally to carry out objectives o f a general character. The right o f auton om y will not exclude the duty to fulfil agreem ents o f collective convenience.’

On the political form o f the new society the resolution stated:

The C om m un es will federate on a county and regional basis, fixing voluntarily their geographical lim its, when it will be convenient to unite in a single Com m une sm all villages, ham lets and places. T ogether these C om m unes will constitute an Iberian Confederation o f A uton om ous Libertarian C o m m u n e s. . .

For the function o f distributing production and so that the Com m unes can better supply themselves, there can be created supplem entary organizations for the purpose. For exam ple: a Confederal Council o f Production and D istribution, with direct representatives o f the N a tio n al Federations o f Production and of the annual C on gress o f Com m unes.

The resolution insisted that ‘the Com m une m ust take care o f w hat interests the individual.’ M ore specifically, i t m ust take care o f all the task s o f ordering, regulating and beautifying the locality; o f the housing o f its residents; o f the articles and products put at its service by the Unions or A ssociation s o f producers. It will also take care o f

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health, o f com m unity statistics and collective needs; o f teaching; o f the sanitary and conservation establishm ents, and perfection o f the local m edia o f com m unication.’

There w as also strong insistence on decentralization o f pow er, and resistance to bureaucratization o f public authority:

The procedure for election o f the C om m un al C ouncils will be established in conform ity with a system in which differences o f popu lation require, taking account o f the political decentraliza tion o f the m etropoli, establishing in them Federations o f C om m unes. N one o f these o rgans will have executive or b ureau cratic character. Except for those people who carry out technical or statistical functions, the others will carry out their m ission as producers, meeting after the w ork day to discuss questions o f detail which d o n ’t require the decision o f the com m unal asse m blies . . .

A ssem blies will m eet as often as needed by the interests o f the C om m une, on petition o f the m em bers o f the Com m unal Council, or by the desire o f the inhabitants o f each o f th e m . . . The inhabitants o f a Com m une will discuss am ong themselves their internal problem s: production, consum ption, instruction, health and anything necessary for m oral and econom ic develop ment. When problem s are dealt with which affect a county or province, it m ust be the Federations which deliberate, and in the m eetings and assem blies all Com m unities will be represented, and the delegates will bring the points o f view previously agreed upon.

Certainly, this prescription for the organization o f the post-revolutio- nary polity w as approach ed to som e degree after the o utbreak o f the Civil W ar in rural areas where the anarchists were predom inant, m ost notably in A ragon. H ow ever, there w as no effort - or even possibility - o f establishing that pattern in the urban parts o f the country.

There w as sim ilar provision for dealing with problem s o f wider geographical scope. The resolution provided that ‘in m atters o f regional character, it will be the R egional Federation which puts

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agreem ents into practice, and these will represent the sovereign desires o f all the inhabitants o f the region. T h us, it begins with the individual, p asses then to the C om m une, from there to the Federation, and finally to the C onfederation. Sim ilarly, we shall com e to d iscussion o f all problem s o f national scope, since our organism s will be com plem enting one another. The national organization will regu late relations o f international c h a r a c te r .. . ’

The Z a ra g o z a resolution a lso dealt with social reorganization. It proposed:

The d isappearance o f the present system o f judicial correction, and so , o f the instrum ents o f punishm ent (jails etc.) T his Statem ent presum es th at social factors are the principal cause of so-called crim es in the present state o f things, and thus, with the disappearance o f the causes which bring ab ou t crim e, in m ost cases it will cease to e x is t . . .

Libertarian C om m un ism , then, will base its ‘corrective action ’ on M edicine and Pedagogy, the only preventive m easures which modern science justifies. When any individual, victim o f p a th o logical phenom ena, acts again st the harm ony which m ust exist am ong men, therapeutic pedagogy will cure his disequilibrium and stim ulate in him the ethical sense o f social responsibility that an insane heritage naturally denied him.

The C N T resolution also dealt briefly with problem s o f the fam ily and sexual relations: ‘The revolution should not operate violently again st the fam ily, except in those cases o f m ism atched fam ilies, in which case these will be recognized and their dissolution su p ported . . . Libertarian C om m unism proclaim s free love, w ithout any regulation but the free will o f the m an and the w om an, guarantees the children the safegu ard s o f the collectivity, and saving the latter from human aberrations by the application o f eugenic biological p rin cip le s. . . ’

The anticlerical traditions o f Spanish anarchism were confirmed in the Z a ra g o z a docum ent: ‘Religion, purely subjective m anifestation o f the human being, will be recognized so long as it is confined to the individual conscience, but never can be considered as a form o f

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public orientation or m oral or intellectual coercion. Individuals will be free to conceive o f whatever m oral ideas they deem convenient, all sects d isap p earin g.’35

Special attention w as paid to the educational needs o f the m asses.

We have a ped agogical task to fulfil im m ediately after the social revolution. Culture will be provided for those deprived o f i t . . . The im m ediate task will be to organize am ong the illiterate popu lation an elementary culture, consisting, for e x am ple, o f teaching to read, write, accounting, physical culture, health, historical process o f evolution and revolution, theory o f the inexistence o f G o d , etc. T h is can be carried o u t by a large num ber o f educated young people w ho, during one or two years, controlled and oriented by the N ation al Federation o f Teachers which, im m ediately after the pro clam atio n o f Libertarian com m unism , will take charge o f all teaching centers.

We regard as a fundam ental function o f ped agogy aid to the form ation o f men with their own judgem ent - noting that in speaking o f men, we do so in a generic sense - for which it will be necessary for the teacher to cultivate all the faculties o f the child, to achieve the com plete developm ent o f his possib ili t i e s . . .

Finally, the Z a ra g o z a resolution dealt with w hat w as to become one o f the m ost bitter issues, both within the C N T and between it and other elements in R epublican Spain, during the Civil W ar, that was the role and nature o f the m ilitary. It proclaim ed:

A perm anent arm y constitutes the greatest danger for the revolu tion . . . The arm ed people will be the best guarantee again st all attem pts to restore the destroyed regime by interior or exterior forces. There are thousands o f w orkers who have been in the b arrack s and know m odern m ilitary tech n iqu es. . .

Each Com m une should have its arm s and elements o f defense, until the revolution has been definitively consolidated, and these will not be destroyed to convert them into instrum ents o f w o r k . . . If the m om ent arrives, the People will m obilize rapidly

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to confront the enemy, the producers returning to their w o rk places as soon as they have com pleted their defensive m ission. In this general m obilization all persons o f both sexes capable o f fighting will be included to carry out the many different co m bat m ission s.36

T h e In ad eq u acy o f the Z a r a g o z a D ocu m en t

In spite o f ado ptin g this long docum ent indicating w hat they hoped to do after the revolution, the delegates to the Z a ra g o z a C N T congress ‘did not a d o p t any an alysis o f the political s itu a tio n . . . ’ A s a result, C esar Lorenzo insisted that the anarchists ‘were obliged on Ju ly 19 to im provise in total incoherence.’37

Certainly, it is notable that this docum ent gave at best a very secondary role in the future society to the national industrial unions (federations) o f the C N T . The em ph asis in the C N T p ro gram w as on the individual, the com m une and the regional federation, with little reference to the hierarchy o f C N T unions as having any role in the reconstruction o f the national Econom y.

Perhaps this ‘oversight’ is due to the fact that the Z a ra g o z a C ongress o f the C N T , which am ong other things brought ab ou t the reunification o f the radical and m oderate factions o f the o rgan iza tion, w as dom inated by the form er, which had alw ays viewed the national industrial unions with scepticism . T h is division in the Spanish anarchist forces w as o f long duration, before, during and even after the Civil War.

Fidel M iro described this long-lasting split am ong the Spanish anarchists:

The m ost notable discrepancies have been more virulent in the tactical area than in the th e o re tic a l. . . the ‘u ltras’ or m axim alists arc partisan s o f p ro p ag an d a by the deed - direct action badly understood - if the perm anent revolutionary high school; that is to say, continuous violent action and the im m ediate revolution; while the p o ssibilists have alw ays been more cautious, alw ays so in the use o f violence, w ithout discarding it totally, when

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they considered that violence w as the necessary reply to un limited repressive action o f the bourgeoisie or o f the public pow ers.

While the m axim alists alm o st alw ays confused tactics with principles, considering them inseparable p arts o f the sam e body, the possibilists judged that tactics m ust alw ays be circum stan tial, depending on the exigencies and needs o f the m om ent and place, but never in contradiction to principles.39

One o f the principal leaders o f w hat Fidel M iro referred to as ‘the po ssib ilists’, Ju a n Peiro, w ho w as to serve a s an anarchist m em ber o f the Largo C aballero governm ent in 1 9 3 6 - 7 , had som e years earlier expressed opposition to the C N T ’s adoptin g the kind o f ideological docum ent that w as endorsed by the Z a ra g o z a congress: \ .. the C N T being characteristically an econom ic class organ ization , o f hetero geneous com position , it cannot and m ust not have a perm anent ideological objective or an airtight set o f i d e a s . . .’40

Peiro had also m ade an observation which w ould seem to be directly pertinent to the Z a ra g o z a docum ent:

The realities which econom ic-social problem s present to the peoples are much more com plex than the pseudorealities seen by the ultrarevolutionary sectors which have prevailed in recent times. The life o f the peoples is no longer conceivable in that primitive form , rural, sim ple, very approp riate for peasants and shepherds, but incom patible for life in the great cities, where life, in con tact with the extraordinary progress o f science and new exp an sio n s o f civilization, necessarily h as a corresponding o rg anization, disciplined, which takes care o f the needs o f lif e . . . 1

There is no d o u b t that in the society em ancipated from the tutelage o f capitalism and the State, the organization o f p ro duction, if only transitorily - and we presume that the transition will have to be extended for a long time - will be in the hands of the unions, and we adm it that these have within them sufficient elements with the capacity for this, a s we supp ose that likewise the superior organ ization s - which hopefully will be suppressed as soon as possible - will have the capacity to organize relations

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am ong the different industries, etc., in so far a s the exchange o f raw m aterials and social necessities are c o n c e rn e d .. .42

We have no indication whether Peiro and other C N T leaders associated with him raised any serious objections to the ado ptio n o f the Z aragoza Congress resolution. However, Eduardo Com in Colomer says that, together with tw o m axim alists, Ju a n G arcía Oliver and Federica M ontseny, Ju an Lopez, a possib ilist and C N T leader from V alencia, w as one o f those sponsoring the resolution.43

Within ab ou t two m onths o f the Z a ra g o z a congress, the anarchist transform ation o f Spanish society w as to be converted from a theoretical p ro p o sal into a practical possibility, a t least in certain parts o f R epublican Spain. The C N T in C atalo n ia, where in the days follow ing the suppression o f the military uprising there, pow er w as alm o st com pletely in the h ands o f the anarchists, held a regional plenum which debated whether to go ahead and establish libertarian com m unism . The plenum decided overwhelmingly again st doing so, in the face o f the need for cooperation with a wide range o f other gro u p s in the m ilitary struggle again st the France forces.

Only in that p a rt o f the A ragon region, which w as largely recap tured from the rebellious army by anarchist militiamen from Catalonia, w as anything approachin g libertarian com m unism actually installed during the first year o f the Civil W ar. A narchist rural com m unes there were brought together under the Council o f A ragon , which correspon ded more or less to the pattern established in the Z ara g o z a resolution.

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