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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chronicles the Golden Age of a Powerful Idea, September 25, 2001
This review is from: The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 (Paperback)
From the few dozen workers who first listened to Giuseppi Fanelli as he presented "The Idea" in 1868, a nucleus of Anarchists slowly grew in Spain. "Anarchistic ideals are difficult to fix into a hard and fast credo. Anarchism is a great libidinal movement of humanity to shake off the repressive apparatus created by hierarchical society. It originates in the age-old drive of the oppressed to assert the spirit of freedom, equality, and spontaneity over values and institutions based on authority." (p. 16) Nineteenth Century Spain was rife with oppressive and authoritarian institutions-a culture medium, as it were, for Anarchism. Bookchin traces the growth of the movement, explaining the various forms through which the anarchistic "Idea" developed. He briefly explores the influences of Proudhon, Kropotkin, and Bakunin, and contrasts them with the bleak realities of the Spanish political situation. The Spanish anarchists were not an unruly mob of bomb hurling terrorists, they were "freedom fighters" in the best sense of the term. Many exemplified self-discipline: "The more dedicated men, once having decided to embrace the "Idea," abjured smoking and drinking, avoided brothels, and purged their talk of "foul" language. They believed these traits to be "vices"--demeaning to free people and fostered deliberately by ruling classes to corrupt and enslave the workers spiritually." (p. 48) "Anarchist-influenced unions gave higher priority to leisure and free time for self-development than to high wages and economic gains." (p. 50) "A very compelling case, in fact, can be made for the argument that Spanish Anarchism refracted the spirit of Enlightenment Europe through an Iberian prism, breaking up its components and then reorganizing them to suit Spain's distinctive needs." (p. 51) Bookchin threads his way through the maze of Spanish politics, explaining the labyrinthine changes of government and policy. At each step, whether liberal or more totalitarian, the poor kept on getting poorer and the rich kept on getting richer. At one point, a system known as Turnismo existed. "Liberal"and repressive regimes would regularly share the power back and forth. When capitalists and land-owners needed to reduce the power of unions, a "liberal" regime took power, and while promising land reform and better working conditions, repressed the unions. At other times the more totalitarian regimes ran things, at times easing a few restrictions to keep the populace content. (One can perhaps imagine a bit of "turnismo" in the Bush/Clinton/Bush administrations!) Anarchism flourished in both the countryside and in the cities. Many pueblos had traditionally run themselves by ideals approaching anarchism. These folks accepted the "Idea" readily. syndicalist unions also found themselves attracted to anarchism. Anarchists formed their own schools. Francisco Ferrer founded the Escuela Moderna, with "a curriculum based on the natural sciences and moral rationalism, freed of all religious dogma and political bias ... [there was to be] no atmosphere of competition, coercion, or humiliation. The classes were, in Ferrer's words, to be guided by the "principle of solidarity and equality ... Instruction was to rely exclusively on the spontaneous desire of students to acquire knowledge and permit them to learn at their own pace. The purpose of the school was ... to create solid minds, capable of forming their own rational convictions on every subject." (p. 117) This system was so successful that within a decade over 50 such schools existed in Spain. Eventually, however, Ferrer paid for his "radical" educational ideas with his life; the government executed him on October 13, 1909. Bookchin traces the encounters between socialists and anarchists. He takes the time to establish the difference between the two groups (To oversimplify: socialists depended on central organization, while anarchists looked to the local "grupos de affinidad" (affinity groups) for decision making). These differences became crucial during the Spanish Civil War, when communists fought anarchists in the streets, rather than working with them to defeat Franco and his Fascist minions. The book does a great job of explaining the world into which the Spanish Civil War burst in 1936. Bookchin, however, does not enter that conflict. He leaves that to other writers, and perhaps with good reason. The Civil War led to the total repression of Spanish Anarchism. Having the book stop while the Anarchism was still in the ascendancy and not yet being systematically destroyed, first by its "revolutionary" allies, and then by Fascism. In his concluding remarks, Bookchin makes a bold claim: "Although Spanish Anarchism was virtually unknown to radicals abroad during the "heroic years" of its development, it could be argued in all earnestness that it marked the most magnificent flowering and , in the curious dialectic of such processes, the definitive end of the century-long history of proletarian Socialism." (p. 278) "The genius of Spanish Anarchism stems from its ability to fuse the concerns of traditional proletarian socialism with broader, more contemporary aspirations." (p. 286) Bookchin concludes by showing how "The larger problems of abolishing hierarchy and domination, of achieving a spiritually nourishing daily life, of replacing mindless toil by meaningful work, of attaining the free time for the self-management of a truly solidarizing human community ... [all this can be sensed in] sectors of society that were never accorded serious consideration as forces for revolution within the economic framework of proletarian socialism." This book is required reading for anybody who wishes to understand the causes of the Spanish Civil War. It also presents some of the greatest Anarchist accomplishments in recent history. Bookchin related the history well and held my attention. I strongly recommend this book to anybody interested in Anarchism, in the Spanish Civil War, or who has ever read Garcia y Vega's REVOLT OF THE MASSES. It also makes understanding Orwell's HOMAGE TO CATALONIA much easier. Five stars for scholarship, five stars for making history accessible, five stars for explaining difficult situations and concepts. (If you'd like to dialogue about this book or review, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rather unknown historic epic..., November 14, 2003
This review is from: The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 (Paperback)
"Can anarchy work" or "Is anarchy a mere utopia" are questions asked frequently by people who are not informed about the ideology and philosophy of anarchy but, most importantly, the history of anarchy. Since you arent going to be taught any of all this in school the burden falls on your shoulders to discover it (amongst most other meaningful things that you will not be told about). Murray Bookchin, is a great historian, and does an awesome job of documenting the most recent and most convincing attempt at anarchy in pre-war Spain. Bookchin descibes a movement that found roots in the "lumpen proletariat", that part of the working class with almost zero education that marxists looked upon with contempt considering them incapable of ever starting a revolution. Yet, exactly that part of the working class was the one that through appaling living and social conditions embraced the concept of anarchy, namely, no masters, equality, work as creation and not braindead toil, education that promotes free thinking and not unquestioned swallowing of dogma and above all liberty. This is a fascinating story, perhaps overly fascinating compared with modern times where most the people take social conditions as self-understood. A movement, that, through a massive network of action that ranged from strikes against brutally oppressing regimes that inevitably and repeatedly resulted in massive bloodbaths, direct action, informing people about their present future and past while actually opening up to them a whole new world of possibilities that would drive them out of their every day misery and into a new situation where through thriving freedom the society would transform. Bookchin introduces the readers (as he had to) to some of anarchy leading theoriticians (and practicians) such as Bakoonin and their influence on the Spanish anarchists while he goes into exhaustive detail highlighting internal conflicts concerning differing anarchistic tendencies as well as the ones against socialists (who more than often proved to be disguised conservatives) and of course against the establishment itself and its organs of suppresion. It's a back n' forth story he tells as well, as the struggle of the spanish anarchists to establish themselves at the front for social change ("not tomorrow, now!" said the pickets at the massive protests and demos) was often sunk in blood, often thrown back by mass executions, often took a step backwards because the need for biological survival took a priority or simply because disapointment would momentarily settle in before a new spark would "detonate" the movement again. The history of the spanish anarchists is remarkable in more ways than initially obvious. In a very intense sense it proves that the philosophy of anarchy doesnt demand from anyone to be well educated in order to comprehend it. "Absolute" freedom is not a complex concept and everything that derives from it is equally simple. It doesnt recquire reading bulky volumes of economic politics that lead nowhere nor trying to improve a system within which has already failed from the get-go (capitalism). It demands the "impossible" but simoultaneously the natural.
While Bookchin writes in a rather heavy style that wont easily grab you, he's an incredible historian who leaves no stone unturned in his effort-mission to explain thoroughly a historical event. That is my only objection to this book. Other than that, this is more than recquired reading for anyone interested in anarchism (here, its history )or in examining political philosophies in general.It would help if you started from Emma Goldman's "Essays on anarchy" before this if your knowledge of this philosophy is somewhat superficial.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Reconstruction of an Important but Forgotten Historical Era, July 19, 2009
This review is from: The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 (Paperback)
Murray Bookchin (1921-2006)wrote an important book which provided readers with the political and social events that led to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). His book titled THE SPANISH ANARCHISTS gives the historical background to the Spanish Civil War which erupted in 1936. Bookchin informed readers that the Spanish Civil War did not "just happen," and events in the 19th. century resulted in this tragic, deadly Spanish Civil War.
Bookchin began this study with the suprising reception that Bakunin (1814-1876)received when he visited Spain in 1868. What was suprising is that Bakunin did not know the Spanish language, but his political concepts were well received among the Spanish working classes or what some may refer to as the Spanish proletariat. Another foreigner(an Italian) whose ideas were popular was Fanelli (1827-1877). These two men articulated the frustrations of the Spanish working classes when the latter could not effectively do so.
Bookchin gave readers some insight into the plight of working classes. They faced the usual problems of low wages, unsafe working conditions, and exceedinly long hours which were sometimes 18 hours a day. The Spanish poor workers faced the additional problems when technology replace manual labor. While the industrial workers were not originally a large section of the Spanish population, the problems of economic dislocation eventually affected the agricultural population.
Historians are often perplexed by the anti-Catholicism of the eventual Spanish Anarchists and other Spanish revolutionary groups. Bookchin gave a good explanation of this resentmeent. For over a thousand years, the Spanish Catholic bishops, priests, monks, friars, etc. stood between the Spanish agricultural population and greedy landlords and Spanish royalty. When the Spanish Liberal Party confiscated the Catholic Church's land in 1873 in an effort of "reform," the Catholic hierarchy used the money they had and invested in real estate with all the speculation and corruption that often occurs with real estate booms and collapses. The Spanish farm workers who had been close to the rural villages and the village Catholic Church and priest, were suddenly dispossessed and went to industrial centers to find work while losing what social cohesion they had. Some of the Spanish Anarchists tried to oppose the debilitating effects by opposing patronizing brothels, opposing drinking, obscene language, etc. Their arguement was that such vices played into the hands of the capitialists who wanted a demoralized working class who were to unaware to complain.
The problems that beseigned the Spanish "left" occured early after the visits of Bakunin and Fanelli. The Anarchists distrusted the Socialists, union leaders, Communists, etc. because the Anarchists distrusted any central bureacratic organization which often led to only to exchange of masters, bureaucratic blunders, corrpution, etc. Borkenau mentioned all of this because the divisions of the "left" aided their defeat in the Spanish Civil War.
Bookchin mentions the numerous political parties and unstable political conditions in Spain especially after 1873. Liberal governments lost and regained power to royalists and vice versa. Assassinations and martial law became the order of the day. These tragic events culminated in the judicial murder of Ferrer (1859-1909). When he was shot without formal charge, he became a martyr. His execution brought severe criticism not only in Spain but from abroad. As an aside Ferrer started the Modern School Movement which became very popular in Europe and in the United States.
Spain's political instability continued, and a new Anarchist movement started in 1923. These men and women not only committed "Anarchism of the Deed," they were knowledgeable, well organized, and effectively gained support in what appeared to be a disintegrating Spain. The previous Spanish governments regardless of political label (Monarchists, Liberals, Federalists, Carlists, etc.)never took account of the Spanish working classes. The CNT and the Spanish Anarchists did so, and Bookchin is clear the Anarchists effectively made a formidable force out of these people.
Bookchin concluded this book with the Barcelona workers' uprising in 1936. The installed Spanish Republic faced a military coup which was not new in Modern Spanish History. What was new was that masses of workers, some armed and some unarmed, attacked the military forces with such ferocity that the generals had to retreat.
Bookchin wrote a solid book. However, he could have started this book with Spanish population who helped drive Napolean's forces out of Spain between 1808-1813 (The Peninsular Campaign). The succeeding Spanish monarchs and other liberal ministers refused to acknowledge these people. The Carlist Wars which started in 1833 would have been a better introduction to subsequent Spanish History. Bookchin could have made a point that the Spanish Anarchists and other Spanish "lefists" may have blundered when they massacred Catholic priests, nuns, etc. While the Spanish Catholic hierarchy were scorned, there was enough support for Catholicism that such massacres offended many of the Spanish. If the Spanish Catholic clergy were considered irrelevent, making these men and women martys may have been a major political mistake. Another issue that Bookchin could have mentioned is Spanish geography. Southern Spain is semi-arid and not as good for farming as sections of Nothern Spain. The fact that many Spanish Anarchists came from Southern Spain may in part have been explained by this geographical phenomenon.
However, Bookchin still wrote a good book. To "fill some of the gaps" readers should consult Brennen's (1894-1987)book titled THE SPANISH LABYRINTH. This book gives the reader a good description of Spanish geography plus events after 1936. Borkenau's (1900-1957)book titled THE SPANISH COCKPIT is also a solid book. George Orwell's (1903-1949)book titled HOMAGE TO CATALONIA is a good book and brilliant prose. These writers plus Bookchin wrote surprisingly honest accounts of the Spanish Civil War.
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