Published by Freedom Press, London, 1990

Table of Contents

Preface
From the Beginnings to the First Great Struggle
Repression and Martyrs
Conspiracies Against the Dictatorship
The Anti-Monarchist Offensive
The Republic and its Fatal Cancer
The Cycle of Insurrections
Spain in Flames
The Tide of Revolution
The Tragedy of the Spanish Countryside
The Revolution in the Countryside
From the Army of Africa to the Army of the People
The Main Stages of Apolitical Syndicalism
The Ministerial Collaboration of the CNT
The Growth of the Spanish Communist Party
Prelude to the Great Drama
Events of May
The New Iberian Inquisition
The Iberian Anarchist Federation
The Council of Aragon
The Iberian Federation of Young Anarchists
The CNT-UGT Pact
The Crisis in the Libertarian Movement

"Anarchism is largely responsible for its own bad reputation in the world. It did not consider the thorny problem of means and ends. In their writings, many anarchists conceived of a miraculous solution to the problem of revolution. We fell easily into this trap in Spain. We believed that "once the dog is dead, the rabies is over." We proclaimed a full-blown revolution without worrying about the many complex problems that a revolution brings with it. Nettlau said that those who believe that a society can change itself overnight through a heroic struggle have not learned the lessons of history. As Bakunin was wont to say, "a people develops extraordinary capacities when it is able to defeat its worst enemy: the State." But we must not forget what we have learned from more recent history (which Bakunin did not experience) - that the state is a virus that can take hold in each of us, and that revolutions set free not only the enslaved masses, but also millions and millions of viruses."

"At times in public, at times underground, the anarchist workers' movement has been in existence in Spain since the founding of the Spanish section of the First International in 1869. It began as the Spanish Regional Federation, outlawed from 1872 to 1874 but continuing underground until the dissolution of the International. It became known, in turn, as the Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region (1881-1889), the Pact for Union and Solidarity (1889-1896), Worker Solidarity (1904-1909), and since 1910 as the National Confederation of Labour, CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo)."