A N ARCH IST ECO N O M ICS

The economics of the Spanish Libertarian Anarchist

Economics
Collectives 1936-39
Spain has a particular historic significance for the
world anarchist movement. The extent and breadth of
publications on the Spanish Civil War and the Revolution
of 1936-9 is ever expanding.
Nevertheless, little has been written on the economics
of that revolution, in which hundreds of collectives were
An Alternative for a
established by the revolutionary working class in city and
country, acting on inspiration from the National
W orld in Crisis
Confederation of Labour (CNT), the anarcho-syndicalist
union.
In this pamphlet the author examines the adoption of
the ideas of the C.N.T. and looks at some of the anarchist
collectives created in 1936. He assesses the success of
these experiments which constituted a way of life for
thousands of people for up to three years, and draws con-
clusions on the day to day improvements that were pro-
duced.
The collectives, as well as being a tribute to the tenac-
ity and clarity of the ideas of the anarchist movement, can
also be taken as another confirmation that anarchist
ideas are often taken up by non-revolutionary workers in
times of upheaval and with the prospect of a more egali-
tarian society. Now, just as in 1936, these ideas are
essential if we are to rid ourselves of capitalism and cre-
ate a truly free society.

Zab a l a z a B o o ks
“Knowledge is the Key to be Free”
Post: Postnet Suite 116, Private Bag X42,
Braamfontein, 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.zabalaza.net/zababooks A braham G uillen
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 2 0

! APPEN D IX 2: TEN PO I NTS OF

SELF- M A N AGE M ENT
1. Self- management: Do not delegate power in others.

Sp a i n
2. Harmony: Unite the whole and the parts in federalist socialism.

3. Federation: Socialism should not be chaotic but coherent, with unity between the
whole and the parts on a regional and national level.

4. Direct Action: Anti-capitalist, anti-bureaucratic, so that the people are the active
subjects through direct democracy.

5. Co-ordinated self-defence: Freedom and self-managed socialism must be

1936 - 1939
defended against the totalitarian bureaucracy and the imperialist bourgeoisie.

6. Co-operation in the countryside and self-management in the city: Agriculture

can be based on the self-managed company whose model can be the agro-industri-
al complex. In the city, industries and services should be self-managed and their
administrative councils should be constituted by direct producers, with no ruling
The Economy
class or intermediaries.

7. Production: Unionised work should be converted into freely associated work

of the Libertarian
without bourgeoisie or bureaucracy.

8. All power to the assembly: No-one should decide on behalf of the people or
Collectives
usurp their functions by means of professional politics. Delegation of powers should
not be permanent but should be given to delegates who are elected and recallable
by the assembly.

9. No delegation of politics: There should be no parties, no vanguards, elites,

directors, managers. Soviet bureaucracy has killed the spontaneity of the masses
and has destroyed their creative capacity and revolutionary activity, converting them
into a passive people and a docile instrument of the power elites.

10. Socialisation and not rationalisation of wealth: The following must take the
most important roles: the syndicates, the co-operatives, local self-managed soci-
eties, popular organisations, all kinds of associations, local, regional, county, nation-
al, continental and world federal self-government...
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 2 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 19

! APPEN D IX 1
It is untrue to say that equality is in opposition to freedom. A self-managed soci-
ety should be able to accomplish both, as there is no freedom without equality.
Some people give orders, others obey, some live better, others worse. All this, which
takes place in private and state capitalism, can be abolished, not immediately and
absolutely, but in a near future, if all people are able to enjoy the same opportunities
! I NTRO DUCTI O N for political, moral and scientific education. For this reason, self-management, by
overcoming the alienation of the working class by the bosses and the state, frees all
people and not just the worker.
Spain has a particular historic significance for the world anarchist movement.
The extent and breadth of publications on the Spanish Civil War and the Revolution
of 1936-9 is ever expanding. This is wholly understandable since that period of time
represents one of the most fascinating of this century and one that is vital in the his-
CO-OPERATION AND SELF-MANAGEMENT
tory of revolutions. That anarchists should have written extensively on this subject The libertarian economy, as an alternative to the national and international
is equally understandable since for anarchists and syndicalists Spain and 1936 rep- monopolies of the total state, proposes self-management and co-operation in the
resent the most coherent and far-reaching change carried out in history under the economic sphere. On the one hand, it envisages dynamic self-management in large
influence and guiding light of anti-authoritarian and anti-statist ideology. Spain, to a urban industries, and on the other, the creation of collective agro-industrial com-
large extent, has become the prime inspiration and vindication that anarchist ideals plexes in the countryside, in order to integrate and diversify the economies of differ-
can indeed be put into practice through the revolutionary action of syndicalist unions. ent areas in a co-operative manner. Natural and human resources would be har-
The Spanish experience, of two or three years' revolutionary society, where workers monised to reduce the rural exodus and to maintain full employment. In both cases
attempted to create a new life that was based on solidarity, mutual aid and freedom, the libertarian economy would be capable of creating a social, participatory econo-
overshadows other anarchist endeavours such as the anarchist-inspired slogans of my, where full employment would be guaranteed. This would be achieved not by
the 1917 Russian revolution calling for 'the land to the peasants and the factories to monetary or financial mechanisms as Keynes would have, but by different types of
the workers', the Factory Committee movement in Italy in 1920 or Kronstadt in 1921. firms which wholly integrate capital, technology and work by a kind of firm which has
Nevertheless, despite the fact that Spain and 1936 have produced a wide range the social interest at heart.
of debate and publications, little has been written on the economics of that revolu- In contrast to the Western and Eastern models, the libertarian economy human-
tion, in which hundreds of collectives were established by the revolutionary working ises and democratises the economy in the following ways:
class in city and country, acting on inspiration from the National Confederation of - all workers have equal rights and duties in the co-operative self-managed firm.
Labour (CNT), the syndicalist union. - all workers can be elected to and recalled from the councils of self-administration
The anarchists in Spain had maintained lively and complex debates on the future through assemblies, which are sovereign.
organisation of economic management of the society that was to rise from the ashes - all workers benefit from the economic surplus produced by their collectivised and
of the old. Eventually, and especially due to the strength of syndicalist ideas in Spain self-managed workplaces in accordance with quality and quantity of work done.
from the early 1900's onwards, the concept of the free municipality was espoused - all posts on the self-management or co-operative councils should be renewed after
and approved at anarchist conferences, in great similarity to Bakunin's original ideas a short time with re-election not possible for a certain period so that bureaucratisa-
on economic organisation tion does not develop.
In this pamphlet, which has been written from texts taken from Chapters Three
and Five of anarchist economist Abraham Guillen's 1988 ;book entitled Economia In substance, this is what the libertarian economy should be like. It should show
Libertaria, (Fundacion de Estudios Libertarios, Bilbao), the author examines the that it is capable of creating as much productive capacity, or even more, than the
adoption of these ideas and their approval at the 1936 CNT Congress prior to the regimes of state and private capitalism. It would make little sense to be socially
July uprising which left half of Spain under fascist control. By analysing these ideas advanced whilst economically backward.
in general and by looking at some of the anarchist collectives, created in 1936, he
assesses the success of these experiments, which constituted the lifestyle of thou-
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 18 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 3
overlooked the fact that the state was still in existence above as supreme alienating sands of people for up to three years, and draws conclusions on the day-to-day
power and that while it existed the libertarian revolution was in danger. This is clear improvements that were produced.
from the May Days of 1937 when the communist divisions entered Aragon, not to Guillen illustrates that the collectives in Aragon, the North West of Spain, of which
fight Franco, but to destroy the libertarian collectives. there were approximately 500, were able to organise a new economic and social
It is time to make it clear that private or state capitalism do not guarantee the right order which was far more rational, egalitarian and democratically organised than the
to work for all, an increase in the standard of living and in productivity, an economy previous capitalist structures. The collectives were created in the aftermath of the
free of endemic or cyclical crises, a reduction in working hours, rational and frugal failure of the fascist uprising on 19 July 1936 and their success was rapidly trans-
consumption without wasting the products of labour, economic, ecological and social mitted over 'free' Spain, which Franco's nationalist forces had not managed to over-
balance and a regime of rights and freedom for all. run.
Libertarian ideas must be shown to be advantageous over bureaucratic and Although apparently 'spontaneous', their establishment and organisation was as
bourgeois ideologies. Everyone should be their own governor but all should be much due to the years of preparation that Spanish anarchists had undergone on an
involved in the process of collective production. 'Power' must belong to all, not to the ideological and practical level. As well as being a tribute to the tenacity and clarity
tyrannical state or to a class or a repressive, exploitative elite. Self-management of these ideas in the anarchist movement, they can also be taken as yet another con-
must be created as a new method of production in all economic activity and politics firmation that anarchist ideas are often taken up by workers outside of the unions in
must be based on the libertarian principle that all decide in a responsible way for times of upheaval and with the prospect of a more egalitarian society. The very fact
everything. No leader such as Hitler or Stalin is infallible; there must be freedom for that the anarchist ideology was the guiding light of this 1936 revolution enabled the
all. In summary, libertarian socialism represents real alternative popular social creation of one of the most, if not the most, extensive and profound revolutions ever
power because it comes from the people and not from outside, not from the bour- seen. The immediacy of gains and change effected prove again that revolutionary
geoisie or bureaucracy, or from the private or state capitalists. workers, and those not so revolutionary, can only carry out a revolutionary transfor-
mation of society when there is no all-embracing, all-dominating political party which
will only stifle debate and action. The revolutionary landworkers and industrial pro-
letariat knew what the defeat of the nationalist uprising meant and they did not wait
for any directives to take over the farms and the factories.
This activity and conception of the revolutionary situation clearly contrasted with
the role of the Spanish Communist Party which did its utmost to deprive the collec-
tives of prestige and resources, claiming that the time was not ripe for revolution.
The strict Marxists complained that the workers were not ready and that first it was
necessary that all the mechanistic stages towards 'socialism' had to be passed
through. These words were of course uttered while workers were taking their des-
tiny into their own hands, sidestepping the need for the revolutionary party.
Guillen illustrates the limitations of state socialism and Marxist-Leninism, which
puts the interests of the party and state before those they claim to represent. This
pamphlet does not, however, provide an entirely laudatory account of the syndical-
ists' activity in the Spanish revolution. Guillen does not limit himself to recounting the
positive side of the anarchist collectives. Towards the end of the chapter he dis-
cusses some of the mistakes made by the anarchists in their lack of appreciation of
the problems thrown up in a revolutionary situation by the question of political power.
While he admits that syndicalists have always understood the necessity of the
destruction of state power and its atomisation, he points out that the CNT had not
fully considered the question since few alternative structures were created to replace
the state and its political body. He points to the fact that although the CNT effectively
held power on an economic and social level it ignored the question of political power
and left the door open to counter-revolutionary elements which appropriated the
state apparatus and used it against the free collective structure created by the revo-
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 4 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 17
lutionary working class. ple of self-government. The three branches of the textile industry elected a delegate
In order to remedy this tactical oversight, he proposes the creation of an atom- to the Works Committee, as did the office personnel and the warehouse staff. A
ised 'self-power' or structure of empowerment. This term 'auto-poder' has been Control Committee was named by the union committee. Also a Technical
translated throughout the text as 'social power'; a term that the translators thought Commission was created, which was formed by technicians from the five different
best expressed the ideas behind Guillen's original term. This 'power' is clearly dif- specialities of manufacturing, administration, buying and selling and insurance. In
ferent from the power of church, state or party. While the anarchists and syndical- turn, the self-administration section was divided into three sub-sections: general
ists wish for the destruction of power, they at the same time do not wish to be pow- manufacturing processes, technical organisation and machine maintenance, pro-
erless; in other words, they want the atomisation of power, its sharing, so that no-one duction control and statistics. All this, as a federative form of sell-government, pro-
has dominion over anyone else, but also so that all can maintain their freedom and vided work for more than 20,000 workers, corresponding to 103 firms of varying tex-
the freedom of others. This is their ultimate goal and this short pamphlet is dedicat- tile specialities, including other small firms and the agricultural sector. This did away
ed to that end. with the contradiction of egotistical capitalism that monopolised capital and reduced
The translators would like to thank the many people involved in the production of work to slavery. Libertarian socialism, in Alcoy and other parts of Spain, liberated
this pamphlet: the many members of the Direct Action Movement who have com- workers from wage slavery and transformed them into collectivists thus eliminating
mented upon the text and especially to Manchester and Norwich DAM-IWA. Our the proletariat, which remains under Marxist-Leninism in the pay of the state rulers,
hopes for the success of La Presa publications, the newly created Industrial producing profits for the communist bureaucracy and state capitalists.
Syndicalist Education League and the realisation of the objectives of the The marvellous experiment of self-management in Alcoy, however, did have one
International Workers' Association go with this pamphlet. defect. The financial and political power above was not libertarian social power, and
for this reason, in the end, the state, which existed above the workers, tried to return
Richard Cleminson & Ron Marsden them to their original wage slavery. Therefore, in the future, a social revolution
should not remain at a local or regional level and must reach the national level. One
July 1992. of the great mistakes of the CNT during the Spanish revolution was to collectivise the
land, services and firms below, but leave, above, the banks, credit systems, foreign
trade, gold and currency intact in the hands of the enemies of libertarian collectivism.
The same error of the Paris Commune of 1871 was committed: the social revolution
should not be made below alone, leaving many aspects of the counter-revolution
intact above such as the banks, currency, foreign trade and the repressive state
which crushed the collectives in time. The state became stronger day by day in the
hands of the communists. The libertarian social revolution suffers one dilemma:
either it is carried out immediately and totally, above and below, or it is lost to the
power of the state and to its bourgeois and bureaucratic supporters.
From below upwards, libertarian social power must substitute and destroy the
exploitative and oppressive state. In order to abolish the traditional power of the
state over society, alternative libertarian social power must be created based on the
self-management of the workplace and militia self-defence.
If industry, agriculture and the services are self-managed and federated in their
own specialised branches, they will unite to form an overall economic council. The
economic council along with the federated bodies of self-government and the militia
structure will form the three pillars of social power so forming a type of federated self-
government, whose task is to administer things not people.
The Spanish libertarian movement placed a great deal of emphasis on the task
of creating the infrastructure of libertarian socialism from below, but the anarchist
Note: As this text was written in 1988, and since the USSR was still in existence, superstructure, above, of social power was ignored. It is true to say that the CNT,
there are references to the Soviet Union in the present tense. The English transla- through its revolutionary unions, created marvellous forms of self-management,
tion reflects this. below, in the collectives, the railways, the telephones, gas and electric, etc., but it
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 16 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 5
economic, social and political change effected and they did not wait for the govern-
ment to do everything, as the Marxists wish so that the government keeps everything
and everyone, as occurred in the USSR.
In Alcoy there were 16 CNT unions in the Local Federation before 19 July 1936.
This union power which was not institutionalised but active and revolutionary, did not
struggle for higher wages alone as the reformist unions do, but instead for the cre-
ation of libertarian communism. It was a unique union force; Marxist unionism had
become a cog in the petit bourgeois socialist party or bureaucratic communist party
machine, which used unionism as an instrument of the revolution-talking politicians
who in reality merely prop up reformism.
! SELF- M A N AGE M ENT I N
The unions in Alcoy, as in every locality all over Spain where the CNT was a
major force, did not wait for the government to nationalise the factories but socialised
AGRICULTURE, I N DUSTRY A N D
them themselves instead, not as state property but social property. As an example
of this socialisation, the Alcoy unions proceeded immediately to self-manage the fol-
PUBLIC SERVICES
lowing industries: printing; paper and cardboard; construction, including architects
and surveyors; hygiene and health, including medicines, pharmacies, barbers, laun- Spanish anarcho-syndicalism from its inception had adopted an initial pro-
derettes and sweepers; transport, including buses, taxis and lorries; entertainment, gramme not only of wage demands, the right to work, improvements in conditions,
including theatres and cinemas; the chemical industry, soaps, laboratories, per- but also the realisation of Libertarian Communism. Before 19 July 1936 the anar-
fumes; leather, skins and shoes; traders and salesmen; industrial technicians; pri- chists had proclaimed the anarchist Social Revolution in many places in Spain such
mary and secondary teachers; artists; writers; clothing; the whole textile industry, of as Casas Viejas, Alto Llobregat and Gijon, all of which were areas that had a large
vital importance in Alcoy; wood and furniture; the liberal professions; and agriculture anarcho-syndicalist following. In all these villages or towns property registers were
and horticulture. Alcoy was, therefore, a model self-managed town, self-governed burned, money abolished and Libertarian Communism made reality.
by its direct producers, without professional politicians, bureaucracies or bour- In Spain, during the 1936-9 revolution, the libertarian collectives were in control
geoisie. of their own production and surplus, managed by their own committees of self-
Due to the socialisation of the means of production and the services, the law of administration, where assemblies guaranteed direct democracy. Committees were
the social division of labour achieved a balance that the previous system of produc- named and delegates appointed for each sector, acting independently from the state
tion never had, since if there were too many workers in one sector or in one firm, they in full freedom. No one was obliged to remain in a libertarian collective. Any indi-
would pass over to another sector and full employment would be maintained. In this vidual could leave when he or she wished to, whilst in the USSR, under Stalin, the
way, libertarian socialism was much more objective and scientific than capitalism or peasants could not leave their kolkhoz and were bound to it like new serfs. But the
administrative socialism where there is a large discrepancy between the productive most important aspect of the libertarian collectives of Spain is that they were not
workers and the techno-bureaucracy entrenched in the state apparatus. utopian, but very real, because they achieved, with no authoritarian structures,
Capitalism, with all its contradictions, which stem from the means of production increased production and improved infrastructure. This was despite the fact that in
being held in private hands, is very much inferior to libertarian collectivism in indus- many of them up to forty per cent of the labour force, the youngest sector, was
try, services and agriculture. Libertarian communism found a solution, without much mobilised to the Front, particularly in Aragon.
mathematical and technical theorisation, for unemployment, cyclical economic
crises, strikes as a result of the conflict between workers and capitalists, persecution
and ignorance. Libertarian communism provided education and thus eliminated the REVOLUTIONARY AIMS OF THE C.N.T.
need for emigration. The workers themselves self-managed things in the political,
The concepts of libertarian collectives, factory committees, self-management,
economic, social, technical and financial fields. This is the great merit of the CNT in
self-organisation of society without the oppressive and exploitative state, were all
the 33 months of the Spanish revolution. It was a revolution made not by the com-
clearly worked out by the C.N.T. These matters had been treated in its immediate
munists and socialists who defended the old regime and state, but by the anarchists
programme in the Saragossa Congress of May 1936.
who substituted the state in the countryside and cities by collectives and self-man-
For the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists the union was not an institutionalised enti-
agement.
ty like the social democratic or Christian democrat unions, but was seen as an insur-
The direct self-management of the Alcoy economy provided an excellent exam-
rectionary tool which would bring about the social revolution and establish libertari-
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 6 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 15
an communism. On the organisation of the new society after the victory of the rev-
olution, the first measures, according to the 1936 Congress, would be:

'Once the violent phase of the revolution is over, private property, the
state, the principle of authority and therefore the classes that divide
people into exploited and exploiters, into oppressed and oppressors,
will be abolished.

'Once wealth is socialised, free producers' organisations will take over

the direct administration of production and consumption.
! SELF- M A N AGE M ENT I N
'Once the libertarian commune is established in every locality, the new
SERVICES A N D I N DUSTRY
social mechanism will come into play. Producers in every trade or pro-
fession, together in their unions and workplaces, will freely determine The larger a town, the harder it is to integrate the economy. Trade and money
the form in which this is to be organised. have a greater role for the simple reason that everyone does not belong to the same
unit, as was the case of the collectives in the countryside. The town is the creation
'Once the libertarian commune is established, everything belonging to of the bourgeoisie, related to the development of capitalism, and it is where trade,
the bourgeoisie will be expropriated such as food, clothing, primary money, salaries and profits support bourgeois economic activity. However, the
materials, tools, etc. These items should be passed over to the Spanish anarchists were capable of self-managing most of the industrial and servic-
Producers who can directly administer them for the benefit of the col- es sectors in large cities such as Barcelona, but it was not as easy as it was in
lective.' Aragon to abolish money and replace it with the coupon or rationing card.
In towns or a few thousand inhabitants and in the country, agriculture, industry
This corresponds to the Bakuninist idea of a dual socialist federation. One part and services were integrated into one multifarious unit with specialised sections
would be a self-administrative body to substitute the state and the other part would which, by means of elected and recallable delegates, formed part of the local and
be the collective organised according to industry or service. The federal union of the county organisations of self-government.
two, organised from the base upward, would constitute the Social (or National) For example, the town of Villajoyosa had achieved self-management on a coun-
Council of the Economy. This would destroy the class-based bourgeois or demo- ty level that brought about a new type of direct democracy, through self-government,
cratic state. so substituting the old state and the Roman municipality. In Villajoyosa, not only was
The Saragossa Congress had the following to say on the organisation of feder- the land collectivised but the libertarian collective was extended to take in a textile
alist libertarian socialism: factory where 400 people worked and also the fishing industry from which 4,000 peo-
ple made their livelihood.
'The associations of industrial producers as well as the associations of In Calonda, besides the collectivisation of the land, stone masons, carpenters,
agricultural producers will be federated nationally if Spain is the only blacksmiths, seamstresses, tailors, barbers and others entered the collective. Since
country where the social transformation has taken place and if this is their natural and most important market was Calonda and the surrounding area, and
considered advantageous for the best possible development of the since these were all collectivised, the above groups voluntarily joined the agricultur-
economy. In the same way, where relevant, services will federate al workers in the collective. This organ of self-government, in the form of social
according to the same principles in order to provide for the needs of power, had been created by the revolution and was more concrete than the Soviets
the libertarian communes. of the workers or sailors which were not capable of abolishing the state. The latter
accepted the indirect democracy of a bureaucratic communist party instead of exer-
'We believe that in time the new society will be able to provide each cising direct democracy themselves, as was the practice in the libertarian collectives.
commune with all the agricultural, and industrial requirements neces- One of the greatest achievements of libertarian self-government was the direct
sary for autonomy, in accordance with the biological principle that self-management of a town of 45,000 inhabitants such as Alcoy, where industry and
states that the most free person - in this case, the most free commune services were collectivised. In Alcoy in 1936 the working population was 20,000 of
- is the one which least needs the others. which 17,000 were members of the CNT. They were the active revolutionaries in the
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 14 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 7
practised by the Aragonese Regional Federation of Collectives. We believe that our revolution should be organised on a purely egali-
If the Spanish revolution had triumphed, the libertarian socialist model of the col- tarian basis. The revolution cannot be won by mutual aid or solidarity
lectives would have been shown to have been far superior in the accumulation of alone. We must give to each human being what they require, the only
social capital, in productive investment, in rational use of resources and in regional, limit being that imposed by the newly created economy.'
national and international trade than the Soviet system which cannot feed its own
population after seven decades of Marxist-Leninism without huge grain imports from The Spanish libertarian collectives freely distributed among the collectivist land-
the EC and USA. workers that which was abundant but rationed that which was scarce, maintaining,
The fact that the libertarian collectives accumulated a great deal of social capital even in scarcity, economic equality between all, without the glaring inequalities of
is due to positive economic management and the use of the coupon or supplies card, bourgeois and bureaucratic society.
which satisfied the needs of families, and which left the local collective or regional On the principles of exchange of produce in a libertarian society, the CNT stated
federation the task of administrating production, distribution, exchange and con- how the exchange mechanism would operate:
sumption. If no-one can accumulate capital in order to exploit anyone else, all the
economic surplus of the collective would be rationally and equally channelled into 'As we have already stated, our organisation is a federalist one which
creating reserves for a bad year, or to create more capital for investment and to cre- guarantees the freedom of the individual in the group and in the com-
ate better production techniques with improved machinery. Production would there- mune. It also guarantees the freedom of the federation in the confed-
fore increase as the amount of time needed to be spent working would decrease. eration.
There would therefore be full employment and manual work would be transformed
into qualified, technical, scientific work of a very high level. 'We start from the individual and proceed to the collective, so guaran-
However, in order to achieve this high level of economic, cultural, scientific and teeing the individual's inviolable right to freedom.
technical progress it is necessary that a libertarian spirit prevails and that there is an
economic ethic of rational and frugal consumption. The waste produced by the bour- 'The inhabitants of a commune will discuss the internal problems
geois 'consumer society' is harmful to the planet and upsets the ecosystem. affecting them such as production, consumption, education, hygiene
It is clear that production and technology have advanced sufficiently for the cre- and everything necessary for its moral and economic development.
ation of a libertarian economy, but we are bound hand and foot by the reactionary When a problem affects a whole county or province the federation
states of East and West. Only libertarian socialism, which guarantees freedom and must come to a solution and in the meetings and assemblies that the
equality, pluralism of ideas, without the professional political parties of-the West or federation has, all the communes must be represented. Their dele-
the single party states of the East, can allow humanity to organise itself according to gates will reflect the previously adopted decisions of the communes.'
its own needs. Libertarian communism can free us from war, tyranny, hunger, igno-
rance and other evils inherent not to the human condition but to the anachronistic In this way, direct democracy substitutes conventional, indirect, parliamentary,
socio-economic system - based on the exploitation of one person by another, on the bourgeois or bureaucratic democracy and people are in charge of their own des-
domination of one nation by another, on capitalism, hegemony and imperialism. tinies, being able to exert their own social power in the political field and exercising
self-management in the economic field. Thus federalism and socialism are united,
something that has not taken place in the Marxist-Leninist Soviet Union where
bureaucratic centralism and the ruling class of the state, through economic totalitar-
ianism, have strangled peoples' freedom and direct participation. No one there was
free, apart from the supreme dictator; everyone else was a subject of the total state.
Until the working class controls agriculture, industry and the services, it will never
be emancipated. If the state takes everything and controls the products of wage
labour, an exploitative system develops where the state profits from the workers.
Against this centralist principle of production by the state the Spanish anarcho-syn-
dicalists in the Saragossa Congress stated the following:

'For the exchange of products between communes, the Commune

Councils will co-ordinate with the regional federations of communes
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 8 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 13
and with the Confederal Council of Production and Consumption in merely reinforce the old function of capital but achieved greater productivity per
order to determine what needs there are. worker. This is the only way in which progress is achieved, that is, in which people
can live better now and in the future than they can in the past.
By means of the co-ordination established between the communes
and the Council of Production and Statistics, the problem is simplified
and resolved. EQUAL DISTRIBUTION ON A COLLECTIVE
'In the commune itself, production cards will be issued to the members BASIS
by the workshop and factory councils, thus allowing all members to Marxist-Leninism, with its socialist ideology and neo-capitalist economics, with
cover their needs. The production card will be regulated by the fol- statist means of production, has emphasised the nationalisation of production, but
lowing two principles: 1) that it is not transferable; 2) that a procedure not its socialist distribution. Therefore, if socialism is limited to the 'socialisation' or
is adopted by which the value of the work done by days is recorded on nationalisation of the means of production but maintains residual and inegalitarian
the card and that its period of validity does not exceed twelve months. capitalism, it will just be another form of capitalism. Soviet socialism has been dis-
credited as the army generals, the academics, the bureaucrats and the few members
The Commune Councils will provide production cards to the non- of the 'Nomenklatura' consume much more than an unqualified worker in industry or
active population'. agriculture. As a result, without any egalitarian economic ethic, there can be no
socialist distribution of social wealth, even though there exists an apparent socialist
Thus, an integrated self-managed system of production and distribution was cre- order at the points of production.
ated. Here, the workers control goods and services and not the state. Some have argued that if there was economic equality, that is if everyone was
paid the same wage, it would detract from the personal interest to produce more. It
is also stated that the more economic equality there is, the lower the social accu-
EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE mulation of capital will be. All this is part of the economic ideology of the Western
bourgeoisie or the Eastern bureaucracy. The more equality there is between peo-
Before the creation of the libertarian communes, landworkers' work was divided
ple, for this fact alone, that which was not consumed by the privileged classes would
in a basic way according to sex and family. An underdeveloped or subsistence kind
be saved and accumulated. This was demonstrated in the Spanish libertarian col-
of agriculture was maintained since the families consumed most of their own pro-
lectives where consumption was equal and where investment improved the agricul-
duction. When individual small properties were made into social property, work was
tural infrastructure, expanded the area of land under cultivation, created public serv-
divided up on a much more rational basis. The socialist libertarian revolution was
ices, improved education and developed other sectors of the economy.
the technological, economic and social means by which the old antiquated structures
In Aragon, a real, not utopian form of libertarian socialism was realised. The
of the Spanish countryside could be altered. Mechanisation had not been introduced
model of distribution of wealth was not identical but, in general, it was based on the
into this sector of the economy, which accounted for 52 per cent of the active popu-
family wage, usually paid in coupons and purchasing power was in harmony with the
lation. Productivity per worker was low per hectare since most work was carried out
new economy. Even though the local currency was stable it was not legal in the
by mules and basic tools; it was rare to see a tractor or modern agricultural imple-
whole country and therefore the libertarian collectives used national currency for trips
ments.
outside the local area. This was done so as not to limit a person's economic or phys-
As individual wealth was made into common property, the resultant change in the
ical freedom if he or she wanted to travel or live elsewhere.
socio-economic and legal structures altered the social division of labour in each fam-
As regards the 'provisions card', the libertarian collective of Alcorisa created a
ily and in the whole of rural society. The libertarian collectivists did not fully realise
family consumption card, which was practically equivalent to a credit card and which
the nature of the great revolution they were in fact carrying out, thus showing the
ordered consumer items according to a points system. If meat was given a 100 point
world that the creation of libertarian communism is a problem of action and not one
value and the consumer did not want meat then he or she was given another prod-
of excessive theorisation of the armchair intellectual socialists or the bureaucratic
uct of equal value. In such a way the law of exchange and value was complied with-
communist leaders.
in the libertarian economy. The consumer had a great deal of freedom as regards
In Jativa, for example, the conversion of private property into social property,
the products on the market. And if local products could not satisfy the consumer, the
directly managed by the working class and not imposed by state managers, created
collective, through its council or appropriate section, obtained, on an equal exchange
a revolutionary change in the division of labour, integrating all branches of produc-
basis, the goods and services needed. Thus a system of economic federalism was
tion and social and public services of the town which had 17,000 inhabitants in 1936.
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 12 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 9
that of not creating a national structure of social power opposed to state power to Approximately 3,000 were CNT members. This shows that a well-educated active
substitute the old exploitative and oppressive state, in which the petit bourgeois, pro- minority can inspire the majority to make revolutionary economic, social and political
Soviet socialists and Stalinist communists became firmly entrenched. Libertarian change.
socialism was not a new economic, social, political, judicial, cultural and communi- When the libertarian collective of Jativa was created on 16 January 1937 the
cations system on a national scale. As a result many libertarian collectives were rules drawn up and agreed upon by the landworkers were far more socialist than any
destroyed by the soldiers of the communist commander Enrique Lister as they socialism conceived by intellectuals. For example, Article 10 of the agreement
entered Aragon in July 1937. organised work and different crops into the following sections:
If libertarian socialism does not 'go all the way' as Garcia Oliver said, if it allows
the bourgeois state to co-exist above it in addition to the superstructure of capital- statistics, fertilisers, seeds and new crops, irrigation, fumigation and
ism, victory will never be final but always transitory. The old regime may return crop disease, co-operative stores, livestock, poultry and bees, tools
whenever the state wishes to unleash the bourgeois or bureaucratic counter-revolu- and machinery, canning and conserves, wages, pasture land, trans-
tion. This was exactly what the pro-Soviet Union socialists and communists, bour- port of produce and sales, organisation of production and technical
geois republicans and the Basque democratic Christians did when the 'revolution management of distribution and organisation of labour.
within the revolution' broke out in May 1937.
Libertarian socialism cannot go half way, creating self-management from July All this was carried out by means of special sections and commissions where
1936 in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, and allow state power to re-establish itself workers directly participated, without delegating work to others but by doing it every
over the rest of revolutionary Spain. In addition, if this move to create self-manage- hour and every day by themselves. Thus practical and versatile self-management
ment is not taken immediately, so as not to create antagonism in the Popular Anti- was implemented.
Fascist Front, it can be taken gradually, by creating a basic insurrectionary guerrilla The Jativa collective, according to Article 11, elected a President, Secretary and
force where the CNT had a large following, such as in Andalusia. If two guerrilla Treasurer in a sovereign assembly. In addition, a spokesperson was elected for
fronts had been created little by little, one in front of the Francoist forces and the each section or commission. All these posts were elected and recallable as and
other behind the Francoist forces in the Nationalist Zone, the war and the social rev- when the members wished. Besides, the members of the commissions did not
olution would have been won simultaneously. Only this revolutionary strategic plan become bureaucrats; they had to perform the same work as any other member,
could allow libertarian workers' control to replace the reactionary state, the liberal except when occupied with their tasks on the commissions.
bourgeoisie and the ideologies of reformist socialism and bureaucratic communism. In addition to this division according to agricultural and livestock production, the
In any case, the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists, who did not dominate every- Jativa collective also involved many local artisans, whose integration supposed a
where, revolutionised the regions where they had a mass following and showed the more total organisation of labour in the area. Self-management was achieved not
world that workers, freed from bosses and professional politicians, could carry out only at factory level but also in the whole town, something that is unique since noth-
the revolutionary transformation of society. A revolution not of the communist ing similar exists in the USSR or the rest of the East.
bureaucrats or reformist socialists, where everything seems to change but where The great merit of the Jativa collective is that in a voluntary fashion, with no coer-
everything in fact stays the same as the bourgeoisie, is replaced by a communist cion, the owner of an olive oil factory, who was an important member of the local
bureaucracy and the bourgeois state by the bureaucratic communist state. bourgeoisie, became a member of the collective with his family and gave the collec-
Despite their limitations, the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists established libertarian tive all his wealth. One of his sons, also very privileged under the old system, hand-
collectives where the means of production and exchange were socialised, through ed over all his money along with his wife's. Finally, the Secretary of the collective, of
direct management by the workers and not through imposition by the state. bourgeois origin, also gave all his money and property to the collective. This shows
Economic surplus was also self-managed. Also, and once again in contrast to the that libertarian communism is a progressive system because it embraces a social
USSR, the workers of the collectives were rewarded equally, without productivity morality that is in accordance to the general interest and enables direct democracy,
falling or initiative lacking. The bourgeoisie and the bureaucracy believe that if there self-management, freedom and dignity of the human being to be lived to the full.
is not a large wage differential, initiative and interest in increasing production will be The Jativa collective model was to be found more or less extensively throughout
lost. This idea was shown to be false in the Spanish libertarian collectives, where Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Castille and even in the Basque Country where the gov-
solidarity between the collectivists made self-government function satisfactorily. ernment was more bourgeois than revolutionary, and in which the anarchists had
In this system all the products of labour are enjoyed by those who produce them. refused to participate.
But the Spanish collectivists were not irrational consumers. They invested more cap- In Asturias, Catalonia and parts of the Basque Country, in the industrial areas
ital in economic and technological development than the old regime and did not workers' self-management took place in the form of joint UGT (socialist union) - CNT
 A n a r c h i s t Ec o n o m i cs - P a ge 1 0 Ab r a h a m Gu i l l e n - P a ge 11
Committees. On another level, the fact that the production of primary products (livestock, fish-
Let us now examine exactly how collectivisation took place by taking in example. ing, mining, agriculture, forests) had been integrated into the processing, transport
Graus, a small town of 2,600 people in 1936, was to witness a notable experiment and distribution of these products means that both national and international capital-
in libertarian socialism from 16 October 1936 onwards. Here, socialisation was more ism can be effectively challenged. This is because production can take place with
total than it had been in Jativa, as it affected not only the land but also commerce, ever-decreasing costs which is something that capitalism, divided into banking, trad-
transport, printing, shoe manufacturing, bakeries, pharmacies, locksmiths and black- ing and industrial sectors, cannot do. In the economic field, full employment in the
smiths, wheelwrights, carpenters and cabinet makers. Graus collective was possible, with decreasing production costs and increasing con-
The Graus collective self-managed ninety per cent of the agricultural and craft sumption. Libertarian socialism, therefore, does not suffer the cyclical economic
industry production as well as the service sector. The Self-Management crises of capitalism, or the crises of over-production in bureaucratic socialism. This
Commission had eight members. Six were responsible for the following sectors: cul- provides the possibility for harmonious development among the various economic
ture and health (theatre, schools, sports, medicines and doctors); work and accounts sectors, which are all integrated into the overall Economic Council formed by the fed-
(personnel, wages, cafes, inns, accounts and supplies); trade, coal, fertilisers, ware- erations of production and services.
houses; agriculture (crops, irrigation, farms, cattle); industry (factories, workshops, Over fifty per cent of Spain's active population was employed in agriculture in
electricity, water, construction); transport and communication (lorries, carts, taxis, 1936. If extensive mechanisation of agriculture had taken place at that time, how
post, garages). could the rural population have been fully employed? If every agricultural worker,
Here we have a magnificent example of local government or, more accurately, instead of producing food for his own family and a little more for the national market
self-management, in action. In Graus, people lived from agricultural, industrial and in order to exchange necessary goods and services, could produce food for a hun-
craft industry production and from the collectivised services. To some extent, Graus dred people with mechanisation, this apparently difficult question would be solved in
was a commune as Bakunin had understood it, as popular self-government replac- an anarchist economy for the following reasons:
ing the parasitical oppressive state. - fewer agricultural workers would be involved in agricultural production but more
This social division of labour into agricultural, industrial and service sectors, was would be produced. This would not create unemployment since all those not
self-managed in the following way: each workshop designated, through its assembly, involved in one sector would pass on to another.
a representative to participate in the Industrial Secretariat. Therefore, each industri- - the greater the productivity in agricultural work, industry and services, the fewer the
al sector's accounts would appear in the Collective's register. The following sectors work hours would have to be, so full employment could be maintained.
appeared: drinking water, oil, saw mills, chocolate production, sausages, alcoholic
beverages, electricity, iron forging, inns and cafes, printing, lamp manufacturing, In libertarian socialism, as work would be a right and a duty for all, there would
construction materials, sewing machines, sock manufacturing, gypsum mining, bak- always be some work for everyone. We could improve nature with work and care
eries, tailors, chair makers, weavers, bicycle workshops, leather products, and other and not destroy it as is done under capitalism, which does not care about polluting
sectors. the rivers, seas, land and the air as long as some capitalists gain competitive advan-
The most important thing here, rather than describe the process, which has been tage over some others. Indeed, only libertarian socialism will free people from the
done extensively elsewhere, is to evaluate the libertarian socialist experiment in chains of the capitalists, from exploitation and domination by the western bourgeoisie
Graus, whose structure was more or less applied to the whole of anarchist Aragon. and the eastern bureaucracies.
As we evaluate this notable experiment, which at first sight may have appeared
utopian, we can see that in terms of objective economics, it represents the most real
attempt at socialism, uniting the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, unlike under ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AND MEMBERSHIP
capitalism where they are all unintegrated. Therefore an integrated economy was
In the areas of Spain where the libertarian movement had a majority following,
created with a rational division of labour, as each sector was inter-dependent on the
such as in Aragon and Catalonia, collectivisation of land and self-management of
others. A self-managed system was thus formed, where goods, products and serv-
industry and services were the principal methods employed. Capitalism was substi-
ices were exchanged according to their real work-value relationship.
tuted by libertarian socialism.
For the first time, an economy providing full employment was created. This was
However, everything that the workers had done from below, replacing the capi-
achieved not through technocratic or bourgeois financial juggling but through con-
talist regime with libertarian socialism, was opposed by the state from above. The
crete self-management and socialisation of the means of production and exchange.
state tried to block and oppose libertarian socialism by isolating the banking and
Employment was guaranteed by libertarian socialism since labour circulated freely in
credit and cash flow systems so as to impede the importation of essential goods to
all sectors of the Graus collective.
the self-managed society created by the anarchists. Their prime mistake had been