Anyone have a book recommendation?

Zooey wrote:

I just got a sudden curiosity about the Spanish Civil War. I read Homage to Catalonia a long time ago, and liked it a lot, but it isn’t a history. I’d like to know more about what happened because there were some interesting communal experiments going on, I gather. I’d like to know how those were structured, and what happened to all of them, etc. I guess it doesn’t have to be a book. A damn good article might be enough for me.

From off der net. Reader review from a book site.

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Alasdair, reader
The best book I’ve read on the Spanish Civil War is The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain by Pierre Broue and Emile Temime. It was one of the first to posit the idea that what was happening in the Republican areas of Spain was a full-on social revolution, and to analyse the events of that revolution. I have read about 45 books on this subject and found this to be the best overall history of the spanish Civil War. Excellent discusiion of the inifighting of the Republican side. If you are interested mostly in the military stry, you should read the standard history by Thomas.

Only Burnett Bolloton’s books on UNC Press come close–The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution. This monumental book offers a comprehensive history and analysis of Republican political life during the Spanish Civil War.

There are a couple of other classics, depending on what you’re looking for:

In the same vein as Broue and Temime and Bolloton, there’s Felix Morrow, Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Spain is a fascinating and powerful account of the struggle by workers and peasants against the fascist revolt led by Franco and backed by Hitler and Mussolini.. It is full of rich lessons for today– including of the role of the so-called western democracies, the governments of the United States, Britain and France, in undermining this struggle for fear of unleashing a deep-going workers revolution.

Hugh Thomas’ The Spanish Civil War – a good, thorough, but rather dull and liberal history of the war, Hugh Thomas’ book was one of the first general histories of the war written without an avowedly political slant. Thomas over-emphasises what happened in the Republican Cortes, the ministerial wranglings and the shifting of allegiances in the Nationalist camp, while not really mentioning the social revolution that was happening on the streets of Spain.

Antony Beevor’s The Battle for Spain – again, a good general history, although unlike Thomas, Beevor focuses on what he does well – military history. There’s a lot of detailed battle descriptions, but he doesn’t spend as much time on the social and economic changes in the Republic, which is a shame.

If you’re keen on a bit more niche stuff:

Richard Baxell’s Unlikely Warriors: The British in the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism is a very good book specifically dealing with British volunteers fighting against fascism. Primarily in the International Brigades, but also others. Baxell – as a leading member of the International Brigade Memorial Trust – writes from a viewpoint that is clearly sympathetic to the Brigaders, but covers criticism of the Brigades well.

Paul Preston (whose general history I didn’t include above for space as much as anything) has written a good book on journalists in Spain, called We Saw Spain Die
Finally, for a book that is just oral history from volunteers of the International Brigades, Max Arthur’s Real Band of Brothers is very good.

books:https://libcom.org/library/spanish-civil-war-1936-39-reading-guide

link:https://libgen.pw/search?q=%22spanish+civil+war%22

I asked on another board. Got these responses, fwiw:

“…wv, these are the ones I have. I’ve read them all so I’ll say a few words here n there.

Pierre Broué and Emil Témime “The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain”. Recommended by Chomsky but Broué is a commie. But, that aside, it’s a good place to start to find out what went on. Then, forearmed, you can read anything. B & T divided the book betweem them. Part II is by Temime. There’s also a fine chronology at the back divided in two parallel sections. One column on events in Spain. A parallel one for International events. Temime’s half of the book is about the international bastards. Churchill and the like.

Chomsky article: ‘Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship” Part II. Part I is about Vietnam. It’s in several of his books. (Only lately has it started turning up in Two parts.) It’s not in his Anarchia (a Spanish translation of his Anarchy). Annoyed me that. Brilliant article.

Rudolf Rocker “The Tragedy of Spain”. Pamphlet. Absolutely brilliant. Shows you how to follow the money. The role of the big powers. It’s online somewhere. Free. Essential.

Gerald Brenan “The Spanish Labyrinth – An Account of the Social and Political Background of the Spanish Civil War”. Brenan was no anarchist but he was sympathetic to what they were trying to achieve. This spends a lot of time pre-revolution but very useful nonetheless. The 2nd edition has a nasty little introduction by Sir Raymond Carr. Avoid anybody whose first name is Sir.

Abel Paz: “Durruti – The People Armed”. Durruti was one of the most militant anarchist leaders. Killed in the war.

Jose Peirats – “The CNT in the Spanish Revolution”.
3 Volumes. Unbeatable. Massive. Comprehensive. Peirats fought in the war. Even Preston praises it highly.

Another one by Peirats: “Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution”. Brilliant.

[There’s a book around about the life of Peirats. Biography. I hv a digital copy. Haven’t read it. Digital is a pain in the butt.]

George Orwell: “Orwell in Spain”. Lots of letters and essays on Spain as well as Homage to Catalonia, of course.

Vernon Richards: “Lessons of the Spanish Revolution”. Not a history book but a look at whether or not the anarchists should have taken up some ministerial seats in government. They did. They shouldn’t. Power corrupts. Even anarchists. Great book. They’re still debating this. Anarchists should have nothing to do with Parliamentary Democracy. Never. Ever.

Ronald Fraser: “Blood of Spain – The Experience of Civil War 1936-1939″. Interviews. Some interesting. Some annoying. Poor contradictory summing up by Fraser. No anarchist.

Augustin Souchy, Peirats, Emma Goldman.”The May Days Barcelona 1937”. Biggish pamphlet. Very good. Tells how the Anarchists were betrayed.

Murray Bookchin: “The Spanish Anarchists – The Heroic Years 1868-1936”. Up till the Civil War. Great. Excellent bibliography with good advice.

Bookchin again: “To Remember Spain – The Anarchist and Syndicalist Revolution of 1936”. Contains two essays by Bookchin: “An Overview of the Spanish Libertarian Movement” and “After Fifty Years – The Spanish Civil War”. Brilliant. Small pamphlet (69 pages).

Emma Goldman: “Vision on Fire – Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution”. Essential. Various letters n stuff. Fecking sad really. Watching her friends being slaughtered by the Stalinists.

“Spain: Social Revolution – Counter Revolution. 1936-1939”. (Selections from the anarchist fortnightly, Spain and the World). Bunch of articles by damn near everybody, Goodman, Fenner Brockway, Camillo Berneri (A brilliant Italian anarchist writer slaughtered during the war. Very much against anarchists in government), Leval. etc.

Stuart Christie: “Building Utopia – The Spanish Revolution 1936-1937.” Absolutely brilliant. Only available as ebook. A mistake that. Explains clearly the choices the anarchists had:
1) We’re winning. The war will be over in a few days. Carry on with the Revolution.
2) It will be a lengthy war. Postpone the revolution until after the war. They “opted instead for compromising alliances with the bourgeois Republican, Catalanist and Stalinist parties.” Took seats in government.
3) They expected a lengthy war but believed that war and revolution were inseparable.

Christie again: “My Granny made me an Anarchist”. Not about the Spanish war but about how Christie went to Spain to try to kill Franco. Nearly got garotted for his trouble. The book starts off with Christie growing up in Scotland, joining some socialist lot then the Labour Party then became an anarchist. Right on Stu. Brilliant. Some Chomsky praise in the blurb on the cover.

Here are some headings for ye.

The FAI:

Stuart Christie again: “We, the Anarchists! A Study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) (1927-1937)”. The FAI were a group of CNT activists who decided the CNT were too moderate but stayed with the CNT.

Juan Gomez Casas: “Anarchist Organisation – The History of the FAI”.

Collectives (this is the social revolution, what I’m really interested in):

Sam Dolgoff: “The Anarchist Collectives – Workers Self-management in the Spanish Revolution”. Essential.

Gaston Leval: “Collectives in the Spanish Revolution”. Awesome.

Frank Mintz “Anarchism and Workers’ Self-Management in Revolutionary Spain”. Tremendous. No time for anarchists in government. Good man.

STUFF TO AVOID UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT WENT ON:

Hugh Thomas: “The Spanish Civil War”. Havent read it in years. Highly rated mainstream history. Yet he doesnt even mention the collectives. Shld keep both the Stalinists and the west happy. The Stalinists were dead against Collectivization and the social revolution and slaughtered many a person to prove it. Shades of the Bolsheviks stealing the Feb 1917 Russian Revolution. They never did have much time for social revolutions.

Preston, Beevor and Carr are a bit like Thomas. Very mainstream. Worth reading once you have learned to defend yourself with some knowledge of what actually went on. Hemingway’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” is a joke. Totally taken in by the commies.

I saw a comment by Dovetail recently slagging off and dismissing Chomsky because he supported anarchism and specifically the Spanish anarchists because, hey, you know, “they lost the war”. Yet for 3 years they fought Franco, the might of Germany and Italy (I seem to remember we had a bit of trouble with Hitler ourself not so long after) and the Stalinists and indeed, the Spanish government which wouldn’t arm the anarchists. And in the midst of all that they created a revolution the likes of which the world has never seen. Only to have it destroyed by the Stalinists.

Important issues:
The Non-Intervention Committee (Britain n France).
Better named “intervention”. Stopped the Republic getting arms.
The Role of the Anarchists and the Collectives and The Social Revolution.
The role of the Church.
The International Brigades – Stalinists really. Or more accurately under the control of Stalinists. A lot of them didn’t know what they were getting into. Orwell was supposed to join them but he joined the POUM instead. Wrote later that he should have joined the anarchists.
The POUM were Trotskyist, though Trotsky didn’t want anything to do with them! I have a soft spot for them though they were against collectivization. They were wiped out by the Stalinists.

Last one, AFAQ (An Anarchist FAQ) by Iain McKay. Awesome. Vol II has brilliant sections on both the Spanish and Russian Revolutions (more than 300 small type pages just on them). You can’t really separate the two revolutions. The Spanish Revolution puts the lie to all this nonsensical talk about Bolsheviks and social revolution. The idea of social rev. was anathema to them.

There’s a book I’m waiting on. It needs somebody to go into the Soviet archives and find out more about what Stalin got up to in Spain. What went on behind the scenes. His thinking. His orders. And write a book about it.

One more. Only bought it the other day. “The Anarchists of Casas Viejas” by Jerome Mintz. May be the best book I’ve ever read. On anything. It’s a collection of interviews by an anthrolologist who went to live in Casas Viejas with his family in order to see how they lived. The principles they lived by. There was a massacre there earlier. The anarchists very existence was seen as a challenge by the state. Saddest book I’ve ever read. But hilarious as well – especially the encounters with the priest who wanted them to marry rather than live in sin. One really rare thing about the book is there are no real leaders in the village – you have this bunch of agricultural labourers who decide to live by anarchist principles. Truly wonderful. There’s a photograph on the cover that I can’t get over of 8 or so (its not in front of me) really rough looking poor men. Just labourers. Many probably couldn’t read initially. And yet they were anarchists. Awesome. I get a catch in my throat when I think of it. Who needs leaders…

The Tragedy of Spain.

You can download it here.

https://libcom.org/library/the-tragedy-of-spain-rudolf-rocker
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