Spanish Revolution of 1936

At the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, workers in Republican Spain, led largely by anarchists, collectivized land and industry in a sweeping social revolution.

Overview

When army officers launched a coup against the Second Spanish Republic in July 1936, workers militias defeated the rebels in Barcelona and other cities. In Catalonia and Aragon, anarchist unions of the CNT and FAI, along with socialists of the UGT, took over factories, transport, and farmland, organizing them as collectives. George Orwell described revolutionary Barcelona in Homage to Catalonia. Tensions grew between the revolutionaries and the Republican government and Communist Party, culminating in street fighting in Barcelona in May 1937. The government reasserted control and many collectives were dissolved. Franco victory in 1939 ended the revolution completely.