The History Of The Revolutions In Spain

Lessons of the Spanish Revolution examines the many ways in which Spain’s revolutionary movement contributed to its own defeat. Was it too weak to carry through the revolution? To what extent was the purchase of arms and raw materials from outside sources dependent upon the appearance of a constitutional government inside Republican Spain? What chances had an improvised army of guerrillas against a trained fighting force? These were some of the practical problems facing the revolutionary movement and its leaders. But in seeking to solve these problems, the anarchists and revolutionary syndicalists were also confronted with other fundamental questions. Could they collaborate with political parties and reformist unions? Given the circumstances, was one form of government to be supported against another? Should the revolutionary impetus of the first days of resistance be halted in the interests of the armed struggle against Franco or be allowed to develop as far as the workers were prepared to take it? Was the situation such that the social revolution could triumph and, if not, what was to be the role of the revolutionary workers? Originally written as a series of weekly articles in the 1950s and expanded, republished, and translated into many languages over the years, Vernon Richards’s analysis remains essential reading for all those interested in revolutionary praxis.

A study of the Enlightenment in Spain in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is original in two respects: it is the first attempt to give a total view of the subject, in its political, religious and economic as well as in its cultural and social aspects, and it makes a valuable distinction between the years before and after 1789, between the Spain of Charles III and the Spain beset by the French Revolution.

First published in France in 1961 as La Revolution et la guerre d'Espagne,this book explains the major issues of the Spanish Civil War in a remarkably clear and comprehensive fashion. The authors focus on the internal affairs of the Republic and the Anarchist collective experiments in particular. For further description, the book is best served by its critics: "The Broue-Temime work is the best general interpretation available concerning both the revolution of 1936 and the war. It is especially valuable for analysis of the CNT, the POUM, and the anarchists in both the industrial and rural areas of Catalonia. It contains rich chapters on the first days of the war in the large cities and on the May, 1937, struggle in the streets of Barcelona." —Gabriel Jackson, Hispanic American Historical Review "This, by contrast (with the work of Hugh Thomas), is what gives weight to the fine works of Pierre Broue: the effort by which he constructs a Spanish war where events, parties, and man, the motives that guided them, the difficulties they encountered, their feelings, debates, ideas, and sacrifices are arranged and told in order to make them comprehensible." —Jean-Pierre Peter, Annales: Economies, Societes, Civilisations "Broue has prepared the first half [of the book], dealing with the Spanish background, the revolution, and the first year of the war... [He] gives a particularly good treatment of the origins of the Spanish Communist party. "In the second half of this composite work, Temime has presented a clear, concise, and perceptive account of the military events in the last two years of the war and of the construction of Franco's authoritarian state." —Stanley G. Payne, Journal of Modern History