The Spanish Revolution of 1936 represented one of the most extensive experiments in anarchist and libertarian socialist collectivization in modern history.
Key Facts
- Start year
- 1936, concurrent with the Spanish Civil War
- Economy under worker control
- Up to 75% in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia
- Primary regions affected
- Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, Valencian Community
- Key organizations
- CNT, FAI, PSOE, POUM
- Suppression date
- After third phase in 1937
- Collectivization model
- Factories run by worker committees; agrarian communes formed
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The attempted Nationalist coup against the Second Spanish Republic in 1936 triggered the arming of worker movements and formation of militias. This power vacuum at the state level enabled trade unions and anarchist federations such as the CNT and FAI, alongside socialist and Marxist parties, to seize local administrative and economic control across Republican-held territories.
Workers' organizations collectivized factories, farms, and small businesses across Republican Spain, running them through elected committees under libertarian socialist and anarchist principles. In Catalonia alone, up to 75% of the economy came under worker control. Collectives were organized jointly or separately by the CNT and UGT, with POUM and other parties participating in some areas, producing widespread socialization of industry and agriculture.
The revolution persisted as long as the Republican zone survived, but was progressively suppressed from 1937 onward by both the Republican government and Nationalist forces under Francisco Franco. It ended conclusively with the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, leaving the collectivization experiment dismantled and its participants subject to Francoist repression.