A Las Barricadas!

[Aranfan]

Entry #1

The Central Idea of Anarchism, that which defines and unites the philosophy's numerous variants and branches, is simple, it is liberating and terrifying. No Rulers. No one "in charge", because to be in charge you must be on top, and if you are on top then others must, by definition, be on the bottom.

The centralist says that such can only lead to chaos and disorder. Yet they must say that, for if the Anarchist is right, then the Centralist is superfluous.

In our timeline, Anarchists were defeated time and again, not because their system broke down, but because they were betrayed by those they considered allies in the current fight.

Let us look into a world where the Anarchists had been more cautious.

-


“I serve today as the voice of the people of Catalonia and Aragon. The people have seen these past few days the true worth of government. The Republic, upon whom lay the duty to protect the citizens of Spain, has failed.

“It failed to recognize the danger posed by the army. When the danger was pointed out, those who had in mind the safety of the people were suppressed. Their crime was to accuse the army of planning a coup.

“When the Army rose to bring down the government, the people rose to oppose their oppression. But the Government stood by and did nothing. We shall not help those who have given no help to us.

“The Government of Catalonia and Aragon is no more, it has been crushed by the Fascists. In turn the Fascists have been defeated by the People.

“We the People declare the creation of the Federation of Spanish Communes.

“The Federation extends its arm to the Republic in solidarity against the Fascist aggressors, but as allies only, not as subjects. Attempts to control us will be considered an act of war.

Long live the Revolution.”

-Lluís Companys' address to Spain, 21 July 1936

[English Translation of a partial and fragmentary Russian copy of Company's address found in a hidden anarchist cache in Petrograd, evidence from the cache implies that the copy was pieced together from native Russian sources and that the complier had never been exposed to an accurate translation of the actual address. That he achieved even this much is a testament to the complier's great skill.]






Flag of the Makhno Column, liberators of Santander and notorious for only making alliances with other democratic armies:

 

[Dan1988]

Hmm, looks interesting. Please continue.

 

[Niko Malaka]

It sounds interesting. I wonder how will you deal with the internal discrepancies inside the CNT-FAI. Specially, what will be doing people like Montseny, García Oliver or Peiró in TTL.

If you let me suggest something, I think Companys wouldn't be the person writting/reading that communiquee. In my opinion, our man could be Abad de Santillán, who was the "spokeman" of the CNT present in the Generalitat Palace that 21th July. On the other hand, Companys had not authority, moral or political, to speak in the name of the people of Aragon.

Perhaps you have thought about it, but another interesting question will be the reaction of Estat Català and their friends (among them sectors of ERC) to this move.

 

[Aranfan]

Well, the thing about the transcript I posted is that it's the work of a Russian Anarchist in Petrograd working solely from the information he is able to scrounge up (yes, that was to give me an out in case I messed up like this). In actuality, Companys made no mention of speaking for the people of Aragon.

As to Companys making the speech, I'm taking the story about his offering to step down as both fact and a true statement. The CNT-FAI is using Companys to boost the legitimacy of the Federation among the statists, it was written by one of the CNT newspaper people.



As to your suggestions, I am eager to hear them. I gather that you're a Spaniard, which means you have much more access to relevant info than an english-only American like mean. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Manfr]

Companys didn't exactly object to Communists killing off Anarchists in the streets of Barcellona, I suppose that he's been forced to read that communiquè !

 

[Aranfan]

Entry #2

POD: Makhno's tuberculosis remains latent and never progresses to the active disease stage.

Ripples: Makhno shows no signs of declining health and on July 2nd 1934 an assassination attempt is made by a member of the French Communist Party. The attempt fails, but Makhno goes to Spain when a member of the FAI offers him sanctuary.

Makhno joins the FAI, his presence and reputation causes the organization to be much more distrustful of working with centralist organizations, and although a literal version of the Platform doesn't catch on, the FAI does increase in it's ideological coherency. This has knock on effects in the CNT.

 

[yourworstnightmare]

Well I think there will be several butterflies upcoming. If the government and the Anarchists cooperate things could end differently, the question is if the government sould at all be willing to ally with another rebel faction. But if they do and the result is stronger left and the Nationalists losing, the Communists might not be able to assert hegemony over the Republicans. However I don't think the Anarchists and the government could exist as two separate entities after the war. Either the Anarchists have to agree to intergrate Catalonia and Aragon as autonomous territories of the Republic (they would probably not like it) or they'd have to fight the government.

Another possibility is that the government reject the Anarchists right out, and we'd have a three way civil war, one that the Anarchists can't win and probably would favor Franco.

 

[Aranfan]

I'm doing a map now. The Republic gets the UCS Spain color. What colors should I use for the Nationalists and the Federation?

 

[The Vulture]

Interesting POD. I like the ideas at work here, keep it coming.

 

[Eurofed]

Quite interesting. It's an uphill fight, but if they can strike a working relationship with the other non-Communist factions of the Republicans, they may have a chance. I tentatively think that the Socialists may be willing to make a truce and a wartime cooperation with well-behaved Anarchists, even if the Communists shall still try and go out of their way to snuff out their worst ideological rivals. I'll reserve further comments on the military and diplomatic butterflies of this PoD when we see how this turns out.

I'll make a wish. Is there any chance that the Anarchist Aragonese-Catalan polity gets extended to Valencia ? This way, it would be a nifty rounded-up proto-state (well, much as you can use that term for an Anarchic polity) with a good economic and national basis.

 

[Aranfan]

I'll make a wish. Is there any chance that the Anarchist Aragonese-Catalan polity gets extended to Valencia ? This way, it would be a nifty rounded-up proto-state (well, much as you can use that term for an Anarchic polity) with a good economic and national basis.

OTL the Anarchists were in de facto control of the entire Med coast for the first few months, whence the government was able to reestablish something resembling control ("do this or the Fascists will win" was the most common justification). Indeed, if you count the Anarchists and Basque as separate then the Republic had no coast.

I'm working on a map for the end of July 1936. It'll go up once the ripples have caught up to the splash that is entry 1.

 

[Eurofed]

OTL the Anarchists were in de facto control of the entire Med coast for the first few months, whence the government was able to reestablish something resembling control ("do this or the Fascists will win" was the most common justification). Indeed, if you count the Anarchists and Basque as separate then the Republic had no coast.

Groovy, the Anarchists start out with control of the choicest bits of Spain. If they resist turning control back to the govenrment, they may have a chance.

 

[yourworstnightmare]

Groovy, the Anarchists start out with control of the choicest bits of Spain. If they resist turning control back to the govenrment, they may have a chance.

My predicitons:
1. The government is doomed, Franco will crush them quickly in this TL.
2. Then he'll turn on the Anarchists, and eventually beat them too.

 

[Aranfan]

My predicitons:
1. The government is doomed, Franco will crush them quickly in this TL.
2. Then he'll turn on the Anarchists, and eventually beat them too.

Who said Franco is undisputed leader of the Nationalists?

 

[Aranfan]

Entry #3:


Further Ripples: The increased coherency of the CNT-FAI allows their message to reach more people. This increase in membership is often at the expense of the UGT. The CNT becomes dominant on the Mediterranean coast and rebuilds its strength in Andalusia. The interior of Spain is more closely contested between the CNT and UGT than OTL, but the UGT retains primacy.


Butterflies in the Coup:

The CNT in Aragon does not rely on the government to provide arms, and like the CNT in Barcelona raids the armories on it's own initiative. The Coup in Saragossa is defeated and Aragon is secured by the anarchists.

The attempt by the Falange to rescue Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera from jail in Alicante is successful.

Sanjuro's plane still crashes because he packed too many clothes, but his pilot dies with him ITTL.

The CNT in Barcelona feels it is strong enough to break with the Republic Government, although it still offers alliance against the Nationalists.



Government Reactions:


Republican Spain

Giral resigns and is replaced by Largo Caballero, the only one who can hold Spain together. As the Anarchists control the Mediterranean coast and are powerful in Madrid itself, and because he is a left-socialist who is for workplace democracy, Caballero accepts the offer of alliance with the Federation against the Nationalists.

Privately, Caballero justifies this to the communists and non-socialists in the government by pointing out that the Anarchists are the only reason the Republic still exists, and assuring them that once the Republic has it's legs back under it and has beaten the Nationalists the CNT will be crushed in turn.


United States

“Busy with the New Deal, kthnxbai”

Which doesn't stop Corporate America from aiding the Nationalists, although it does hinder the Wobblies from aiding the CNT.


Germany

Hitler openly and flagrantly helps air lift the Army of Africa across the Straights of Heracles. As well as providing other aid.


Italy

Mussolini likewise furnishes the Nationalists with abundant supplies and aid. The air lift of the Army of Africa is as much an Italian effort as a German one.


Britain

The Royal Navy acts “neutrally” in a manner that aid the Nationalists very much.

Eden suggests non-intervention, but an impassioned speech by Churchill about how aid to the republic is the only to save the Spanish people from “the horrors of Fascism on the Right and the terrors of Anarchism on the Left” wins over the Commons.


France

Per OTL, Leon Blum initially is enthusiastic about fulfilling the Republic's request for aid. Unlike OTL, the British Government is not adamant about non-intervention and France successfully justifies aiding the Republic with evidence of intervention by Germany and Italy. Although France sends it's aid only to the Republic and not to the Federation, it is the Federation that controls the border. As a result of the border with France remaining open, organizations sympathetic to the CNT are able to send it arms and resources.


Portugal

Lisbon is the port of Castille.


Soviet Union

Stalin is furious that the “Makhnovists” have taken over so much of Spain. However, he remembers the actions of Lenin and the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution, and offers aid to both the Republic and the Federation, “in keeping with the position of the CCCP as Vanguard of the Worker's Movement”. Needless to say, Pravda makes the Federation look more akin to the USSR than to what it really is.


China and Japan

Busy with a Land War in Asia. Although the Anarchist movements in both nations get a boost, particularly China's.





Map of Europe on July 31 1936, Nationalists get the Malaya Color, while Anarchist controlled territory is hot purple:

 

[Eurofed]

Groovy map, except what is about the blotchy appearance of the USSR ??

It seems that international factions are aligning to sympathetic Spanish ones: Hitler and Mussolini do their usual act (the airlift of the Army of Africa was a combined German-Italian effort, by the way), Stalin sends help to the Republicans with an eye to the Communists running the show, there seems to be a greater rift between Britain and France, with the latter more openly supporting the Republicans and the former supporting the Nationalists by default, while the Anarchists are getting support by grassroot sympathizers. International volunteers are likely to split between the Communists going to the Republicans and the non-Communist leftists going to the Anarchists. Most interesting. The Federation appears to have set up nicely, with control of many of the most valuable parts of Spain: they face one heck of a fight with the Nationalists about Andalusia, but it does not seem unreasonable for them to absorb the Republic in the end.

 

[Aranfan]

The map is a modification of Qazaq's 1938 map. I just cropped Europe and messed with Spain, so the USSR has a variety of different colors in it as it did in that map.

I know that the Army of Africa airlift was a joint German-Italian effort, I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear.

 

[Eurofed]

The map is a modification of Qazaq's 1938 map. I just cropped Europe and messed with Spain, so the USSR has a variety of different colors in it as it did in that map.

Then the blame lies with the original.

I know that the Army of Africa airlift was a joint German-Italian effort, I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Ok. I made the point because the German rearmament was still in an embryonic stage in 1936, I dunno if the Luftwaffe could have pulled the airlift entirely on its own.

 

[Aranfan]

Ok. I made the point because the German rearmament was still in an embryonic stage in 1936, I dunno if the Luftwaffe could have pulled the airlift entirely on its own.

Edited.

Also, France and Britain aren't really "rifting" here. Enough Tories are worried about the Federation winning that non-intervention has no real force, which gives France room to openly help the Republic.

Consider what this atmosphere will do to "appeasement".

 

[Dan1988]

Groovy map, except what is about the blotchy appearance of the USSR ??

IIRC, some of them are obviously SSRs (Ukraine, Armenia, etc.), whilst others are autonomous areas of the RSFSR (i.e. Karelia or the Chechen-Ingush ASSR), and then the RSFSR proper. Does that help?