1

Rex Dyer

Hist 111

Professor Nelson

Republican Infighting and the Spanish Civil War

As the world entered the 20th century, conflicts that were both ideological and

physical broke out across the globe. Nowhere was this more prominent than Spain in

1937 with the Spanish Civil War. This conflict pitted the right-wing nationalists led by

Francisco Franco against the Republicans, made up of the official Spanish government

and multiple anarchists and socialist organizations. In a battle between two primary

ideologies, it was ironically the conflicts within the Republican coalition that led to its

demise. The reasons for this include rigidness to differing political doctrines, ideological

conflict over adherence to an authority which caused distrust of the military and

government, the violent suppression of other republican factions, and distrust caused by

interference by conflicting world powers on the republican side, these factors all led.

The lack of unity shown in the Republican military forces was a clear indicator of

the ideological interference that came from the conflict of anti-authoritarian ideas and

traditional military structure. A significant example is a view of the Workers Party of

Marxist Unification of Spain’s newspaper and the disdain shown towards its fellow

Republicans and military command. This paper, in its second issue, showed a very

dysfunctional idea of military efficiency and that Republican soldiers should be “The

autonomous heroes of the proletarian revolution. Without damaging the perfect right of

everyone to express his political opinion and social ideas.” 1 While inspiring for anarchist
1
Orr, Louis, Orr, Charles, P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. October 28, 1936, 1
edition, sec. 2. https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v1n2-oct-
 2

ideals, this idealized view of such a fractured organization would be proven to be less

than ideal later when working in conjunction with the rest of the faction. The training and

command of the military units were also quite dysfunctional, with the novelist George

Orwell remarking this about the training of soldiers and the lack of discipline, claiming

they “would step out of the ranks and argue fiercely with the officer.” 2The soldiers'

strong beliefs often inhibited the cause. One soldier's account of his campaign through

the Pyrenees mountains mentioned how the anarchist who was appointed drill instructor

due to service during the first world war, would not take or give orders of any kind

crippling the ability to efficiently direct troops. 3 This infighting over ideals of military

authority would cause infighting in the higher echelons of the republican side, and

cripple the front lines with inefficient leadership.

The greatest factor in Republican infighting was the political infighting between

the varying left-wing ideologies, often hinging on the differences between

authoritarianism and anarchism. The source of this conflict came from three major

conglomerations; the Soviet Union backed communists, the anarchist's workers unions'

such as the P.O.U.M, who received help from various foreign brigades, and the

western-backed democratic factions backed by the British and French. All these groups

fought the nationalist forces, yet they very much despised each other. These ideological

differences were very apparent in both leadership and the common masses, with

28-1936-Spanish Revolution.pdf. Pg. 1.

2
Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia; Down and out in Paris and London. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Pg. 109
3
Fisher, Harry. Comrades: Tales of a Brigadista in the Spanish Civil War. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
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newspapers that were written by the P.O.U.M. Decrying their liberal counterparts,

claiming that it was "for the Socialist revolution, not bourgeois democracy.” 4 This

infighting was expressed quite succinctly by street fighting. With both sides claiming

aggression from the other, with claims of vandalism 5, the mass killing of opposing

republicans,6 and the largest of these events the May Days. The Maydays was a large

inter-Republican conflict that started on May 3 of 1937 between the anarchists and the

(Republican) government's coalition made up of socialists and governmental, military

forces,7 with anarchists opposing the dissolution of the revolutionary committees formed

at the beginning of the conflict, and the republican government sending military forces to

stop these uprisings.8 The fighting took place in Barcelona and the Catalonian region. It

started with a decisive attack on a telephone building held by the anarchist forces

jumpstarting the conflict between the republican government and the Catalonian worker

councils, as both workers and soldiers flooded into the city for war. 9 These aggressive
4
Orr, Louis, Orr, Charles, P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. October 28, 1936, 1
edition, sec.2.
 https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v1n2-oct-28-1936-
Spanish Revolution.pdf. Pg 5.
5
Orr, Louis, Orr, Charles, P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. October 28, 1936, 1
edition, sec. 2.
https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v1n2-oct-28-1936-
Spanish Revolution.pdf. pg 6.
6
 Antonov-Ovseenko, Vladimir, n.d. Accessed October 18, 2020, .source 6
https://spartacus-educational.com/RUSantonov.htm
7
 Orr, Louis, Orr, Charles, and P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. May 19 , 1937,
2 edition, sec. 11.
https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v2n8-may-19-1937-
Spanish%20Revolution.pdf. Pg. 1
8
 Orr, Louis, Orr, Charles, P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. May 19, 1937, 2
edition, sec. 11.
https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v2n8-may-19-1937-
Spanish%20Revolution.pdf
9
Orr, Louis, Orr, Charles, P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. May 19 , 1937, 2
edition, sec. 11. https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v2n8-
 4

fights over political control began to tear the Republican forces apart, with many

believing that the situation would develop into a brand-new civil war that would lead to

Franco claiming victory over the Republican forces. 10 The official Republican

government would eventually start to win and overtake the anarchist councils; they

would declare groups such as the P.O.U.M. illegal, leading to the arrest of many

members as reported by Orwell,11Notable military commanders were also arrested,

including a commander named Georges Kopp. This vicious infighting would further

destabilize the republican forces in their war with the nationalists.

When speaking of the Spanish Civil War, it is impossible to ignore the attempts of

other foreign powers to give aid to their chosen side. While this no doubt assisted the

Republican war effort, it also caused contention as opposing powers supported their

chosen factions within the Republican coalition. These powers had their own goals in

their support, ranging from merely stopping a nationalist victory to installing sympathetic

governments that would be loyal. The greatest of this contention came from the

burgeoning power of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, while originally welcomed,

was soon disliked by anarchists, who believed they were attempting to puppet the

communists in Madrid “The maneuvers of the Stalinists to take advantage of the

Spanish…and to slander true revolutionaries.”12 The claims of Stalinist attempts were

may-19-1937-Spanish%20Revolution.pdf. Pg. 2
10
Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia; Down and out in Paris and London. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Pg. 351
11
Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia; Down and out in Paris and London. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Pg. 455
12
Orr, Louis, Charles Orr, and P.O.U.M. THE SPANISH REVOLUTION. May 19 , 1937,
2 edition, sec. 10. https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/spanishrevolution/v2n8-
may-19-1937-Spanish%20Revolution.pdf. Pg. 8
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verified after the Soviet Union sanctioned internal communist military action. 13 This

remote support, while useful to the republicans in attaining supplies and resources, had

a severe caveat in the form of infighting, suspicion, and being made vulnerable to the

whims of foreign powers.

The Republican forces of the Spanish civil war had their existence marked by lack of

organization, infighting, and the interference of opposing foreign powers, all of which led

to their eventual defeat by the fascist forces of Francisco Franco. The failure of the

Spanish republicans is due to the conflicting socialist ideologies that drove it and the

hindrance provided by ideological tenents to the in the war effort itself, all leading to

defeat by the Nationalist forces.

Antonov-Ovseenko, Vladimir, n.d. Accessed October 18, 2020, .source 6

13

https://spartacus-educational.com/RUSantonov.htm