¡No Pasarán!: Matt Christman's Spanish Civil War

by Matt Christman

¡No Pasarán! Matt Christman's Spanish Civil War is the first book by Matt Christman as a solo author. A concise and extremely readable history and analysis of the Spanish Civil War, filled with Matt's signature voice & humor.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Spanish Civil War, Spain

195 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Donald]

I have read books that include the Spanish Civil War (like Aesthetics of Resistance or Homage to Catalonia) but never a book running straight through the main events. This was a lucky first book for that because it's a quick read and builds towards Christman's Marxist viewpoint. It jives with Chomsky's view that the best hope was probably deepening the social revolution but lays out the good and bad reasons that didn't happen. There is a Beckettian "we can't coordinate, we must coordinate" theme that resonates with the whole lead-up to the Second World War that is painful to consider. The book can't get too deep at this pace and has to quickly emphasize a few themes like anticlericalism and the international scene but a solid launching point onward.

[Reid Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

truly one of the greatest minds of any generation

[Greg Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great. Doesn’t have a lot of the usual history accoutrements like the telling quote (or primary sources), but Christman understands and communicates the forces driving the conflict incredibly well. Short too!

[Aamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest humanist voices of this generation, Christman imbues the story of the Spanish Civil War with a profound pathos that really articulates why that moment in history was so contingent and is still debated to this day.

The book is far too short to be considered comprehensive, but it’s an excellent primer for the subject. It gives a brief background of the history leading up to the war, introduces all the notable persons and factions, and offers a pretty compelling analysis of why the Republic lost the war.

For anyone interested in the subject, this is a great place to start. There are more detailed studies of the war, but this book excels in arguing *why* the War was so historically significant. It was a moment where anything and everything was possible, the horizon of social revolution was here and now. Alas, the fourth and final part of this book calls itself twilight of utopia and what a twilight it was.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our grillmaster hotfoots it through the Spanish Civil War, with a succinct yet detail-rich style that kept me reading quickly, without feeling like I was missing any of the key facts.
I really appreciated the distinct focus on the human experience throughout, it makes for the opposite of your typically dry (moist?) historical survey; there is space here that resonates, with the ringing shock of atrocities, the shrill whine of deflating solidarity, the laboured wheeze of hope being slowly exhausted, but also the beautiful harmony of the small victories along the way, and these weighty verses are relieved by light and impeccably timed jabs at the worst of the belligerents, Christman never failing to note the funny details as faithfully as the decisive - which are sometimes one and the same, like the Nationalist leader who brought down his own private plane with the excessive weight of his luggage, or one of Franco’s top men becoming “the first Spanish astronaut”.
I was left, in the end, with a bittersweet aftertaste, of the peace that fed the hungry workers who toiled under a startlingly unified vision; the conclusion reminds us that a desire for the collective good burns within us all, it is the pilot light that ignites the engine of progress, dimmed certainly in modern times, but inextinguishable no matter the depth of darkness we are plunged into.

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a Chapo head by any means but this is very good. It does read as something adapted from podcast scripts rather than intended to be a book all along (see: no sources) but pointing that out is kind of a “no shit,” given the Circumstances. I will absolutely be checking out Christman’s Hell on Earth series about the Thirty Years War, and I hope he’s eventually up to writing a full book on some other topic he’s passionate and knowledgeable about. The last few pages of this one offer a glimpse at a sort of radical history of WWII, which felt startlingly fresh considering how picked-over that period is. Fingers crossed for something along those lines, whether in print or audio, soon.

[Alex Yurcaba · Rating 4 out of 5]

God I miss Matt’s thoughts. There are moments here where his voice really shines, and they’re special. Generally, it’s clear that this was adapted from a podcast script, and suffers a bit in the transition. But overall I’m very glad to have made this purchase.

[Yedan Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have definitely missed hearing Matt's perspective in the time since his stroke, and it's great to hear his voice again, even if only through text. Only knowing the basics coming into this I found ¡No Pasarán! very enlightening and I'm glad to have a better understanding of the events and forces surrounding the Spanish civil war. Occasionally it does come through that this was adapted from a podcast script but I don't think that's necessary to its detriment. I will just leave a passage from the last pages of the book, which I felt was some vintage Christman:

"We still live in the terminal stage of this technological matrix, the tools of counterhegemony rusted and broken at our feet. But living after the rapture still requires living, and if there's hope to be had in this existence, it's that capitalism has at least brought us together in one globalized temporality. At the end of total atomization is the pull back to community. The technology that pulls us apart will become the tools for our reacquaintance, forging trust from a common experience of alienation rather than breaking it on rocks of indifference. But even if that doesn't happen, we can still live our lives with the knowledge that the utopian horizon exists because it has been experienced, and the Spanish Civil War is proof of it. it existed in the factories of Barcelona, where workers managed their own work time and labored for the same wages but to their maximum effort. It existed in the Aragonese countryside where villages came together to bring in the harvest, requisition their first tractor, and run an economy on ration cards and currencies backed solely by mutual trust--where John D. Rockefeller couldn't buy a single cup of coffee, as a placard in one village said. It existed on the front line where Spanish workers joined with men from all over the world to risk their lives for the idea of universal brotherhood. It existed in the luxury hotels turned into communal cafeterias, around bonfires of burning banknotes, in the socialized theaters and free hospitals. These experiences weren't the whole of the experience of the Republic at war. There was corruption, sadism, defeatism, incompetence, and bad faith. But these moments and the sacrifices they inspired were part of it. The part that kept people going under tremendous suffering and overwhelming odds, more real than any dream of a perfected future. Our task is to live in such a way that affords us access to that feeling, to have our own experience of total faith in others and total faith in our own collective cause.''

[George Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than it has any right to be, and much more like a real book than I expected given that it’s largely the transcript of an unreleased podcast. Clean up the language a bit and add a bibliography and this becomes an all-timer. Matt Christman does a terrific job not only of laying out the forces and events of the Spanish Civil War but also of untangling the still-thorny knot of finger pointing that has dominated discourse on the fall of the republic. A perfect introduction of the conflict, and deserving of a wider release.

[Marco Tarantino · Rating 5 out of 5]

To rate it for what it is—the transcription of a series of podcast episodes—I'm giving it 5 stars. Any other history book like this would get a lower rating due to the lack of notes / sources. I still wish they included sources in the back. For those who don't know, the author of this book is a co-host of a popular political podcast who suffered a stroke the day he was going to record the final episode of this series. About a year later they decided to release the series as a published book instead (with each episode as one chapter) of a final episode as the author was no longer able to record.

As for the text itself, it was fantastic. A gripping narrative of a fascinating historical event I knew little about beyond the romanticized anarchist pining of the past I've seen online. Anyone who has listened to his rants, lectures, or musings should be able to hear Matt's voice (especially his humor) come through while reading ¡No Pasaran!

Matt Christman has a talent for tying historical events to a grander view of political and cultural evolution. A modern voice that, despite some of the tragic material he covers, affirms the validity and shared sentiment of your anger to the current state of affairs while also instilling hope for a peaceful and better future for all of humanity. Looking forward to any future writings from him!

[Rhi Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, concise, insightful, and entertaining history of an important but undervalued bit of history. Matt Christman has such a way with words that translates well to paper. Devoured it in a couple of days, the relaxed writing just pulls you in without leaving anything behind. Also I loved the formatting and illustrations.

[Owen Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Briskly paced and written with a grandiose style that suggests Christman's true mastery of not only this specific material, but of historical contingency and congruity as a whole. A bonafide scholar of the Spanish Civil War would surely find things to complain about, but even somebody marginally interested in the subject will find it easy to engage with this material. Easily readable and filled with incredible selection of detail that paints a startling picture and will leave breathless at times. Furthermore, Christman's trademark wit and humor breathes life into a notoriously stuffy subject. Bonus star out of support for the author.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise, depressing, and fascinating summary of the war between the nascent Republican Spain made up of Bolsheviks, Anarchists, and even Bourgeoisie versus the unholy alliance to restore Eternal Spain made up of the Colonial Military, Landed Aristocracy, and Falange fascists.

Matt Christian proves that not only is he capable of enthralling podcasting, but also of writing so encapsulating that maybe his calling was the pen and not the microphone.

Get well soon Matt, keep up the good work.

-NWPA

[Lucas Gadke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice overview of the Spanish Civil War shaded with class analysis. Christman uses his signature voice to place the conflict in the full span of history. Humour and poetic asides abound.

While not a monumental piece of history (no footnotes or new research) it offers an explicitly ideological primer on the conflict. Many historians claim and strive to be non-ideological so it’s actually refreshing to have a signature voice and transparent values. Also a great object, beautiful book with nice illustrations.

[Sam Dobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressively succinct; the whole of the Spanish civil war in just 192 pages. Obviously there are issues with that and it's maybe not as detailed as some might want. I think it did a good job of explaining who the major players were and the significance of events. I enjoyed the references to what contemporaneous journalism was reporting at the time. It was nice to see what was thought whilst it was happening, before we knew of the world changing events that would happen directly after the war.

[Ben Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

great analysis of the material conditions that lead to the war and the cartoonish infighting that lost it. easy to digest and understand while still being insightful.

an anecdote:

when i lived in madrid, i went to the site of the battle of jarama to see where the lincoln battalion fought. there was an energy there. these men fought and died halfway across the world for a cause that wasn’t their own because they believed in universal solidarity, the promise of a better world. the second republic was snuffed out in its crib, but that promise is still out there

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s fine, but somewhat unpolished and not as narratively tight as it could have been. It provides a decent pop narrative of the Spanish Civil War and a good analysis of some of the broader themes around leftism in the early 20th century that serve as a useful intervention for people that have only been exposed to a more conventional capitalist narrative.

You might read this as an attempt at an 18th Brumaire But For The Spanish Civil War, and it mostly succeeds.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

a readable history of the war but it doesn't quite capture matt's voice, or his ability to distill complexities. perhaps because the foreword indicates matt didn't quite "write" it.

the strongest portion is the analysis at the end, which also sounds the most like matt.

[Eric Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful vacation read from Mr. Christman. Dovetailing nicely with Andor season 2 and visiting the memorial to interned Spanish revolutionaries in Bordeaux. Another world is possible!

[Mya · Rating 4 out of 5]

inspiring, funny, easy to read. just a great time

[AmNotEvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Our task is to live in such a way that affords us access to that feeling, to have our own experience of total faith in others and in total faith in our own collective cause.”

[Patrick Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The podcast in book form. What more do you want?

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview and introduction, eminently accessible. Podcastiness of it both a help and a hindrance.

[Colby Tibbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt be grillin’

[Wes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt’s voice has been so dearly missed these past 2 years. It’s a real treat to have it brought back through this book and his return to the podcast. Thank you cushbomb. Even in these dumb times he’s still giving me faith in our collective cause.

[TheBaronVonGreg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pithy and succinct re telling of the Spanish Civil War. The first half sets up the action, the second half is the action, but it really peaks in the last third of the last chapter when he ties everything together. Christman has always had an amazing ability to see the big picture and synthesize the day-to-day details into WHY people do the things they do. This book is a great example of that, and he does it in a way that we modern Oafs can understand. I wish it had one more chapter talking more about the intertwining ramifications of everything, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

[l robin s · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely digestible recounting of the civil war and the conditions that lead to it. Does not over simplify things, but I wish I could dig through some footnotes. Christman’s voice, and most importantly his optimism is the human project is there is every page. Also I really like the illustrations !!

[cheer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Christman's recount of the Spanish Civil War is not unlike China Miéville's telling of the Russian Revolution in October in that they are both easy to read, gripping narratives that are deeply empathetic in their portrayal of the revolutionary subject. Christman's post-online philosophy and sense of humor resonate throughout the book, connecting the past to the present in a way that elucidates how we got here and why our shared struggle has stalled for the past century.

While it would be easy to tell the story of the Spanish Civil War as a tragedy (and in many respects, it certainly is one), Christman instead channels Marx reflecting on the ill-fated Paris Commune: these events serve as proof that the so-called communist horizon is not impossibly distant, but has in fact existed at key moments in the history of our shared struggle to create a better world.

"Our task," Christman writes, "is to live in such a way that affords us access to that feeling, to have our own experiences of total faith in others and total faith in our own collective cause."

[Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was obviously written for a podcast and unfortunately suffers a lot of the deficiencies of the medium in general.

The book whisked through events without having the time to provide too much analysis or insight. Characters silently came and went, and entire months whisked by over the course of a page or two.

Because of this, I doubt I will remember much of this history in a few months, despite the rich content of its source material.

I do appreciate the tone and appreciated the splashes of Matt’s voice throughout. Hoping to see you back firing on all cylinders soon buddy ❤️

[Twain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous read love a Marxist view of history. Reading about the material conditions of the braceros, the fighting of the landowning classes to embrace capitalism, the officers of colonialism being much more ready to fight for fascist Spain than the peninsular officers who were paper pushers, the uneven development in Spain and how that produced different political outcomes in mining vs peasant vs industrial textile zones, love to hear all of it. Matt is an excellent historian and does a great job setting the history and lead up of the political moment.

The fascist insurrection not having mass support due to Spain not being a part of WWI (and thus no grizzled WWI veterans to constitute its base) was fascinating. They basically relied on mercenaries, colonial troops, and peasant conscripts from zones loyal to the insurrection but did not have a large swath of PTSD induced psychos domestically seething at the mouth for fascism like Germany and Italy.

All of the times whenever liberals refused to arm the working class in the book were incredibly unsurprising.

I think the portrayal of the anarchists as incredibly idealistic is very interesting. The anarchists truly believed in their social revolution, which pre-war was often stamped out village by village by the Republican government. And there’s almost no doubt the fascist government would do the same, but during the beginning of the war the anarchists were able to rise up in so republican controlled zones and exert influence and work in collectivized agriculture and manufacturing. They seemed much more interested in protecting their revolution than fighting the fascists.

I did not realize that Mussolini sent 40,000 troops to Spain for the war. I knew Germany and Italy helped Franco significantly and that the Soviets helped the republic but to the extent i was pretty shocked.

Good little bits about wartime like the tanks being largely ineffective due to the lack of trucks on the front lines.

One key division in the war (beyond the clear experience and superior weapons the insurrection had) was that Franco seemed to be consolidating power throughout the war, other claims to power died or humiliated themselves and he consolidated the Falange and Carlists into his party. Meanwhile the republic was kinda split between anarchist, communist, socialist, Basque nationalist and liberal zones of different levels of influence. They were each incredibly wary of one another, and the anarchists were constantly skeptical of organizing or holding state power, which made them an incredibly reactive disorganized force who were split between the importance of defending their social revolution against the republic and fighting the nationalists. The liberals, socialists and communists grabbed state power, and used it to consolidate power. Eventually the communists used it to break the anarchists and marxists who didn’t like the communist party. Ultimately, since the Soviet Union was the only country willing to back the Republic, the communist party got a lot of benefit from that.

It is interesting that in light of the Spanish Communists basically taking a Menshevik line (that Spain needed to join a popular front with liberals and complete a capitalist revolution and complete capitalist development before it could become communist) this attracted a lot of small businessmen, small holding peasants, other petty bourgeoise. In addition, since the Communist party controlled various bureaucracies like the police, military, etc. it attracted a lot of Republican sons of the rich as a way of promotion through those ranks.

This war setting the stage for WWII was very interesting. While the western liberal bourgeoisie democracies declined to intervene in the war for fear of setting of WWII, the Spanish civil war actually brought Mussolini and Hitler together as allies and set the stage for WWII.

The Nationalists had significantly better aid, weapons, supply lines, tactics, and ground and air support, mostly due to the involvement of other fascist governments, but definitely proved decisive in the war.

The end was a great summary of the difference between anarchist and communist thought during the war. The communists saw the anarchists as having pre capitalist, premodern conceptions, naive children with sentimental ideological purity attached to outdated notions unconnected to reality. Anarchists believed more in ideas, passion and mentality than class. The communists believed you had to build the modern state (at least to win the war) and the building of the modern capitalist state would unleash productive powers and class relations that would lead to a global communist uprising and ultimate war of the working class vs the bourgeoisie. It was believed by a lot of communists at the time that capitalism was in its death throes, and while the big war did eventually come, it was under country and not class lines and ended up reinforcing the capitalist bourgeoisie liberal order. But the dialectic between the capitalist subjectivity of the communist and the mostly feudalistic subjectivity of the anarchist was too big of a chasm to cross, and really only ended up happening in places where such coexistence existed before the war.

While the communist party gained a lot of power in the war, it was mostly due to the connections with the Soviet Union. Most workers were socialist or anarchist before the war, and the communists were couped out of power in the dying days of the war because they did not enjoy longstanding working class support.