L'autogestion dans l'Espagne révolutionnaire

by Frank Mintz

Texte revu d'un mémoire présenté pour l'obtention du diplôme d'études supérieures, Lettres, Paris, 1965-1966. _ Bibliogr. pp. 156-180. Index

Genres: History, Politics, Spain, Nonfiction, Labor

190 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Familiar from an early age with the Spanish Revolution through the testimony of the anarchist exiles in France, he has been one of the most important scholars of a phenomenon that despite being central to the Civil War (perhaps one of the 3 episodes most studied in the XX century next to the Russian Revolution and World War II) still remains strangely undervalued. A militant libertarian since the early 1960's in the magazine "Rouge et Noir", he is currently continuing his political activity in the French CNT.

Frank Mintz is the author of the famous book 'Anarchism and Workers' Self-Management in Revolutionary Spain'
and, today, is an obligatory reference in regard to self-managed processes in Spain during the years of 1936-39.

Reviews

[Jaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author explores in painstaking detail the ECONOMIC events of the Spanish Civil War that are so often overshadowed by accounts of battle and political struggle. Presented here are descriptions of libertarian communism in action. Huge tracts of farmland collectively managed by farmers and crops distributed freely to workers in urban centers. Labor vouchers given to workers to prove their contribution to society and their entitlement to food and other essentials. Trade unions managing the distribution of commodities, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Look no further for proof of how humans can successfully organize a free and equal society free from the pitfalls and injustices of free market capitalism.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This had nothing to do with worker's self management in revolutionary Spain. It was simply a partisan history about how awful and authoritarian the FAI were against the CNT, the CNT was against the grassroots collectivists, and the socialists were in general. It also refuses to analyze and presupposes its conclusions, so in general, its just a bad book. Well sourced though.

I would like to read the book the title led me to believe this was. Please let me know when that comes out AK Press.

[Marko Beljac · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s much to learn from Mintz, if you are prepared to overlook his polemical manner of writing. There were three things I picked up from this work. Firstly, the anarchist collectives and worker managed enterprises of the Spanish Revolution were instituted from the bottom-up, rather than top down. This further demonstrates that socialism, when developed by people rather than a narrow vanguard, takes on the form of workers’ self-management. That is what a genuine socialism consists of. Even the council communists pointed out that workers’ councils are the organic institutional form that workers construct when they begin to pose the question of power, for them a historical - not theoretical - observation. What Mintz relates here supports this thesis. Secondly, although the socialisation and democratisation of society came from below, it was preceded by plenty of self education facilitated by an autonomous peasant/working class intellectual culture. When the established system of power collapsed it was this preceding work of education among peasants and workers that facilitated the swift establishment of rural and urban self management. We really don’t see much focus on that today, one of the key weaknesses of the contemporary Left, and one of the reasons why traditional Left constituencies have become prey for demagoguery. Thirdly, the socialisation of the means of production through a system of agrarian, industrial, and financial democracy did not proceed from grand theory, nor did it take the same character across the society. This was a period of experimentation – an empirical rather than an a priori method if you will. There was no attempt to graft all society according to a preconceived theory, instead autonomous communities and workplaces - now here, now there - tried out different things. That is how a genuinely democratic, better still libertarian, socialism would work after the revolution. There’s more here than these three lessons, for example socialisation of the means of production did not eliminate practices we would today consider in a negative light, especially in the cultural and private spheres. How long that would have obtained, we cannot say of course. However, it’s easy to see how they are contrary to the values of the Revolution and how an autonomous intellectual culture and public sphere committed to reason could overcome them. Mintz writes in a polemical tone, which for me was a tad off putting and I’m not prepared to buy his comments regarding the CNT and the FAI without some evidence beyond denunciation.

[Sugarpunksattack Mick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frank Mintz's book 'Anarchism and Workers' Self-Mandagment in Revolutionary Spain' has all the trappings of being a good book, but does not hold up. The editing is bad and the writing is worse. There are sections where it is difficult to decipher if what you are reading is a quite and, if so, who is being quoted. The title itself is extremely misleading in that there is no real clear explanation of what workers self-management is much less how it operated in Revolutionary Spain.

I sympathize with the author and his perspective. He is an anarchist-explicitly an anarcho-syndiclaist-and he is responding to misleading mischaracterizations, and outright falsehoods put out by liberal and hostile communists alike. That said, this book does not do much service in that direction given the failings mentioned above.

The saving grace of the book and reason for my rating is because of the valuable appendixes that constitute the second half of the book. Particularly the seventh one reveals much about the conflicts between the rank and file of the CNT fighting on the front and the so-called higher committees of the CNT that sought to collaborate with the republican government.

[A. M. C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frente al discurso manipulador de la democratización cada vez más fuerte de los Estados, de la necesaria cogestión del capitalismo —que los malabaristas de la política bautizan como «autogestión»— con un parcheo rosa o verde o peronista, frente a la imbricación de las economías, la multiplicidad del consumo y la complejidad del cuerpo social, los hechos tercos y la realidad diaria responden que la miseria y la explotación de un 80-90 % de la población del planeta permanecen, lamentables e implacables.

Sólo la orientación de base de la Rusia de 1917-21 y de la España de 1936-39 nos da una brújula para escapar a las perversiones económicas que nos imponen.

Quizá Mintz utiliza aquí demasiada palabrería barata, pero tiene toda la razón... El libro es demasiado crítico con los anarquistas, no hay que olvidar las desfavorables condiciones en las que se desarrolló la Revolución...

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and unique look into the rise and fall of Revolutionary Catalonia, with a specific look at how their society attempted to implement libertarian communist ideals of worker self management, the abolition of wage labor and money, amidst a war against fascist reaction. A fascinating topic, although Mintz sort of injects his personal opinions about other historians and historical works into the piece in ways that detract from the overall scholarship at work here. A valuable read for those who want to learn more about what a moneyless, classless society would actually look like, but has its limitations.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a lot of great statistics in here about factories in anarchist Spain being run collectively by the workers. However, the understandable bitterness of Mintz (whose friends and dreams were crushed by horrible fascist reality) bleeds into virtually every sentence, making the book very difficult to read. He also repeatedly makes reference to how the CNT leadership sold out the workers or betrayed the revolution, which is entirely plausible, but never actually explains how or why they did whatever he views to have been the betrayal. Was hoping for a more rational, comprehensive view of the anarchist revolution in Spain, and this book isn't it.

[Murgatroyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is well written and well researched. But a word of warning: it is NOT written for the beginner in regards to the history of the Spanish Revolution. If you are new to the subject this book is not for you.

[yasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 really. the translation is somewhat inelegant and the tone overly polemical, but full of good info. a strong corrective to histories of spanish anarchism that overemphasize the prevailing personalities, highlighting moments of cnt rank-and-file dissent. of special note are the appendices

[Pushon Bhattacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informed and unique perspective on the Spanish Revolution, though not the most accessible book out there on this topic.

[Cuellared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy interesante para personas especializadas en el tema. Algo seco para elector casual.

[Rory Steel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer assumes the reader has a lot of existing knowledge about the civil war and the events that unfolded amongst the Republican factions. It's also unclear exactly what point the writer is getting at. Sometimes there are no points - it just seeks to provide an account of how self-management worked. In that respect, it was really good and detailed both the theory and inner machinations of how self-management was executed.