History of the CNT-AIT in the Civil War

The bloodiest stage of the Spanish 20th century was lived between the years 1936-1939, years of the well-known Civil war, a war that divided entire families. During this historical period, we will find many elements that today are well known and that were fundamental to know the different periods that the country went through throughout is. Therefore, in this lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about the history of the CNT-AIT in the Civil War.

Before proceeding to immerse the history of the CNT-AIT in the Civil War, we must mention what do both acronyms mean in order to make a mental scheme of the steps that will be taken.

• CNT: are the initials with which the National Labor Confederation is designated.
• AIT: refers to the International Workers Association.

For a period of time they found themselves unitedRather subordinate, since the AIT housed the different branches of workers' associations from the rest of Europe. But after a series of events that occurred, she was expelled from the association, since the CNT has been closely related to the anarchist movement.

In this other lesson we will talk about him anarchism in Spain so you can better understand the story.

We have to place our starting point from the general elections of February 1936. At that moment, as we know, the Spanish left emerged victorious, which joined the well-known Popular Front.

It is during this time that the most hostile first moves on the part of the CNT since, months before, they had once again put on the political table their intention to bring communism to Spain to end the established bourgeois system. This will be a time of many and diverse agricultural and industrial strikes... whose purpose was to destabilize the Spanish economy and society of the moment.

The CNT in those first moments extended his hand to the UGT (of socialist mentality) to join in the fight to end the political-social regime that reigned in the nation, but they refused because it would have implied that the Popular Front crashed even before to take off.

In this other lesson we will discover a summary of the anarchism in the Spanish Civil War.

The history of the CNT-AIT in the Civil War It is surprising, especially in the northeast of Spain, because after the events of July 17, quickly the CNT mobilized to carry out a series of actions in different parts of the country how was one general strike revolutionary on July 18 in Madrid.

But without a doubt, what is best known about the CNT in the Civil War was for the fight that they maintained against the rebellious military on July 19, 1936 in the streets of Barcelona, ​​where they managed to end the militaristic desire to seize power. We also know that in Madrid and Valencia, CNT assault groups were attacking the barracks military and civil guard, together with the police to get all possible weapons and thus create a kind of militia to fight against the military, and why not, already trying to take the communist struggle to another step.

But not everything will be good deeds because both in Catalonia and in Valencia, little by little they were losing strength, since, from the first moment, it was decided to create a series of anarchic committees among themselves and, although they were helping the Republican side, they were soon losing ground to an enemy who was united and had a purpose common.

In the same way, it was tried make a series of associations, where the land was collective, snatching the land of the people who had fled and, on the other hand, the cessions of people that made up the movement. On the other hand, the people who did not want to adhere to them were forced not to hire third parties to work the land, but had to do it with the help of his family and if the lands were not cultivated, they would be taken away and annexed to the commonwealth. Among the best known we will find the communities of Alcorisa, Alcañiz, Calanda, Fraga or Valderrobes.

Likewise, they also created a series of Libertarian Militant School, which was where the defense corps were formed. Throughout the war these were destroyed by Franco's troops; Similarly, old people's homes were rehabilitated and many other homes were expropriated, for the use of CNT personnel.

Behind the end of civil war, the history of the CNT would not end, although it was outlawed, would continue to carry out activities clandestinely. In fact, it was not until 1948 that the activities of the maquis, CNT militiamen that in the form of guerrillas they tried to sabotage the imposed regime.

Thus all the infrastructures that had been taken during the beginning of the war were of again taken from this organization to be distributed again among some members of the population. In the same way, we will find a series of persecutions against the strongest activists, even going so far as to create some committees that were judging each person who had belonged to these organizations, leaving a very rich file of it.