Catalonia (Rep)

• The Spanish revolution was most radical in Catalonia during the early part of the war. In Barcelona, Catalonia’s main city, working people (many who were part of the anarchist CNT) had risen up against the government. In its place, they created a political, economic and social revolution. 
• Politically, the revolution stripped Barcelona’s official government from power, offering to pass control of the region to the CNT. However, the CNT remained true to its anarchist principles and refused to form a government. The CNT wanted the people to take control and create a new society. The CNT trade unions quickly took over the running of the city. 
• Around 70% of Barcelona’s industry, around 2000 businesses, were collectivised. In each business, workers set up democratically elected management committees. These committees organised the factory, setting wage rates and improving working conditions. The former owners were either executed or allowed to stay under the direction of workers. 
• Worker’s committees were successful at transforming what they did to meet the needs of the war economy. For example, a factory which had produced lipstick was reorganised to produce bullets. 
• As well as factories, public services, transport and industrial production were collectivised. CNT unions quickly restarted Barcelona’s transport infrastructure, getting buses and trams moving and turning private cars into community taxis.  
• The CNT organised food distribution. CNT lorries travelled to Aragon and bartered manufactured goods for meat/vegetables. Workers in Barcelona could buy this food using vouchers they had earnt from working (1hr of work = 1 voucher). The CNT even collectivised the Ritz for workers and soldiers to eat at. 
• Symbols of the old way were attacked. Churches were burnt (1 out of 58 churches in Barcelona survived the war) or turned into hospitals, statues of Jesus were pulled down and prisons were opened, releasing inmates.  
• Suits and ties, associated with the old rulers, disappeared and people dressed in blue overalls, the clothes of factory workers. People also no longer used words like ‘senor’, which implied one person was more important than another. Instead, they called each other ‘comrade’.