Anarchist Collectives

The Anarchist Collectives reveals a very different understanding of the nature of radical social change and the means of achieving it.

Sam Dolgoff, editor of the best anthology of Bakunin’s writings, has now produced an excellent documentary history of the Anarchist collective in Spain. Although there is a vast literature on the Spanish Civil War, this is the first book in English that is devoted to the experiments in workers’ self-management, both urban and rural, which constituted one of the most remarkable social revolutions in modern history. - Paul Avrich

The eyewitness reports and commentary presented in this highly important study reveal a different understanding of the nature of socialism and the means for achieving it. - Noam Chomsky

Table of Contents

Introduction, by Murray Bookchin

Part One: Background

1. The Spanish Revolution
The Two Revolutions
The Trend Towards Workers’ Self-Management

2. The Libertarian Tradition
The Rural Collectivist Tradition
The Anarchist Influence
The Political and Economic Organization of Society

3. Historical Notes
The Prologue to Revolution
The Counter-Revolution and the Destruction of the Collectives

4. The Limitations of the Revolution

Part Two: The Social Revolution

5. The Economics of Revolution

Economic Structure and Coordination
A Note on the Difficult Problems of Reconstruction
Money and Exchange

6. Workers’ Self-Management in Industry

7. Urban Collectivization
Collectivization in Catalonia
The Collectivization of the Metal and Munitions Industry
The Collectivization of the Optical Industry
The Socialization of Health Services
Industrial Collectivization in Alcoy
Control of Industries in the North

8. The Revolution of the Land

9. The Coordination of Collectives
The Peasant Federation of Levant
The Aragon Federation of Collectives: The First Congress

10. The Rural Collectives
A Journey Through Aragon
The Collectivization in Graus
Libertarian Communism in Alcora
The Collective in Binefar
Miralcampo and Azuqueca
Collectivization in Carcagente
Collectivization in Magdalena de Pulpis
The Collective in Mas de Las Matas

11. An Evaluation of the Anarchist Collectives
The Characteristics of the Libertarian Collectives

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Appendix
Photographs and Posters