Ackelsberg - Free Women of Spain

Free Women of Spain
Anarchism and th Struggle for the

Emancipation of Women

NBlOB P. CCl

AK PRESS
Oakland I West Virginia I Edinburgh
Ackelsberg. Martha A.
Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women
Lihrary of Congress Control Numher 2003113040
ISBN 1-902593-96-0
Published hy AK Press.
Reprinted hy Pcrmi"inn of the Indiana University Press
Copyright 1991 and 2005 by Martha A. Ackelsherg
All rights reserved
Printed in Canada
AK Press
674-A 23rd Street
Oakland, CA 94612-1163
USA
(510) 208-1700
www.akpress.org
akpress@akpress.org
AK Press U.K.
PO Box 12766
Edinburgh. EH8 9YE
Scotland
(0131) 555-5165
www.akuk.com
ak@akedin.demon.co.uk
The addresses above would be delighted to provide you with the latest complete AK catalog, featur
ing several thousand books, pamphlets, zines, audio products, videos. and stylish apparel published
and distributed bv AK Press. AJrrIi! Uil1t rllr : !.: !. .:;c:. .,..'_, .i IItW
and updates, events and secure ordering.
Cover design and layout by Nicole Pajor
A |cs ccmjce|CsceM ue|es L|c|es, ensc||cc||ccc
Lc|uchcccn!|nc
Puio el alto mujeres de Iberia
hacia horizontes prados de luz
por rutas ardientes,
los pies en fa tierr
La frente en La azul.
Atrmondo prmesas de vida
desafiamos La tradicion
modelemos la arcilla caliente
de un mundo que nace del doLor
jQue el pasado se hunda en fa nad!
jQue nos importa del ayer!
Qilermos escrihir de nuevo
fa palahr MUlER.
Puna en alto mujeres del mundo
Jwcia horizontes preiados de [Ul,
por rutas ardientes
adefante, adelante
de car a La luz.
Muj eres Libres' Anthem
Lucia Sanchez Saomil
Valencia 1 937
Fsts uprised, women of Iheria
toward horizons pregnant with light
on paths afre
feet on the grund
face to the blue sk
Afming the prmise of life
we d trdition
we moLd the war clay
of a new world bom of pain.
Lt the past vanish into nothingness!
What do we care for yesterday!
We want to write anew
the word WOMAN
Fists uprised, women of the world
toward horizons pregnant with light
on paths afre
onward, onward
toward the light.
LO|\C|\S
Acknowledgements ................................. .7
Abbreviations ...................................... 11
Preface to the AK Press Edition ........................ 1 5
Introduction ....................................... 2 1
Anarchist Revolution and the Liberation of Women ........ 37
Community Mobilization and Union Organization
Women and the Spanish Anarchist Movement ........ 6 1
Civil War and Social Revolution ........................ 89
The Founding of Mujeres Libres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5
Education for Empowerment
Preparation as Revolution ........................ 147
Separate and Equal?
Dilemmas of Revolutionary Mobilization ............. 1 77
Conclusion
Community and the Empowerment of Women . . . . . . . 199
Interview with Geert Dhondt ......................... 22 1
Appendices ...................................... 23 0
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Glossary .......................................... 279
Index ............................................ 2 81
Illustrations begin on page 139
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many individuals and groups contributed to the creation of this book.
Chief among them, of course, are the men and women of the Spanish anar
chist and anarcho-syndicali st movements and especially the women of
Muj eres Libres, who gave generously of their time and energy, told me
their stories, and otherwise took me into their lives. It is impossible to fnd
words to thank them; if the courage and integrity they shared with me fnds
even a faint echo in this volume, I hope it begins in some measure to repay
my debt. Jacinto Borras, Felix Carrasquer, Josep Costa Font, Gaston Leval,
Arturo Parera, Jose Peirats, and Eduardo Pons Prades shared their person
al knowledge of anarchist collectives and helped me make some of my ini
tial contacts with members of Muj eres Libres. Matilde Escuder, Lola
Iturbe, Igualdad Ocana, Concha Perez, and Cristina Piera in Barcelona,
Federica Montseny in Toulouse, and Amada de No and Teresina Torrelles
in Beziers, each spent hours discussing with me their experiences in the
years precedi ng, during, and following the civil war and social revolution.
Finally, Pura Perez Arcos, Azucena Ferandez Barba, Pepita Carpena,
Mercedes Comaposada, Anna Delso, Soledad Estorach, Sara Berenguer
Guillen, Suceso Porales, Dolores Prat, and Enriqueta Fernandez Rovira
opened their homes to me-often not at terribly convenient moments-and
inspired me with their stories and their courage.
Others in Spain also provided crucial support and resources. Mary
Nash shared her extensive knowledge of women in Spanish working-class
movements. Mary' s work on Mujeres Libres opened the feld of women' s
history in Spain; she has been an important and generous colleague and
friend. Through her, I met Ana Cases and Bernard CatHa, who took me into
their home in Lerida and made possible my exploration of the Lerida col
lective, Adelante. Verena Stokke, Juan Martinez-Alier, and their daugh
ters, Nuria and Isabel, welcomed me into their family, provided a pl ace for
me to stay during the many months I conducted my research in Barcelona,
and have become valued friends and colleagues. Rafael Puj ol , Albert
7
8 Martha A. Ackelsberg
Perez-Bar6, Nazario Gonzal ez, Enric Fusteri Bonet, Ram6n Sol , and
Mercedes Vi l anova shared their research and provided i mportant introduc
tions and resources at one stage or another of this research.
My debts are al so great to those on this side of the Atlantic. Jose Nieto,
Cl are Lida, Temma Kaplan, Edward Malefakis, and Suzanne Berger were
particul arly helpful at the initial stages . It was an early articl e of Temma' s
that frst alerted me to the exi stence or Muj ercs Libres; I am grateful for
her comments and criticisms over the years on vari ous aspects of thi s man
uscript. J feel parti cularly fortunate to have had the opportunity to know the
l ate Ahrne Thorne. His own commitments and energy were matched onl y
by his extensive network of friends and associates, into whi ch he wel
comed me. Through him, I came to know Anna Del so, Pura and Federico
Arcos, and Paul Avrich. Federi co maintains an extraordinary private col
lection of material rel ated to the Spani sh anarchi st and anarcho-syndicalist
movements. He and Pura both willingl y and enthusiastical l y opened their
col l ection and their home to me, and they have taken a personal i nterest i n
the completi on of thi s project. Their careful readi ng of the manuscript,
their comments, and Pura' s efforts at "transl ation"-both of my words into
Castilian and of Mujeres Libres' activities and commitments into contem
porary terms-have been invaluabl e. Li sa Berger and Carol Mazer helped
me to contact Dolores Prat and Concha Perez.
I am also deeply indebted to archivists i n l ibraries and archival collec
tions on both sides of the Atl antic who made the process of digging up
material s on Mujeres Libres and on Spanish anarchism a very pleasurable
one. I would like to acknowledge, in parti cular, the assi stance of those in
the Reference and Interlibrary Loan departments of the Smith rollpge
Library, the Industrial Rel ations section of Firestone Library, Princeton
University, the Rare Books and Manuscripts division of the New York
Public Library, the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan, the
Hoover Institution Library at Stanford University, the Bibliotheque de
Documentation Internati onale Contemporai ne, Universite de Pari s,
Nanterre, the Institut d'
E
tudes Politiques, Pari s, the Casa del Arcediano,
Instituto de Historia de la Ciudad (Barcelona) , Fundaci6n Figueras
(Barcelona), Biblioteca Arts (Barcel ona) , Biblioteca de Catalunya
(Barcelona) , Ateneu Enciclopedic Popular/Centro de Documentaci6n
Hi st6ri co Social (Barcelona) , Mi ni sterio de Hacienda (Lerida) ,
Hemeroteca Municipal (Madrid), the Archivo Hist6rico Nacional/Secci6n
Guere Civil- Sal amanca, and International Institute for Social History
(Amsterdam) . During most of the time I was doing my research, the
archives in Salamanca, which are a mine of informati on on the period of
7
the Civil War, were under the control of the Spanish military. The change
of government in Spain in recent years has improved working conditions
and the condition of the archives-dramatically. But I remain indebted to
Paco and Miguel of the "ol d regime," who, despite our obvious differences,
were unfagging in their willingness to search for fles, pamphlets, and
newspapers and to arrange for photocopying. Conditions of work at the
Interational Institute were far superior. I spent a number of months there
very early in my research on Spanish anarchism, and I returned years later
when the CNT and FAl archives were opened to the public. I am partiC
larly grateful to Rudolf de Jong, formerly director of the Spanish section,
for his continued advice and support, and to Thea Duij ker, Mieke lj zer
mans, and Mr. G. M. Langedijk for facilitating my research.
A number of groups and organizations have offered moral or fnancial
support at various stages of this undertaking. I began this research as a
member of the Project on Women and Social Change at Smith College, an
interdisciplinary faculty research group funded by the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation. Proj ect funds and a fellowship from the American Association
of University Women enabled me to spend a semester in Spain at the ini
tial stages and, together with faculty development funds from Smith
College, to make additional trips to Spain, France, and Canada. Ongoing
discussions and seminars with Project colleagues-especially Susan C.
Bourque, Donna Robinson Divine, Sue J. M. Freeman, Miriam Slater, and
Penny Gill-were crucial in my thinking through the direction of the
research, particularly at the early stages. Student research assistants Anne
Balazs, Robin Stolk, Barat Enman, and Susan Jessop helped to organize
the material I had collected and to review existing l iterature on women and
social revolutionary movements. The assistance of Reyes Lazaro, in tran
scribing tapes, translating some of my papers, and in faci litating access to
people in Spain, has been invaluable.
I began writing this book while a fellow at the Bunting Institute of
Radclife College, one of the most supportive and exciting intell ectual
environments I have ever experienced. Seminars, colloquia, and informal
discussions with fellows provided incentive and inspiration. I am particu
larly indebted to members of the "mother-daughter group," especially Ann
Bookman, Caroline Bynum, Hope Davis, Bettina Friedl, Gillian Hart,
Deborah McDowell, Janice Randall, Blair Tate, and Gretchen Wheelock.
Friendships with Katie Canon and Karen Brown, which also began that
year, have been another essential part of the writing process .
1 0 Martha A. Ackel sberg
Duri ng the 1 987-1 988 academi c year, while on sabbatical from Smith
College, I was a fel l ow at the i nstitute for Research on Women and Gender
at Col umbi a University and a member of the Women' s Studies Theory
Group at Hunter Coll ege. Each of those afl i ations provided opportunities
to develop and discuss my research i n progress. In addi tion, col l eagues at
the Center for European Studi es, Harvard Universi ty have i nvited me to
parti ci patc i n col l oqui a and semi nars over the years and have provided
opportunities for val uable exchange of ideas.
Fi nal l y, no academi c work-especi al l y one thi s long in the making
arises ful l y developed from the head of one person. Members of the
Government Department at Smith Col l age bore with me through the many
ycars of thi s project ' s gestati on. I am deeply grateful for thei r support.
Students i n my femi ni st theory and urban pol iti cs courses and semi nars at
Smi th contributed to the development of my i deas about community and
provided i mporant chal lenges to the thi nking that has gone into thi s book.
Members of the Smi th Women' s Studies Program Committee and of the
Five Col lege Women' s Studies Committee-especi al l y Jean Grossholtz,
Mari l yn Schuster, Vicky Spel man, and Susan Van Dyne-have been both
col l eagues and friends and have hel ped me to keep my study of Mujeres
Libres in its l arger context. Marina Kapl an reviewed some of my transla
ti ons. Kathy Addelson, Paul Avrich, Susan Bourque, Irene Diamond,
Donna Di vi ne, George Esenwein, Kathy Ferguson, Phi l ip Green, Barbara
Johnson, Juan Martinez-Ali er, Vicky Spelman, Verena Stolcke, Wil l
Watson, Iri s Young, and Ni ra Yval-Davi s all have read parts of thi s man
uscript and offered helpful comments. Myra Breitbart, Pura and Federico
Arcos, Jane Slaughter, and Judith Pl askow read the entire manuscript
Their comments and criticisms have been i nvaluable. Finally, Judith
Pl askow helped me to maintain both a sense of humor and a sense of pro
portion.
Alex Goldenberg gave up a corer of hi s living room and took me i nto
hi s l i fe during the years I was writi ng thi s book; I am grateful for both
gifs.
Free Women of 1 1
/BBREVl/lCNS
AIT - Asociaci6n Interacional de Trabaj odores (Interational Workingmen' s
Association), Anarchist Interational
AJA - Asociaci6n de l6venes Antifascistas (Antifascist Youth Association), spon-
sored by the Communist Party
AMA -Asociaci6n de Mujeres Antifascistas (Antifascist Women' s Association)
BOC -Bloc Obrer i Camperol (Workers' and Peasants' Bloc)
CENU -Consell de l ' Escola Nova Unifcada (New Unifed Educational Council)
CNT - Confederaci6n Nacional del Trabaj o (National Confederation of Labor),
anarcho-syndicalist trade union federation
FAI -Federaci6n Anaquista Iberica (Iberian Anarchist Federation)
FIJL - Federaci6n Iberica de Iuventudes Libertarias (Iberian Federation of
Libertarian Youth), anarchist youth organization
JJLL - luventudes Libertarias (Libertarian Youth), another name for FIJL
PCE -Partido Comunista de Espana (Spanish Communist Party)
POUM -Partido Obrero de Unifcaci6n Marxista (Workers ' Party of Marxist Unity),
Trotskyist
PSOE -Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (Spanish Socialist Workers ' Party)
PSUC -Partido Socialista Unifcado de Cataluna (Catalan Unifed Socialist Party)
SIA - Solidaridad Interacional Antifascista (Interational Antifasci st Solidarity),
anarchi st -affliated interational relief organization
UGT -Union General de Trabaj adores (General Workers' Union), Sociali st-affliat
ed trade union federation
AHN/SGC-S -Archivo Hist6rico Nacional, Secci6n Guerra Civil, Sal amanca
AMB -Archivo Muncipal , Barcelona
AMHL -Archivo, Ministerio de Hacienda, Lerida
IISG/CNT - Interationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam,
Archivo CNT
IISGIG - Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam, Emma
Goldman Archive
IISGIFAI -Interationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam, Archivo
FI-CP
NYPL-EG - New York Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division,
Emma Goldman Papers
NYPL-RP -New York Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Rose
Pesotta Papers
FREE
WOMEN
OF
SPAIN
PREFACE TO THE AK PRESS EDITION
Revised April 11, 2004
I write this preface with a profound sense of irony. On the one hand,
this is hardly a propitious moment for progressive forces in the worl d:
Capitalist globalization i s proceeding apace, and neither individual s ,
groups, nor states seem capable of stopping either the cultural homoge
nization or the concentration of economic power that is occurring around
the world. The U. S. has pursued its military adventures in Afghanistan and
Iraq, despite the millions who took to the streets in protest against them.
And neither increasing economic interdependence nor militay might seem
to have reduced the threats of violence or terrorist attacks, in the U. S. or
elsewhere. Why publish a book about an efort to create a non-hierarchi
cal , egalitarian, society at a time when the world seems farther than ever
from realizing such possibilities?
And, yet, there are also hopeful signs: thousands have rallied in protest
against unfettered capitalist globalization at meetings of the WTO, IMF,
and World Bank-whether in Seattle, Quebec City, Geneva, Washington,
D. C. , or Doha. Millions of people took to the streets in February/March
2003 and, then, again in March 2004, to protest U. S. military action in
Iraq. Perhaps there are lessons we can learn from those who al so con
fronted seemingly overwhelming odds, and managed to carve out free
spaces, for however limited a period of time.
I had a number of puroses in mind when I originally wrote Free
Women of Spain. First, I wanted to reclaim and recover the history of a
remarkable group of women, and the movement of which they were a part.
In addition, I hoped to make available the experiences and l essons of
Muj eres Libres for contemporary U. S. activists, most especially feminist
activists . While there were strong anarchist curents in the U. S. i n the early
part of the 20th century, much of that history was-and remains-largel y
unknown, even to activists. More specifcally, I had long believed that,
15
whi l e many 1 970s femi ni st groups were tryi ng to modify or adapt social
i st theory to accommodate femi ni st i nsights and perspectives. anarchi sm,
wi th i t s opposition t o all forms of hi erarchy, ofered a potentially more
frui tful and productive resource. Thus, one of my purposes in writi ng the
book was to offer to U. S. femi ni st audiences an understanding of anar
chi st/l i bertarian theory and practi ce, and to make cl ear its potential rele
vance to contemporary struggles.
It is true that, even by 1 99 1 , the cultural context in the U. S. was very
di fferent from what it had been in the 1 970s: the mai nstream of poli ti cs had
shi fted consi derably toward the right; the notion that governments exi st, at
least in part, to assure the wel fare of thei r citizens, was already under seri
ous threat. Nevertheless, it seemed important, and valuable, to tell the story
of a generation of acti vists who sei zed the opporuni ties that confronted
them, even in the midst of a ci vi l war, to try to create a more just society
in which women would be ful l and equal partners.i
The si tuation of the U. S. in the late 20th century, of course, was qui te
difrent from that of Spain i n the earl y years of that century. As I di scuss
in Chapter 2, earl y 20th century Spain was a relatively newly-industri al i z
i ng country, characteri zed by what is now termed "uneven development."
Many regi ons of the country depended on an agri cultural base that was
barely moderni zed; level s of i l l iteracy were high; struggles over unioni za
tion were ofen ferce; and politics-especi ally at the national level-had
been characteri zed by authoritariani sm for as l ong as anyone could remem
ber. Furthermore, political l i fe was sharpl y polari zed; l efi st organi zations
were powerful in some areas (particularly Catalonia, Valencia, and
Madrid), and quite weak in others. More signi fcant for our story. thf lih
ertarian movement had a powerful cultural and pol i ti cal presence.

Consequently, as I indicate i n Chapters 2 and 4, those who establ i shed, and
became active in, Mujeres Libres were not acting i n a vacuum: they were
frmly rooted in a l ibertarian movement and in a highly-politici zed l arger
social context.
U. S. society both was and is very different. First, as any number of
observers have commented, in compari son wi th many European countries,
the U. S. l acks a signifcant social i st, let alone anarchi st/libertarian her
itage. To be sure, there have been socialist, as wel l as anarchist, organiza
tions in the U. S. , particularly i n the early part of the Twentieth Centur.
And anarchists had a signifcant i mpact on the U. S. labor movement (the
Industrial Workers of the World, which was especially active in mining
communities i n the West and i n textile mills in the northeast, was an anar
cho-syndicalist inspired movement) , on the anti-war and free speech
Free Women of Spai n 17
movements during World War 1, and on early feminism (Emma Goldman,
for example, was actively i nvolved in both anti-war and feminist activities
during this period) . But anarchist organizations and activists were also
prime targets of govermental repression during the Red Scare: many
including Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman-were deported or
forced into exile and much of the memory of their activities has been dis
torted or lost. As a consequence, contemporary U. S. feminists have fewer
ties to, or roots in, lef-wing political movements than i s the case for many
feminists in Europe. Further, even when-in the 1 970s and 1 980s-some
U. S. femini sts attempted to reclaim or explore the relevance of other politi
cal and social movements to feminism, those efforts tended to focus on
maxist sociali sm, rather than on the more anarchist (or what in Spai n were
termed "libertarian") strands. Thus, the book assumes that most U. S. read
ers will not be especially familiar with anarchist traditions-whether in
Spain or in the North American context.
A second maj or difference between U. S. and Spanish society has to do
with the multiculturalism of the U. S. While Spaniards have confronted
i ssues of regionali sm for generations, political diferences have not tended
to be articulated i n terms of ethnic diversity. The U. S. population, howev
er, has always been multi -ethnic and multi-racial . Although U. S. self
understanding as a "melting pot" has ofen obscured our difculties i n
truly integrating our differences, in recent decades, at least, questions of
diversity and multiculturalism have been at the forefront of many debates
and discussions, both academic and political . These debates and di scus
sions form the conversational backdrop to this book.
The book was translated and reissued (with a few additions and modi
fcations that are included in this edition) in Spain in 1 999; its publication
afforded me the opportunity to visit a number of Spanish cities to talk
about Muj eres Libres, contemporary Spanish history, and the similarities
and ditrences between the histories and culture of the U. S. and Spain.
What struck me then is the degree to which our radically diferent hi stories
seemed to be converging. Many participants in the panels, roundtables, and
book presentations i n which I took part indicated that the situation in Spai n
in the late 1 990s was markedly difrent than i t had been i n the 1 930s:
there was little memory of the sharp political divisions of those years; labor
movement organizations were much weaker than they had been (due, in no
small part, to the complexities of the global marketplace) ; soci al move
ments were weak and fragmented; and those on the Left suffered from a
sense of disconnection from a larger progressive movement and demoral
ization that closely parallels the experience of the Left in the U. S.
18 Martha A. Ackel sberg
There i s another sense, as wel l , in which our di fferent hi stori es are
replayi ng themselves in new forms: anarchi sm seems t o be reappeari ng i n
the U. S. and el sewhere, most especi al l y i n the context of anti -global i zati on
protests . Groups of people who identi fed themselves as anarchists were
active in anti -WTO or anti-FTA protests in Seattle, Geneva, Cancun,
Mi ami and el sewhere. More generally, anarchist- i nspi red groups continue
to form in a varicty of places around the cuuntry. Anarchi st book-fairs and
gatheri ngs have taken place recently in Montreal , PQ. , San Franci sco, CA,
Athens, OH, and Plai nfeld, VT, to name j ust a few. And anarchi st publ i
cati ons such as Fifth Estate, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, Social
Anarchism and others conti nue to offer i mportant commentary on and cri
tique of contemporary pol i ti cs and cul ture.
But what are we to make of these phenomena? My own sense i s that
far too many of the self-i dentifed anarchist groups that have been garner
i ng so much medi a attenti on are focused on destroyi ng property and
opposi ng order, wi thout any clear positive, reconstructive, program i n
mi nd. Many of these groups are more remi ni scent of 1 9th century Russi an
ni hi l i sts than they are of the collecti vi st or communi st anarchi sm that
played so large a role i n the Spani sh revoluti on. As Rebecca DeWitt noted
a few years ago, in a report on (anarchi st) activity at the Seattle WTO
protests, "... 1 am lef with the i mpressi on of the anarchi st acti vi ty as ei ther
an empty moral i sm, a practice devoi d of theory, and as unwi tti ngly gi vi ng
energy to reformist poli ti cs. Anarchists need to move beyond these traps to
formul ate a theory of anarchi sm that wi l1 sustain a political movement."
ii
Ci ndy Mi lstein argued along si mil ar lines "It is time to push beyond the
oppositional character of our movement bv i nfusi ng i t wi th a recon<truc
tive vision. That means beginni ng, right now, to translate our movement
structure into i nstitutions that embody the good society; in short, cultivat
ing direct democracy i n the places we call home . . . . "
iii
It i s i mportant to remember, of course, that the mainstream media tend
to over-report incidents of property destruction, and to i gnore or under
report the more grassroots, day-to-day, anarchi st-inspired organizing
aound toxi c dumping, environmental qual ity, feeding the hungry, advo
cating for low-cost housi ng, etc. that is takng pl ace i n communities around
the country. Such positive, reconstructive, direct-action activities tend to be
chronicled-if at all-only in smaller-scale newsletters, community bul
l etins, and the like. As a consequence, some of the most important, trul y
social-revolutionary, work that is occurring i n the country i s virtuall y
unknown to any but those who are most directly involved in it
i
v
In 2004, the situation in the U. S. and beyond seems even more demor-
Fr Women of Spqi n 1 9
ali zing than it did fve years ago. Thi s rei ssuing of the book afords us an
opportunity to think about what we can learn from the struggles of those
who acted in a time that was at least as fraught as ours: when the world was
on the brink of World War II, and Spain was in the midst of a brutal civil
war. The women of Muj eres Libres drew on the power of the l arger anar
chist movement (and social revolution) of which they were a pat to envi
sion a better society for all, in which the participation, and liberation, of
women was a crucial element. They knew that simple opposition to what
exists is not a basis for truly efective revolutionary action: rather, it was
necessary to try, in whatever small ways were possible, to construct a new
world even in the midst of the old. It is my hope that, at thi s historical
moment, when many progressives are struggling against feelings of
despair, the achievements of Muj eres Libres may provide some sparks of
hope, and perhaps even new directions, for ours.
* * *
In addition to the acknowledgments to be found in the original versi on,
a number of people contributed specifcally to the re-edition of this book.
As ever, I am grateful to Federico Arcos for his support over the years and
for his efforts to keep this work on the "radar screen," both in Spain and in
North America. Geert Dhondt at University of Massachusetts, the collec
tive at Food for Thought Books in Amherst, MA, Spencer Sunshine of
CUNY, Chuck Morse of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and Sandy
Feldheim of Montreal have-through their invitations to speak and their
continuing interest in my work-helped me to remember that there is a
continuing audience for these ideas. I wish also to thank Ramsey Kanaan,
Lisa Sousa, and the rest of the AK Press collective, for pursuing this with
Indiana University Press and acquiring the rights to the book so that it can
be kept in print. Judith Plaskow, my partner in life and struggle, has been
with me through all the permutations of this book; a terrifc editor, her
combination of wit, support, and challenge sustains me in ways I cannot
even begin to describe.
I would also like to acknowledge, here, the eforts of those who
arranged for the publication of the book in Spain. Anna Delso and Federico
Arcos each made contacts with Manuel Carlos Garcia at Fundaci6n
Anselmo Lorenzo in Madrid, contacts which ultimatel y led to the Spanish
edition of this book. Manuel Carlos, himself, was both an enthusiastic
reader and a gracious supporter of the project. Verena Stolcke, a dear friend
and challenging colleague since before I realized I was engaged in this
project, devoted considerable energies to bringing thi s book to light in
Spain. It i s no coincidence, I am sure, that it was she who actually made
20 Martha A. Ackeisberg
the connection between Patrie de San Pedro (and Virus Editorial) and me.
For thi s , as for so many other thi ngs, I am deepl y grateful . Kari n Moyano
spent many hours searching through my l ibrary, notes, and photocopies to
fnd the original -l anguage version of the quotati ons in the book. And
Antonia Rufz was all that an author coul d hope for in a transl ator: both
careful and enthusiastic. I am grateful to them all .
Finall y, I cannot end thi s brief note withoul an acknowl edgment that
far too many of those whose words appear on these pages have died in the
years since I frst met them. As time passes, the numbers only conti nue to
grow. I am parti cul arly aware that Pura Perez Benavent Arcos, Soledad
Estorach, Suceso Portal es, and Azucena Barba al l died before they could
read the book in their own l anguage. Each took me into her life and into
her confdence, shared memories, and hel ped to transl ate the events of her
time i nto words and images I could understand. I am deeply grateful for
thei r gifs . I dedicate this volume to their memories.
* * *
i
The poiilicallontext is still different in 2004; hut, other than in writing this prefacc. I have decided not to try to re
write or ()Ihcrwic up-dale the hook to address it.
ii
Rebecca DeWitt. "An Anarchist Response to Seattle: What Shall We Do With Anarchism? Perspectives Oil Anarchist
Theo". Vol. 4. no. I (Spring 20(0). p. 2.
iii
Cindy Milstein. "Reclaim the Cities: From Protest to Popular Power," Perspectives on Anarchist Theory. Vol. 4. no. 2
(Fall 2000), p. 4.
iv
I am grateful to Lisa Sousa for reminding me of this point.
INTRODUCTION
In 1 936, groups of women in Madrid and Barcelona founded Muj eres
Libres, an organization dedicated to the liberation of women from their
"triple enslavement to ignorance, as women, and as producers ." Although
it lasted for less than three years (its activities in Spain were brought to an
abrupt halt by the victory of Franco' s forces in February 1 939) , Muj eres
Libres mobilized over 20, 000 women and developed an extensive network
of activities designed to empower individual women while building a sense
of community. Like the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist movement i n which
these women were rooted, Mujeres Libres insisted that the full develop
ment of women' s individuality was dependent upon the development of a
strong sense of connection with others. In thi s respect, as in a number of
others , Muj eres Libres represents an alternative to the indivi dualistic per
spectives characterizing mainstream feminist movements of that time and
of our own.
The story of my discovery of these women and their activities spans
many years and many miles, expl orations in archives as well as con
versations with former activists. But my coming to understand the signif
cance of their visions and achievements i s inseparably intertwined with our
mutual and ongoing struggles to communicate across differences of cul
ture, age, class, and political context. As many of these women took me
into their homes and shared their stories, I tried to hear them on their own
terms and to attend to both the similarities and the differences between us.
As I have wrestled with the i ssues of identity, difference, community, and
empowerment that have alternately energized and demoralized the civil
rights, peace, and feminist movements in this country, I have come to
appreciate ever more deeply the perspective Muj eres Libres has to offer
contemporary feminists and social activi sts. This volume derives, in part,
from my desire to make its history more generally available.
21
In the first part of this chapter T i ntroduce some of the women who wi l l
be the subjects of the l arger story to fol l ow. In the second secti on, I l ay out
the themes and concerns that frame the vol ume theoreti cally.
The first woman I met from Mujeres Libres was Suceso Portal es, who
was spendi ng the summer of 1 979 in the smal l vi l l age of M6stol es, outside
of Madri d. My routc to her was to be typical i n its ci rcuitousness. Whi l e
engagi ng i n research on the processes of rural and urban col l ectivi zation i n
Spai n duri ng the Ci vi l War, I met a number of young anarchi sts in Madrid
and Barcel ona. Among these were young women in newly consti tuted
groups taki ng the name Mujeres Libres. In both Madrid and Barcelona, the
young women wi th whom I spoke told me that they had made several
attempts to meet with the viejas (the older ones) who had been i nvol ved
wi th the ori gi nal Mujeres Libres. Apparently, those meeti ngs which did
take pl ace had ofen been characteri zed by arguments and mi sunderstand
i ngs. When T fnal ly found someone who could give me the name and
address of a vi eja, Suceso Portal es, the i nformati on was accompanied by a
warni ng: "You won' t l i ke her," my i nformant confded, "she i s a reac
ti onary and has very strange ideas.'"
Despite thi s warni ng, Suceso, l i ke virtual l y everyone from Mujeres
Li bres I met, captivated me i mmediately. She was a very ani mated, active
woman in her mi d-si xties with gray-bl ack hair. Her granddaughter, then
aged el even, was in and out of the small room in whi ch we met, occasi on
ally l i stening to our conversation and asking questi ons of her own-ques
ti ons which Suceso always took the time to answer wi th patience, respect,
and care. We talked for hours about her experiences in the CNT and FUT _.2
her sense of the need for an i ndependent and autonomous women' s organ
i zation working within the ideological and pol i tical framework of the lib
ertarian movement,' her evaluation of Muj eres Libres' accomplishments
and disappoi ntments, and contemporary feminism.
Suceso had affliated with Muj eres Libres in central Spain in 1 936, and
served as national vice-secretary of the organization. She discussed
Muj eres Libres' orientation to working-class women, the emphasi s on edu
cation and empowerment, and the organizati on' s rel ati ons with the l arger
anarcho- syndicali st movement. But I was most fascinated, intri gued, and
perplexed by her attitudes toward feminists and feminism-attitudes which
were, in many ways, the miror i mage of those which the j6venes (the
young ones) had of Mujeres Libres: "We are not-and we were not then
femini sts," she insisted. "We were not fghti ng against men. We did not
2
want to substitute a feminist hierarchy for a masculine one. It ' s necessary
to work, to struggle, tcgetberbecause if we don' t, we' ll never have a social
revolution. But we needed our own organization to struggle for ourselves ."
I was surprised by her assumption tha "feminis m" meant opposition
to men or the desire to replace male hierarchy with female hierarchy. A
product of the early feminist movement in the United States, I had always
assumed that femini sm meant opposition to hierarchies of any sort.
Neverthel ess, I was beginning to see the source of some of the tensions and
misunderstandings between the young women in Madrid who did defne
themselves as feminists and this vieja, for whom feminism was anathema.
As I was to discover, these differences in perceptions of what feminism
means were hardly unique to Suceso. Through the three years of Muj eres
Libres' formal existence, and to thi s day, its members committed them
selves to the emancipation of women without defning themselves as "fem
inists."
Much of my fascination with Muj eres Libres aose from my desire to
understand thi s distinction and its signifcance. What did it mean that these
women were unwilling to identify themselves as feminists? I soon came to
suspect that, although the political contexts of Spain in the 1930s and the
United States in the 1980s difer markedly, there might be some similarity
between Muj eres Libres' refusal to identify as feminist and the hesitation
of many working-class women and women of color in this country to adopt
the feminist label. Might there be a lesson here for contemporary feminists,
struggling against the claim that feminism is a white, middle-class move
ment?
But there was more to my fascinati on. Suceso bemoaned the nar
rowness of vision of contemporary feminists, the l ack of a larger organi
zational and ideological framework of orientation: "They are lacking in a
}crmacion /ihertaria [a phrase often used in anarchi sUlibertarian circles to
refer to background or ideological context]. We had a much broader
vision." In her view, the j 6venes did not understand what direct action or
any of the other basic principles of libertarian organization meant. They
appeared fearful of organizing anything, lest it create new hierarchies, "but
that way, you can' t accomplish anything."4 Further, they focused too much
attention on abortion, birth control, and sexuality: i t' s true that a woman' s
sexual ity should be her own, but why is it necessary to make a political
i ssue of itT Finally, she wondered, "How can they call themselves femi
nists when they go around wearing crosses?"s
For some questi ons I have no answers, I was then, and sti l l remain,
puzzled by Suceso' s (and others ' ) evident discomfort with making "po-
l i ti cal" the "personal" i ssues of love and sexuality, for exampl e. Femi ni sm
had convi nced me that "the personal i s political ," but did not anarchi sm
make si mi l ar clai ms? The answers to other questi ons proved si mpler,
though often surpri si ng. What she described as, "femini sts who wear
crosses," for exampl e, were young woman who wore women' s symbols
(S) to signify thei r femi ni sm!6
The next woman I met, Lol a Iturbe, had been a strong supporter of
Mujeres Li bres, though not an activist. Together wi th her compaiero,
J uanel (Juan Manuel Mol i na, a former secretary-general of the FAI), she
edited the anarchist newspaper Terr y Libertad in Barcelona. Lola spoke
of her experi ences growi ng up poor, as the daughter of a si ngl e mother, i n
turn-of-the-century Barcelona. She was born i n 1 902 and, at age ni ne,
began working l ong hours at i ncredi bl y l ow pay (she received 50 centimos
a week) as an apprentice to a seamstress. Her mother ran a pension fre
quented by "men of the organi zati on." Through these vi si tors, Lola learned
of the CNT and found the acceptance she had been denied i n the l arger
society. By the time she was fourteen or ffeen, she too had joi ned the
organizati on. 7 It was Lola who told me, duri ng the course of one of these
conversations, that Mercedes Comaposada, one of the three women who
had founded Mujeres Libres, was still alive and living in Pari s.
But another acci dent intervened before I met Mercedes . I was inter
viewing Eduardo Pons Prades (then a j ournali st with Diario de Barcelona)
about his experiences as a young man with the collectivized wood indus
try i n Catalonia. He sent me to Perpignan, just over the border in France,
to meet Jacinto Borras, former CNT activist and editor of a j ournal devot
ed to rural collectives in Catal onia. Durinl our conversations. T told Bor:1
I was interested in meeting women who had participated in the revolution.
At frst, his response was enthusi asti c. But when I asked for names and/or
addresses, he was unable to think of anyone who was healthy enough or
"capable" enough to talk with me-a response that had already become all
too familiar: few of the male activists wi th whom I spoke seemed to take
many of their women comrades very seriously.
Nevertheless, I pressed him to come up with the name of even one
woman who might be willing to talk with me. He hesitated, then called his
daughter, Eglantina. She pi cked up the phone, and from the moment the
voice answered on the other end, I knew that Azucena Ferandez Baba
was someone I defnitely wanted to meet. Eglantina' s face and voice were
alight as she spoke, and after grabbing some fowers from their garden
(Azucena loved fowers, she informed me), Eglantina had me in her car
within minutes, en route across town to Azucena' s fat.
Azucena was bor in Cuba in 1916 of Spanish exile parents, and came
to Spain when her parents retured from exile in 1920. When I frst met
her, I found her seated in her small dining room, surrounded by foweri ng
plants. She spoke animatedly about her experiences during the years before
the war and about the history of her family. Azucena and her six sisters and
brother were "raised on anarchism ... with our mother' s milk." Her grandfa
ther, Abelado Saavedra, was one of the early anarchist teacher-preachers
who had been jailed repeatedly and l ater exiled for having committed the
crime of teaching migrant workers in Andalusia how to read. As a result,
Azucena and a number of her siblings were bor in Cuba.
I spent many hours with her, discussing what it had been like to grow
up in an anarchist family, her introduction to and participation in anarchist
activities and organizations, and her sense of the complicated place of
women in the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist movement.8 But she insisted
that the person I should really speak to was her sister, Enriqueta. She was
the real militante (activist) and a member of Mujeres Libres.
It was not until six months later that I had the opportunity to meet
Enriqueta Ferandez Rovira herself. I had already discovered that the mere
mention of her name inspired the same reaction in just about everyone with
whom I spoke: "Oh, Enriqueta," they would say, making their voices deep,
hunching their shoulders and tightening both fsts to make themselves look
(as much as relatively frail older women can) like prizefghters fexing
their muscles. Yet, despite this buildup, I was not fully prepared for the
quiet power of her presence.
I met Enriqueta under far-from-ideal circumstances. It was Christmas
vacation time in France, and her small house was flled with the activity of
four of her grandchildren. We found time to talk either afer they had gone
to sleep or amid the hustle of midmoring requests for snacks or permis
sion to engage in this or that game. And all her frustrations with the "poor
manners" of these energetic young people provided a bittersweet counter
point to her own stories of being considered "outrageous" even by her
anarchist parents when she and her young friends went off on mixed-sex
bicycle trips to the countryside or to the beach in the early 1930s.
Enriqueta was also born in Cuba, in 1915, and moved to Spain with the
rest of the family in 1920. Anarchist activists were constantly in and out of
their house, and the "ideas" were a normal par of the conversation. In
many ways, her parents represented two of the difrent strands of anar
chism prevalent in the movement in those years. As she put it,
My father was a man of ideas, an anarchist, but much more than my
mother, he was a pacifst. He would get upset if he saw a single drop of
26
Martha A. Ackel sberg
blood. He was a revolutionary, but a pacifst. He believed the revolution
should come through culture and education. He hated guns. Never want
ed to see them ... that was not his style. He was more quiet.. .Not my
mother. She was more of an activist.
'
Thc chi ldren learned early on that to be a member of a community is to be
available to take care of others and to be wi l l i ng to dedicate one's person
and one's l ife to the common cause. The ideas they shared with others
particul arl y within anarchi st-inspired youth groups in which Enriqueta and
Azucena were both very active-unifed them as a group, whi l e separating
them from others:
In those days, we were ... the whores ... the crazies, because we were the
ones who pushed ahead ... 1 remember when my father died-it was very
sad ... My mother said, "Papa didn't want roses, but 1 would like some. Go
and get a dozen roses for your father." ... So I went to the florist. .. 1 whol
said to me, "What? You're here, and your father is dead?" And I said,
"What has one thing got to do with another? Do you think 1 feel no sor
row because I've come here? Do you think I don't feel the pain of my
father's death? I've come to get some roses for him." "But it's not your
place, child, your place is in the house. Joaquin should come get the flow
ers. And you're not wearing black?" And 1 said, "No, my pain I carry
inside. I don't wear it outside."
JO
The commitment to anarchist val ues existed for Enriqueta and her fam
i l y for as long as she could remember. The children' s participation i n
groups and activities sponsored by movement organizati ons deepened that
commitment and turned it i nto an i mportant focus of thei r lives. The com
munity gave them the strength to face the ridicule of thei r neighbors, as
well as the SkeptlCIsm even 01 their anarchIst parents, about the appropri
ateness of young girls going out in mixed groups. It enabled them to fnd
their own voices, dream their own dreams, and carry out the visions they
may have leared from their parents but soon transformed into their own.
Because of her long i nvolvement in the movement, Enriqueta was chosen
by the CNT for a highly sensitive job as one of the central telephone oper
ators in Barcelona during the war. She continued to be active in the anar
chist movement and i n the CNT, and she eventuall y j oined Mujeres Libres.
It was also with the help of Eglantina that I frst met Sara Berenguer
Gui llen, who had been Secretary of Propaganda of Mujeres Libres in
Catalonia. Eglantina picked me up one December moring from Azucena's
house in Perignan, and drove me to the lovely house in the small village
of Montady (near Beziers), where Sara and her compafero, Jesus Guillen,
have made thei r home. Sara i s a small woman who, despite the numbers of
Fr6 Women oLpai n
27
family and friends who were visiting a few days afer Christmas, readily
made time to talk with me about her experiences. When I retured for a
second visit some years l ater, Sara was as welcoming as she had been ear
l ier. We spent an exhausting few days together, tal king almost nonstop
about Mujeres Libres, and interviewing many other women in the area who
had been involved either in Mujeres Libres or in other organi zations of the
libertarian movement. These women included Teresina Torrellas Graells,
Conchita Guillen, and Amada de No.
Sara had not been involved with movement organizations before the
war, although her father was a CNT militant. She began to work wi th the
CNT only at the outbreak of the war, when her father went off to the front
and she wanted to do something "to help the revolution." She joined
Mujeres Libres l ate in 1937, although initially she opposed the idea of a
separate organization for women:
I did not agree with the idea of Mujeres Libres. I thought, the struggle
afects both men and women. We are all fghting together for a better
society. Why should there be a separate organization? One day, when I
was with a group from the luventudes, we went to a meeting Mujeres
Libres had organized at the luventudes headquarters, where they also had
an ofce. The boys started making fun of the speakers, which annoyed
me from the outset. When the woman who was speaking fnished, the
boys began asking questions and saying it didn't makc sense for womcn
to organize separately, since they wouldn't do anything anyway. The
debate was impassioned. The tone of their comments disgusted me even
more, and I came to the defense of Mujeres Libres ... In the end, they
named me delegate from our neighborhood to the meeting of the
Federaci6n Local of Mujeres Libres of Barcelona.
ll
In addition to her activism in Mujeres Libres, Sara served during the
war on the revolutionary committee of her barrio (neighborhood), Las
Corts, and as secretary to the Catalan Regional Committee of the Building,
Wood, and Decoration Industry (CNT). She also worked for SIA
(Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista), an interational anarchist relief
organization. She fed to France when Barcelona was invaded in January
1939, remaining there as an exile and, over the years, participating in the
Spanish exile underground. Early in the 1960s, together with Suceso
Portales, she participated in publishing a newsletter, Mujeres Libres, i n
exile. She has written a number of volumes of poetry, and has recently pub
lished her memoirs of the war years.12
Not everyone who was involved in the movement, however, came from
anarchist family backgrounds. Pepita Carpena, for example, was bor in
Barcelona at the end of 1919, and grew up as the child of working-class
parents who evi nced l i ttle or no i nterest in worki ng-class organi zations.
She was introduced to "the i deas" for the frst time in 1 933 by anarchist
union organi zers who attended gatheri ngs of young people in hopes of
rounding up potential union members. 1 As she described it,
The
y
would go to dances, activities, and the li ke where we
y
oung people
would hang out, look for the bo
y
s, tell them about a meeting at a union
hall at a particular time, and the
y
would go. Well, as I tended to hang out
more with ho
y
s than with girls, when the
y
would invite the bo
y
s to the
meetings at the union, I would go, too. That's how I got involved.
'
The metalworkers' union, which took her in almost as a young mascot,
became her home away from home. When her parents objected to her
going out to meetings at ni ght, she urged her father to go with her. Afer
seeing who the peopl e were and the way they treated her, he never com
pl ai ned agai n. Instead, he boasted to his fri ends about his daughter who
was freeing the prol etari at !
Through her associations with the metalworkers, Pepita soon learned
much about unions and about anarcho-syndical ism. They encouraged her
to organize the young women workers where she was employed as a seam
stress , which she did. And when her boss fred her on some pretext
(because of her union organizing), her compaferos from the metal- work
ers' union came to her aid and had her reinstated. She continued her mi l i
tancy i n the CNT and i n the Juventudes Li bertarias (the Libertarian Youth)
through the early 1930s and into the frst year of the war. When her com
pafero was killed early i n the war, the metalworkers' union paid his salary
to her as a stipend so she could continue to organize women workers for
th. 'y,ar cfrt. Sh. JC5crib(1 h01 lcl[ <1 Iuieuflc wltu hal a11umeu lhe
equality of women for as long as she could remember, and she was, at best,
i nitially indifferent to the creation of a specifcally women's organization.
But as a result of her experience i n the Juventudes, in particular, she soon
came to recognize that need, and she became an active member of the
Catalan regi onal committee of Mujeres Libres during 1937-1938. ' 5
More than any of the other viejas, Pepita has managed t o communicate
with the j6venes across barriers of time, class, and geography. She is aware
of contemporary feminist debates, even if she ofen takes issue with the
terms in which they are posed. In her post as archivist and curator of the
Marseilles branch of the Geneva-based CIRA (Centre Interationale de
Recherches sur l' Anarchisme), Pepita travels frequently throughout Spain
and Europe, speakng about the revolution and about her activities i n
Mujeres Libres. Her openness and her willingness t o discuss issues that
were controversial withi n Muj eres Libres have made her an invaluable
informant and a very special friend.
I frst met Mercedes Comaposada in Paris in January 1 982 in the one
room apartment fled with books where she had been living for forty-three
years. Her compafero, the arti st and sculptor Lobo, had the room next
door. Everyone had described her to me as a woman who was very hand
some, yet delicate and frail . She i s, i n fact, a very small woman, but lively
and absolutely in possession of her faculties. On those occasions when we
walked outside, I was astounded at the speed with which she seemed
almost to run through the streets. Even in her late ei ghties, she retained that
"distinguished" presence which so characterized her in the eyes of the
young women she was to educate in classes sponsored by Muj eres Libres.
Mercedes was born in Barcelona in 1 900 to a strongly committed
socialist father. Late in her teens, she left home to study in Madrid, and
there she discovered the CNT. When invited by compaferos in the CNT to
give a series of classes at the local union hall, she was appalled at the ways
in which they treated the women who attended, and shortly thereafter,
together with Lucfa Sanchez Saornil , who had had similar experiences, she
committed herself to educating and enculturating women, encouraging
them to develop the ful l range of their potential . Within a few years, their
dream had taken shape as Muj eres Libres.
Mercedes insisted that "we never called ourselves ' founders; only ini
tiators." Although her use of the term initiator, rather than founder, implies
a rej ection of personal power or authority, Mercedes clearl y sees herself as
the sole legitimate spokesperson for Muj eres Libres. She has been work
ing for some years to organize and edit the organization' s papers, and she
is wary of those who attempt to publish or speak about them before she has
completed her work. Although she has refused all invitations to speak
about Muj eres Libres at anachist and/or feminist gatherings (apparently
out of concer that her remarks would be misunderstood or taken out of
context) , she has al so been critical of others who have agreed to do so, on
the grounds that they were too young then or came into the organization
too late to really understand what it was about. Her position is obviously a
complicated one, and our relationship has been somewhat problematic as
a consequence.
Through Mercedes, however, I also met Soledad Estorach, one of the
originators of the Barcelona group that was to become part of Muj eres
Libres in the fall of 1 936. When I frst met her in Paris in January 1 982,
she looked much younger than her sixty-six years. We spent many hours i n
her small fat, talking about her youth, her invol vement in the CNT and in
Muj eres Libres, and her vi ews on the situation of women i n soci ety. She
had heen descri bed to me as a dynamo, the one who real l y was Muj eres
Li bres in Barcel ona. Everythi ng I saw and heard of her certainly confrmed
that i mpressi on.
Soledad grew up i n a small vi l lage about two hundred kilometers from
Barcel ona, although, as she expl ained, she di d "not l i ve the tradi tional l i fe
of a campesilla." Her father, who had spent many years l iving outsi de of
Spai n and who taught cl asses for adul ts, al so taught Soledad to read and
wri te-ski l l s vi rtual l y unknown to young girls of her cl ass . The knowl edge
she gai ned from hi m was pol i tical as wel l : "He had very advanced ideas
that affected me deeply-especial l y noti ons of j ustice." Her mother' s fam
i l y was very di frent; "They were l andholders and very rel i gi ous."
Her father died when she was el even, and Sol edad had to begi n work
i ng. A teacher in a nei ghbori ng vi l l age who had been a friend of her
father' s conti nued her lessons for a few hours each week. The fami l y man
aged to remai n i n the vi l l age until she was about ffeen. By then, howev
er, she was under i ncreasi ng pressure from her mother and her mother' s
fami l y to marry, to fnd a man to support her and her fami l y. But, as she
put i t, "I was fai thful to my father, his world, and his ideas. I wanted to
travel as he had, to learn . . J didn' t want to l ive my l ife withi n the four wall s
of a house. I wanted to travel , to conquer the world. I persuaded my moth
er to l et me go to Barcel ona, where I coul d work in an uncl e' s shop, make
money to support the fami ly, and al so get an education."l 6
She went frst and was soon j oined by her mother and younger sister.
Ini tially she worked i n her uncle' s shop, but economic crisis forced him to
cl ose his business, and Soledad had to fnd other work. She went i nto
domestic service, but her hours were long (from 5 A. M. until 1 A. M. !), and
the pay was i nsignifcant. So, afer a short while, she began working i n a
factory, hoping both to earn more money and to have more time for her
"educati on." Late in 1 930 she also began attending night school and meet
i ng compaferos from the CNT, which was still operating clandestinely.
In 1 93 1 , afer the fall of the monarchy, she found her way to an ateneo
(a storefront school and cu1tural center), where she met Abelardo Saavedra
(the grandfather of Enriqueta and Azucena), who i mpressed her deeply
with the power of his beliefs. "He was," she recalled, "for young people
like a book that never closed." She j oined the youth group at the ateneo and
became a militante. Soon she was spending virtually all of her time in
meetings or preparing for meetings, elated by the community and the
excitement of collective action. By 1 934 she was discussing with other
Free Women of Spai n 3 1
women activists the difculties that women ofen experienced within the
CNT, and they established a sort of mutual support network, the Grupo cul
tural femenino, CNT (female cultural group, CNT) . When, afer the estab
li shment of Muj eres Libres in Madrid in 1 936, Mercedes came to
Barcelona, the Catalan group quickly agreed to associate themselves.
I should mention one more viej a, Pura Perez Arcos, who lives with her
compafero, Federico Arcos, in Windsor, Ontario. Pura was born in
Valencia in 1 9 1 9, and moved with her family to the village of Jativa three
years later Both her father and grandfather were transport workers and
members of the CNT, and Pura had grown up hearing "much talk about
injustice." At her insistence her parents sent her to elementary school with
an older cousin who was living with them, and she stayed in the school,
eagerly soaking up the knowledge, even beyond the expected school-leav
ing age of eleven or twelve. She felt particularly fortunate when the
Republic was proclaimed in 1 93 1 , because the new goverment estab
lished more school s-including secondary schools-and she was able to
continue her education. When her father was transferred to Barcelona i n
1 933, however, the high cost of living there meant that Pura had t o l eave
school and go to work. A few months later the family settled in the barrio
of EI Clot, where Pura was able to continue her education at night in the
Escuela Natura, a rationalist school . There she met young anarchists,
j oined an ateneo, and became involved in the libertarian movement. During
the war and revolution, she returned t o Valencia and spent time on a col
lective. She was also active in Muj eres Libres, and worked with Soledad
Estorach in Barcelona and with Suceso Portales in Valencia.
After the war and several years spent in the underground anti-Franco
movement, Federico made his way to Canada, got a j ob in an automobile
plant, and settled in Windsor. Pura remained in Spain for some years, suf
fering through the horrors of the earl y Franco era. She j oined Federico in
1 959 and worked in Windsor as a nurse until her recent retirement. Now
she spends her time reading, taking courses at the local universities, and
producing pressed-fower pictures. Over the years she has maintained
active contact with Sara Berenguer Guillen in souther France and with
Mercedes and Soledad in Pari s, and she is helping to organize and edit the
papers of Muj eres Libres . Her insight and help-particularly in translating
the activities and visions of Muj eres Libres into contemporary l anguage
have been i nvaluable.
As I have studied the l i terature of Muj eres Libres and of the Spanish
anarchi st movement, spoken and corresponded wi th the women I have met,
and attempted to understand thei r l i ves and acti vi ti es, three themes have
ari sen to provide a focus for thi s book: communi ty, empowerment, and
di versi ty. Mujeres Libres, l ike the Spanish l i bertarian movement, was col
l ecti vist and communalist i n ori entati on, which meant that i t was commi t
ted to a vi si on of society i n which the self-development of each i s con
nected to the development of al l .
1
7 Freedom and equal i ty, i ndividual iden
ti ty and communi ty, were understood to be mutually i nterdependent, each
the precondi ti on for the other. The women of Muj eres Libres therefore
understood consciousness-change and empowerment to be both i ndividual
and col lective processes . They bel i eved that empowerment could take
pl ace onl y in the context of communi ti es and/or organi zati ons that
acknowledged and val ued the di versi ty of thei r constituents .
With respect to thei r understandi ng of the relati onship between i ndi
vi dual s and communities, Mujeres Libres and Spani sh l i bertarians would
have taken sharp i ssue with the cl assical l i beral formul ati ons of thi s rela
ti onshi p so common i n contemporary U. S. cul ture. They shared wi th
soci al i sts the sense that individual identity and communi ty, rather than
bei ng at odds with one another, are i nextri cably l i nked. Marxi sts, anar
chi sts, femi ni sts, and other social constructi oni sts have i nsi sted that human
needs and consciousness are products of our social relationships, and, thus,
t o speak of i ndi viduals outside of a soci al context makes l ittle or no sense.
They further i nsi st that what we understand as "freedom" is itself a soci al
product,
1
8
But much recent femi ni st social-hi storical research and theorizin have
gone beyond even this formulation, emphasizing the importance of com
munal/colective networks in constituti ng people and providing the con
texts for consciousness and empowerment . 1 9 This emphasis on networks
and social context is giving rise to new conceptualizations of politics, as
rooted not i n individuals and their needs and concerns, but in what we
mi ght term "social subcollectivities," with a consequent focus on their con
stitution, their boundaries, and power relations within them. 20 For contem
porary feminist researchers, this approach has led to explorations of the
pl ace of networks, community, and connection in the lives of women, both
in earlier times and in the present, 21
Spanish anarchi sts and the women of Muj eres Libres clearly recognized
the importance of such connections and of the social constitution of per
sonhood, and like their earlier "sisters" in the Brtish utopian socialist
movement (though, apparently without any direct knowledge of that
group' s existence or activities), they attempted to develop organizational
forms and activities that would enable people to experience them. As I will
show in chapter 2, thi s perspective led them to address people in a variety
of contexts, including in rural communities ad urba ba ios, as well as, in
workplaces. For the women of Mujeres Libres, this perspective also meant
an emphasis on the signifcance of gender, both in constituting communi
ties and in creating the conditions for consciousness-change and liberation.
The second, related theme that emerged from my engagement with this
material concerns i ssues of power, domination, and empowerment.
Spanish anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists developed and attempted to
act upon, an understanding of the nature of power and hierarchy i n socie
ty-and of strategies to overcome it-which differed signifcantly from
both Marxist and liberal strategies and which speaks directl y to the con
cerns of much contemporary feminist theorizing about the interacti on of
hierarchies of gender, race, and class. Although the range of feminist
scholarship on thi s topic is enormous and growing, theoretical fameworks
have tended to fall into three well-known categories-liberal feminists,
socialist femini sts, and radical feminists. These categories are differenti at
ed according to their understanding of the nature and sources of the subor
dinati on of women in societies and of the relationship between gender
inequality and inequalities based on class, ethnic-cultural , religious, or
other differences .
Anarchi sts agree with socialists, sociali st feminists, and radical femi
nists that the factors involved in understanding social inequality-and sex
ual inequality in particul ar-go beyond mere discrimination. Yet Spanish
anarchists echoed many of the concers of earlier utopian socialists, dif
fering from Marxists (and from contemporary socialist-feminists and rad
ical feminists) in i mportant ways. Instead of treating either class relations
or sexual divisions as the most basic form of subordination on which all
others depend, anarchists saw hierachy, formalized authority, as an equal
ly crucial problem. They recognized various types of subordination (e. g. ,
political and sexual, as well as economic) as more or less independent rela
tionships, each of which would need to be addressed by a truly revol ution
ary movement.
In her study of British Owenites, Barbara Taylor argues that those early
utopian socialists developed an analysis of society and domination that
treated people as being rooted in collectivity. Further, they recognized a
need to address both gender and class as manifestations of domination.
Nevertheless, as she points out, thi s multifaceted analysis of oppression
was relatively short-lived. Within a few years, there was no place for "fem-
i ni sm" i n social i st notions of solidarity. "Sex-equality radical i sm," which
had been an i mportant aspect of utopian soci al i sm, was lost when scientif
ic soci al i sm developed, emphasi zi ng class as the central category of analy
si s. In the consequent "splitti ng" that occurred, femi ni sm lost its class
analysi s and sociali sm lost i ts femi ni st di mensi on. 22
Al though the power of Marxist anal ysis derives precisel y from its
i nsi stence that economic rel ati onshi ps are at the root of all rel ations of
domi nati on and subordination in soci ety, many femi ni st criti cs i nsi sted
carly on that thi s monolithic approach to oppressi on was also Marxi sm' s
l i mi tati on. Marxist socialist analysi s had no room for an i ndependent
understandi ng of the subordi nati on of women, which exists i n social ist as
wel l as in capitalist societi es, i rrespective of the "mode of producti on." But
to "add women and stir" to a Marxist anal ytical model yields only confu
si on, si nce it destroys the power that derives specifcally from the cl ai m of
that anal ysi s to root all hi erarchi es in economic rel ations.
In its i nsi stence that hierarchy needs to be addressed and uprooted,
i ndependent of economic rel ations, anarchi sm seems, by contrast, to offer
an anal ytical model that could accommodate multiple rel ati onships of
domi nati on and subordinati on without necessarily i nsi sting that one i s
more fndamental than the others. Precisely because i t acknowledged thi s
mul ti di mensi onal character of subordination, the experience of Mujeres
Librcs can be a very fruitful source for contemporary femi ni sts struggli ng
to develop an understanding of women' s subordination and empowerment
that can attend to differences of ethnicity, race, and class.
In locating individual identity in community and recognizing hierar
chical power structures (whether based on gender, rel igion. or cl ass) ;S
l i mits to the development both of communities and of the individual s who
constitute them, Muj eres Libres attempted to devel op strategies for
empowerment (capacitacion) that would enabl e previously subordinated
women and men to realize their own capacities. Femini sts and democratic
activists in the United States are, of course, struggling with related ques
(j ons : What does empowerment mean? How can we empower ourselves (or
others) wi thout creating new rel ati onships of "power over" others?
Stahawk' s recent analysis of power as "power over," "power within," and
"power with" represents one exampl e of these contemporary femini st
and, specifcally, ecofeministxplorations . 23 The experience of Muj eres
Libres can contribute much to thi s discussion.
Finally, related to these issues i s the question of diversity. Although
Spanish anarchists insisted on the importance of community and on the
mutual interdependence of community and individuality, they al so argued
Free WomAn of Spai n 35
that shared visions need not be based on sameness and that communities
can not only incorporate, but be strengthened by, diversity.
That vision, of course, is easier to point to than to live out. The story
of Muj eres Libres is, in many ways, one of an attempt to build a movement
that would incororate at least one set of differences-those based on gen
der. The women of Muj eres Libres, working within the context of the
Spanish anarchist movement, pressed their comrades, both mal e and
female, to rethink what their community was, who belonged to it, whom it
served, and how it operated. In the process, they pushed both anarchist the
ory and anarchist practice in exciting new directions.
This dimension of their activity poses important challenges and opens
possibilities for us today. It is not coincidental that, as we increasingly
acknowledge the power of communal connections in our own li ves, con
temporary U. S. feminists and democratic theorists are exploring j ust what
we mean by community. Within the larger feminist movement, it has been
women of color who frst and most consistently raised the question of the
place of community in personal identity and insisted that any truly femi
nist vision-and community-must be one that not only tolerates but also
nourishes diversity. 24
More recently, white feminists have begun seriously di scussing the
meaning and signifcance of diversity among women. 25 Increasing num
bers of white women are coming to realize that there may be no such thing
as "woman" and that our i dentities as individual women are crucially con
nected to the particular ethnic, religious, and cultural groups that also con
tribute to our identity. Of course, many women of color, working-class
women, Jewish women, and members of other oppressed groups have been
all too aware of the signifcance of such difrences, insufciently retect
ed in the larger "women' s movement."26 What, then, does this mean for
feminist organizing or feminist theorizing? In recognizing class or ethnic
differences among women, must we abandon any notion of commonality?
Muj eres Libres focused on gender differences between women and
men within the larger libertarian movement, rather than on class or ethnic
differences among women. Nevertheless, the strggles they underwent to
recognize and validate difference while insisting on equality are certainly
instructive. In addition, I believe that some of their wariness about femi
nism may have stemmed from their understanding of themselves as work
ing-class women and of the diferences between the needs and experiences
of working-class and middle-class women. Thus, although the i ssues they
addressed were framed rather diferently from our own-they focused pri
marily on gender diferences within a working-class movement, rather
than on class or ethnic differences within a women' s movement-the
struggl es they confronted, the strategies they devi sed, their successes, and
their fai l ures may yet prove val uable t o us.
In the earl y years of thi s century and through the period of the Spanish
Ci vi l War ( 1 936-1 939), anarchi sts and anarcho-syndicali sts in Spain
developed not only a theoretical perspective, but also a network of eco
nomi c, pol itical , and cultural organizations and activities that provided a
context i n which to test their perspectives on community and diversi ty,
domi nation and empowerment. Spanish libertari ans strived to create com
munities that respected the indivi dual ity of their members , while at the
same time they insisted that i ndividuality could be developed and experi
enced onl y i n community. The women who founded Mujeres Libres were
al l tirmly committed to the goal s of the movement and deeply i nvol ved i n
i ts organi zations. Each had been nurtured by i t. Many described them
sel ves as havi ng come to a ful l sense of who they were only i n and through
the acti vities of the groups they joi ned, whether unions, storefront schools
and cultural centers, hiking clubs, or the like. The libertari an community
became essential to their newly developing sense of self.
Yet, at the same ti me, they felt that something was mi ssing for women.
The real izati on was a pai nful one: the community they experienced
through the anarcho-syndicalist movement was so important to them that
they feared anything that might undermi ne its unity and integrity. Stil l ,
each came to insist that, both for the sake of her own and other women' s
development and for the sake of the movement itsel f, a separate organiza
ti on devoted to women' s emancipation was essential . That decision was
not an easy one for any of them, and it ofen met wi th sti ff OPfoi ti on from
their comrades, both mal e and femal e.
My purpose here is to chronicle the struggles of these women and, in
the process, to illuminate our own: to review the theoretical and activist tra
ditions in Spain that gave birth to the libertarian movement, to attempt to
understand how and why these women came to believe that an autonomous
women' s organi zation was necessary, to examine how they came to under
stand the relationship between their project-and their autonomy-and the
long-term goal s of the libertarian community, and to explore how they were
received by the mainstream organi zations of that movement. While con
temporary feminist and democratic struggles for a more egalitarian society
differ signifcantly from theirs, we, too, strve to create relationships that
can nurture without stifing and communities that can provide meaningful
contexts for commitment. By linking our stories to theirs, I hope we can not
only lear from, but be empowered by, our history.
ANARCHIST REVOLUTI ON AND THE LIBERATI ON OF WOMEN
When the Republic came, many people went to storm the prisons to free
the prisoners, and / went, too. There was some guy there shouting,
"Ahajo ta political {Down with politics!] Abajo la Guardia Civil!
{Down with the Civil Guard!] . . . all sorts of abajos. " And then he
yelled, "Viva fa anarquzaJ " (Long live anarchy). And / thought, "Aha,
here is an anarchist. " This was my frst encounter with an anarchist
and he did not look like he was a terrible person. He had a good face. I
-Soledad Estorach
People would say to us, "Were you children baptized? " and we would
say to them, "We weren 't baptized. " "How terrible, what girls! Such
beautiul children "-because we were six handsome sisters (/ mean
frm the standpoint of health) and one brther-"being brught up
without God, you are like dogs! " And we would say, "No, you are the
ones who are like dogs, that you need a master"
2
-Enriqueta Rovira
Domination in all its fs-whether exercised by goverments, religious
institutions , or through economic relations-is for anarchists the source of
all social evil. While anarchism shares with many socialist traditions a rad
ical critique of economic domination and an insistence on the need for a
fundamental economic restructuring of society on a more egalitarian basis,
it goes beyond Marxist socialism in developing an independent critique of
the state, of hierarchy, and of authority relations in general . Where social
ists have traced the roots of all domination to the division of l abor in the
economy, anarchists have insisted that power has its own logic and will not
be abolished through attention to economic relations alone.
Anarchism aims to aboli sh hierarchy and structured relations of domi-
37
38
nati on and subordi nati on in soci ety. It al so aims to create a society based
on equal i ty, mutual i ty, and reciproci ty i n whi ch each person i s val ued and
respected as an i ndividual . Thi s soci al vi si on i s combi ned with a theory of
soci al change that i nsi sts that means must be consi stent with ends, that
peopl e cannot be di rected i nto a future society but must create it them
sel ves, thereby recogni zing their own abi l ities and capaciti es. In both its
vi si on of the ideal soci ety and i ts theory of how that soci ety must be
achi eved, anarchi sm has much to offer contemporary femi ni sts . The anar
chi st anal ysi s of relati ons of domi nati on provi des a frui tful model for
understandi ng the si tuati on of women i n soci ety and for relati ng women' s
condi tion to that of other oppressed groups. A theory of social change that
i ns i sts on the unity of means and ends and on the strengths of the
oppressed provides a stri ki ng contrast to many exi sti ng theori es-and most
exi sti ng practice-of soci al revol utionary movements .
Furthermore, some ni neteenth-century anarchi st wri ters and acti vists,
both i n Spain and el sewhere in Europe and the United States, speci fcal ly
addressed themsel ves to the subordi nati on of women in thei r societies and
i nsi sted that ful l human emancipation required not j ust the abolition of
capi tal i sm and of authori tari an pol i ti cal i nsti tuti ons but al so the overcom
i ng of women' s cultural and economic subordination, both inside and out
s i de the home. As early as 1 872, for example, an anarchist congress in
Spai n decl ared that women ought to be fully the equal s of men in the home
and in the workplace.
Yet neither the theory of anarchi sm as it developed i n Spain and else
where in Europe duri ng the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries nor
the practice of anarcho-syndicali sm in Spain was egali tari an i n thp ful l
sense of t he word. 3 Although many writers seemed to acknowledge the
importance of women' s emancipati on to the anarchist proj ect and the
i mportance of women to the movement, few gave these concerns top pri
ority. As was the case with socialist movements throughout Europe, many
anarchists treated the issue of women' s subordinati on as, at best, second
ary to the emancipation of workers, a problem that would be resolved "on
the morrow of the revolution."
The founding of Mujeres Libres represented an efort by women with
in the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist movement both to challenge the move
ment to fulfll its promise to women and to empower women to claim their
places within that movement and within the lager society. At the same time
that the founders were frustrated by the failure of the movement to ade
quately incorporate women and issues of concer to women, they neverthe
less remained convinced that the movement provided the only context for
achieving a tre liberation of women.
My aim in this book i s to make clear just what Muj eres Libres' vision
was and to explore its relevance for contemporar feminists and social
change activists . But in order to do so, we must frst locate it-as did the
women of Muj eres Libres themselves-in the context of anarcho-syndi
calist theory and practice. In this chapter, I examine the works of Spanish
anarchist writers and others in the "communalist anarchist" tradition who
provided the theoretical grounding of the Spanish anarcho- syndicalist
movement. My aim is to highlight their approaches to the understanding of
women' s subordination, their critiques of hierarchy and domination, and
their understanding of the process of fully integrating a concern with the
subordination of women into a theory of radical social transformation. But
I also wish to explore the ambi guities evident in these analyses , the ways
that--despite the apparent awareness at the core of anarchist theory that
relations of domination were manifold and complex-attention to the sub
ordination of women was repeatedly given lower priority than the oppres
sion of male workers. Thi s contextualization of Muj eres Libres ' program
and activities should lay the basis for a demonstration of the ways Muj eres
Libres' programs effectively addressed the weaknesses of anarcho-syndi
calism at the time and constituted both a critique and extension of Spani sh
anarcho-syndicalist theory and practi ce.
I focus here on Spanish anarcho-syndicalist analyses of domination
and subordination, on the vision of an egalitarian society, and on the
process of empowerment, specifcally as related to the situation of women.
Exploration of these concers on a theoretical level can then serve as back
drop and counteroint to the more historical analysis of the roots of
Mujeres Libres in the anarcho-syndicalist movement, which I undertake in
chapter 2. In fact, for anarchi sts, theory and practice were hardly distin
gui shable in this sense. The theoretical positions we will be discussing in
thi s chapter were developed in the context of hi storical struggles, at the
same time that they contributed to the development of those struggles. I
separate them here only for analytical purposes.
Domi nation and Subordinati on
Anarchist visions are political1y, socially, and economically egalitari
an. Politically and socially, an anarchist society is a society without gov
erment, without institutionalized hierarchical relationships or patters of
authority. Anarchists claim that people can organize and associate them
selves on the basis of need, that individuals or small groups can initiate
social acti on, and that central ized political coordinati on is not only harm
ful but al so unnecessary. The right or authority to direct or command a sit
uation should not inhere in roles or offces to which some people have pri v
i l eged access or from whi ch others are systemati cal l y excluded. Finally,
anarchi sts are committed to nondomi nating rel ati onships with the environ
ment, as well as with peopl e. Anarchists have focused not on conqueri ng
nature, but on developing new ways to l ive (as much as possible) in har
mony with it. 4
Virtual l y all major soci al thi nkers i n the West have assumed that social
order requi res leadership, hi erarchy, and, in particular, political authority.
Many argue that soci al l i fe, especially in a complex society, could not exi st
wi thout structures of power and authority. "Society means that norms reg
ul ate human conduct," and norms requi re authori ties wi th power to enforce
them. ) In a sl i ghtly different vei n, social contract theorists have argued that
pol itical authority is necessary to create a stable soci al order, the precon
di tion for moral choi ce. Theori sts of soci al movements argue that it takes
a strong person (or persons) to unite di sparate i ndi vi duals i nto a coherent
uni t and give them directi on. Organi zation, in turn, requi res that some peo
pl e be in positions to give orders and that the rest-whether as "good citi
zens" or as "good revolutionaries"-be prepared to take and fol l ow them. 1
Anarchi sts argue i n response that formal hierarchies are not only harm
ful but unnecessary and that there are alternative, more egalitarian ways i n
which to organize social l i fe. Most i mportant, along with socialists and,
more recently, femini sts, anarchists have insi sted that human nature is a
social construct; the way people behave is more a product of the institu
tions in which they/we are rai sed than of any i nherent nature. FormCl hi er
archical structures of authority may well create the conditions they are pre
s umably desi gned to combat : rather than preventing di sorder, goverments
are among its primary causes. 7 Hierarchical instituti ons foster alienated
and exploitative rel ationships among those who participate in them, dis
empowering people and distancing them from their own reality.
Hierarchies make some people dependent on others, bl ame the dependent
for their dependency, and then use that dependency as a justifcation for the
further exercise of authority. 8
Many Spanish anarchists used the exi sting subordi nation of women in
society as an example to demonstrate the power of social institutions to
create dependent persons. Whil e there ware many views among Spanish
anarchists about the nature of women and about the appropriate role for
women in a future society, most anachi st writers seemed to agree that
women were severel y disadvantaged in Spanish society and that existing
inequalities between men and women were largely the product of social
conditioning and male power. As early as 1 903, for example, Jose Prat
agued that "women' s ' backwardness' is a consequence of the way she has
been, and still is, treated. ' Nature' has nothing to do with this . . . If woman
is backward, it i s because in all times man has kept her inferior, depriving
her of all those rights which he was gradually winning for himself."9
Gregorio Maraf6n and Mariano Gallardo, while acknowledging that there
were signifcant sexual differences between women and men, argued that
societal gender inequalities were the result of denying opportunities to
women: "Woman' s . . . presumed inferiority is purely artifcial , the i nevitable
consequence of a civilization which, by educating men and women sepa
rately and distinctly, makes of the woman a slave and of her compafero a
ferocious tyrant."l 0
Spanish anarchists, like contemporary feminists, argued that the exer
cise of power in any institutionalized form-whether economic, political,
religious, or sexual-brutalizes both the wielder of power and the one over
whom it is exercised. On the one hand, those who hold power tend only to
develop an ever-increasing desire to maintain it. Governments, for exam
ple, may claim to represent a "common interest" or "general will." But this
claim is false and masks the state' s role in preserving and maintaini ng the
economic and political power of the few over the many. 1
I
On the other hand, the exercise of power by some dis empowers oth
ers . 1 2 Those i n positions of relative dominance tend to defne the very char
acters of those subordinate to them. Through a combination of physical
intimidation, economic domination and dependency, and psychological
limitations, social institutions and practices afct the way everyone sees
the world and her or his place in it. 13 Anarchi sts argue that to be always in
a position of being acted upon and never to be allowed to act i s to be
doomed to a state of dependence and resignation. Those who are constant
ly ordered about and prevented from thinking for themselves soon come to
doubt their own capacities . Along with contemporary femini sts, 1 4 anar
chists insist that those who are defned by others have great difculty
defning, or naming, themselves and their experience and even more diff
culty acting on that sense of self in opposition to societal norms, standards,
and expectations.
I S
Anarchists, therefore, oppose permanent structures of authority i n
which particular people seem to fnd their "calling," arguing that authority
relations in society ought to be more fuid: "People are free. They work
freely, change freely, contract freely."1 6
Communit and Equalit
Many theori sts, of course, have argued that, despite the negative effects
of hi erarchi cal structures, dominati on and subordination (whether in the
pol itical , economic, or sexual realm) are necessary for social life. In
response, anarchists describe al ternative ways to organize society that
embody both freedom and equality in the broadest sense. Such visions
locate i ndi vi dual s frml y i n a communal context and require attention to
economi c relati onshi ps, to mechani sms for coordinati on, to sexuality and
mal e-female rel ati ons, and to those ongoi ng systems of education and
soci al i zati on that make it possible for a society to perpetuate i tself over
ti me.
I n pl ace of i nequal i ty as a basis of organi zation, anarchi sts offer mutu
al i sm, reci procity, and federal ism. In place of hierarchy and domination,
they propose to empower everyone to achieve hi s or her ful l potenti al , thus
obvi ati ng the need for soci al, poli ti cal , or sexual i nequal ity. I wil l hi ghl ight
those aspects of the anarchist theory of revol ution that were to be of par
ti cular si gni fcance for Mujeres Libres and through which we will see most
cl earl y Mujeres Libres' contribution to the development of the theory and
practice of nonauthoritarian social change: the social nature of freedom,
the visi on of an egalitarian society, and the process of consciousness
change and empowerment.
Freedom, or individual l iberty, was a basic premise of the Spani sh
anarchist tradition. "Individual soverei gnty" is a prime tenet of most anar
chist writing; the free development of one' s individual potential is one of
the basic "rights" to which all humans are born. 1 7 Yet Spanish anarchists
were tIrmly rooted I the communalist-anarchist tradition. For them, free
dom was fundamentally a social product: the fullest expression of individ
ual ity and of creativity can be achieved only in and thrugh communit. As
Carmen Conde (a teacher who was also active in Mujeres Libres) wrote,
describing the rel ationship of individuality and community: "I and my
truth; I and my faith . . . And I for you, but without ever ceasing to be me, so
that you can always be you. Because I don' t exi st without your existence,
but my exi stence is also indi spensable to yourS."1 8 They made frequent
appeal s to Kropotki n' s cl aim that social life was regul ated not by a antag
onistic struggle for survival , but by "mutual aid": "Without association, no
life is possible."1 9 Only in a fully egalitarian society, devoid of hierarchies
of economic class, political , or sexual privilege, would everyone be free to
develop to the fullest and woul d individual initiative be abl e to tourish. 20
The focus on individuality and individual initiative, and the communal
context that nourishes it, provided a potential context for Spanish anar
chists to address male-female differences. This perspective generated an
awareness-at least on a theoretical level-of human diversity, of the vari
ety of ways people can contribute to the social whole, and of the benefts
to the society of the incororation of diferent groups . But the working out
of thi s vision, whether in theory or in practice, as related to sexual di ffer
ences was much more limited. As contemporary feminists and minority
activists have made us well aware, it is not always obvious how to ensure
respect and equality in nonhomogeneous communities. Many supposedly
egalitarian social forms have ignored diferences between men and
women, for example, or assumed they were irelevant to politics , thus
efectively reproducing the subordination of women. 2 1
The limits of the Spani sh anarchist vision become clear as we examine
their understandings of the basic constituents of social organization. Most
Spanish anarchist writers located economic relationships at the center of
their vision, insisting that the basic principle of social organization must be
economic, rather than political . Economic relationships must be as non
hierarchical as possible, with respect both to the remuneration that people
receive and to the structure of work. They difered among themselves as to
what ought properly to constitute equality of reward, varying between col
lectivi sm (to each according to contribution) and communism (to each
according to need) . Neverthel ess, all agreed that rel ative equality of reward
was essential to the functioning of a j ust society. Thi s was so both because
economic inequalities are easily converted into social or pol iti cal power
and, more basically, because most human labor is collaborative and it i s
virtually impossible to assign value to an individual ' s contribution to a col
lective task. 22
To say that economic equality must be at the root of a society based in
reciprocity and mutuality, however, is insufcient to defne what the over
all structure and organization of that society might look like. For commu
nalist anarchists, society was best conceived as a series of voluntary asso
ciations that, while recognizing individual autonomy, could still provide
for the overall coordination essential to freedom and j ustice. Social order
was to be achieved through the voluntary cooperation of locally based,
decentralized units rather than through formal political structures . They
pointed to railways, interational postal services, and other forms of com
munication as models of networks, set up by voluntary agreement, that
functioned efciently to provide services to people without the interven
tion of some higher authority.23
Thi s central focus on economic structures, however, particul arl y i n a
soci ety characteri zed by a sharp sexual di vi si on of labor, rai sed serious
questions for women. How would women be i nvolved? Woul d a new soci
ety chal lenge and overcome the sexual divi sion of l abor? Or would it leave
that divi sion in place and strive to achieve a kind of "separate but equal" sta
tus for women? An emphasis on economic structures as the root of social
organization efcctivel y bel ied the anarchi st insi stence that domi nation and
subordination had many facets and that economic issues were not the onl y
ones that needed to be addressed. In fact, as we will see in chapter 2,
debates about the core institutions and structures of the new society were to
be quite divisive during the pre-Civi l War period, although they rarel y
focused on the implications of these decisions for women' s position or par
ti ci pation.
Most of the debate i nstead focused on what sorts of organi zations
would form the basis of the new society. Those who were to become
known as anarcho-syndical ists (and who, by 1 9 1 0, represented the maj or
i ty position within the CNT) envi si oned a society with unions at its base. 24
Uni ons woul d be coordinated both local l y and i ndustrial l y through federa
tions to which each union (or group of unions) would send a delegate. Thi s
vision, however, provi ded little opportunity to nonworkers (including chil
dren, the unemployed, ol d people, the disabled, and nonworking mothers)
to participate in social decision making.
Others, identifed as "anarchists" rather than as anarcho-syndical ists,
insisted that unions represented too narrow a base for coordinating a l i ber
tari an communist society. Sol edad Gustavo, Federico Ural es, and Federica
Montseny, for example, argued that unions are products of capi ta
l
i <m Anr
that it does not make sense to assume that they woul d be the basis for
organization and coordination in a transformed economy: "There are
workers because there are bosses. Workeri sm wil l disappear with capital
i sm, and syndical ism wi th wages."25 Both Gustavo and Federica Montseny
pointed to another tradition with a long history in Spain, the municipio
libre (free commune) : "Especially in agricultural vi l l ages, where the syn
dicali st sol ution is not appropriate even in a transitional sense, I reserve the
right to pursue the revolution from the moment that we proclaim free com
munes throughout Spain, on the basis of the socialization of the l and and
of all the means of production, placed in the hands of producers ."26
Interestingly, these two women who argued for a more community-focused
organizational base were al so two of the more outspoken supporters of
women' s emancipation-although, to my knowledge, neither explicitly
connected her concer for women' s emancipation with this organizational
focus on community as opposed to workplace. As we wil l see in chapter 2,
community-based organizing strategies were ofen more successful than
workplace-based ones in addressing i ssues of concer to women and in
galvanizing women' s participation.
Eventually, most theorists and CNT activists attempted to combine the
municipio libre with the union, although the terms of the combination sti l l
tended t o favor the syndical solution. Isaac Puente, for example, argued
that the municipio libre in cities should actually be the local federation of
unions. In rural areas, the town would hold everything within its bound
aies as common property; the communal decision-making body would be
composed of "everyone who works." The only ones exempted from thi s
requirement would be the young, the sick, and the aged. 2
7
This resolution,
of course, based social and political rights on economic productivi ty, even
in the "free commune."
As we will see in the next chapter, to the extent that there was any res
olution of questions of organizational structure and vision, i t was achieved
through the practice of the anarcho-syndicalist movement; rather than
through theoretical debates in the press. It is important to note here that the
Spanish movement difered from most other European working-class
movements of the l ate nineteenth and early twentieth centures in the place
it accorded to activities and organizations that were not strictly union-based.
The diferences between the Spanish and other movements took on partic
ular signifcance in the context of discussions about "woman' s place."
2
R
Signifcantly, neither Montseny' s nor Puente' s discussion of the free
commune mentioned women-or, for that matter, unemployed men. As for
the latter, we might well be meant to assume that, in a properly ordered
society, there would be no unemployment-xcept of those who refuse to
work-and that refusal to participate in the common business would j usti
fy deprivation of political rights. Nevertheless, the position of women was
much less clear, since these writers did not state whether both men and
women would work (they make no mention of arangements for child-care
or child-rearing) ; whether they would count women' s domestic work as
work (but, then, would there be a "union" t o certify that women a work
ing properly in their homes?) ; or whether they simply did not expect to rec
ognize women with small children as full citizens. While Puente seemed to
assume that all women would be workers, Mella addressed women as wives
and daughters, rather than as workers: "Workers: your obligation is to throw
yourselves into the struggle. Your wives will go with you, as they are no less
slaves of the brutality of the bourgeoisie."29 Marafon argued that mother
hood was incompatible with work (since motherhood was, or at least should
be, a full-ti me occupation if done properly) . Nevertheless, he argued that
work was i mportant for nonmothers, whom he seemed to treat as a special ,
even possibly abnormal, class of women. 30
Sexual ity and the Subordi nati on of Women
In fact, the l ack of agreement on these i ssues i s evidence of a diver
gence among anarchi st wri ters not onl y about the pl ace of women wi thin
worki ng-cl ass organi zati ons, but also about the nature of women' s subor
di nation and of what would be necessary to overcome i t. Mary Nash has
suggested that two differi ng streams of thought about the nature of male
female rel ati onships developed among Spani sh anarchi sts during the
course of the ni neteenth and early twentieth centuri es . 3 1 One, drawi ng on
the wri ti ngs of Proudhon (and exemplifed in Spai n by Ricardo Mella),
treated women essenti ally as reproducers who make their contributi on to
soci ety i n and through thei r role i n the home. Accordi ng to thi s vi ew, what
was necessary for women' s emanci pati on was the reval uation of women' s
work i n the home; her work outside the home must always be secondary to
that of men. The second stream ( si mi lar to a Marxi st perspective), which
found theoretical roots i n the writi ngs of Bakunin (and was exemplifed, at
least in its productivist aspects, in the works of Isaac Puente), i nsisted that
women were the equal s of men and that the key to women' s emanci pation
was their full incorporation i nto the paid l abor force on equal terms wi th
men. In thi s view, if women were to overcome their subordi nation, they
would have to join the labor forces as workers ane strugr1 p in nnic'" to
i mprove the position of all workersY The ofcial position of the CNT fol
l owed the l atter vi ew, though it should be noted that the acceptance of a
theoretical commitment to women' s equali ty in the workplace was no
guarantee that the maj ority of CNT members would act in accordance with
that commitment. As we will see i n chapter 2, the practice of the movement
rarely l ived up to its stated beli efs in thi s regard.
Nevertheless, there were also those wi thin the libertarian movement
who insi sted that organizing women into unions-even if it were possible
to do so-would not, in itself, be suffcient. In their view, the sources of
women' s subordination were broader and deeper than economic exploita
tion at the workplace. They argued that women' s subordination was as
much a cultural phenomenon as an economi c one and refected a devalua
tion of women and their activities mediated through i nstitutions such as
family and church. Thus, in an article revealing her understanding of the
Fr,ee Women of pai n
47
process of revolutionary change as it affected male-female relations,
"lavierre" commented on reports from Prvda on the numbers of "new
Soviet men" who had abandoned pregnant women: "Politics, alone, cannot
make man morally ready for a common life . . . [These men] no more l eared
to be a man by Marxi st baptism than they did by Chri stian bapti sm."33
Furthermore, at least some Spanish anarchist writers located woman' s sub
ordination in her reproductive role and in the double standard of sexual
morality. These, too, would have to change-through the adoption of a
new sexual morality and the widespread use of birth control-if women
were to be fully equal partners in a revolutionary society.
Even thi s broader understanding was not without ambiguity. Kyralina
(Lola lturbe, the j ouralist who was to become an active supporter of
Muj eres Libres) insisted on the need for an analysi s and practice that took
into account broader cultural phenomena. Yet her article "Anarchist
Communism Will Liberate Women" reveals a belief, common to anarchist
cultural critics early in the twentieth century, that the abolition of private
property will lead to fee love and the emancipati on of women: "Only the
reign of libertarian communism can provide a humane solution to the prob
lem of women' s emancipation. Wth the destruction of private property,
this hypocritical morality will fall by the wayside, and we will be free . . . We
will experience love with the complete freedom of our appetites , respect
ing all the various forms of amorous and sexual life."34
For many anarchist writers and activists, a reorganization of sexual and
family life and a reconstitution of women' s roles were essential compo
nents of the revolutionary vision. In this attention to the "private" relations
of family and sexuality, Spanish anarchists shared much both with nine
teenth-century utopian socialists and with contemporar femini stsY But
there was more than one way to apply an anti-authoritarian analysis to sex
ual and familial relations . What was to be the strcture and nature of fam
ilies and family relations in a new anarchist society? And how was
woman' s social participation to relate to her familial or reproductive roles ?
Was the unquestioned authority of the husband/father i n the family t o be
preserved, as Proudhon and his followers advocated, or was that authority,
too, to be abolished and repl aced with voluntary egalitari an relationships?
Some Spani sh anarchists apparently agreed with Proudhon; others advo
cated asceticism, opposed the use of alcohol and tobacco, and advocated
monogamy or sexual chastity. The maj ority of writers who addressed this
topic in the early years of the twentieth century, however, advocated gen
der equality and free love. Thi s last group insisted that true freedom meant
the ful l expression and development of all human capacities, including the
48 |O|I|O /. /C<O| OO|_
sexual. To them, prevai ling soci al i deals of chastity, monogamy, and fdeli
ty refected a l egacy of Chri sti an repression and would be repl aced in an
ideal anarchi st society by free l ove and egal i tari an family structures.
Thi s l atter position gained strength and legitimacy during the 1 920s
and 1 930s, particul arl y as the works of Sigmund Freud, Havelock El l i s,
and other sexologi sts began to be known. By the 1 930s, Spani sh anar
chists-writing in such j ournal s of cultural criticism as L Revista Hlanca
and Estudios16-were combi ni ng Freudi an psychology, neo-malthusi an
rhetori c, and doctri nes of free l ove to develop a broad picture of the i mpor
tance of sexual i ty and sexual emanci pati on to human development and,
ul ti matel y, to soci al revolution.
A plethora of contributors to Estudios during the 1 930s argued for a
new sexual ethics, one based on the positive value of sexual i ty and oppo
si t i on to the doubl e standard of sexual morality for men and women. These
wri ters ri di culed anarchi sts who advocated chastity and the repressing of
sexual urges. They insi sted, to the contrary, that enforced absti nence led
not onl y to the cl assic double standard (resulting in prostitution and the
oppressi on of women) but al so to stunted lives and, at worst, criminal
behavi or. They argued, foll owing Freud, that sexuali ty was a basic life
force and an important component of both psychic and social health.
Rather than repress sexual feelings or divert them into prostitution, the
writers concl uded, people should lear more about sexuality-and practice
birth control . 37
Dr. Felix Marti-Ibanez, the "dean" of anarchist writers on psychosex
ual health matters, outlined a new perspective on the place of sexuality in
human life. 38 First, he insisted on the i mportance of genit<l !exl l <l i ty-frf
both men and women-as a component of human growth and development
and of successful marriages. His articles rejected the church' s view that
marriage existed only for the perpetuation of the species, and he insi sted,
instead, that marriage must be understood as a way of life, voluntarily cho
sen by two people. Whether in a marital or a nonmarital context, sex
involved not j ust procreation, but recreation. Successful sexual relation
ships (whether marital or not) required a valuing and respecting of sexual
ity for both partners and a recognition that sexual union and satisfaction
could be an end in itself, not j ust a means to produce children.
Consequently, successful marriage would involve knowledge and use of
birth control . His articles were intended both to articulate thi s new view of
the place of sexuality in human life and to make information about birth
control available to the proletaiat. 39
49
Marti-Ibanez frther argued that a new understanding of sexuality was
necessary. For too long, he said, sexuality had been confused with genital
ity. He criticized the practice of enforced chastity, arguing that it denied
important human needs. At the same time, he insisted that sexual energy
could be channeled in a number of different directions and need not nec
essarily be expressed through genital contact: "Let us recognize that the
geHital=rotic impulses, the sexual act-is but one small part of the sex
ual, and that apart from thi s aspect, sexuality has many others (work,
ideals, social or artistic creation, etc. ) . . . Sexuality can express itself either
erotically or through work in its various forms.4o Nevertheless, he asserted,
if eforts to redirect sexual energy were not successful, neither young
women nor young men should hesitate to have sexual experiences-as
long as they did not assume that sex must be linked with love or that it
required a woman to give up her sense of self or her sense of self-respect. 41
Despite their calls for new and freer attitudes toward sexual ity, howev
er, virtually all these writers identifed "normal sexuality" with heterosex
uality. Thi s identifcation was usually implicit rather than explicit-their
discussions of sexuality assumed and asserted the "normal" or "natural"
attraction between people of the opposite sex. In his series on "Eugenics
and Sexual Morality," Marti-Ibanez did address himself explicitly to the
question of homosexuality. In an article focused primarily on the history of
attitudes toward homosexuality, he attempted to distinguish between "sex
ual inversion" ( "congenital homosexuality") and "sexual perversion" (that
practiced "voluntarily, out of snobbery or curiosity, or for utilitarian
ends"). Despite his etorts to delineate the two types, the arti cle acknowl
edged that it is ofen diffcult to determine which cause is primary. Finally,
he asserted that there was nothing immoral about homosexuality and,
therefore, that homosexual behavior should not be punished ( any more
than we would tnd i t appropriate to punish a kleptomaniac who cannot
help stealing! ) . At the same time, however, he made clear hi s belief that
homosexuality was deviant and that homosexuals were "victims" of "sex
ual inversion."42
Many writers recognized the potentially liberating i mpact of new atti
tudes toward sexuality for women. Abandonment of traditional attitudes
toward chastity (which had always bound women much more strongly than
men-apparently even in anarchist circles) would free women to explore
and express their own sexuality. More specifcally, many writers-both
men and women-had viewed women' s reproductive activity as the key to
their subordination. As long as married women were subject to their hus
band' s sexual desires (an aspect of marital relations that was apparently
50 |O|I|O /. /C<O' OO|_
onl y rarel y questioned at that time) and as l ong as there was no way to reg
ul ate ferti l i ty, women would be subj ect to the emotional , physical , and psy
chi c drai n of repeated chi l dbi rths and the managi ng of a l arge househol d.
The di sabi l ities fel l most dramati cal l y on women of the worki ng cl ass. The
control of ferti l i ty, then, could be parti cul arly l iberating for women. Marfa
Lacerda de Moura, a frequent contri butor to Estudios on i ssues of women
and sexuality, criti ci zed anarchist men who opposed the di ssemi nati on of
bi rth control i nformati on among the worki ng cl asses : "For them, a woman
is j ust a ferti l e and i nexhausti ble womb, desti ned to produce bourgeoi s sol
di ers or, more accuratel y, red sol di ers for the soci al revolution." On the
contrary, she i nsi sted, bi rth control coul d become a fundamental arm of the
struggl e for the l i berati on of women. 41
As had femi ni sts and bi rth control advocates i n the United States and
i n a vari ety of European contexts, Lacerda, Marafon, and other Spani sh
anarchi sts argued that both working-cl ass fami l i es and i ndi vi dual worki ng
cl ass women suffered from the producti on of more chi l dren than a fami l y
coul d properly mai ntai n and that the emanci pati on of women must al so
i nvol ve the choice of whether, when, and how often to become a mother.
But they al so i nsi sted on the benefts of bi rth control for i ndi vi dual women:
i t coul d rel ieve women, both married and unmarried, of the fear of preg
nancy and thus allow them to enjoy sexual relati ons more ful l y. 4.
Some anal ysts took these arguments further, l inking malthusi ani sm,
bi rth control , and class analysi s to articulate an anarchist neomalthusi an
i sm. Dr. Juan Lazarte argued that the meaning and consequences of preg
nancy and bi rth varied with soci al cl as s . Frequent pregnanci es could be
di sastrous to a woman' s health and also to the heal th and stabi l i ty of a fam
I l y already strapped for resources. And the more chi ldren a fami ly had, the
higher the rates of i nfant mortality. In short, as Malthus had argued, the
poor were particularly hurt by unlimited reproduction. But with the avail
abi lity of bi rth control , working people could replace "restraint" (of which
Malthus did not beli eve the poor were capable) with birth control , which a
conscious working class could use as a component of a strategy toward its
liberation. With smal l er families, workers' wages could sustain higher lev
els of health and strength. Limiting births could also lead to a smaller wage
force, reduced unemployment, more power for workers, and even an end
to wars.45
Final l y, in addition to makng possible the separation of procreation
and pleasure in the expression of sexuality, these new attitudes toward sex
uality had i mportant i mplications for anarchist understandings of love and
marriage. Many anarchists had claimed that permanent monogamous mar-
||OO O 5 1
riage constituted a form of despotism, which required a virtual renuncia
tion of self on the part of women, and that free love (by which they meant
the right of both men and women freely to choose a sexual rel ationship
without beneft of clergy or state and freely to end it when it was no longer
mutually satisfying) was the only appropriate manifstation of the natural
tendencies of both men and women. Some of these writers assumed that,
even in an ideal society, existing difrences between men and women with
respect to sexuality would continue to exi st or that new ones would
emerge; others insisted that existing diferences were largely the product
of social conditioning. But all assumed that, whatever the source of these
difrences, both men and women would be able to experience their sexu
ality more fully and more satisfyingly in a society that accorded ful l equal
ity to women. 46
Critiques of both chastity and monogamous mariage were common
during the 1 920s and 1 930s, and numerous articles appeared advocating
either free l ove or "plural love" in its place. Beyond arguing for free love,
many anarchist writers insisted that monogamy itself was a product of the
desire for possessiveness, rooted in private property and in the subordina
tion of women, and that it would di sappear in a future anarchist society.47
Amparo Poch y Gascon, who was to become one of the founders of
Mujeres Libres, wrote in Estudios in 1 934 that tradi tional notions of
monogamy made a woman, "whether she was still in l ove or not, a perma
nent possession of the man to whom the church or the j udge gave her." But,
she argued, properly understood, monogamy "does not mean ' forever,' but
as long as . . . the will and feelings of the lovers lasts." Furthermore, if
women as well as men held such attitudes, all would be freer and more sat
isfed. 4R
Maria Lacerda de Moura departed even further from accepted notions
of monogamous l ove and marriage. "Love," she insisted, "has always been
in open struggle with monogamy." In a truly egalitarian society, in which
men and women were respected equally, monogamy would be replaced by
plural love, the only form of sexual expression that would allow all people
(in particular, women, who had been denied any sexual autonomy) the ful l
growth, expression, and meeting of their sexual needs. By allowing both
women and men to have more than one lover at a time, she insisted, plural
love would eliminate most problems of jeal ousy, anow women to be truly
free to choose their mate (or mates), and end prostitution and the sexual
exploitation of women (since unmaried, sexually active women would no
longer be stigmatized and vulnerable) .49
Neverthel ess, many writers were not as sanguine as she was. At the
very least, they recognized that doctrines of either free l ove or plural love
would be much more compl i cated to appl y in practice than in theory. Many
wri ters, especial l y women, were quick to poi nt out that few anarchi sts
actual l y practiced what they preached when it came to equal ity for women.
Sol edad Gustavo noted, for example, that "a man may l i ke the idea of the
emanci pati on of women, but he i s not so fond of her actual ly practicing
i t . . . In the end, he may desi re the other' s woman, but he wi l l l ock up hi s
V|,`
In response to criti ci sms rai sed of Cl ara, the sexual l y emanci pated
female heroi ne of her novel La Victoria, Federica Montseny argued that the
noti on of a weak, adori ng woman protected by a strong man, though
appealing to some male anarchists, was hardl y a l i bertarian vi si on. Very
few women may have been ready to l ive according to, or even to conceive
of, a free and unl i mited mutual freedom. But "there [were 1 even fewer men
capabl e of accepti ng her."5 1
In Montseny' s vi ew, the fact that few Spani sh women were moral l y
ready for thei r emanci pati on, ensl aved as they were by tradi ti onal attitudes
and beli efs , presented a more serious probl em than did male resi stance to
sexual and economi c equal ity. Emma Goldman had argued that women
needed i nternal emancipation to know thei r own value, respect themselves,
and refuse to become psychic or economi c sl aves to thei r male lovers . But,
Montseny l amented, Goldman gave no real gui dance about how to achieve
that liberation. 5c
In the case of fami lial and sexual rel ati ons, as i n the economic realm,
the ideal was equality with difference. Both women and men should be
free to develop and express their sexuality, inside or outside what we might
now term a "committed sexual relationship." Both should he free !
enter-and to leave-sexual relationships without bringing down on them
selves social condemnation or ostraci sm. Famil i es, too, should be egalitar
i an i nstitutions-the unquestioned authority of the father ought to be
replaced by reciprocity and mutual respect.
These, then, are the major components of the anarchist social vi si on
a society i n which all people are respected equally and mutually, in the
sexual as well as the economic and political realms, a society organized
around people' s contributions to the ongoing life of the community, i n
which there are no rel ations of domination and subordination and in which
deci si ons must be made by all and acceptabl e to all . But how i s that soci
ety to be achi eved? How are the "new anarchist man and woman" to be
created?
Revol utionary Transformati on: Consistency of Means and Ends
Recognizing the social construction of relations of domination and
subordination is, of course, not the same as changing them. The complex
ities of the anachist perspective on revolutionary change become clear
when we examine the attempts of Spani sh anarchists to deal with over
coming subordination in general and the subordination of women in par
ticul ar. How would it come about that self-interested, disempowered peo
ple-and anarchists were quick to admit that people living in capitalist
societies were hardly immune to the self-interest that those social and eco
nomic arangements reinforce-would come both to recognize their own
capacities and to direct their attentions to the needs of others? How were
people to achieve the inner emancipation that woul d enable them to rec
ognize their own worth and demand recognition from the l arger soci ety?
How would they develop a sense of justice appropri ate to living in an egal
itarian society? And how would such a society generate continued com
mitment to its values? More specifcally, if women' s subordination is a
product of social institutions, and if social institutions disempower those
who would attempt to overthrow them, how are those institutions to be
changed?
One of the defning characteristics of the communalist-anarchist tradi
tion is the insistence that means must be consistent with ends. If the goal
of revolutionary struggle is a nonhierarchical egalitarian society, then it
must be created through the activities of a nonhierarchical movement.
Otherwise, participants will never be empowered to act independently, and
those who lead the movement will direct the postrevolutionary society. In
the words of one participant in the civil war experience, "a la libertad s610
se llega por caminos libertarios" Lone only achieves freedom through lib
ertarian means] . 53 As Kropotkin had written about the dilemmas of parl i a
mentary socialists, "You thought you would conquer the State, but the
State will end up conquering yoU."54
But where existing practices di sempower people, how are they to
become empowered? The anarchist commitment to an egalitarian, non
hierarchical revolutionary process seems to require that people recognize
their own abilities in order to participate. Successful anarchist revolution
apparently depends on the prior achievement of what is perhaps the most
complex aim of the revolutionary movement itself: popular empowerment.
The solution to this paradox is to be found in anarchist understandings
of the revolutionary process. People are expected to prepare themselves for
revolution (and for living in a communitarian society) by participating in
54
Mart ha A. Ackel sberg
acti vi ti es and practices that are themsel ves egal i tari an, empoweri ng, and
therefore transformative. There can be no hierarchy structured i nto the
process of social change. The way to create a new soci ety i s to create new
real ity.
Di rect Acti on
We can hest understand the Spani sh anarchi st perspective on empow
erment and the process of consci ousness-change hy exami ni ng thei r com
mi tment to decentral i sm and "di rect acti on." Decentrali sm referred to an
i nsi stence that revol ution must be, at i ts core, a local phenomenon, grow
i ng out of the concrete reali ti es of peopl e' s day-to-day l i ves. A revol ution
ary movement devel ops from peopl e' s struggles to overcome thei r own
subordi nati on, and it must speak to the parti cul ariti es of thei r si tuati on.
Thus, as we wi l l see, one i mportant new i nstituti on that Spani sh anarchi sts
created was the ateneo l i bertari o ( storefront cultural center), which served
as a school , a recreati onal group, and gatheri ng place for worki ng-class
young peopl e i n the years precedi ng the war. As Enri queta Rovira
expl ai ned, describing one such group,
We were in a group call ed Sol y Vida [sun and life] with both boys and
girl s . . . We did theater pieces, gymnastics, went on trips to the mountains,
to the sea . . . It was both a cultural and a recreational group . . . There was
always a l ittle [educational ] talk of some sort. And in that way, ideas got
stirred up, they created a sense of being compaieros and compaieras.
True, people went to union meetings and the like, hut rel ations within our
group were more mtlmate, the expl anations more extensive. That ' s where
we were formed, most deepl y, ideologically.
55
Di rect action meant that the goal of any and all of these activities was
to provide ways for people to get in touch with their own powers and
capacities, to take back the power of naming themselves and thei r l i ves. It
was to be disti ngui shed from more conventional poli ti cal activi ty even in a
democratic system. 56 Instead of attempting to make change by forming
interest groups to pressure politicians, anarchists i nsi sted that we l earn to
think and act for ourselves by joi ning together in organizati ons in which
our experience, our perception, and our activity can gui de and make the
change. 57 Knowledge does not precede experience, it fows from it: "We
begin by deciding to work, and through working, we l ear . . . We will lear
how to live in libertarian communism by l iving in it. "5 People learn how
to be free only by exerci sing freedom: "We ae not going to fnd our-
Free Women of Spai Q 55
selves . . . with people ready-made for the future . . . Without the continued
exercise of their faculties, there will be no free people . . . The exteral rev
olution and the interal revolution presuppose one another, and they must
be simultaneous in order to be successful ."59
Direct action activities that arose from day-to-day needs and experi
ences represented ways in which people could take control of their lives.
As feminists have learned, whether through consciousness-raising groups
or in community organizing, participation in such activities would have
both internal and exteral effects, allowing people to develop a sense of
competence and self-confdence while they acted to change their situation.
Engagement of thi s sort empowered people and fortifed them to act
together again. Soledad described the efcts of active participation in the
movement on her life and on her friends: "It was an incredibl e life, the life
of a young militant. A life dedicated to struggle, to knowledge, to remak
ing society. It was characterized by a kind of effervescence . . . It was a very
beautiful youth, of camaraderie .. .! was always involved in strikes and
actions, anywhere. We lived on very little . . . The men and boys eared
somewhat more than we did-but we didn' t really resent it. . . Someti mes, i t
seemed we lived on air alone."6o The sense of empowerment was also clear
in Enriqueta' s recollections : "For the love of those campaferos, and that
vision so strong, we would have battled with the Virgin Mary herself! "6 1
Further, direct action not only empowered those who patticipated in it,
it also had affects on others through what anarchists termed "propaganda
by the deed." Ofen, that term meant bomb-throwing, assassination
attempts, and the like. It had another meaning, however, refering to a kind
of exemplary action that attracted adherents by the power of the positive
example it set. Contemporary examples of propaganda by the deed i nclude
food or day-care coops, collectively run businesses, sweat equity housing
programs, women' s self-help health collectives, urban squats, or women' s
peace camps. While such activities empower those who engage i n them,
they also demonstrate t o others that non-hierarchical forms of organization
can and do exist-and that they can function effectively.
Obviously, if such actions are to have the desired empowerment
efcts, they must be largely self-generated, rather than being devised and
directed from above. Hence, the anarchist commitment to a strategy of
"spontaneous organi zation," noncoercive federations of local groups . The
aim was to achieve order without coercion by means of what we might call
"federative networking," which brought together representatives of local
groups (unions, neighborhood associations, consumer coops, or the like) .
The crucial point was that neither the individual groups nor the larger
56 Martha A. Ackei sberg
coordi nati ng body could cl ai m to speak or act for others. Ideal l y, they
woul d be more forums for di scussi on than di rective organi zations.
Spontaneous organi zation would demonstrate i n practice that those who
had experienced oppressi on were sti l l capabl e of rati onal thought and
acti on, abl e to come to know what thei r needs were and to develop ways
to meet them. 62
Preparati on
Final l y, and most i mportant, di rect action coul d take pl ace onl y wi thi n
a context of "preparation." In the words of Federica Montseny, "Una rev
ol uci 6n no se i mprovi sa" (one doesn' t i mprovise a revoluti on) . o. Although
al l peopl e had within them a sense of equal i ty and j ustice based in thei r
part i ci pati on in social rel ati onshi ps, that almost i nsti nctive sense was
i nsufcient to lead to revolutionary acti on. Preparation was necessary both
to poi nt out to people the communal nature and context of thei r pl i ght and
to enable thcm to recogni ze the possi bi l i ti es of their col l ective acti on.
Without such preparation, "revolution" woul d l ead onl y to the rei nstitution
of authority in new forms. In fact, many anarchi sts, wri ti ng in the years j ust
afer the Russi an Revol ution, pointed to the USSR as a negative example
of how hierarchy was easily rei mposed in the absence of sufcient prepa
rati on. M
However paradoxical i t may seem, people must be prepared to act
spontaneously on their own behalf. Along with Marx, anarchists beli eved
that the best preparation, the best technique for what we (al l cnmi nns
ness-raising, was action. "Capital i sm is morall y wounded, but its agony
wi ll be prolonged until we are ready to substitute for i t successfully. And
we will not achieve that by pretty-sounding phrases, but by demonstrating
our constrctive and organizing capacity."65 People would develop a criti
cal , revolutionary consciousness through refection on the concrete reali
ties of their lives-a refection ofen sparked by their own and others'
activities. 66
Attention to the paricular needs and situation of women, and to the
activities of Mujeres Libres, can help to explicate the multidimensional
nature of thi s understanding of the process of consciousness-change and to
highlight its relevance to many contemporary debates. I noted above that
Spani sh anarchists argued that one important context for preparation was
participation in working-class organizations, particul arly unions. Yet, fol
lowing Bakunin and breaking with Marx, they had also insi sted that urban
57
industrial workers were not the only people capable of coming to a revo
lutionary consciousness. Rural peasants and members of the urban petit
bourgeoisie, as well as industrial workers, could develop a consciousness
of their own oppression and j oin in a revolutionary movementY Many
women, in particular, criticized the emphasis of the movement on the male
urban industrial proletariat. Emma Goldman, for example, who was to be
quite active in support both of the Spanish revolution and of Muj eres
Libres, had earlier argued that "anarchists agree that the main evil today is
an economic one," but as she pointed out, "they maintain that the solution
of the evil can be brought about only through the considerati on of ever
phase of life, the individual, as well as the collective; the internal, as well
as the exteral phases ."68 It was most obviously true for women, but also
true for men, that the workplace i s not the only context for relationships of
domination, nor i s it therefore the only potential context fr consciousness
-change and empowerment. A fully articulated movement must transform
all hierarchical institutions, including government, religious i nstitutions,
and-perhaps most dramatically for women-sexuality and family life.
Preparation, then, could and must take place in a variety of social con
texts, in addition to the economic. Both Enriqueta and Azucena spoke of
imbibing anarchist perspectives more or less unconsciously "with our
mother' s mi lk":
My mother taught us anarchism . . . almost like a religious person teaches
religion to her children-but without imposing it on us, as the religious
one does . . . whether by her actions, by her way of expressing herself, and
by always saying that they hoped for, longed for, anarchi sm . . . It's almost
as if she didn' t teach them, we lived them, were bor with them, we
leaed them as you would lear to sew or to eat.
69
For those who became part of the movement later in life, the learning
process was obviously a different one. Pepita Carena, for example, was
introduced to the ideas by union organizers who frequented young people' s
social gatherings i n hopes of attracting young adherents to the cause.
Soledad Estorach, who was to be very active both in the CNT and in
Mujeres Libres in Barcelona, gained much of her initial infrmation about
"anarchist communists" by reading newspapers and magazines .
Anarchists had long recognized the interdependence of educational
practices; narrowly defned, and participation in ongoing institutions,
where social approval and disapproval provided continuing mechanisms of
social contro1. 70 Proudhon' s notion of "imminent j ustice"-the claim that
we develop a conception of justice through our relationships with other
people-was taken up directly by a number of Spanish anarchist writers.
58
Mel l a argued that the onl y proper regulator of soci ety i s the sense of
j ustice, whi ch people l earn through thei r parti ci pati on i n i nstituti ons that
recogni ze and val i date thei r own worth and the equal worth of others. The
col lective feel i ng that develops out of such partici pation would translate
i nto a sense of j ustice more powerful and permanent than any i mposed on
people by church or state. 7 l "To practice j ustice," Proudhon had i nsi sted,
"is to obey the social i nsti nct. " It is through our patters of i nieraction with
one another that we l earn and experi ence both who we and others are and
what justice i s. The best and most efTective educati onal system therefore i s
soci ety itself. ?2
Another major factor operative in the devel opment of a sense of j ustice
is publ i c opi ni on, what Mel l a referred to as "moral coerci on" [coacci6n
moral ] . Our moral sense develops out of the " exchange of reci procal i ntu
ences," whi ch, although it may come i ni tial l y from outsi de oursel ves,
eventual l y i s taken i n as a sense of j ustice and becomes the basi s for our
own self-regul ati on. A wel l -ordered egal i tarian soci ety, left to itself, wi l l
generate people with the proper sense of j ustice; anyone who seems l ack
i ng in such a sense will be held i n check by the opi ni ons of others. Over
ti me, those opi ni ons will have an educative effect; public opi ni on wi ll be
i nternal ized, as consci ence. 73
The goal of anarchi sts, then, was to el i mi nate those i nstitutions-for
example, church, state, j udges and courts-which i mpeded the develop
ment of such a moral sense by taking over the responsibility of looki ng
afer others and oneself. Once such authorities were eliminated, reciproci
t y would become a norm of acti on; simply living i n the community-par
ticipating in i ts activiti es, in the context of an open educational system. and
in communal ownershi p and disposition of property-would be suffcient
to foster and safeguard the development of the individual ' s sense of j ustice,
in turn necessary to sustain the community.
The complexities of this posi ti on are revealed quite clearly when we
look specifcally at efforts to address women' s subordination and empow
erment. Both those who emphasized a union-based strategy and those who
insisted on the broader cultural components of women' s subordination rec
ognized that women were devalued and di sempowered, culturall y and eco
nomically. Both accepted the perspective that means and ends are inti
mately connected. But how were those principles and perspectives to be
realized in practice? How were women in early twentieth-century Spain,
who thought of themselves (and were vi ewed by others) as dependent on
men, to begin behaving in ways that developed their own sense of compe
tence and capacity?
||OO YO|O| | 59
These questions are, of course, crucial ones for any would-be revolu
tionary movement, since a sense of one' s own capacities and powers i s pre
cisely what oppressors attempt to deny to the oppressed. But even agree
ment on the importance of the perspective did not guarantee unanimity on
its implications for practice. In fact, the question of how best to address
and challenge the subordination of working-class women within Spanish
society was never effectively resolved within the anarcho- syndicalist
movement. Muj eres Libres was created precisely because of a disagree
ment among movement activi sts about how to achieve that empowerment.
The i ssues were pl ayed out quite dramatically during the course of
interviews I was conducting in 1 98 1 . A group of former activists were
meeting and reminiscing about their years in the CNT and FUL. After
some discussion of the role of the FIJL and ateneos in opening the minds
of young people to new ideas in the twenties and thirties, the conversation
turned to the liberation of women. Two different but strongly held posi
tions were put forwad. One was articulated by a man who identifed him
self as a strong supporter of women' s emancipation, who was quite articu
late about the ways in which even anarchi st men tended to take for grant
ed their compaferas ' subordination to them. He argued that, precisely
because of women' s cultural subordination, anachi st men had a responsi
bility to take the lead in changing these patterns. Women' s taking paid j obs
would not be suffcient: "There are too many men whose wives work and
who still do all the housework." Afer so many years of sociali zation,
women were all too ready to accept traditional roles. Men, who have the
understanding and the sense of their own capacities, he insi sted, must take
the initiative and encourage their compaferas towards greater self-direc
tion and autonomy.
Another position was articulated by a woman who had been an activist
in the luventudes during the thirties and whose life had been fundamental
ly changed through her participati on in it. She, too, was committed to the
liberation of women. But she strongly opposed her compafero' s i nsistence
that it was up to men to take the initiative. She argued that his focus on
what contemporary feminists call "the politics of housework"74 was mis
placed. The basic problem, she insisted, was not who washes the dishes or
cleans the house, but that a woman be able to go where she pleases and say
what she pleases. The root of women' s subordination was ignorance. I n her
words, "toda mujer que se cultura un poco desarolla armas" [every woman
who gains some culture (educates herself develops weapons] . "What mat
ters to me is that a woman be able to open her mouth. It is not a question
60
of cl eani ng plates." Whi l e her i nterlocutor i nsi sted that a woman' s respon
si bi l i ty for al l the housework and for t he fami l y would prevent her from
partici pati ng ful l y in communal acti vi ti es, thi s woman i nsi sted that "goi ng
t o meeti ngs i s not the i ssue. Goi ng to meeti ngs i s a ki nd of sport. What i s
i mportant i s work and reading."75
It soon became clear that the fundamental issue between them was not
the pri macy of work, readi ng, or housework. It was i ni ti aiive. Whi le he
i nsisted that, gi ven the weight of cul tural subordi nati on that women had to
bear, the i ni ti ati ve would have to come from men, she i nsi sted that "a com
panero never ought to say to a woman, ' l i berate yourself, and I ' l l hel p you. '
A woman has O l i berate herself, i t' s all right for men to help, but the ini
tiative must come from the woman. It must be her i ssue."
That the debate sounds so contemporary should not be surpri sing. It
was taki ng pl ace among people who, whi l e they di d not grow up wi th the
contemporary femi nist movement, had obviousl y been infuenced by i t.
Neverthel ess, the i ssues they rai sed and the parti cul ar ways i n whi ch they
di scussed them echoed the written debates of the early part of thi s centu
ry. In 1 903, Jose Prat had urged women to take responsi bi l ity for their own
emanci pati on. Some years l ater, Federica Montseny had i nsi sted that one
way for women to work toward the abolition of the sexual double standard
was for them to take themselves seriously, to stand up and puni sh the men
who had seduced and abandoned them, rather than to cower in shame. And
Soledad Gustavo, echoing Emma Goldman' s claims about i nternal eman
ci pati on, i nsi sted that i f there were to be a new order of sexual equal ity,
women would have to "demonstrate by their deeds that they think, are
capable of conceiving ideas, of grasping principl es, of striving for enos ."76
' lhe question they were all addressi ng was preci sely that of empower
ment and the overcoming of subordination: how best to accomplish them
consistent with a commitment to recognize both the impact of cultural con
ditioning and the potential for autonomy of each person. Nevertheless, the
question of the signifcance of women' s subordination and of its place
within the anarchist proj ect was far from resolved, whether in the theoret
ical writings of Spanish anarchists or, as we shall see, in the activities of
the movement. Debates continued within the movement throughout the
1 930s and led ultimately to the founding of Mueres Libres.
"
COMMUNI TY MOBI LI ZATI ON AND UNI ON ORGANI ZATI ON
Women and the Spanish Anarchist Movement
The years from 1 868 t o 1 936 served as preparation for the social revol u
tion that broke out in response to the generals' rebellion against the
Spanish Republic in July 1 936. The struggles that took place during those
years changed the face of Spanish society and politics, as well as the con
sciousness and self-perception of the thousands of people who parti cipat
ed in them. As Spanish anarchists themsel ves have been quick to point out,
revolutions do not spring up out of nowhere; they require a strong and
broad base. Organizationally, that base was set during the seventy years
beginning in 1 868, the year in which anarchism was offcially introduced
into Spain.
A number of studies of anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism in Spain
have argued that the successful uniting of "collectivi st" and "communist"
("reformi st" and "revolutionary") tendencies into anarcho-syndicalism
during the period 1 9 1 0-1 9 1 9 marks the great creative achievement of the
movement and its single most important contribution to the history of
social-revolutionary anarchism. I Yet, while the resolution of tensions
between these two seemingly contradictory perspectives was surely one
important achievement of that movement, I wish to focus here on the
recognition that effective revolutionary organizing must involve more than
workers organized into unions at their workplaces . In a country with an
economy and society as diverse as that of late nineteenth- and early twen
tieth-century Spain, a movement for social change had to bridge the dif
ferences between industrial and rural laborers ; the organized and the unor
ganized, men and women, and reach into many areas of people' s daily
experiences . It is that recognition-even more than the strategic compro
mises it was able to forge-which marked the success of the Spanish lib
ertarian movement. Its exploration helps us to comprehend both the role of
6 1
62
|O|I|O /. /C<O| OO|_
women wi thi n the movement and the founding of Mujeres Libres as a sep
arate organi zati on.
By the ti me of the Ci vi l War, anarchist acti vi sts had created a vast and
complex network of programs and organizati ons uni quely structured to
meet the particul ar needs of widely di ffering groups within the Spani sh
worki ng class. In February 1 936, the CNT boasted a membership of
approxi matel y 850, 000 members, organi zed i n non-hi erarchi cally struc
tured uni ons, federated both by i ndustry and by regi on. [See Appendi x A. ]
I t s uni que combi nati on of revoluti onary goal s and somewhat "reformi st"
tacti cs enabled i t to sustai n a vast membershi p whi l e retai ni ng a strong rev
ol uti onary character. On the other hand, the movement as a whol e did not
l i mi t itsel f to union organizing in the narrow sense. During thi s same peri
od, it was supporti ng and developi ng educational programs for both adul ts
and young people, which i ncl uded a network of storefront school s and cul
t ural centers, a broad-based national youth organi zation, and journal s and
newspapers that made anarchi st cri tical perspecti ves on cul ture, pol i ti cs,
and soci al i ssues avai l abl e to l arge numbers of people throughout the coun
try.
The vari ety of those programs and organi zati ons al l owed the move
ment to speak to and from the experiences of vastly differing groups of
peopl e: from urban i ndustrial wage laborers to rural day-laborers, the
unemployed, housewives, domestic workers, and even children. While I
cannot possibly provi de a detai led hi story of the movement during thi s
period; J wi sh to trace the broad outl i nes of the development of the various
sources of activi sm. My aim is to expl ore, in particular, how the Spani sh
anarchist movement establi shed roots in what we would now term com
mumty, as well as in workplace organi zing, and to examine the i mplica
tions for women and marginal workers of thi s broad-based organi zing
strategy.
Precursors: Regi onal i sm, Col l ectivism, and Protest
In her study of the development of the anarchist movement in rural
Andal usia, Temma Kapl an argues that the effectiveness of the movement
depended on its success in engaging entire communities of people (includ
ing women), rather than just male wage-laborers, in protest actions. The
communal strategy allowed the movement to engage those whose lives
were not defned primarily by the context of paid work: "Unions could
improve the conditions of their own members, but did not appreciably alter
63
the lives of the people outside."2 In a recent study of the development of
anarchist ideology in Spai n, George Esenwein takes i ssue with this claim
that anarcho-collectivists (those who advocated a union-based vision of
anarchism) were necessarily unresponsive to the needs and concerns of
nonproducers . He asserts, to the contrary, that collectivists did make pro
vi sions for nonworkers in various proposals for sharing the wealth.
Although I tend to agree with Kaplan that a communal perspective offered
a broader basis for popular mobilization than a union-based one, my con
cern here i s to emphasize the signifcance of organizational strategies that
extended beyond the work-place, narrowly construed. Esenwein effective
ly seems to grant this point, both in his discussion of "anarchist associ a
tional life" and in hi s analysis of the move to overcome these divi sions
through what was referred to as "anarchism without adj ectives."3
Of course, the patters of work, community, and protest varied wi th
local conditions, particularly as between rural Andalusia and the more
urban industrial citi es and towns of Catalonia, where anarcho-syndicalism
also was to establish strong roots. Nevertheless, in urban areas as well, the
movement encompassed nonunion as well as union-based elements. To
understand the success of communalist anarchism in Spain, it i s i mportant
to examine the traditions of localism and of collective/communal action
that provided a context for the movement.
Attachment to village and to region had been a feature of Spanish pol
itics for generations. Regionalism was given further impetus with the intro
duction of utopian socialism during the 1 830s and 1 840s, and the federal
i st-republican agitation of the 1 860s and 1 870s. Local and regional senti
ments were supported by (if not rooted in) signifcant economic differ
ences. Patters of land tenure differed substantially from one region to
another and contributed to the sense of disconnection among the parts. 4 In
the souther regions of Andalusia and Extremadura, for example, the dom
inant form of landholding was the latindio, a farm of thousands of acres,
worked by brcers, day laborers who constituted the Spanish rural prole
tariat. By contrast, the average landholding in Galicia, in the northwest
corner, was tiny-ofen of one hectare or less. Only in Cataloni a and in the
Basque provinces of Alava and Navarra did middle-sized holdings (of ten
to one hundred hectares) predominate and make a signifcant contribution
to agricultural income. 5
By the end of the eighteenth century, much of rural Spain was domi
nated by large entailed holdings, ecclesiastical and civil, creating a rural
population sharply divided into two classes, "an oligarchy of large proper
ty-owners . . . and a great mass of impoveri shed peasants."6 Both the concen-
64
tration of agrarian wealth and the devastations of rural poverty were
marked i n Andal usi a. In Sevi l l a, for exampl e, nobl e hol di ngs constituted
72 percent of the weal th in the "ki ngdom of Sevi l l e." Si x old sei gneurial
fami l i es owned l and representing approximatel y 90 percent of al l rural
hol di ngs in the provi nce. In Andal usi a as a whol e, two seigneurial houses
had holdings worth 48. 85 percent of the total of al l l atifndial wealth in the
regi on. Feudal property relati ons were such that there was no i ncentive for
owners (many of whom were absentee l andl ords) to i ncrease the amount of
l and under cul ti vation or to i mprove production techniques . 7
The Napoleonic Wars and the l oss of col oni al markets i n the Americas
proved di sastrous to thi s system, however, and a small commerci al and
i ndustrial bourgeoi si e came i ncreasi ngl y to press for reforms to al l ow for
agri cul tural development. When l iberal s came to power in 1 835. they i nsti
tuted a series of agrarian reforms meant to rai se money for the government
and to i ncrease the economic producti vi ty of the country by sel l i ng l and to
those who would be more active in its management. Legi sl ation i n 1 837
di sentai l ed the holdings of the church and vi l l age counci l s, putting them up
for sale on the open market. It also abol i shed mayorzgo (primogeniture),
openi ng the property of the nobi l ity to the market.
In Andal usi a and Extremadura, the results of the reform efforts were
mi xed, at best. The eccl esi astical di sentai l ment earned the regime the l ast
ing enmity of the church, while actually worsening the situation for many
peasants and small landholders. x Furthermore, the di sentail ment came
nowhere near transforming the countryside in the sense hoped for by the
reformers. The largely landless rural laborers had no money to buy these
parcels. Instead, they were purchased either by those who had nrevi ousl y
held them under seigneurial rights or by a group of "new nobles," men who
had made thei r money i n commerce and who were rewarded with titles by
the new regime. In effect, the reforms transformed seigneurs i nto capital
i sts, i ncreased property concentration, and led to the expul sion of peasants
from lands they had traditionally cultivated as well as the consequent pro
letarianization of the displaced population. Although the formal structures
of land tenure changed. the actual patters of landholding changed little, if
at all . The l iberal revolution in agriCUlture succeeded only in establi shing
new class inequalities. 9
The effects of the reforms were similar elsewhere. In Aragon, Susan
Harding has argued, the reforms establi shed the control of caciques (local
bosses) over l ocal politics, "stalling the development of capital -i ntensive
agriculture in the countryside," and l i miting the abi lity of the national gov
ernment to support the modernization of agriculture.
t o
On the other hand,
Susan Tax Freeman found different efcts i n the vill age she studied i n
Castile. Although initially the reforms concentrated property in the hands
of a single man, the release of the peasant farmers from the burdens of
tithing and frst fruits allowed them to accumulate some surplus and, ulti
mately, to buy land themselves. Nevertheless, the relative equality that
characterized that village was unusual in the broader Spanish context.
I I
Uneven economic development compounded the tensions over land
redi stribution. The Spanish economy remained largely agrarian until well
after the Civil War, though there were pockets of industrialization. 1
2
By the
tum of the century, Catalonia could claim large numbers of texti le work
ers, almost 40 percent of whom were women. 1 3 Te other major industri
alizing region was Asturias, the center of coal mining. Finance was cen
tered in Madrid and Vizcaya, and in the l arge cities and towns of many of
the central and norther provinces there was a small middle class, com
posed of tradesmen, teachers, Lawyers, doctors, and bureaucrats.
Cl ass differences were extreme. They were perhaps most dramatic in
the South. In lower Andalusia, for example, many l aborers lived in urban
agglomerations of roughly ffteen to twenty thousand inhabitants. An over
whelming maj ority had no land of their own: men did day or weekly l abor
(when work was available) at meager wages in the surrounding felds and
many women worked as domestic servants. Diets were barely adequate,
with the maj ority of calories supplied by oil and bread. The average work
er was severely undernourished. 1 4 Many kept themselves from starving by
poaching, gathering wood, or burning charcoal to sell on the market. The
situation was worsened by the midcentury reforms, which denied peasants
the use of common lands at a time when many church-related charitable
institutions had ceased to exist. l s
Living and working conditions i n industrial areas were only marginal
ly better. At midcentury, for example, approximately half of the average
Barcelona industrial worker' s wages were spent on food and half of that
went to bread. Meat was virtually absent from the diet. In the Catalan tex
tile industry, according to an 1 892 report, the average worker l abored
twelve to ffeen hours per day in a poorly ventilated, poorly lit, overly hot
room. Approximately 40 to 45 percent of the workers were men, an equal
number were women, and the remaining I O ta 20 percent were children,
many of whom had begun working at age six or seven. The average life
expectancy for a worker was half that for a man of the "wealthy class."1 6
With the shif to more moder industrial techniques, cl ass tensions were
increasingly unmediated by local pateralist traditions. 1 7
There were al so sharp gender divi sions. In all but the most advanced
industrial areas (and, to a considerable degree, even there), men and
66
|O|I|O /. /CrO| OO|Q
women l ived al most entirel y separate l ives . Most women were economi
cal l y dependent on men (whether thei r fathers or thei r husbands), their
l i ves ci rcumscri bed within the l arger domestic arena-though it should be
noted that their identifcation wi th the domestic arena did not mean that
they did not engage in labor. Rural women had responsi bili ty for the huer
fa (the fami l y agri cul tural plot, which produced vegetables for home con
sumpti on) , even though their l abors werc usual l y not acknowledged as
work. In i ndustrial areas, i ncreasi ng numbers of si ngl e worki ng-cl ass
women worked for pay either as domesti cs or i n textiles ( some i n factori es,
most as outworkers i n their own homes) . Agai n, they worked for extreme
l y l ow wages . I X Most women' s soci al ci rcles consi sted of other women:
fami l y members, neighbors, fellow workers, or those they met at the mar
ket pl ace. Men, conversely, tended to operate in a largel y mal e world,
whether i n the factory, at union meeti ngs, or in local bars.
I l l i teracy compounded both cl ass and gender di vi si ons. In rural areas,
i n parti cul ar, very few schools were avai labl e. Ol i garchical authori ties
feared the potenti al radicali zi ng affects of education, treati ng "any effort at
spreadi ng cul ture as something demoni c." I n 1 860, for exampl e, 84 percent
of the popul ation in the provi nce of Sevi l l e, 79 percent in Cadi z, and 83
percent i n Huelva were i l l i terate. I' Even when school s were avai labl e, few
poor fami l i es could afford to send their children, and if a child did attend,
i t was usually a boy. In 1 878, only 9. 6 percent of all Spani sh women could
read, and as l ate as 1 900, women' s illiteracy stood at 7 1 percent. 20 Illi teracy
added to the diffculties that women of all classes experienced in control
l ing conception or caring for children. 2 1
Clearly, successful organizing would have to respond to thi s econom
IC, cultural, and political diversi ty. Anarchi st perspectives-the commit
ment to direct action and spontaneous organization, and the recognition
that organi zation ought to fow from, and speak to, people' s fel t needs
were especially well suited to thi s task. But anarchist organizers were also
able to draw on collectivi st traditions, which had l ong fouri shed in Spain.
Agrarian collectivism is characterized by a bel i ef that ( i n the words of
Joaquin Costa, its preeminent scholar) "individual property cannot legiti
mately apply except to those goods which are the product of indivi dual
effort; since l and i s the work of Nature, it cannot legi timately be appropri
ated."22 Evidence of such beliefs and of intellectual and rel i gious traditions
supporti ng them can be found in Spain as early as the sixteenth century.
For the next three centuries, the Spani sh countryside was the scene of peri
odic uprisings of varyi ng intensi ties and degrees of organization, demand
ing reli ef from poverty and land redistribution. By the mid-nineteenth cen-
|OO YO|O| O
|
" 67
tury, in the afermath of the dislocations resulting from the di sentailment,
both social banditry and popular revolts increased, while taking on a more
explicitly political tone. 23 Although some commentators have dismissed
these revolts as "spontaneous," "millenarian," and "prepolitical ,"24 Bernal
argues that they represented peasant resistance to the changes resulting
from the midcentury reforms and that this resi stance-which initially took
the form merely of di sputing what they perceived as the "usuration" of
common lands-eventually turned into direct action to occupy the l ands
they felt should rightfully be theirs. In his estimation, 1 857 marked the
important beginnings of a working-class consciousnes s . 25
The agricultural crisis of the 1 850s and 1 860s shook the countryside
with hunger and unemployment through the winter and spring of 1 868.
This, i n tur, provided a backdrop to a bourgeois revolution against the
monarchy of Isabel II. Peasants and day laborers j oined in the republican
enthusiasm, attempting to turn the process into a social as well as pol itical
revolution and demanding redistribution of the land. Municipal revolution
ary councils refused to back these demands, however, and the social revo
lution was suppressed. When Bakunin' s emissary, Giuseppi Fanelli,
arrived in Spain in 1 868 carrying the anarchi st message, he found fertile
soil for his ideas among the craftspeople and day-laborers of Andalusia.
Anarchi sm, Anarcho- Syndi cal i sm, and Popul ar Mobi l izati on
Formal anarchist organizing in Spain began with Fanelli ' s arrival i n
October 1 868. During the l ast quarter of the nineteenth and the frst quar
ter of the twentieth centuries, Spani sh anarchi sm grew into a mass-based
popular movement, virtually the only one of its kind in the world.
Fanelli ' s visit coincided with the excitement generated by the
September 1 868 revolution and the disappointment of landles s southern
workers over the failure of the Constituent Cortes to redistribute land in
1 869. The tale of Fanel li ' s arrival and initial tour through Spain makes a
fascinating story, one that quickly became pat of the folklore of the
movement. 26 Fanelli went to Spain as a representative of a Bakuninist fac
tion within the Interational Workingman' s Association; thus, the "social
ism" he introduced into Spain in ] 868 was what came to be known as col
lectivi st anarchism. Marxist socialism was not introduced into Spain until
two years later, and it never caught on as strongly, at least not with work
ers in Barcelona or Andalucia. 27
68 Mart ha A. Ackel sberg
In Andalusia, the ideas Fanel l i brought provi ded l anguage and i mages
for the transformati on of the braceros ' yeari ng for l and i nto a more com
pl ete pol i ti cal vision. In Barcel ona and Madrid, he met wi th members of
worki ng-cl ass and arti san cl ubs, whi ch represented i nci pient worki ng-cl ass
organizati ons. The fai l ure of the 1 868 revol uti on spurred these groups to
become i ndependent of republ i cani sm and to adopt a more expl i ci tl y
anti pol i ti cal stanct. 2H In June 1 870, the Spani sh Regi onal Federati un of the
I nternational Workingman' s Associ ati on was formed, marki ng the formal
begi nni ng of the anarchi st movement in Spai n.
The goal of the association was si mpl y stated by Rafael Farga Pel l icer:
"We desi re that the power of capital , the state, and the church be ended, so
that we can construct, on the rui ns, anarchy, the free federation of free
workers' associati ons ."29 The congress committed i tsel f to a strategy of
syndi cate-based resi stance (i . e. , usi ng the strike as a weapon agai nst
empl oyers) , sol idarity across uni on l i nes, federal i sm, and rejection of
pol i t ical acti on. It adopted the pol i cy that came to be known as "anarcho
col l ecti vi s m," a faith in organi zed workers to overthrow government by
force of arms . ,1)
But the di versi ty of Spani sh soci ety was refected in a l ack of uni ty
wi thi n the organi zation itself: the new poli ci es were i nterpreted vari ousl y
by different groups and in different regi ons of the country. Catal an work
ers, for exampl e, were the l argest regi onal group by far and the onl y organ
ized group of i ndustri al workers. Whi l e they gave expli ci t allegi ance to
revoluti onary goal s, most tended to be reformi st i n practice ( i . e. , focusi ng
on the day-to-day concerns of workers) , and concentrated their efforts on
organi zi ng in and withi n uni ons . I n rural Andal usi a, skiled workers tend
ed to be anarcho-coJiectivi sts because, as Kaplan suggests, the collectivi st
program "promi sed economies gained from collective l abor, but i ndi vi dual
union ownership of whatever was produced." Among the unski l l ed and
unemployed, the preference was for "anarcho-communism," which dif
fered from anarcho-collectivi sm i n its more communal orientation, "Not
only would there be collective ownershi p of all productive resources, but
also common ownership of everything produced. Each person, whether
worker or housewife, healthy or i nfrm, young or old, should have what
ever he or she needed from the common storehouse."31
These di ffering perspectives gave rise to important difrences i n strat
egy. Anarcho-collectivi sts understood the movement to be based in uni ons,
whi ch, because of the structure of the Spanish economy, were overwhelm
ingl y male and urban. On the other hand, anarcho-communists, who drew
on the tradition of "free communes," emphasized direct action tactics and
69
viewed their "potential constituency [as] the entire community of the poor,
including self-employed crafsmen, peasant tenants and small l andhol ders,
rral and urban proletai ans, housewives, chil dren, and the j obless ."32
By 1 888, the Spanish movement formally committed itself to anarcho
communism. The consequences of this tactical decision were mixed. On
the one hand, Temma Kaplan argues that it enabled the movement to unite
union-based organizing with community-based support and provided the
groundwork for what was later to be known as the unique Spani sh creati on,
"anarcho-syndicalism" :
By placing increased stress on workers' centers, coops, mutual aid asso
ciations, and women' s sections, collectivism and communism were able
to overcome the localism of the former and the willful dissociation of the
latter. . . The general strike, really a mass mobilization of the community,
could take advantage of the weight of numbers . . . enabling militant unions
and equally militant community people to march together against an
oppressive system
?
3
On the other hand, George Esenwein argues, the direct action strategy of
"propaganda by the deed"-a central tenet of the communi st anarchi sts
ofen proved disruptive to a more ordered associational life. 34
Both the philosophical diferences and their strategic implications con
tinued to be di scussed and debated over the ensuing decades. Meanwhi l e,
many of the ideas were spread through the rural countryside by a combi
nation of "propaganda by the deed" and by the work of dedicated anarchi st
militants, known as obrers conscientes. Among those traveling teachers
was Abelardo Saavedra, grandfather of Enriqueta and Azucena. Born in
Cadiz, around 1 864, of staunchly conservative parents, he "pickd up the
ideas" whi l e at the university. Azucena spoke proudly of the work her
grandfather did in the countryside:
He devoted himself to spreading the ideas. He thought to bring about the
revolution: not with a gun, but with culture. He wanted to bring culture
and education to thejoraleros lday-laborers] . 1t was what we would call
today a literacy campaign, like what Fidel de Castro [sic] is doing in
Cuba . . . But without a Christ to fund him . . . He went to the cortijos
always with the police right behind him, mind you !-and taught people
to read. He was always in and out of jail. Once he was jailed for three
days for gathering workers together to read.
Times were hard and any anarchi st was an easy target for punishment on
the slightest pretext:
The year Alfonso XIII married [ 1 906] my grandfather was exiled and my
father was put in j ail . . . Someone had thrown a bomb during the wedding,
70
Martha A. Ackelsberg
and that became the j ustifcation for a severe repressi on. After a year in
j ai l , my father, too, was exi l ed, and the whol e fami l y went to America
I Cuha l .
1'
The activities of these travel i ng teachers. together with activi sm and
strikes, hel ped to generate an ai r of expectancy and excitement i n the
Andal usi an countrysi de. Government repressi on forced the strikers and,
ul ti matel y, the movement underground unti i the First Wori d War. But anar
chi sts had succeeded in demonstrati ng the effectiveness of a strategy that
bui l t on people' s communal and nei ghborhood connections-developing
workers ' centers, storefront school s, and the li ke-and i nsi sted on the l i nk
ages between work and communi ty, workers and the poor, women and
Ien. 36
Compared to worki ng-class movements i n other western European
countri es, i ndustri al uni on acti vity i n Spai n was late, weak, and sl ow to
devel op. 17 The union acti vi ty that did exi st in Cataloni a was largely
reformi st i n character, seeking to i mprove wages and l i mi t hours.
Neverthel ess, as the syndical i st tactic of the revolutionary general stri ke
made its way i nto Spai n from France at the end of the century, reformi st
uni oni sm coexi sted wi th the tactic of the general stri ke, i n a pattern si mi
lar to that i n Andalusi a, Catalan general stri kes i ncorporated many people
besi des unioni zed factory workers, including si gnifcant numbers of
women. But in Cataloni a and to some extent in Madrid and Valencia, there
were also i ncreasi ng numbers of female workers wi th reputati ons for mi l
i tancy, particularly i n ci gar making and in textiles . 38 In textiles, for exam
ple, a rapi dly growing industry i n Catalonia at the tur of the centnry.
women consti tuted between 80 and 90 percent of the l abor force in many
Catalan communi ti es. Because of the rapi d growth of the industry, the
i mportance of female l abor withi n i t, and the small but growi ng unioni za
tion of those woman workers, two types of activi sm-uni on-based and
community-based-developed more or l ess simultaneously. 39
Recent scholarship challenges the belief that Spanish women were l ess
open than men to unioni zation. While Spain had a very low percentage of
women in the labor force compared to other major European countri es, and
although both men and women in Spain affliated with unions and partici
pated in strikes at rates considerabl y below those of thei r western European
brothers and sisters, factory-based Spanish female texti le workers readily
afliated with unions and partici pated in strikes at rates almost equal to
those of men. Occasi onally, managers were able to bring in (nonuni onized)
/ I
female workers as scabs at times of labor unrest, but there i s little evidence
that this was a common practice.40
Working conditions for industrial workers in Spain at the tur of the
century were poor, especially for women in the textile trades. A V !
report by a corps of labor i nspectors found that virtually all factories
empl oying women and children were operating illegally: the factori es were
"dirty, lacki ng ventilation and sun, located in the most unhealthy areas of
buildings, and with no regulation other than the arbitrary whim of the
owner."41 A ! V. law had reduced the maximum workday for women in
textiles to ten hours, but the report acknowledged that many women were
still forced to work for sixteen or more hours at a time. And all received
wages that could only be characterized as "wages of hunger," ofen less
than half of what male textile workers received for the same, or more dif
fcult, work.42
Despite the growing numbers of women workers, however, and the
generally acknowledged deplorable state in which they found themselves,
neither anarchists nor socialists were consistent i n addressing the concerns
of women workers or in supporting equality for women within uni ons.
Paralleling the debates about the role and status of women within the anar
chist movement, mid-nineteenth century Spanish utopian socialists had
exhibited ambiguous attitudes towards women' s equality and parti cipation.
Some argued that woman' s pl ace was in the home, educating children and
maintaining domestic tranquility. Others rejected the dominati on of men
over women even in the household, and agued that equality for women
would have to be won both at the workplace and in the hore. Over time,
concern for women workers was relegated to a secondary, if not tertiary,
status within Spanish socialist theory and practi ce. Socialists even went so
far as to argue at a party congress in ! ! -! .that women' s work ought
to be prohibited. 4} Nevertheless, beginning in ! O, Spanish Sociali st Party
(PSOE) pronouncements advocated a commitment to equality for
women-at least in the abstract-arguing that both the emancipation of
women and the emancipation of the working class required the incorpora
tion of women in the labor force on equal terms with men and the partici
pation by women in sociali st unions.
Independent activity by Spanish socialist women was relatively unsuc
cessful. As early as ! V, some denounced mal e dominance and chal
lenged the sexual division of labor, both in the household and in the paid
workplace. A number of socialist women' s groups were formed in Madrid
and Bilbao between ! V. and V. But those advocating the organization
of women along sex- specifc lines were never more than a tiny minority
/2
|O|I O ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
wi thi n the movement. F soci al i st women' s group, founded i n March 1 906
in Madri d, was incorporated as part of the PSOE in 1908 with 75 members,
and grew to oJ by 1 91 0. Neverthel ess, these women consti tuted a very
smal l percentage of the total membership of soci al i st unions or the PSOE
(75 out of 25,000 members of the Casa del Puebl o i n Madrid i n 1908, and
36 of 2,900 members of the PSOE in Madrid i n 1910) . 44
Even the rel atively moderate positi on of Vi rgi ni a Gonzalez-thal
women' s pri mary rol e was as "hel pmeet" to men and social i zer of the new
generat i on of soci al i st chi l dren-rarel y received a respectful heari ng wi th
i n social i st ci rcl es . Most soci al i sts, even those concerned wi th the oppres
si on of women workers , saw the sol ution sol el y i n syndical terms . I n gen
eral , soci al i sts were sl ow to addres s women' s i ssues and rel ativel y unsuc
cessful in attracting women mi li tants, whether to uni ons or to the party.45
Margarita Nelken, another Spani sh soci al ist who was to become a
deputy to the Cortes (the Spani sh parl iament), took a somewhat more mi l
itant positi on, argui ng that expl oitation of women workers hurt male work
ers as wel l as women. "Equal pay for equal work," she asserted, "as much
as it i s a femi nist maxi m, i s al so a princi pl e of defense for male workers."
She urged the party to undertake massi ve programs of educati on, as wel l
as i mprovements i n wages and working conditions for women, and to
organi ze women i nto unions so that, together wi th men, they could work
for the soci al transformation that all desired. 46 She lectured widel y, within
and outside the PSOE, developing, in efect, her own version of a sociali st
femi ni sm. But whi le the socialists eventuall y supported woman' s suffrage,
they never di rected the attention she fel t was necessary to overcome other
aspects of women' s subordination. They did not adopt equal pay, materni
ty l eave, or i mproved worki ng conditions for women as central goals of the
movement, and they never devoted serious attention to organizing women
workers . In the end, neither Nelken nor the socialists succeeded in making
"the greater participation of women a necessary part of the leftist struggle
to survive."47
Anarchi sts were somewhat more attentive to the particular needs of
women workers, a phenomenon probabl y not unrel ated to the fact that
women workers were most common in those areas where anarchi st unions
were strongest. In its 1881 congress, for exampl e, the Spanish Regional
Federation of the AfT declared that women "can exercise the same rights
and meet the same responsibilities as men."48 Anarchist congresses repeat
edly called for the unionization of women workers and for equal pay for
equal work. Nevertheless, as we have seen, there were al so anarchists who
viewed women more as revolutionary "helpmeets" than as active revol u-
73
tionaries. And although women actively j oined unions in the l ate nine
teenth century and may even have constituted a maj ority of members in
some textil e local s , they were rarely represented in the leadership. Teresa
Claramunt, one of the most famous anarchi st orators and organizers of the
period, complained in an article published in 1 89 1 that men insi sted on
running predominantly femaJe unions . . One result of her call for women
to take charge of their own uni ons was the formation in 1 89 1 of the
Agrupaci6n de Trabaj adoras de Barcelona (Barcelona women workers'
group) . Apparently, however, the group had little success in remedying the
situation, since men were sti l l representing women at the time of the La
Constancia strike i n 1 9 1 3.
While the organizing of women in unions was proceeding on the syn
dical front, neighborhood/community activism was given a boost with the
introduction into Catalonia (in 1 899-1 900) of the revolutionary general
strike. In May and December of 1 901 , workers and community people
effectively closed down Barcelona for brief periods. The frst real test of
the general strke in industrial Spain, however, came in February 1 902,
when a general strike in support of metall urgical workers mobilized thou
sands of workers and brought virtually all production in Barcelona to a halt
for a week. Signifcantly, the strike also engaged many women, both as
striking workers and in neighborhood-based demonstrations. This estab
li shed a patter of multifaceted women' s activi sm that was to be repeated
duri ng the next ffteen years of worker agitation in Barcelona, Madrid,
Val encia, and elsewhere. Teresa Cl aramunt was instrumental in the 1 902
strike, both as propagandist and as leader of women demonstrators. 5o
Over the next few years, the anarchi st movement in Catalonia devel
oped the strategy that provided a means to resolve the dilemma of syndi
calism vs. communalism, reformism vs. revolution: anarcho-syndicali sm. It
combined revolutionary (anarchist) perspectives with respect to long-term
goals with somewhat more reformist (syndicalist) strategies in the short
term. A new synthesis began to be articul ated as early as 1 907 with the
founding of the Federaci6n Barcelona de Solidaridad Obrera (Barcelona
Federation of Labor Solidarity), fol lowed in 1 908 by the Catalan Federation
of Solidaridad Obrera. In these organizations, workers j oined forces behind
a "revolutionary leadership, on the condition that it remain reformist in its
practice,"-i . e. , that i t not ignore the day-to-day j ob-related concers of
workers. Finall y, in October 1 91 0, the CNT was created. Its organizational
structure, as well as its ideology, combined revolutionary syndicali sm with
anarchist communism, establishing a strong revolutionay base for the
movement over the course of the next thirty years.5 1
At the same ti me, the new synthesi s l argel y neglected the more com
munal i st, di rect-action, and woman- i nvol vi ng strain of popular acti vi sm,
whi ch had been manifest throughout thi s peri od, most dramati cal l y during
the "Tragi c Week" i n Barcelona, July 26 to August 1 , 1 909. Cri sti na Pi era
was twel ve years old at the time of the events and was worki ng as an
apprentice i n a texti le factory. She described the strike as fol l ows:
We were i n Badalona, ready t o go t o work, and they sai d, "Hey, today is
a hol i day." I was pl eased, as you can i magine . . . Anyway, then they began
to shoot. . . That revol ution was because they were sending lots of sol di ers
to Mel i l l a, where there was a war. . . And then, wel l , the people revol ted,
and they began to take the bridge-the bridge i n Badalona, which is
called "Butifarreta" [ l ittle sausage\ , and they took i t , and they blocked the
rai l s, so that the train coul dn' t pass, so that the soldiers c(ul dn' t go. And
then began the week-l ong battle, which i s what they call the ' Tragic
Week.
, ,
52
Lola Iturbe noted the i mportance of women duri ng the Tragic Week:
"I n 1 909, the great ' Tragic Week,' . . . there was a lot of activity on the part
of women, i n the matter of the streetcars, of burni ngs, of. . . demonstrati ons,
of women who threw themselves on the trai n tracks to prevent the troops
from going to Morocco."5} Joan Connel l y Ul l man' s detailed study of the
events of the Tragic Week is punctuated throughout wi th references to par
ticular women who took leadership roles and to women (and chi ldren) who
spurred acti vi sm at the neighborhood level .
54
What i s particularly i nteresting here is the focus on nei ghborhood
based community anti war acti vi ty. One i mpetus for the general strike was
syndical i n nature: the cl osi ng of a textil e factory had resulted in massive
worKer layotts. The stnke, 1 turn, provi ded the context for consi derabl e
anticlerical vi olence. But i n the memory of many men and women who
participated in the marches and street demonstrations, what was primary
was the effort to stop the call-up of reservists.
It is preci sely the mix of these motives i n memory and action that con
stituted the parti cul ar power of the demonstrations : there were aspects that
appealed, in specifc ways, to a variety of peopl e, each of whom coul d tnd
hi s or her pl ace in response to the conditions of his or her l ife-a prime
exampl e of di rect action. Yet the l esson here-the uniting of wage-l abor
ers, unempl oyed workers, and women who saw themsel ves rooted prima
ril y i n the domestic arena-was not i mmediatel y refected in the policy of
the growing anarcho-syndicalist movement.
The CNT was founded i n Barcel ona j ust one year after these events. Its
program combined attention to classical "syndical" concerns-minimum
wages, maximum hours (they aimed for an eight-hour day), elimination of
piece work, and unionization-with more "revolutionary-communal"
ones, such as abolishing child l abor (for children under fourteen of both
sexes), struggling for cheaper rents and the elimination of rental deposit s,
setting up "rationalist schools" for workers (both night schools for those
who worked and day schools for young children), overcoming the subor
dination of women, creating a base of revolutionary workers, and strate
gizing for a general strike. Signifcantly, these demands were made not j ust
on behalf of urban-industrial workers, but on behalf of rural-agricultural
workers as welJ. 55
With thi s program, the CNT demonstrated the beginnings of an under
standing that successful revolutionary organizing must reach beyond the
bounds of the workpl ace. In its commitment to setting up and funding
schools for workers, in its support for controlling rents (even to the point
of considering a general strike in support of tenant demands), and in its
attention to the subordination of women in the household as well as at
work, it seemed to recognize that workers' concerns were far broader than
their "work." It provided a framework within which rural , agrarian-based
groups coul d federate with urban, industrial ones. And it stated clearly that
"syndicalism" was a means to an end, not the end in itself.
Yet, the proj ects that t0wed from the congress focused on more tradi
tional working-class organization and did not take ful l y into account the
implications of the community mobilization, which had been so striking
the previous year. Thus, for example, the congress declared that "we con
sider that the key to women' s moral redemption-subordinated as she i s
today to the protection of her husband-is work, which will raise women' s
condition to that of men. That is the only way of affrming her independ
ence."56 In a rare statement that articulated the rel ationship between the
expl oitation of women and the exploitation of workers in general , the con
gress went on to assert :
The decrease in hours of work for many of us is an indirect consequence
of the difcult work women are doing in factories; meanwhile, many of
LS allow our compaferas to get up before fve o' clock in the moring,
while we sleep later. And when the woman fnishes shedding her blood
for twelve hours, to support the vices of her exploiter, she returs to her
house and, instead of rest, she encounters anoter bourgeois : her com
pafiero who . . . expects her to take care of all tbe domestic tasks.
The congress ' program for action, however, neglected entirel y the i ssue of
the subordination of women to their husbands within the household. 57
76
The founding conference of the CNT thus represented a compromise
between communi st-anarchi sts and syndicalists in some aspects of strate
gy, but i t did not yet retect a recognition that worki ng-class soli darity and
acti on could be strengthened by the activities of those who were not
defi ned; or understood, as workers . While the fullest expression of that
perspecti ve did not come until the era of the Civil War, women' s activities
in the i ntervening years and then in the subsi stence strikes of 1 9 1 8-1 9 1 9
were to be further exampl es of the power of women' s collective action and,
consequent l y, of the limits of the strictly syndical strategy.
Women conti nued to be acti ve in protest duri ng the years of repression
fol lowi ng the Tragic Week. Many female textile workers j oined uni ons
duri ng those years and parti ci pated actively i n strikes . I n fact, the years
1 9 1 0 to 1 920 marked the real "take-off' both of the uni oni zation of female
texti l e workers in Cataloni a and of thei r participati on in strikes. o x From
1 905 to 1 909, ofcial records list 7, 370 male and 1 , 05 1 female strikers i n
Barcel ona ( wi th women representing 28 percent of the workforce, but only
1 2. 4 percent of the stri kers) ; those same records list 6 1 , 9 1 8 female and
72, 954 male strikers for the peri od 1 909 to 1 9 1 4. In 1 9 1 3, women sur
passed men i n numbers of strikers (56, 788 to 23, 286). Women' s participa
tion and leadershi p was crucial to the general texti le workers ' strike in
Sabadell in 1 9 1 0, that of Reus in the summer of 1 9 1 5, and the Barcelona
textile workers ' strike of August 1 9 1 6. 59
The general strike of textile workers of 1 9 1 3 (known as "La
Constancia") , in which the participati on of anarchist women was critical,
was typical in many ways. Reports of the events referred to female work
ers who "served as ri ngleaders well known to the crowd." While stri ke
meetings were presi ded over by men, "ofen women spoke as leaders of
more or l ess formal groups ." Eventually, the male leadership of the union
recommended a return to work on the promi se of a ten-hour day; but the
women refsed, insisting on waiting for offcial publication of the new l aw.
As one woman said at the meeting to discuss strategy, "If the men wish, let
them go back to work, and the women will continue the strike ! "60
Women' s participation carried the strike considerably beyond the
bounds of the workplace. Street demonstrations wound through working
class neighborhoods i nto some of the central plazas of Barcel ona, keeping
the i ssues and events of the strike constantly in the public eye. Thousands
of women j oined i n these demonstrations, including l arge numbers of those
who were not themselves union members. Temma Kapl an has argued that
this strike was an example of the power of women' s networks to erode the
supposed boundaries between workplace and community and to draw on
women' s multipl e rol es as sources of strength for the community. Women
were invol ved in simil ar sorts of activities in Madrid, Valencia, and
Vizcaya as wel1 . 61
Active participation in unions and even in strikes, however, did not
necessarily lead to formal recognition for women. Some small numbers
served as ofcers of unions, but most were fonnall y involved with union
activity (if at all ) only at the l evel of the shop foor. Through the early
1 920s, the overwhelming number of even predominantly female textil e
unions were led and offciall y represented at congresses by men. 62
The vast maj ority of women were not unionized, of course, since most
were not working for wages in factories, and neither anarchi sts nor social
ists devoted much effort to organizing those who worked at home as out
workers or as domestic workers in the homes of others. The working con
ditions of these female homeworkers was even more depl orable than those
for factory workers. Home-based piecework escaped al l forms of protec
tive l abor l egi sl ation on the grounds that the home was sacred and that a
l aw regulating homework would be impossible to enforce in any case.
Those working at home ofen put in twelve, fourteen, or sixteen hours a
day, receiving an average take-home pay (di scounting what they had to pay
for needles, thread, and transportation to and from the place where they
picked up and delivered their work) of 1 . 80 pesetas a day.63
Juan Paulis' Ls obrers de la aguja (female needl eworkers), pub
lished in 1 9 1 3, called for the creation of a nationwide union of needle
workers that woul d include both factory and homeworkers, struggling
together for the regul ation of hours, wages, and working conditions .
Although the book was cited as one of the must infuential of the era by a
number of the women I i nterviewed (all of whom had been needlework
ers), it seems to have had rel ativel y little effect on the practices of existing
union organi zati ons. Homeworkers were l argely ignored by both the CNT
and the VOT, on the grounds that they were too difcult to organize,
although Catholic syndicates were apparently quite successful in appealing
to homeworking women in the needle trades . Their vision of harmony
between classes, however, and their goal of awakening "a l ove on the part
of [women] workers for their task, for one another, and for their employ
ers . . . and of their empl oyers for them," was hardly compatible with either
anarchist or socialist trade unionism. 64
The links between factory-based women and community women solid
ifed during the so-called women' s war in Barcelona in 1 9 1 8. By contrast
with the general strikes discussed above, which had begun at workplaces
and spread fom there i nto working-class communities, the 1 9 1 8 women' s
78 Martha A. Ackel s berg
war was begun and carried out by nei ghborhood women for community
ends . In reacti on agai nst i ncreases in the cost of l i vi ng i nduced by the First
World War, women took to the streets of Barcel ona in earl y January 1 9 1 8,
attacking coal trucks and demandi ng control s on the price of coal . Over the
course of the next few weeks, the demonstrators moved through texti l e
areas, call i ng on women workers to j oin them i n striki ng. They requi si
ti oned suppl i es from food stores and communal slaughlcrhouses, demon
strated in market areas, and moved, as they had in 1 9 1 3, i nto publ i c pl azas
to confront pol i ti cal authori ties and demand j usti ce. Strikes that had begun
over qual i ty-of- l i fe i ssues eventual l y broadened thei r goal s to i ncl ude
i mprovi ng conditions of women' s work, reduci ng rents, rehi ring of rai l
road workers, i ncreasi ng j ob alternatives and education for women, cal l i ng
for an end to war and a return to peacetime concerns, as well as for an end
t o hi erarchy in unions and the fami l y and an end to the church' s sponsor
ing of pi ecework shops that contributed ( i n the vi ew of the women) to the
expl oi tati on of women workers. In al l , demonstrati ons l asted for more than
s i x weeks, and employers and government otci al s al i ke were in awe of
t he women' s strength and tenacity and the radi cal i s m of thei r demands. 6'
The CNT viewed the women' s acti ons wi th ambivalence. Al though i t
had decl ared a one-day general strike in November 1 9 1 6 to protest the ri s
i ng cost of l i ving, the CNT rarely made connecti ons between workpl ace
based issues and those rel ating to women' s subordi nate status i n either the
workplace or the community. The CNT had been severely weakened by a
protracted and ultimatel y unsuccessful general strike in Barcelona in
August 1 9 1 7 and by the repression that fol l owed it. Thus, it was l argely
unorganized women who initiated and mai ntained the subsistence stri kes
of January 1 9 1 8.
A few men in the CNT recognized and appl auded the roles of these
women. Others were threatened by the independent action of women: "The
hour for justice has sounded with the heroic greatness of the women. Either
we take advantage of it or we should give our bal l s to the dogs to eat."66
Those who appreciated its signifcance, however, were clearly in the
minority. When the Catalan Regional Federation of the CNT held i ts con
gress at the end of June 1 91 8, not a single female delegate was present.
Few of the predominantly female industries or workplaces were unionized,
and those that were (e. g. , La Constancia) were represented by men. 67 Only
one of the maj or speakers at that congress addressed the rol e of women i n
the January 1 9 1 8 strikes. Enric Rueda, a delegate representing the l amp
makers of Barcelona, declared: "The woman . . . has clearly demonstrated
her capacity to participate in social struggles . . . After August, when we were
Free Women of Soai n 79
persecuted, surrounded by the brutality of the bourgeois regime . . . our com
paferas knew to take to the streets to demand what, for the most part, no
one wanted to give them: their rightful bread . . . Today, they incite us to
defend freedom, inspire us to continue with our struggles."68
Although the organization did pass resolutions advocating the union
ization of women, these focused almost entirely on incorporating women
into already existing unions, ignoring large numbers of women who
worked in nonunionized textile shops, those who toiled as out-workers in
their own homes, and (despite a later organizing drive) those who worked
as domestic servants.
Strike activity continued, of course, in the succeeding years. In 1 9 1 9,
for example, textile workers in Ripoll (another textile town in Catalonia)
mounted a strike for the ei ght-hour day that lasted for nine weeks. Since
the town was almost completely dependent on the mill s, suffering was
widespread. Dolores Prat, who was about fourteen years old at the time,
remembers the poverty, the hunger, and the public soup kitchens . She
developed a great anger at scabs. In fact, she dates her own militancy from
this period. When, in the months afer the strike, her father suggested that
it was time for her to start earning her living, she rej ected both the prospect
of becoming a teacher ("I had had enough of nuns at school") and hi s offer
to set her up with a small fuit and vegetable stand ("I woul d end up giv
ing away all the food to the hungry workers, so what would be the point?") .
She decided, instead, that she would become a worker, "so that I could go
to the factory to protest ! "69 She soon j oined the CNT and became a mem
ber of her factory committee. During the war, she served as Secretary of
the Secci6n Fabril of the textile workers' union in Ripoll.
CNT efts to unionize women and other disadvantaged workers con
tinued through the 1 920s, hindered, as were all organizing efforts, by the
repression of worker activity under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera
( 1 923-1 929) . When the Republic was declared in 1 93 1 , women could be
counted, along with men, as members of and activists in the CNT. But, for
all the reasons I have noted (particularly the continued focus of the CNT
on unionizing factory workers, and the relative inattention to women' s spe
cifc situation) participation in union activity, or even in mass community
mobil i zations, was only a part of women' s "preparation." It remains for us
to expl ore the networks of school s, ateneos, and cultural institutions that
also developed during the frst third of the twentieth century and that were
of particular i mportance to women.
Education as Preparati on
Whi l e they consi dered parti ci pati on i n resi stance movements to be
i mportant l earni ng experiences for workers, Spanish anarchi sts also recog
nized the need for more "formal" educati on. The commitment to sel f
direction meant a focus on educati on. Given the high l evels of i l literacy i n
Spai n at the turn of the century, i t was cl ear that a movement commi tted to
worki ng-cl ass empowerment through direct action and sel f-organi zation
woul d have to devote at least some of its energies and resources to adult
and chi l d l i teracy. I t was one of the great strengths of the anarchist move
ment-and one of the achievements of which members were proudest
that it devel oped a network of school s, journal s, and cul tural centers to
address these issues.
To teach people to read and write was to empower them socially and
cul tural l y; it became, truly, a revolutionary act. It was for this reason, of
course, that traveling teachers l ike Abelardo Saavedra had been persecuted
and jai l ed in Andal usi a and Extremadura at the end of the ni neteenth cen
tury. And it was with thi s perception of the i mportance of educati on that
Spani sh anarchi sts (and later Muj eres Libres) embarked on a massive pro
gram of "encuIturating" working peopl e, both rural and urban. Although
many of these programs were undertaken by unions and i ni tial l y directed
toward uni on members, they served a population consi derably l arger.
Anarchist-supported educational institutions took a variety of forms
during this period, but common perspectives animated all . Basically, they
aimed to increase literacy and broaden the cul tural base of working peopl e.
Specifcal ly, that meant that schools, cultural centers, and journals attempt
co LV cVIIllnunicme to theIr students or readers a sense of excitement about
the world, a message that the world was theirs to expl ore and not simply
the context of their daily oppression. Peopl e were encouraged to question,
to value their experiences and perceptions, and to learn from one another,
as wel l as from their teachers. These programs also aimed to communicate
a different set of moral values, to replace the resignation and acceptance of
subordination taught in church-sponsored schools with a commitment to
self-development in a context of mutualism and cooperation. Schools, cul
tural centers, j ournals, newspapers all encouraged people to "think for
themselves, and to develop their sense of responsibility, commonality, and
criticism."70
Creati ng I nsti tuti ons for Literacy an d Cul ture
Levels of illiteracy varied markedly in Spain at the tur of the century.
But everywhere, literacy rates for women lagged between ten and twenty
percentage points (and sometimes as much as thirty points) behind those
of men. By 1 930, with greater access to education, rates of illiteracy fell
for both men and women, but still ranged from highs of approximately 50
percent of men and over 60 percent of women i n the souther provinces to
lows of 25 to 30 percent of women and 20 to 25 percent of men in the
Basque provinces. 71
Offcial "state" education was of little help in meeting thes e defcits.
Republicans, socialists, and anarchists had pressed for the establishment of
lay school s as early as the mid-nineteenth century, but their efforts were
largely unsuccessful until the educational reforms of the Republic in 1 93 1 .
Church-run schools concentrated on discipline and rote memorization. In
1 873 and 1 874, during the 1 880s, and again in the early 1 890s , efforts had
been made to change the relationship of church and state, so that the
church no longer controlled the curriculum. The creation of nonconfes
sional lay schools was one of the maj or demands made by demonstrators
during the Tragic Week in Barcelona, for example. But since the church
provided most secondary education, even when schools were not ofci al
ly run by the clergy, church-trained teachers tended to defne their struc
ture and function. As Azucena Barba summarized, "You went to the state
schools with a rosary in one hand and a fag in the other."72
Clara Lida has argued that efrts to articulate and i mplement an alter
native educational philosophy-of ensefanza integrl (integral or holistic
education)-can be traced back to republican and Fouri eri st schools in the
1 840s and l 850s, and to anarchist and secularist schools in the 1 870s and
1 880s . Very few of these were fnancially accessible to the children of
workers, however, and even if fnancial aid were available for the children,
it was a rare family that could spare the income, however meager, that a
working child could bring into the family. In addition, these lay schools
fought a continual (and usually losing) battle with the state over their very
ri ght to exist. 73
One response of anarchists to the efctive inaccessibility of lay-con
trolled education was the founding of "rationalist schools ." Although these
have been associated most notably with the name of Francisco Ferrer y
Guardia, they were the direct descendents of eforts at ensefanza integral .
Bor in Barcelona in 1 859, Ferrer spent sixteen years in exi l e in Paris,
where he came in contact with the educational ideas of Paul Robin,
Tol stoy, Jean Grave, and others . He returned to Spain in 1 90 1 to found the
Escuela Modema (modem school ) in Barcel ona. Hi s goal was "to form a
school of emanci pati on, which wi l l be concerned with banni ng from the
mi nd whatever divides men, the fal se concepts of property, country, and
fami l y, so as to attain the l i berty and well -being which all desire and none
compl etely realizes ."74
Consi stent with both anarchist pri ncipl es and advanced educational
theory at the time, Ferrer was committed to establ i shi ng a school that rec
ogni zed educati on as a poli tical act. If one hoped to enable chi l dren to l i ve
i n a free society, the educational system itself had to encourage freedom to
develop and expl ore. Science and reason were key concepts in the school s,
and chi l dren were to be sti mul ated to di rect their own education.
Consi stent, too, with hi s understanding of libertarian principl es, Ferrer was
frml y committed to coeducation (a practice virtually unheard of i n Spain
at the ti me) and to mi xed-class educati on, which woul d provide a context
for people to learn to live with diversity. 7) Given the ri gidity of the exi sti ng
system i n Spai n and anarchist suspi ci on of both church and state, it should
not be surpri si ng that Spani sh l i bertari ans attempted to establ i sh "alterna
tive schools"-institutions which, true to the anarchist belief i n direct
action and propaganda by the deed, would not only educate students but
al so serve as models for a very different educational philosophy and prac
ti ce.
Ferrer' s Escuela Moderna opened in Barcelona in September 1 90 I ,
and it l asted, despite frequent closings because of state censorship, through
1 906, when it was closed defnitively. Cristina Piera, who attended the
school for about a year at the age of nine, described the confusion: "The
pol ice would come to close the school , and then . . . we couldn' t go. I went
to the Escuela Moderna, and l eared a fair amount there, but since they
were always closing it, I ended up without much of an education."76 The
school was supported by parental contributions-according to what each
family was able to pay. The classes were mixed by socioeconomic back
ground and completely integrated by sex as wel l . All students, regardl ess
of background or sex, studied a "scientifc" curicul um that also included
sex education, manual work, and the arts. Ferrer recognized the need for
appropriate textbooks and began publishing them himself in 1 902. The
books were in great demand and came to be used in rationalist schools and
ateneos throughout the country. In addition, the school buil ding served as
much more than a pl ace for small children to go during the days. It was
al so a l ibrary and community center for adolescents and adults, offering
Free Women of Soai n 83
classes, discussions, excursions, and the like for those of all ages who
wished to learn.
While Ferer' s name has come to be the one most prominently associ
ated with the rationalist school movement, rationalist schools certainly pre
existed the Escuela Modera, and hundreds were established throughout
Spain in the early years of the twentieth century. 77 lgualdad Ocana, togeth
er with her father and four brothers and sisters, started and taught in such
a school in Barcelona in 1 934-1 935. Perhaps her description of what it
meant to teach children in a free and open environment can provide some
sense of the "modernity" of the "modern school movement":
In our school, we tried to get a sense of each child' s particular nature or
character. We would tell them a story. And through this story, they would
refect themselves . . . They cried and they laughed . . . We never had to yell at
them. People talk about exerci sing ' authority.' But what authority can
they have if they don' t know how to control [children] with feeling, with
love? . .
You can help little creatures to become active, productive people, pro
ductive in ways that are true to themselves, because you have studied
them, seen what they enjoy . . . We taught mechanics, music, arts . . . We had
mechanical toys, for example, to see whether, when he was playing with
them, a particular child would awaken to a desire, a positive inclination
to activity of that sort.
78
Not surpri singly, given the type of attention they devoted to their stu
dents, teachers in rationalist schools were ofen revered, both by their stu
dents and by other members of the community. They functioned as power
ful model s, much as the obreros conscientes or traveling teacherpreachers
(such as Abelardo Saavedra) had served for rral workers in nineteenth
century Andalusia. Sara Berenguer Guillen, who studied with Felix
Carasquer in the "Eliseo Reclus" school , Pura Perez Arcos, who studied
with the noted Juan Puig Elias i n the "Escuela Natura," and others I i nter
viewed all vividly recalled their experiences with teachers they respected.
19ualdad Ocana reported that students she meets now, forty years l ater, still
talk of their experiences in the school her family ran. And Ana Cases dis
covered, during the course of research she was doing in 1 98 1 , that many of
those who had studied with Josep Tores (known as Sol de la Vida) in
Arbeca, a small village in Lerida, still had the notebooks and workbooks
they had used in the 1 920s. 79
Many young people who eventually became militants in the anarcho
syndicalist movement attended one or another of these school s , but atten
dance was clearly not limited to anarchists or anarchi st-sympathizers
alone. Since they offered an alterative to the highl y rigid structures and
84
rate l earni ng methods of the domi nant school system, the school s
attracted considerabl e numbers of chi ldren from the progressi ve mi ddle
and upper cl asses as wel l .
Asi de from the somewhat formal l y structured rationalist school s, the
anarchist and anarcho-syndical i st movement created and supported a l arge
number of ateneos. Many neighborhood educational/cultural centers were
started by CNT local s ; almost every worki llg-cl ass barri o of Barcelona had
one during thc carly years of the Republ i c. For those who had never been
to school , the hundreds of ateneos that sprang up around the country
offred a chance to learn to read and write. Most had classes duri ng the day
for young chi ldren, and in the evening (usually from 7 to 9 P. M. ) for ol der
peopl e, who would come after work. In the words of one parti ci pant, "The
educati on in the school was a total l y different kind of educati on . . . Each per
son would tal k about what he had read (which often varied a great deal ,
si nce someti mes we didn' t understand what we were reading ! ) , and then
we woul d al l talk about it, and think about what each had said . . . As far as I
am concerned, the school and the books were probably the greatest factors
shapi ng my deve!opment."xo
In addi ti on to its i mportance as a pl ace for learning basi c ski l l s and
competences, the ateneo had i mportant social functi ons. Ateneos were
popular "hangouts" for young people, particularly during times when they
coul d not afrd even the ten centimos to go to a movie ! 8 1 Because they
were at least formal ly separate from the unions, many were able to remain
open during peri ods of political repression, when unions were forced to
cl ose their doors and/or go underground. Consequently, they al so served as
i mportant centers of communication. Further, virtuall y al l ateneos i nchHl
ed theater, recreation, and-particularly for those in urban barrios-trips
out of the city. In addition to offering opportunities for exerci se and fresh
air, these excursions were thought to provide moral and intellectual bene
fts: giving young peopl e a chance to see frsthand the mountains, valleys,
and rivers they might have leaed about i n classes; overcoming the nar
rowness of vision that comes from l iving in crowded urban environments;
providing an occasion for them to experience "the infuence of nature on
the human spirit." Exposure to nature, one writer explained, will "allow
young people to experience freedom, so that they will want to live i t and
defend it."82
As community-based organizati ons, ateneos offered opportuniti es for
preparation that were particularly i mportant for working-class women,
who had relatively fewer contexts than did men to gain such experiences.
Those women who became activists in the CNT and/or in Muj eres Libres
reported virtually unanimously that their experiences i n ateneos , school s,
and cultural activities were crucial t o that process. They learned t o read
and, equally important, developed meaningful peer relationships with boys
of their own age-an experience that was otherwise closed to them in the
highly sex-segregated Spanish society. Through the ateneos many young
people experienced that cambio de mentalidad (consciousness-change)
which was a crucial step in their becoming militants in the movement:
The building belonged to the union (textiles). The Escuela Libre LEscuel a
Natura of El Clot] was upstairs, and the sindicato and our group, I thi nk,
were downstairs . . . My sisters and I went to school at night. (We couldn' t
go during the day, because we had t o work.) And-remember this detail,
because it' s important-in order to save money, the union had the women
do the c1eaning . . . Aferwards, there would be meetings of Sol y Vida [the
cultural group) . . . True, people went to union meetings, but rel ations with-
in the group were more intimate, the explanations more extensive. That ' s
where we were formed most deeply.
s3
In addition to the schools and cultural centers, the anarcho-syndicali st
movement supported an enormous array of newspapers, magazines, and
clubs that challenged conventional norms and provided channels for bring
ing alternative perspectives to a broader audience. The movement newspa
pers Solidaridad Ober, CNT, and Terr y Libertad combined political
commentary with extensive cultural criticism. Almost every issue had an
article dealing with some aspect of education, ad in the years before and
during the war, many carried articles devoted specifcally to women. Tierr
y Libertad, for example, publi shed a woman' s page each week, in which
many of the women who were to be active in Mujeres Libres tested out
ideas about sexuality, work, or male-female relations and had an opportu
nity to communicate with the larger anarcho-syndicalist community.
Magazines such as La Revista Blanca (Barcelona) , Natur (Barcelona) ,
Estudios (Valencia), and Tiempos Nuevos examined a range of i ssues from
collectivist politics to birth control, nudism, and vegetarianism.
Paicularly for people who lived in places relatively i sol ated from
organized anarchist or anarcho-syndicalist activity, the press provided
important sources of information and a "route in" to the anarchist commu
nity. Soledad Estorach, for example, who came to Barcelona at the age of
ffteen, alone and isolated in her interest in what she termed "communism,"
read La Revista Blanca and, through it, made her way to the ateneo:
86
I was readi ng newspapers and magazi nes and tryi ng to tnd ' commu
ni sts ' . . . The first person I went to see, i n fact, was Federica Montseny' s
mother, Sol edad Gustavo, because she was a woman ! I di dn' t know how
to get i n contact wi th these peopl c. And I fgured that those peopl e who
were writi ng about communi sm must somehow . . . l i ve di ferentl y. I had
been reading La Revista Blanca. and I saw that thi s woman Sol edad
Gustavo wrote for them, so I went to the address gi ven in the magazine
and asked to see her. I was shown righl in. I guess they thought I was a
compafi era. She received me wi thout any understandi ng .. . I can' t even
remember just what I asked her. Probabl y "How do I fi nd peopl e?" And
she sai d, "Al l you have to do i s fnd an ateneo i n your barri o" and she
more or l ess threw me out. . . Anyway, I went to the ateneo. The tirst man
I met there was Saavedra, the grandfather of Enri queta and the others. He
was very ol d even then. But I fel l i n l ove wi th hi m i mmedi ately . . . he
showed me the l i brary . . ' ! was entranced by al l those books. I thought that
al l the worl d' s knowl edge was now wi t hi n my reach.
x
4
Educati on as Empower ment
For al l that the ateneos provided i n the way of opportuni ti es for young
and old to l earn to read and develop some "culture," probably thei r most
i mportant l ong-term efect was the creation of a community-a communi
ty of peopl e who beli eved that they could effect change in the worl d. The
network of fri ends and comrades establ i shed there provided participants
i mportant sources of both moral and material support through thei r years
of struggle in the movement and duri ng the Civil War. Men and women
'ho be p<iicipUlCd iil lhcc IUUpS as boys and girl s reterred to their
experience wi th words and expressions si mi l ar to those one mi ght use to
describe a l ost love. Even those who had become most cyni cal and/or i so
l ated from the larger movement i n the i nterveni ng years spoke of those
experiences with a near reverence. No doubt, thei r recollections have been
romanticized over the years. But the experience of participating i n these
groups-groups in which peopl e attempted to i nteract wi th one another as
they hoped they would in the "anarchist paradise" they were struggling to
create-had obviously marked them deeply.
For some of the girls, i n paricular, the experience of equal ity between
men and women was especi ally energizi ng. It impelled considerable num
bers of them to insi st on their equality within the context of the larger
movement. As Enriqueta noted, the ateneos provided both an i ncentive and
a model for what was to be Mujeres Lbres :
Free Women of Spai n
I always felt strongly that women had t o be emancipated. That our strug
gle was-and still i s-more than just the struggle against capitalism . . . We
used to talk about that a lot rin the ateneo] , insist that the struggle was not
just in the factories, i n the streets, or even in the ateneos. That it had to
go into the house. The boys would sometimes l augh and make fun of us
when we'd say those things. They said, it is the struggle of all of us, and
we all should struggle together. But I would say, no, i t' s not just that. We
need to express ourselves, t o be who and what we are. We've not trying
to take things away from you, but we need to develop ourselves, to
demand our own rights.
87
Since the groups formed out of the ateneos were primarily for young
people, they provided youth with opportunities to act at least somewhat
independently of their parents-an almost unheard-of experience in Spain
of that time. Even anarchist families had difculty with the freedom their
daughters asserted. "We had to ask permission every week when we were
going to go on these excursions. Don' t think that just because our parents
were libertarios that we were free to do as we pleased! No, none of that !
Every week we had to ask. And if the answer to ' where are you going?'
were something like ' camping,' then, whoa! None of that. No, there were
lots of controls, even of our activities in the ateneo." Azucena and
Enriqueta developed ways around their parents' efforts at control . Often,
they would put skirts on over their Bermuda shorts, ride on their bikes to
the edge of town, where they would no longer be seen by adults, and then
remove the skirts and continue with the group to the mountains or the
seashore ! 85
The struggles continue. Ironically, while she was teII ing a related story,
Enriqueta was engaged in a continuous, loving battle with her twelve-year
old granddaughter who was visiting for the Christmas holidays, a battle
that recapitulated the tensions she had described in her own youth:
"Sometimes ," she mused, "I sit here and look at them and think ' what have
I done?' But they don' t really behave very wel l . I think there i s too much
permissiveness in the way they' re raising children these days."86
Finally, their experiences in the ateneos were specifcally important to
the women of Mujeres Libres in a somewhat more complex way. As any
number of women reported, even within those organizations, the same
machista, masculinist atmosphere persisted, if not in thoughts or beliefs, at
least in action. Mercedes Comaposada, for example, who was to become
one of the founders of Mujeres Libres, reported the following about her
own frst experience of attempting to teach a class sponsored by one of the
CNT unions in Madrid:
88
I n 1 933, I went along wi th Orobon Fernandez to a meeting at one of the
si ndi catos. They were tryi ng to help wi th the "preparation" of the work
ers, and asked me to come al ong. Lucfa [ Sanchez Saori l l was there, too.
They wanted me to teach, si nce they had no women teachers. But i t was
i mpossi bl e because of the attitudes of some compaferos. They didn' t take
women seri ously. There is a sayi ng: "Las mujeres-a la cocina y a coser
l os caleetines" [ Women belong in the ki tchen or daning socks] . No, it
was impossible; women barel y dared [0 speak i n that context. X7
Mercedes and Lucfa responded to thi s experi ence by begi nni ng the con
versati ons that ul ti matel y l ed to the foundi ng of Muj eres Libres.
Conversel y, others reported that i t was ofen difcult to get gi rl s to
concentrate on learning to read, or to focus on the parti cul ar lecture at
hand, at the ateneos. It would be necessary, they concl uded, to develop
cl asses and programs j ust for women and gi rl s, where they could be
approached i ndependent of the boys, encouraged to develop thei r own
potenti al , and enabled to recogni ze thei r own strengths beyond motheri ng.
In short, the movement' s i nstitutions for "preparati on" provi ded i mpor
tant resources for the women who were to found Mujeres Li bres
resources both posi ti ve and negative. On the posi ti ve si de, participation i n
uni ons, i n ateneos, school s, and in youth movement organi zations offered
opportuni ties for l earning, for empowerment, and for maki ng and cement
ing i mportant networks of support. The cultural and educational i nstitu
tions Mujeres Libres sponsored were clearly modeled on them. On the neg
ative side, their experience with ateneos and schools demonstrated to many
that groups ori ented specifcall y to women would be necessary i f women
were to emerge as fully equal members of the libertarian community. As
We had one mil lion peopl e against us. All the great revol utionaries
Alexandra Kol lontai , Rosa Luxemburg, Cl are Zetkin-tried to do some
thi ng with women. But they all found out that, from wi thi n a party, wi th
in an exi sting [revolutionary] organization, it i s always impossible . . !
remember reading, for example, of a communi cation between Lenin and
Clare Zetkin, i n which he says to her, "Yes, all thi s you' re talking about
with respect to the emancipation of women is very good. A very fne goal,
but for l ater." The i nterests of a party always came before those of
women. R8
I I I
CI VI L WAR AND SOCI AL REVOLUTI ON
The Republic and the Popular Front
By the early 1 930s, many of the deep cleavages dividing Spain along polit
ical, economic, social , religious, and gender lines had found political
expression, whether in regionalist movements, labor unions, employer
associations, or church-based organizations. At the time of the outbreak of
the Civil War in July 1 936, the CNT and UOT (the soci alist trade union
federation) each boasted a membership of between 860, 000 and 1 million
workers, committed to workplace-based and (in the case of the anarcho
syndicalists) community-based organizations to create a more egalitarian
society. Given their size and the range of their activities, the very exi stence
of these organizations was perceived as a threat to the traditional power of
employer and landlord groups, the army, and the church.
After many years of authoritaran, "constitutional" monarchy, followed
by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera ( 1 923-1 929) , Spain became a
republic in 1 93 1 . This republic, however, had no solid social base, having
been established virtually by default when King Alfonso XIII abdicated the
throne after candidates favoring a republic scored a major victory in local
elections. From 1 93 1 to 1 933, the country was led by a weak coalition of
centri st and lef-centrist republicans, desiring to break the power of the
church, the army, and large landholders, but reluctant to take strong action
against them for fear of alienating them entirely and provoking a military
coup. They instituted a series of moderate reforms , including a program of
land reform in Andalusia and Extremadura (which, however, did more in
the way of investigation than of actual redistribution of l and) . They also
supported secular education and limited the numbers of new military com-
89
90 |O|I|O /. /C<O| OO|Q
mi ssi ons. But the workers and agri cul tural l aborers who were l i vi ng in a
state of near destitution became i ncreasingly frustrated by the lack of
change, whi l e the traditional forces ( mi l i tary, church, and landhol ders)
chafed agai nst pol i ci es ai med at restricting their privi leges. A center-right
government took power from 1 933 to 1 935. I t l i fted many of the new
restri cti ons on traditi onal powers and i nstituted more severe repression of
l efti st revol utionary activity, but it was unable to assure social peace. i
The el ecti ons of February 1 936 sent i nto offce a Popul ar Front gov
ernment, pl edged to free political pri soners and to move del iberatel y
toward a more egal i tarian soci ety. But the coal iti on behi nd that Popul ar
Front was tenuous at best. The sl ate presented in the electi ons reflected a
hasti l y constructed coalition, with a pl atform that was less a compromi se
of al l the di fferi ng vi ews than "an acceptance of the Republ i can program
by the workers' parti es ."" What uni ted the groups was mostl y negati ve-a
desi re to defeat the Center-Right coal i ti on. But the Left' s victory depend
cd on the support of a consi derably more revolutionary worki ng-class elec
torate. uni ted (to the extent it was) by the memory of j oi nt struggle during
worker upri si ngs in Asturi as, i n particul ar, in 1 934. 1
The el ection both revealed and masked the deep di visi ons i n the coun
try. Lefi st parties, taken together, had won a narrow victory over those of
the Right. Center parties experienced a notable drop in support. Spain was
increasi ngl y polari zed between Lef and Right. But the workings of the
el ectoral system created a Cortes with a strong Center-Left majority.
The l i mits of these arrangements were made manifest in the months
that followed. Although the Popular Front coalition won the election, nei
ther soci al i sts nor anarchists would accept formal roles in n governmpnt
that, in their view, remained "bourgeois." The new Republican government
attempted to put into action its program of liberal reforms, which included
land reform and the reinstatement of the secular, regional , military, and
education policies of the Republican-Socialist government of 1 93 1 -1 933.
Meanwhile, workers and peasants undertook their own efforts at more rev
olutionary change, expropriati ng l atifundia1 land in many parts of
Extremadura and Andalusia and engaging in industrial strikes and work
stoppages i n urban areas. Assassinations on both Right and Lef con
tributed to an atmosphere of increasing social and political unrest. 4 Thus,
when General s Franco, Mola, Quiepo de Llano, and Goded led an attempt
ed military coup on July 1 7-1 8, 1 936, few people were surprised; the
bonds holding the society together were already quite fragile.
9 1
Rebel l i on and Revoluti on
Workers ' organizations had long been expecting a coup attempt. Many
of those with whom I spoke, both men and women, told of sleeping in
union hall s during the week before the upri sing in order to be prepared for
a call to arms. The government, however, was ill-prepared. Both the
national and the Catalan goverments had refused to accede to UGT and
CNT demands to arm the workers, fearful that workers would use those
arms against the Spani sh Republic rather than defend it against a military
coup. Nevertheless, when the four generals rose (on July 1 7 in Morocco,
and July 1 8 on the mainland), the response of the populace was swift and
strong, particularly in areas with large numbers of uni onized workers, such
as Catalonia, Madrid, and Asturias. Men and women, boys and girls
stormed the armories to grab the guns and ammunition that the government
refused to provide them. People took to the streets with whatever weapons
they could fnd to confront the rebel army.
In the weeks and months that followed, anarchi st and socialist activists
drew on their experiences in l abor unions, community groups, and infor
mal cultural and educational centers to mobilize millions of people and
take control over vast areas of the economy and society. Particularly in
areas of anarchi st strength such as Catalonia, workers took over factories
and workplaces. In rural areas, workers' organizations expropriated large
properties, small landholders pooled their lands and animal s, and munici
palities instituted new cooperative systems of cultivation. Soon millions of
people were living or working in anarchist-or socialist-inspired collec
tives (both rural and urban-industrial), marketing through cooperatives,
and restructuring their interpersonal relationships.
Reports by participants in these events can, perhaps, give some sense
of the excitement in the air. For the frst time, large numbers of working
people felt in control of their world, participants in a process that was
transforming it totally. As Pepita Carpena (who was ffteen at the time)
described it:
Great things were done in Spain . . . You had to live it in order to understand
it. T saw those compaferos who created the collectives, who organized the
socialization . . . who took charge of things without any pay or compensa
tion whatever, just so that the pueblo would have what it needed . . . When
I was fourteen and ffteen, I had experiences that would stay with me all
my life . . . such a fowering of ideas-made-reality . . . Even if I had died, I
wouldn' t have wanted not to have had that experience.
5
Thousands of peopl e took part i n the events of the frst days. Enrique
Cassanes, together with hi s buddi es from the FIJL, had entered the armory
at San Andres at dawn on July 1 9, joi ni ng wi th other anarchi st mi l itants to
obtai n arms to put down the rebel l i on. Hi s mother, Cristina Pi era, awoke
that morni ng to hear the si rens bl ari ng, and she fol l owed the crowds to the
armory. (Uni on organi zations had sounded an alarm to si gnal that the rebel
lion had begun and to call out everyone in a generai strike i n opposi tion to
i t. ) Her story was probabl y typical of that of many peopl e who were not
themsel ves mi l itants i n any movement, but who were caught up i n the
excitement of the moment: "I woke up in the morni ng and heard that peo
ple were in the armory . . . So I went there. Everybody went. . . 1 took a pi stol
and two ramrods [for ri fles) . What I coul d carry. They had gunpowder there,
too . . . Even me, wi th the l i ttle I knew, and coul d do, I was there. People took
arms and ammunition, and J took what I coul d."6
Soledad Estorach and four or fve other members of a women' s group
in Barcel ona had been meeti ng throughout the ni ght of Jul y 1 8 in a room
lent to them by the bui l ders ' uni on, on the Cal l e de Mercaders, behi nd the
Via Layetana (i n the center of Barcel ona) . Mari anet (Mariano Vazquez)
and al l the rest of the "high command" of the CNT had gone off to storm
the mi l itary barracks at Atarazanas, at the foot of the Rambl as.
They lef us there alone at 5 A. M. when the sirens went off. There were
people all over the Plaza de Macii, and the whol e area, and everyone
went ot to get arms-because the General i dad, at that point, stil l refused
to arm the people. I joined that mass, too, for a whi l e.
Sti ll early in the morni ng, she went back to the union hal l wi th the rest of
th 0nrr<0
.
There was shooting everywhere . . . !t was very fri ghtening. We didn' t know
what was happening, or what we should do. We fgured that, if the worst
happened, and the compaferos coul dn' t prevail at Atarazanas, that we
could make a refuge. So we went to the Casa Camb6, one of the most
beautiful bui ldings in Barcelona, on the Vi a Layetana. We had a small
pi stol and a few sticks . . .
There was construction going on across the street, and there were lots
of sacks of bricks around. We took them to make barricades, and brought
some i nsi de, too, to fortify the building. The doorman was very sweet. He
let us in, but told us not to get the el evator dirty or he might lose his job!
So we took all the stuff upstairs and made bari cades and fortifcations.
And when the compaferos retured-victorious, of course-and saw
how beautiful i t was, they took it over as the Casa CNT-FAC
She went on to discuss the hours and days that followed, and the role of
women in quelling the rebellion: "The most important thing women did-
aside, of course, from the heroic things they did along with everyone el se
was to go up to the roofs of the buildings, with paper loud-speakers, and call
out to the soldiers to come to our side, to take of their uniforms and j oin
the people."
Enriqueta Rovira, who was about twenty at the time, had been vaca
tioning with friends at Blanes, on the Costa Brava. Compaferos from the
Comite in Barcelona called the Comite in Blanes to let them know what
was happening, and Enriqueta hopped the frst train back to the city.
Most of the action was in the center of Barcelona. I had a pistol-they
had given me a pistol . Imagine me, who had never even had a toy pistol,
because my mother was opposed to such things ! But they had given me
a pistol, and I was prepared to use it. Rut they soon said no. That thi s was
no place for a woman .. . ! didn' t know how to use it, and there were com
paieros without arms. So they sent me-and all the women, all fami
lies-to build barricades. We also took care of provisions. Women in each
barrio organized that, to make sure that there would be food for the
men . . . Everyone did something.
s
Revol uti onar Rebel l i on: The Mi l itias
Nevertheless, some women did take up arms, and even j oined the pop
ular militias. Concha Perez, for example, the daughter of an anarchist mil
itant, had begun her own activi sm at age fourteen, j oining an anarchi st
afnity group and an ateneo libertario, Faros (in the center of town) .
Shortly thereafer, she helped to organize a group affliated with the JJLL.
But soon, she and others tured their attention to their own neighbor
hood-Las Corts-and establi shed an anarchist group and ateneo liber
tario there, called "Humanidad." Eventually, they also created an FAI
group, "Inquietud" (to which Felix Carasquer and his compafera Matilde
Escuder also belonged) , as well as the rationali st school, "Eliseo Reclus."
While those early years had been fled with much intense activity for
Concha, including some months spent in j ail for her part i n the uprisings
of January and December of 1 934, the weeks and months before the gen
eral s' rebellion in July of 1 936 represented an entirely diferent level of
i nvolvement. For about a month before the rebellion began, everyone had
been on alert: "It was known that, almost for certain, there was going to be
an attempted coup d' etat, and we were on alert . . . " During the last week
before the uprising, tension was high and life was parti cularly intense: "We
met every night. . . readied for action, until they let us know that there was
94
shooti ng in the streets ." Soon, word came that it was time to act: "Then
they told us that we should go get mattresses, because we were all sl eep
ing on the fl oor of the place where we were stayi ng." Where did they go?
To local houses of prostituti on ! They gathered up mattresses, and took
them back to the local , and put them on the foor. They kept up their watch
for a couple of days, i n thi s way, sl eepi ng on the foor of the room i n turns,
and taki ng turns, as wel l , deal i ng wi th snipers i n [he streets .
But then,
We got word that they had ri sen i n arms i n Pedralbes. So we took a truck
that we had there, covered i t wi th mattresses and wi th the few arms that
we had (I had a little pi stol ), and we went to assaul t the armory. I magi ne!
When we got there, we saw that compaferos had al so come from
Sants. We fl led the truck wi th arms (we made two tri ps), carryi ng arms
to the bar ri o. We were there for a fcw days . . . We freed the prisoners from
the Modelo Pri son.
After a few days of street fghting in Barcel ona, they went again to
Pedral bes "there they gathered us to go to the front."'
Concha' s story exempl i fes Mary Nash' s comment about the "typical
profle of a militiawoman . . . a young woman, with political , fami li al, or
emotional ties with compaferos in the mi l itias . They were motivated by
their soci al and political conscience . . .
"
I
O Such a political/social conscious
ness was the critical factor that differentiated the militias from a tradition
al army. As H. E. Kaminski had noted at the ti me, " . . . the militia i s a mili
tary band, that engages in a civil war not for abstract values, nor to conquer
teritory, and certainly not for colonies . . . but, rather, for the personhood of
each i ndividual ." Its goal-"to defend the Revnl i i ti on
"
I I
And, while Concha was to be one of a rel atively small number of
women who actually served at the fronts, many-both men and women
responded to the initial call to come to the defense of the Republic and
more specifcally-the revolution, and to form militias . As Kaminski
wrote,
. . . the frst impression that a foreigner receives in Catalonia comes from
the militias. You see them everywhere, with their varied uniforms, and
their multicolored insignias. You could make the most picturesque illus
trated books with portraits of militiamen and women.
1 2
After a few days spent at Pedralbes, Concha set off for the Aragon front
with her group fom Las Corts (which included her compafero) . Even in
the early days of the fghting, rel atively few women actually took up
arms-many of those who were there functioned primarily as "support
personnel ," takng care of "those traditional women' s j obs l ike cooking,
Free Women of pai n 95
sewing, and cleaning."1 3 Nevertheless, there were at least some mil i
ci anas-Concha Perez, Rosario Sanchez, Casilda Mendez, Pepita Vazquez
Nufez, among them-who functi oned "as men." At the front, assigned to
the Columna Hilario-Zamora, Concha was sent to Azaida, and eventually
participated in the frst ( "disastrous") attack on Belchite. She reports that
"they never treated me di fferently than anyone else, or separated me from
the group . . . There was a truly great respect. . . . We helped to do all those
things that the men couldn' t get to, to help them. And, besides that, we
functioned as militiawomen, we took guard duty . . . " Before the attack on
Belchite, in fact, Concha took part in an advance search party, "walking for
I don' t know how many kilometers. I was wearing alpargatas (slipper-li ke
sof-soled shoes), and by the end, I was walking without any shoes at
all . . . " 1 4
Concha remained at the Aragon Front for a number of months, until
word came of plans to militarize the militias. At that point, she decided to
leave, returning to Barcelona in November of 1 936. But civilian l i fe
seemed empty afer the intensity of the front: "Here [in Barcelona] there
was nothing for me; I was left rather depressed and demorali zed." So,
when she met compaferos on leave from the army who were headed for
Huesca, she retured to the font with them, joining with an Ital i an group
of the Interational Brigades , Grupo Carl o Roselli. Nevertheless, provi
sions were extremely poor, and conditions were miserable: "There, we
caught scabies, because we were living in such horribl e conditions, mini
mally clothed . . . We slept on straw . . . they had to order us back to the rear
guad. Then I realized that there was important work to do in Barcelona . . . "
So she retured to Barcelona, and eventually found a position in an arms
factory, where she worked (and served on the factory committee) until the
end of the War.
Although Concha and others fought along with men-some remaining
at the front long after militarization-it seems clear that the militiawomen
were never fully accepted by most elements of the society-even among
revolutionary circles. 1 5 Pictures of milicianas appeared on posters and i n
the press, particularly during the frst few weeks of the war. But the reali
ty of women soldiers proved more diffcult to accept. Mary Nash has
argued, in fact, that "although she was a woman in arms, she was not
encouraged to take up arms as a soldier; indeed, the mil iciana was not at
all representative of women' s resi stance during the Civil War"-which, for
the most part, was focused on activities on the homefront. 1 6 The image of
the miliciana was meant to encourage popular mobilization; but, afer the
initial enthusiasm of the frst days and weeks of the revolution, even most
96
women' s organi zati ons seemed to adhere to the sl ogan, "Men to the front,
women to work."
What accounts for thi s retreat from the enthusiastic embrace of
women' s participati on that seemed to mark the early days? Mary Nash has
argued that, wi th very few exceptions, neither the popul ace at l arge nor the
revol uti onary organizati ons were ready for such a dramatic challenge to
tradi ti onal gender rol es. Once i t became cl ear that there was a war to be
fought, vi rtual l y no organi zati on was prepared to argue that women ought
to be equal l y i nvol ved in fighti ng it. On the homefont, yes: there, women' s
contri buti ons were acceptable, i f not essenti al . But not at the battI e
fronts. 1 7
Indeed, al most from the begi nni ng, there were efforts t o remove
women from the battlefronts. Such efforts only intensi fed as the rebel lion
t urned into a ful l -scale civil war, and a virtual campaign of deri si on agai nst
the milicianas accompani ed mi l i tari zati on. In Nash' s words, "A movement
to di scredit the fgure of the mi l i ci ana began almost i mmedi atel y, and the
i ni tial attitude of popul ar enthusi asm soon took on a more critical , even
mocki ng, tone that, surpri singl y, was not openl y opposed by any of the
women' s organi zations."l x In some venues, and in much of the press, mi l i
ci anas were accused of having gone to the front simpl y for purposes of
prostituti on. and they were castigated for undermini ng the health and
morale of men at the front. 1 9 Some of the women' s organizati ons, and espe
ci al ly the Communist Party press, focused their attention on devel opi ng the
position that women' s place was not at the front, but at work in the rear
guard. 20 At their best, such arguments drew on traditional sex-role stereo
types, cl aiming that women were less wel l -suited to mi l i tary acti on . mr
that they could best serve the cause through flling in pl aces in factories lef
by men who had gone to fght.
In fact, however, as we will see below (Chapter 5), the response of
Muj eres Libres was somewhat more ambiguous. It is true that, neither in
the j ournal , nor in publi shed writings by its militants, did the organization
directly oppose the removal of women from the fronts. But the joural did
regularly run articles noting the partici pation of women, both in the initial
fghting and in the militias at the battlefronts. To give just one example,
Mujeres Libres no. 1 3 contained an articl e on "La Capitana de
Somosierra," telling the story of Pepita Vazquez Nunez, a miliciana who
had been at the front from the begi nning. 21
What is particularly interesting i s that the tone of many of these arti
cles was somewhat apologetic, as if in response to a sense that women' s
97
action i n the feld of war would be looked at with skepticism, at best. Thus,
for example, an article in Mujeres Libres no. 5, i n October of 1 936 stated:
I t i s not our fault that we cannot defeat with feminine niceties or human
itaian reason aggressors organized to destroy us, and armed with can
nons, machine-guns, rifes and bombs. We are fghting for life, and i t i s
not our fault that, in thi s struggle, we have to deal with death.
22
Thus, although some women did stay at the fronts, most either chose,
or were forced, to retur to civilian life, and to continue their activiti es on
the home front. There, there was much to do. And, as we wi l l see, Muj eres
Libres would devote most of its efforts to supporting revolutionary
activism in those venues.
Popul ar Revol uti on and Col l ectivization
A massi ve popular revolution-in both rural and urban- i ndustrial
areas-followed these frst heady days. Once the rebellion had been
quashed in some of the maj or cities and opposing battle lines had been
drawn, it was clear there would be civi l war. The resulting political vacu
um both required and made possible social experimentation on a massive
scale. Somehow, social order would have to be reestabl ished and the econ
omy kept going, even if under a new system of management (necessary
because, a least in some areas, landholders and industrial managers had
fed to the rebel-controlled zone).
Catalan industrial workers responded to the rebellion by taking over
factories and running them under one or another variation of "workers'
control ." In many rural areas, laborers took over management of felds
from absentee landlords, and small landholders pooled their land and farm
animals to create agricultural cooperatives and collectives. Muni cipalities
everywhere in Republican Spain set up new systems for public works,
transport, food, and supplies . And, for a time, militias replaced the army,
local "patrols" replaced the police, and popular tribunals replaced the crim
inal court system. 23
Not all collectivization was voluntary. Nor did collectivization take
place everywhere in Republican Spain; it was most prevalent in industrial
Catalonia and Valencia, in rural areas of Aragon and Valencia, and to a
lesser extent in rural Castile and Catalonia. Nor was it the case that all col
lectives were anarchist-inspired. Socialists collectivized in some areas,
particularly in the central region, and in Catalonia many farms were col
lectivized by the Uni6 de Rabassaires. But the initiative tended to derive
98
|O|I|O /. /C<O' OO|_
from the local level, even i f strongly rei nforced, for example, by pressure
from anarchi st mi l i ti a col umns nearby.
Years of partici pati on in uni on struggles, and attention to the problem
of coordi nation, alerted acti vi sts i n the ci ti es to the need for cooperati on
wi th thei r comrades i n other i ndustries and i n the countryside. One i mme
di ate need was for food. As Jose Peirats, the anarchi st hi stori an, who was
a young man at the time of the outbreak of the war, explained:
We real i zed that, si nce everythi ng was cl osed down because of the stri ke,
people mi ght not have food to eat. And i f they coul d not get food, they
woul d nol support the revol uti on. So we set up food di stri bution centers
for the food we had avai lable. and we l oaded up wagons wi th fi ni shed
products, manufactured goods, kitchen utensi l s. (which we got from the
relevant unions) and took them to the surroundi ng countrysi de, where we
exchanged them wi th farmers for food.
24
Sol edad Estorach, who also took part in these acti vi ti es, revealed another
si de of the revol utionary fervor:
We requi sitioned the l arge movi e houses and turned them i nto communal
di ni ng halls. Where did the food come from? From wherever we could
get it! We' d go around to shops i n the area and requi si ti on i t, and the poor
shopkeepers would give up everythi ng they had. They weren' t very happy
about it. Some of them said that we rui ned them. But that couldn' t be
helped. Those were thi ngs of the frst days of the revolution, and we had
to get food to peopl e. Later, of course, we took trucks and went to the bi g
markets and got food from there.
25
Signs of the social transformation were everywhere. Goverment and
private bui ldings were expropri ateo and dr:pp, with tGT r CT !:nn(r:.
Movie theaters were turned into publ i c refectories. Taxi s and trams were
repainted wi th CNT and UGT i nsignia. George Orwell, who frst visited
Barcelona in December 1 936, reported that "in outward appearance, i t was
a town in which the wealthy classes had practically ceased to exi st."26
Creative energies found outlets both l arge and smal l . Activists were
abl e to realize the ideas they had cherished for years. Soledad, for exam
pl e, had l ong been fascinated by books. Although the meager wages she
earned as a textile worker barely allowed her to support herself and her
famil y, she had not lost sight of her goal of getting an education and "see
ing the worl d." Soon she joined wi th compaferos from the luventudes to
begin to make that dream a reality: "We started the Universidad Popular
[people' s university] . We took over a beautifl French convent, and requi
siti oned books for a li brary fom all over the city. I was ecstatic about the
99
books. The compaferos were more educated than I, and were able to
choose which ones were most appropriate. I would have taken them all ! "27
The revolution transformed education on a broad scale. In Catal onia,
CENU (Committee for the New Unifed School) was created on Jul y 27.
Its goal was quite radical : the provision of free public education for all ,
from elementary through higher education, including the "workers' uni
versity" and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Its aims were
deeply infuenced by anarchist educational theory, and anarchist educators
were prominent in its organization and functioning. Juan Puig Elfas, for
example, president of the cultural section of the CNT and the director of
the Escuela Natura, served as president of the CENU executive committee.
The decree creating it gives a good sense of the nature of the enterprise: "It
i s the time for a new school, inspired by rationalist principles of work and
of human fraterity . . . which will create a new school life, inspired by the
universal sentiment of solidarity and in accord with all the concers of
human society, and on the basis of the total elimination of all forms of priv
ilege."2
Emma Goldman, invi ted by the CNT to visit Spain and the revolution,
was totally captivated by what she experienced, particularly in these early
stages. Even before she went there for the frst time, in September 1 936,
she had written to friends that it was the constructive aspect of the revolu
tion which seemed to her the most important: "For the frst time our com
rades are not only fghting the common enemy. They are engaged in build
ing. They are expressing concretely the thought of our great teacher,
Michael Bakunin, that the spirit of destruction is at the same time the spir
it of construction."29 When she arived in Barcelona, she was not disap
pointed. She wrote to Rudolf and Milly Rocker: "I have already visited all
works in control of the CNT and operated by the workers themselves, the
railroads, transport, oil and gas works, the aviation yards, and s ome of the
clothing factories. And I was overwhelmed by the perfect condition and
orderly running of everything. I was especially impressed with the peas
ants of a collectivized village. I have never thought such intelligence
among peasants possible."30
The feelings of empowerment, or possibility, that accompanied partic
ipation in these activities stayed with participants for years afterward. As
Enriqueta Rovira recalled: 'The feelings we had then were very special. I was
ver beautifl. There was a feeling of-how shall I say it?-of power, not in te
sense of domination, but in the sense of things being under our control, if under
ayone' s. Of possibility. A feeling that we could together really do some
thing."3 1
1 00 |O|I|O /. /C<O' OO|_
| |OUI|| O' O' ' OCI| v| 2OI| O|
Preexi sti ng structures of worker organi zati on made possible a workers'
takeover of much of the i ndustri al economy, especial l y in Catal onia. At the
same ti me, however, those structures defned and l i mi ted who woul d par
tici pate most actively in the takeover.
In Barcelona and surrounding areas, uni on organi zati ons col l ecti vi Leo
vi rtual l y al l producti on, from barbershops to texti l e factori es, el ectric
power generation to bakeri es, l ogging to furni ture retai l i ng. Factory com
mi ttees formed to di rect production and coordi nate wi th other uni ts within
the same industry. Uni on organizations coordi nated both the production
and di stribution of manufactured goods across i ndustri es and regi ons. In
some of these industries-wood, hai rdressi ng, and bread-baki ng, for
example-reorgani zation meant not only changes i n management but also
cl osi ng down smal l , i l l -equipped shops, bui l di ng new and l arger work
pl aces, and developing more effcient producti on techni ques. The wood
and bui l di ng trades uni on, for example, coordi nated all production and di s
tri bution from the forests to furniture stores, bui l t a recreational center wi th
a swi mmi ng pool at 1 0, Calle de Tapi ol as near one of these new work
pl aces in Barcelona, and took over a nearby church for a day-care center
and school for workers' chi ldren. 32 In Cataloni a, a j oi nt UGT-CNT com
mittee took over operation of the entire energy i ndustry, creating a Central
Commi ttee of Workers' Control of Gas and Electricity, which reorganized
producti on relations and salaries , coordinated the di stri bution and
exchange of resources with other parts of the country, and even attempted
to arrange for the purchase of coal from German mines (while, of course,
uisguising the identities ot the purchasers) . 33
In most collectivized industries, general assemblies of workers deci d
ed policy, while elected committees managed afirs on a day-to-day basi s.
In industrial collectives, much was done through Comites de Fdbrica (fac
tory committees) . Workers ' committees had exi sted in all unionized plants
during the prewar period. Participation in them enabled signifcant num
bers of workers to develop both knowledge of their enterri ses and a sense
of their own competence. 34 The committees readily adapted themselves to
the revolutionary context, coordinating and organizing production and-in
the words of Dolores Prat, who served on the factory committee where she
worked in Ripoll-"seeing that all were working, and all were content."
Comites de empresa (enterrise committees) constituted another l ayer of
organization. These were composed of representatives from each of the
unions, and they more or less managed the collectivized factory. 35
In the immediate aftermath of the rebellion, for example, the coordi
nating council of the textile workers' union in Badalona (a small textil e
city outside of Barcelona) asked the factory committees t o take control of
the factories and keep carefl records of income, production, output, etc.
Within a week, another communique asked members to create a workers '
control committee in each factory. 36 These committees, formed in a gener
al assembly of the workers, with representatives from each section, became
the basic units of "worker control ." The committees kept records, assigned
duties within the factory, and monitored coordination with other enterpri s
es and within the industry as a whole.
Through them, the union coordi nated production throughout the textil e
industry. 37 Similar structures and procedures existed in other industries. Yet
Albert Perez Bar6, who served as overseer of collectivizations as an
employee of the Generalitat, was critical of the actual workings of many of
these committees. In his view, too many CNT militants confused worker
contrl with union contrl, and they tended to deny or dismi ss any con
ficts of interest that might have arisen-for example, as to which factories
were assi gned what producti on goals, or regulation of competition and
working conditions between factories. 38
Overall , these structures proved extraordinari ly effective, not only in
maintaining production but also in instituting changes in both production
and personnel policies. For example, textile workers who were manufac
turing cloth and uniforms for militiamen developed new processes that
allowed for the substitution of hemp for hard-to-get cotton as a basis for
cloth. On the personnel side, one change made in the collectivized textile
industry was the abolition of piecework for women and the incorporation
of homeworkers into the factories. The CNT began seriously to unioni ze
women and to bring them into factories to work for a daily wage.
Furthermore, in some aeas, at least, worker committees were able to put
into practice long-held beliefs about a "right to work." Dolores Prat, for
example, who was general secretary of the seccion fabril of CNT textile
workers in Ripoll, reported that when foreign orders fell after May 1 937
and hours had to be cut back, they adopted a three-day workweek, divid
ing the available work among all those who had worked at the plant
thereby avoiding unemployment-and continued to pay everyone her or
his basic s alary. 39
In many industri es, especially metallurgical and industrial chemical s,
women fooded into new factory j obs. Many unions cooperated with
Muj eres Libres to institute training programs for these new workers . In
Barcelona and Madrid, women ran much of the public transport system.
Many CNT union journal s devoted col umns to women' s i ssues, focusing
especial l y on the i ntegration of women i nto the work force and providing
an appreci ation of the contrihuti ons women were making to production in
factori es and to the work of the uni on.40
Neverthel ess, it would not be accurate to say that women actually
achi eved equality with men in these i ndustrial collectives. By whatever
measure we mi ght choose tv defne it-equai pay for equal work, equal
parti ci pati on i n worker-management activi ti es, or the extent of the sexual
di vi si on of l abor-the col l ectives fel l far short of a goal of equality,
whether al ong gender or other l i nes.
I n the area of sal ari es, for exampl e, the CNT clearly compromi sed with
the theoretical goal of equal ity. Although the organi zation had long been
commi tted to the sue/do unico, a uni form sal ary for everyone worki ng
wi thin the same factory or i ndustry, i ndustrial enterpri ses rarel y achieved
that goal . Factory committees in most i ndustri es mai ntained or rei ntro
duced wage di fferenti al s between di fferent "grades" of work i n an effort to
retai n the cooperation of managers, supervi sory workers, and technical
personnel , al though they attempted to equali ze wages across different "ex
enterpri ses" withi n a collecti vi zed i ndustry. 4 1 One story frequently recount
ed to me concerned the workers in the Barcelona opera house. Apparentl y,
a group of workers proposed that all workers (from ushers and stagehands
to singers) should receive the same wage. The si ngers agreed-if the ush
ers and stagehands would take a turn at singing the lead rol es ! The pro
posal was quickly abandoned.
Diferential s in wages paid to men and to women also continued.
Pepita Caricer reported that in the collectivi zeo texti l e t(t(l i n w!ich
she worked in Igualada (in the province of Barcelona) during the war,
where the overwhel ming number of workers were women, there were three
levels of wages. The highest were paid to the hombres responsables, who
were all men: the director, the foremen, and the electrici ans. A second level
of salary was paid to the regular employees ("mothers of families")-the
maestrs and ordidors. And a third level applied to the apprentices.42
Although women constituted a maj ority of workers in the textile i ndustry,
they continued to perform the lowest-paying j obs. Lower pay was justifed
on the grounds that women' s work was not as heavy nor as diffcult as
men' s. And the claim that "male" work was indeed "heavy" also excluded
women from the higher-paying j obs.
The situation was somewhat diferent in areas where there had been
organized activity by women in the pre-Civil Wa period. Teresina Graells
reported that a women' s group began meeting within the CNT textile work-
ers' union in Terassa in the eary 1 930s, and had succeeded in getting the
union to adopt equal pay for equal work and materity leaves as formal bar
gaining goals even before the war. That situation was unusual, however. 43
Structures of participation and leadership also fell short of the egali
tarian vision. The CNT envisioned an anarcho-syndicalist society struc
tured largely by union organizations. Although paricipation and leadership
in these organizations and in institutions of worker control were ofcially
open to all, i n practice male workers participated more regularly in pl ant
committees and tended to monopolize leadership positions.44
There were some exceptions, particularly in heavily female i ndustries.
Pepita Caricer reported that most of the members of the factory commit
tee in the textile factory where she worked were women-her mother
among them. Teresina Grael ls was an active member and leader of the
women' s organization in her textile union in Terassa, and Dolores Prat
was secretary-general of her union in Ripol l . But their experiences were
apparently unusual . Especially where both men and women worked
together in an enterri se, women remained relatively underrepresented in
leadership positions.
Furthermore, the syndicate-based vision of social organization neces
sarily excluded nonunionized people from active participation in societal
decision making. In theory, a "local union" (which included representa
tives from each industry of enterrise in a particular community) addressed
matters of broader community concer. But there was no specifc repre
sentation in these meetings of nonunionized workers or (with a few excep
tions) of nonunion anarchist organizations, such as the ateneos. Thus, both
the defnition of issues and decisions about them tended to be lef to union
members.
Given the relatively l ow l evels of women' s paticipation in union lead
ership, union dominance in social and economic decision making only per
petuated the effective exclusion from priority consideration of issues of
particular i mportance to women. Male-dominated movement organizations
continued to analyze women' s situation in terms of what we would now
call a public/private split. If they thought about women' s emancipation at
all , they understood it to take place within the work-pl ace context. They
were efectively blinded to the ways in which women' s domestic roles
might impinge on their "public" (i . e. , union) participation.
In fact, the abolition of homework for women and their incororation
into the textile factories-regarded by the men who instituted it as one of
the most signifcant achievements of collectivization, since it would allow
for the incorporation of women into the work force as "equal s" with
1 04
men-demonstrates the problems wi th a publ i c/private anal ysi s that
i gnores the complexity of women' s l i ves. Al though the men who pressured
for the change genuinely believed it would help women, the women who
experienced i t were not always i n agreement. Homework had given women
some opportunity to set their own hours and the pace of their work.
Perhaps more important, it allowed them to care for chi ldren and fami l y at
the same time. Hours and wages i mproved si gni fcantly with the move i nto
factori es, but many women found it di ffcult to adj ust to the new work di s
ci pl i ne, whi ch, i n the absence of provi si ons for chi l d care, may have made
it harder for them to balance their multiple roles .45
"Doubl e duty" conti nued for women who worked i n the factories and
then had to go home to prepare food, clean, care for chi ldren, or keep
house for their fami l i es. Whi le many people apparently recognized the bur
den thi s pl aced on women, few suggested that it could change.46 At the
same ti me, however, the l ives of many women changed markedly as a
result of extraordinary new opportunities for partici pation in a broad range
of economic activi ties. The development of Muj eres Li bres assured that
there would be opportunities for women to expand thei r participation
beyond the narrowl y defned economic arena.
Rural Col l ecti ves
There were even more pronounced changes in rural areas. In many
s mall vi l l ages, particularly in Aragon, anarchi sts created municipal collec
tives of which all who worked the l ane COil l d hpmmf tfmbers . 11 sligh!
ly l arger vi l l ages, workers expropriated and col l ectivi zed the lands of l arge
l andholders, allowing those who had previously owned the l and to contin
ue working it, but assuring that all who had been sharecroppers or day
l aborers became ful l members of the col l ective. In other areas, the process
of collectivization was more mi xed: while some peasants and sharecrop
pers j oined the collective as members, others remained outsi de as "indi
vi duali sts," perhaps joi ni ng i n only as members of a producers ' or con
sumers' cooperative.
Soledad Estorach traveled with representati ves of the CNT, FAr, and
FIlL through Aragon, Catalonia, and parts of Valencia in the frst few
months of the war. She described the rol e of these travel i ng activi sts i n the
process of col l ectivi zation:
Free Women of Spai n
When we got t o a village, we'd go to the provisional committee of the vil
lage and call a general assembl y of the entire village. We' d explain our
paradise with great enthusiasm . . . And then there would be a debate
campesino styl e-uestions, discussion, etc. By the next day, they' d
begin expropriating land, setting up work groups, etc.
We' d help them form a union or create work groups . Sometimes there
would be no one in the village who could read or write, so some of these
matters took a bit longer ! We' d also make sure they named a delegate to
send to the next comarcal, or regional, meeting. And we' d go out to the
felds to work with them, to show them that we were "regul ar people," not
just outsiders who didn' t know anything about thi s. We were always wel
comed with open arms. For those people . . . Barcelona was l ike God.
People would ask us, "Is this the way they do it in Barcelona?" And if the
answer was "yes," then that was enough 1 47
1 05
On a collective in Lerida (about 1 75 kilometers west of Barcelona)
called "Adelante! " expropriation of a few relatively large landholdings
made coll ective members of those who had previously worked those lands
as laborers or sharecroppers. Land was widely distributed in the Lerida
area. Many people had some small plot of their own: few had extensive
holdings. Although the properties exproprated to form the collective were
not the largest holdings, they did represent properties of some signif
cance. 48 Only a few of those who joined the collective, however, had been
members of the CNT prior to the war. It was apparently their initiative
which led to the establishment of the collective in October 1 936. 49
In Aragon, where patterns of landholding were different, the process of
coll ectivization also difred. There, it was often the case that small land
holders formed collectives by pooling land they had always worked. The
collectives formed in thi s manner either left surounding l arge land owners
to themselves, "relieved" them or all their property beyond what was need
ed to support themselves and their families, or forced them to joi n the col
lective. In some areas of Aragon, most of those j oining collectives had
owned little property at all in the prewar period. A l ist of those entering
collectives in the vicinity of Gelsa, for example, indicates that the maj ori
ty of those who affliated were sharecroppers who owned little or no prop
erty of their own. 50 Not surpri singly, the process and outcome of collec
tivization varied with the town and with the proximity of CNT-Ied militia
units. While testimonies vary on the question of how much force was used
in the creation of collectives, even many anarchi st militants acknowledged
that the march of CNT militias through an area helped create an "atmos
phere" favorable to collectivization. 5 l Susan Harding highlights the ambi
guities:
1 06
Anarchi st col l ectivi zation i n wartime was an i ntensel y and inescapably
contradictory experience. Most Aragonese vi l l ages contained a nucl eus
of supporters for the anarchi st revolution, and many vi l l agers joined col
l ecti ves eagerly . . . On the other hand, many vi l l agers partici pated unwi l l
ingl y i n collectives and, for all, the cl i mate of coercion created by the
executions and threat of executions made real choice i mpossi hl e.
52
In Valenci a, wi th the except ion of a few communi ties \vjth a l ong hi s
tory of CNT mi l i tancy, the situati on was si mi l ar to that i n Catal oni a. In the
weeks afer the threat of rebel l i on had di ssi pated ( i n Valenci a, troops had
remai ned i n thei r barracks, l oyal to the Republ i c), both the UGT and the
CNT i ni ti ated efforts to col l ecti vi ze l ati fundial land and land abandoned by
owners di sl oyal to the Republ i c. But there were few l atifundial estates, and
rel atively l i ttle of the cultivated land in the regi on was owned by "di sl oy
al i sts." Neverthel ess, through the i niti ative of the CNT, agri cultural l abor
ers in many vi l l ages took control of the l and they worked and attempted to
establ i sh col lectives. As it did in Aragon and in the central regi on, the CNT
set up regi onal federations to assi st the i ndi vi dual col l ectives wi th produc
tion and coordinati on. But even the federati ons had thei r l i mi ts . Aurora
Bosch has argued, for exampl e, that al l too few CNT leaders and acti vi sts
in the area had any idea what collectivizati on was about. Many col l ectives
were little more than producers' and consumers ' cooperatives. 53 Among the
collectives that functioned etctively was one called "El Porvenir" [the
future] in Tabernes de Valldigna, where Pura Perez Arcos was to l i ve dur
i ng the last months of the war.
Regardl ess of the way in which the collectives began, work was usual
l y done in groups on a cooperative basi s. In smaller collectives, al l work
ers garnered daily to dISCUSS what work needed to be done and how to allo
cate tasks . In larger colectives, representatives of each work group would
gather at regular intervals . General assemblies of the collective met on a
weekly, bi weekly, or monthly basi s, and they took up i ssues rangi ng from
hours and wages to the distribution of food and clothing. 54
The achievements of these collectives were extensive. In many areas
they maintai ned, i f not increased, agricultural production, often i ntroduc
ing new patterns of cultivation and fertilization. In Valencia, the UGT and
CNT together formed CLUEA (The Unifed Levantine Council for
Agricultural Exports) , which collectivized the orange export industry, the
country' s l argest source of foreign exchange. Although its operations were
limited by the exigencies of war, lack of experience on the part of the
workers who were running it, and the cl osi ng down of foreign markets, it
did coordinate both production and export i n a maj or agricultural i ndustry.
Elsewhere, collectivists built chicken coops, bars, and other facilities for
the care and feeding of the community' s animal s. Federations of collec
tives coordinated the construction of roads, schools , bridges, canal s, and
dams. Some of these remain to this day as lasting contributions of the col
lectives to the infrastructure of rural Spain. 55 The collectivists also arranged
for the transfer of surlus produce fom wealthier collectives to those expe
riencing shortages, either directly from village to village or through mech
anisms set up by regional committees . The redi stribution thus effected was
not total : transportation and communication were ofen lacking, and com
mitment to the process was far from unanimous. But, as Felix Caasquer
reported, consciousness-raising was a continuing proces s :
There were, of course, those who didn' t want to share and who said that
each collective should take care of itself. But they were usually convinced
in the assemblies. We would try to speak to them in terms they under
stood. We' d ask, "Did you think it was fair when the cacique llocal boss]
let people starve if there wasn' t enough work?" And they said, "Of course
not." They would eventually come around. Don' t forget, there were thrce
hundred thousand collectivists, but only ten thousand of us had been
members of the CNT We had a lot of educating to do.
56
The problem was not a simple one. Except in those areas that had had
some prior experience with comunismo libertario, collectivization repre
sented a marked change from former ways of organizing life, and many
l aborers evidently had difculty adjusting to the new system. Solidaridad
Ohrer, Nuevo Argon, Acrcia, Castilla Libre, and other CNT-operated
newspapers ran articles discussing the functioning of collectives, appealing
to the rural petit bourgeoisie not to be afaid of the revolution and to labor
ers not to hang on to old ways of doing things, no matter how famili ar they
might be. 57
In general, and not surprisingly, rural collectives were somewhat more
successful than industrial collectives in achieving the anarchist goal of
equality, at least with respect to wages. There seem to have been two major
pay schemes. One was to pay all coll ectivists a set amount per day. The
other was the so-called family wage, which adjusted the amount of the
wage to the size of the family in an approximation to the communist-anar
chist goal of "to each according to his need."
Some collectives paid all workers the same wage, regardless of the
type of work done. Those of Monzon and Miramel in Aragon, for exam
ple, paid men and women equally. But most collectives set fairly signif
cant differentials between wages paid to women and those paid to men. 5R
Even the family wage systems incorporated this unequal valuation of
1 08
l abor. "Adel ante ! " (in Leri da) and "EI Porvenir" (i n Val encia) , for exam
ple, paid wages to the "fami ly head" scaled accordi ng to the number. sex,
and ages of peopl e i n the family. The head of family i n "EI Porvenir"
received 4 pesetas per day for hi msel f; 1 . 50 for hi s compafera; 0. 75 for
each child over ten; and 0. 50 for each of those under ten. 59 Some col1ec
tives in Aragon operated with a combinati on of these two systems . In
Fraga, for exampl e. women who worked outside lhe home in the tradition
al l y femi ni ne task of tending and packing fgs received the same dai l y
wage for thei r work as did men. During those months when they "simply
kept house, or kept up the famil y plot," they were not paid. The famil y
wage paid to the husband or father was said to reflect their contribution
i ndi rectl y. 60
In addition, a traditi onal sexual divi sion of labor seems to have pre
vai l ed in the di stribution of work withi n the collective. The minutes of the
Lerida col lective, for exampl e, suggest a widespread acceptance of the
propositi on that norms for women' s work should be different from those
for men' s. 6 1 Evidence from other col l ectives reveal s si mi l ar expectati ons .
Everywhere, domestic chores fel l automatical l y t o women. And, except on
small or very poor col lectives; women worked outsi de the home only
under unusual ci rcumstances, such as the harvest, when al l hands possible
were needed. A2
Finall y, a tradi tional sexual division of l abor al so seems to have pre
vailed in the nature and extent of participation in leadership and deci sion
making within the collectives. Both the minutes of "Adelante ! " and i nter
views with male anarchists from other collectives suggest that women' s
i nvol vement i n communal decision making was rather limited. Gi ven the
devaluation of women' s worth, such reports should not necessarily be
taken as indicative of the level s of women' s paricipati on. Neverthel ess, a
number of women al so reported that women were often silent in meet
ings-a silence they attributed to the fact that most women had had little
experience in public speaking. As we will see, this was to be yet another
concern that Mujeres Libres would address.
It i s, of course, possible that, then as now, women di d much and
received little or no recognition for i t. Soledad Estorach reported that there
were some collectives in Aragon where the frst delegates to the village
committee were women. Why? Because men were ofen away from home
for l ong periods, tendi ng the focks. Those who actually kept the villages
going on a day-to-day basis were the women. From all repors, however,
||OO YO|O| O !
the leadership of women in these villages represented an exception to the
general patter, rather than the rule.
Still, the collectives had accomplished a great deal . Women participat
ed actively in some rural collectives, and even took positions of responsi
bility in them. Degrees of personal freedom increased dramatically. In a
signifcant number of areas, formal marriage ended, even if the nuclear
family remained in the norm. 63 Working-class women began to act
autonomously.
O CO LOD$O OOOD ODO LOUDO|- KVO UOD
No account of the social revolution would be complete without a con
sideration of the political context in which it took place-both internation
al and domestic-and the impact of changes in that context on the course
of the revolution itself. I noted above that the rebellion marked the effec
tive collapse of offcial governmental power. In the maj or republican
strongholds, victori ous workers' organizations quickl y took responsibility
for the establishment of public order. In most cities, formal institutions of
government were replaced by Anti-fascist Militia Committees, consisting
of representatives of the various parties and worker' s organizations active
in the community. What resulted was an attempt to renect in pc/itica/insti
tutions the unity of purose and of struggle that had been experienced in
the streets.
Still, the political transformation was not total. While these committees
took over the formal direction of communal life at the local level, preex
isting institutions were not always totally destroyed. In Catalonia, for
example, the Oeneralitat (the autonomous Catalan government) continued
to function as the region' s formal goverment, while popular forces organ
ized the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia, with rep
resentatives from socialist, communist, and regionalist republican political
parties, and the maj or working-class organi zations, including the VOT and
CNT, in numbers roughly proportional to their support in the population. M
(The comparable institution in Aragon was the Consej o de Aragon, and in
Valencia, Comite Ej ecutivo Popular. In Aragon, however, unlike Catalonia
or Valencia, there was no other formal governmental structure. The revo
lutionary committee ruled the region throughout the Civil War. )
Nevertheless, this brief period of "dual power" ultimately allowed time for
the reconsolidation of power in the hands of the goverment. 65
I I U |O|I O ^. ^CKO' S OO|_
These political shifs were heavi ly infuenced by the i nternational con
text of the Spani sh Civil War. The war began in the summer of ! V, when
Hi tler had already establ i shed hi mself i n power i n Germany, and it ended
in the spring of VV, shortly before Germany' s invasi on of Poland marked
the ofial outbreak of Worl d War II . Those countries which could have
been expected to be the natural al l i es of Republican Spain-England,
France ( which had its own Popular Front government), and the Uni ted
States-adopted a policy of "neutral i ty," fearful of offendi ng Hi tler and
Mussol i ni or of supporti ng the "Red" Spanish government. They refused
not only to sell arms to the Republic, but refsed even to al low trade i n any
materi als that mi ght be of strategic use. Thi s pol i cy was i mplemented with
notable i nconsi stency: Franco' s "nationalist" government somehow man
aged to purchase oil and gasol i ne from U. S. oi l companies despite the
embargo, for exampl e. Meanwhile, although Hitler and Mussol ini had al so
si gned the "Noni nterventi on Treaty" in August V, they made i t clear
that they had no i ntenti on of abi ding by its provi si ons. Over the years, they
suppl i ed arms, war materi el , troops, and massive air support to the rebel
side (the most notable example of the l atter bei ng the Lufwaffe air rai d on
the Basque town of Guerni ca) . The Republic was efctivel y i sol ated and
abandoned. But for the support of the Soviet Union and Mexico, beginning
i n October ! VO, it would probably have fallen to the rebel s before the end
of that year. 66
Nevertheless, while Soviet aid may have been crucial in allowing the
resistance to continue, it al so affected the course of the social revolution
and of the Civil War itself. Stalin actively supported the Popular Front
strategy in an efrt to build an alliance with the capitali st West against the
fascists . Hence, it was in his interest to play down (if not to repress) the
revol utionary aspect of the Spani sh Civil War and to represent it to the
West as a simple war of democracy against fascism.
As the war dragged on, and the support of the USSR became ever more
central to the Republic, the infuence of the Spani sh Communist party
(which had had a mere three thousand members at the outbreak of the war)
over Republican policy grew. The politi cs of the Popular Front-defned as
winning the war and defending the democratic republic-came increas
ingly to replace, and then to dominate, the worker-based revolutionary
alliances . The PCE ( Spanish Communi st party) and PSUC (the Catalan
Communist pary) became the representatives of the petty bourgeoisie and
small peasantry against the revolutionary workers ' organizations . Very
early, they adopted an explicitly counterrevolutionary policy, opposing
popular militias and collectives and advocating the protection of private
property.67
Free Women of Spai n 1 1 1
Libertaran movement organizations struggled to resist these policies,
but the pressure was intense. As early as September 1936, the CNT was
emphasizing the importance of antifascist unity. In a radio address in
Madrid, for example, Federica Montseny declaed, "Now we are neither
socialists, nor anarchists, nor republicans, we are all anti-fascists, since we
all know what fascism represents."68 Toward the end of that month, three
CNT members joined the Council of the Generalitat of Catalonia, which
now had representatives of all the workers' organizations as well as politi
cal parties, and a few days later, the Central Committee of Antifascist
Militias dissolved itself. Joining a political body, of course, was a clear
deviation from traditional anarchist principles. Solidaridad Obrer justi
fed the move in terms of the necessities of war: "In a war, there must be
direction. A committee must be created that will be solely responsible for
actions of a military character. And by the side of military technicians there
must coexist a council that takes responsibility for assuring that all work
ers do their assigned tasks."69
Throughout October, Solidaridad Obrer issued repeated calls for the
creation of a national defense council that would unite all the anti-fascist
forces in a nongovernmental body. A politics of parties, they argued, would
not be adequate for the task confonting them.70 But the calls met with no
positive response from Largo Caballero, the Socialist leader who was then
prime minister. Finally, pressured to join the government or to lose access
to arms and the coordination of the struggle, the CNT gave in.
Representatives of the CNT and FAI joined the government of Largo
Caballero on November 2 (accepting four ministerial positi ons) in
exchange for promises of arms to Catalonia and i n hopes of preserving rev
olutionary gains. Emma Goldman shared the concerns of most non
Spanish anarchists about the implications of the move. She wrote to Rudolf
Rocker, for example, that the move "far from having helped [has] injured
our comrades and their work beyond belief."7! In fact, as Goldman feared,
the anarchists began to lose ground almost immedi ately, as the anti-revo
lutionary forces gained ever more control over goverment policy, both
locally and nationally. On October 24, 1 936, the Generalitat issued a
"Decree of Collectivizations and Worker Control," formally designed to
"normalize" the collectivizations. Efectively, it limited the power of work
er control committees. By November, representatives of the collectivized
gas and electrical power industry were complaining that the Generalitat
had forbidden the Central Committee of Workers' Control to withdraw any
funds without the prior authorization of the Generalitat.72 By December
1 936, the popular militias were militarized; soon stringent controls were
1 1 2 Martha A. Ackel sberg
set on i ndustri al and agricultural col lectives, l i mi ting the extent of worker
control . As Emma Goldman noted, the anarchi sts were caught in the dilem
ma of ei ther attempti ng to i mpose thei r wi l l ( as i n a di ctatorshi p) or par
ti ci pati ng in the government-both "reprehensi bl e" options. Parti ci pati on
seemed the l esser evi l . 73
Withi n a few short months, pol i tical concerns overcame revolutionary
ai ms, and the pol i tical al l i ance effectively defeated the revolutionary one.
In Barcel ona, Communi st-led forces took the i ni ti ative agai nst anarchi sts
and the POUM i n what became known as the "May events" of 1 937,
attacki ng the CNT-controlled central telephone bui l di ng and arresti ng (and
"di sappeari ng") major POUM leaders. The CNT mi ni sters took to the ai r
waves, urgi ng thei r fol l owers t o l ay down thei r arms so as not t o gi ve the
Communi sts and the government a justi ficati on for further vi ol ence. But
thei rs was, at best, a temporary hol di ng acti on; they di d not have the power
to reverse the di rection of pol i cy. Later that week, al l four mi ni sters
resi gned in protest.
The government then took on an i ncreasi ngl y counterrevoluti onary
rol e. It i mposed constrai nts on many i ndustrial col l ectives, l i mi ting work
er control in the name of war production. In August, Communist-domi nat
ed troops, led by Enri que Li ster, marched through the Aragon countrysi de
in an effort to reverse collectivizati on and restore lands to their "original"
owners. Soon the government adopted an expl i ci t pol i cy of "war frst, rev
olution afterwards."74 Although many col lectives continued in operation
unti l they were overrun by Franco' s troops at the conclusion of the war, the
May events of ] 937 marked the efctive end of the expansive period of the
social revolution. The sense that "the world was in our hands" had cl earlv
come to an end.
Hi stori ans and former participants continue to debate the validity of
the opposi ng anarchist and Communi st positions on war and/or revolution.
Many of those sympathetic to the revolutionary forces have suggested that
the PCE policy of militarizati on and centralization-putting the war frst
and foremost-undermined working people' s enthusi asm for the struggle
and lef them feeling as though there were little to fght for. Goldman put
what she termed the Communi st "betrayal" in the starkest terms: "I only
know I must cry out against the murderous gang directed from Moscow
that is not only tryi ng to squeeze the l i fe out of the revolution and the CNT
FAL It has and is deliberael y sabotagi ng the antifascist front. I do not
know of any other such instance of betrayal. Judas betrayed only Christ.
The Communists have betrayed a whole people."75
Others have criticized the CNT policy of collaboration with the gov
ernment, and suggested that any efort to fght a revolutionary war by con
ventional means was doomed to failure. Anarchists and others should have
engaged in guerrilla warfare, rather than accepting the PCE policy of mil
itarization. 76 Much of her private correspondence suggests that Emma
Goldman was sympathetic to such criticisms of the CNT, although she
publicly defended its actions as the best of the "reprehensible" choices
available. Tn fact, she wrote often to comrades in Europe and the United
States, urging them to temper their public criticisms of CNT policy. 77
Interestingly, Mariano Vazquez and Pedro Herrera (heads of the CNT and
FAI, respectively), wrote to her in January 1938, asking that she tone down
her own criticisms of the behavior of the Communist party and the gov
ernment: "To talk always about the bad attitude and actions of the com
munists and the Negrin goverment," they wrote, may create "an atmos
phere of indifference . . . The international proletariat will ask itself: ' Why
should we give aid to the Spanish antifascists if its goverment engages in
persecutions . . . worse than any other bourgeois government?"'78
Finally, those sympathetic to the PCE position have argued that the
odds against the Republic were so great that the POUM-CNT-Lef
Socialist position of revolution and war was fanciful : it was necessary to
mobi lize all resources for the war if there was to be any hope of defeating
the rebel forces. 79 In fact, at the end of the war, Vazquez wrote to Emma
Goldman that, if the CNT had committed any mistake, it was that of bei ng
"too revol utionary." "If, on the 19th of July, instead of the collectives and
the Revolution, we had concentrated on a bourgeois Republic, i nternation
al Capitalism would not have been frightened and, instead, would have
decided to aid the Republic . . . Precisely what was needed was not to make
the Revolution before winning the war."80
Nevertheless, it is far from clear that the counterrevolutionary policy of
the PCE and the government made the defnitive difference in the actual
outcome of the war. Tn fact, none of these positions gives suffcient weight
to the international context. Franco and the rebels could count both on the
direct support of Hitler and Mussolini and on the indirect support of the
United States, Britain, and France, which refused to intervene on the side
of the Republic and looked the other way when domestic corporations sold
strategic goods to the rebels. On the Republican side, Soviet aid was, of
course, crucial . But even aside from the price the Republicans paid for it
in strategic or in monetary terms-it could not match the aid pouring i nto
the rebel camp. In many respects, the Spanish Civil War was
! I 4 |O|I O ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
effectively decided in the international arena, though it was the Spanish
peopl e who bore the physi cal and emoti onal brunt of the fghting-and of
the years of repressi on that fol l owed. H I
In sum, revol ution and war otred women and men dramati cal l y new
opportuni ti es for social participati on, in many cases contributi ng to a vast
l y broader sense of thei r own capabil iti es and of the possibili ties of soci al
change. Neverthel ess, the long-term effects of the war itsel f undermined
many of these gai ns. In addition to the shortages of food and raw materi
al s, and the economic and social di sl ocati ons caused by the war, the con
tinuing "ci vi l war within a civil war" set l i mi ts to the social revol uti on.
Especi al l y i n the earl y months of the war, many organizati ons and i ndi
vi dual s envi si oned the creation of a trul y revolutionary, egali tarian soci ety.
Those goal s animated the acti vi ties of anarchist movement organi zations in
general and of Mueres Libres in particul ar. But the warti me si tuation also
constrai ned what they would be abl e to accompl i sh. In the remai ni ng chap
ters, I explore how Mujeres Libres developed out of thi s larger revol uti on
ary context and, in turn, both shaped and was shaped by it.
l V
1c |CdNOlNC C ^dJ cRES L' BRES
Social revol utionary activity reached its peak in antifascist Spain in the
frst months of the Civil War, fourishing in ground that had been prepared
by the anarchist and socialist movements during the preceding seventy
years . Muj eres Libres was born of that preparation and of the social tur
moil of the Republi c. Although the national federati on was not formed
ofcially until 1 937, a j ournal frst appeared in May 1 936. Publi cation of
the j oural was preceded by over two years of active organizing among
anarchist women, particul arly in Madri d, Barcelona, and their surrounding
areas. The founders of Muj eres Libres were all mil itants in the anarcho
syndicalist movement. Yet they found the existing organizati ons of that
movement inadequate to address the specifc problems confonting them
as women, whether in the movement itself or in the l arger soci ety. Thi s
chapter explores thei r experiences in the movement, in preliminary organ
izing efts, and in establishing an organization to struggle directly for
women' s emancipation.
The Anarcho- Syndi calist Movement
and the Subordination of Women
All those compaferos, however radical they may be i n cafes, unions, and
even afni ty groups lFAl] , seem to drop their costumes as l overs of
female li beration at the doors of their homes. Inside, they behave with
their compaferas j ust l i ke common "husbands."
t
Despite the strong attachments and sense of community that women
activists developed through their invol vement in unions, ateneos, and
youth groups, even the most active women reported that their male friends
did not always treat them with respect. Experiences varied, but the mes-
1 1 5
1 1 6
sage was the same: for all their commi tment to equal ity, the boys/men
would not treat the gi rl s/women as thei r equal s . "It' s true that we have
struggled together," Enri queta recal l ed sayi ng to her male comrades in the
luventudes and the ateneo, "but you are always the l eaders, and we are
always the foll owers. Whether in the streets or at home. We are l ittle bet
ter than sl aves ! "2
Those women who were active members of CNT uni ons or who par
ti ci pated in ateneos or i n FlJL groups were always a mi nori ty. Thei r efforts
to i ncorporate other women i nto the acti vi st core never seemed to get very
far, whether because of the sexi sm of the men, the di ffdence of the
women, or some combi nation of the two. A few of thei r stories may help
to recall the atmosphere of the ti me.
Azucena Fernandez Barba, granddaughter of Abelardo Saavedra, had
grown up i n a household with two parents deeply commi tted to the move
ment. She and her si sters and brother helped found the ateneo Sol y Vi da
in Barcelona. But, as she reported her experi ences, "i nsi de thei r own
homes, [men] forgot completely about women' s struggle":
I t' s the same as-to use an analogy-a man who is obsessed with pl ay
ing cards. They go out to play cards, and they do i t regardless of what ' s
going on i n the house. The same wi th us, only it wasn' t cards, but
ideas .. . They struggled, they went out on strike, etc. But i nsi de the house,
worse than nothing. I think we shoul d have set an example with our own
l ives, l ived differently i n accordance with what we said we wanted. But
no, [for them] the struggle was outside. Inside the house, [our desiresJ
were purely utopian.
3
Pepi ta Carpena, who had long been active wi th the CNT and
luventudes i n Barcelona, described one of her experiences wi th a com
panero from luventudes that was typical of many I heard:
I ' ll tell you a story because, for me, what has always been my saving
grace is tat I ' m very outgoing, and I ' m not bashful about responding to
people who give me a hard time . . . One time, a compaiero from the
Juventudes came over to me and said, "You, who say you' re so li berated.
You' re not so liberated." (I' m telling you thi s so you' ll see the mentali ty
of these men. ) "Because if I would ask you to give me a kiss, you would
n' t."
I just stood there staring at him, and thinking to myself, "How am I going
to get out of thi s one?" And ten I said to hi m, "Li sten, when I want to
go to bed with a guy, I ' m the one that has to choose him. I don' t go to bed
wit just anyone. You don' t interest me as a man. I don' t feel anything for
you . . . Why should you want me to ' li berate myself,' as you put i t, by
going to bed with you? That' s no li beration for me. That' s j ust making
Free Women of Soo| m
love simply for te sake of making love. "No," I said t o him, "love i s
something that has t o be like eating: if you're hungry, you eat, and i f you
want to go to bed with a guy, then . . . Besides, I' m going to tel l you
something else. Perhaps you' ll get angry at me. " (This I did just to get at
him, no?) "Your mouth doesn' t appeal to me . . . And I don' t li ke to make
l ove with a guy without kissing him."
He was lef speechless ! But I did it with a dual purose in mind . . , because
I wanted to show him that that ' s not the way to educate
compaferas . . . That ' s what the struggle of women was like in Spain-ven
with men from our own group-and I ' m not even talking about what it
was like with other guYS.
4
1 1 7
The claim that concern with male-female equality did not carry over
well into intimate personal rel ationships was widespread among the
women with whom I spoke. But what bothered many of them equally was
that many men did not seem to take women seriously even i n more "pub
lic/political" contexts. Pura Perez Benavent Arcos, for example, who had
attended the rational i st school run by Puig Elfas in the bariada of EI Clot
in Barcelona and j oined Juventudes there, noted that when girl s went to
meetings of the Juventudes, the boys would ofen laugh at them even
before they spoke ! Pura got to know Soledad Estorach in Barcelona and
told her of her experiences. Soledad apparently wouldn' t believe how bad
it was and went herself-only to be l aughed at in similar ways. s
These attitudes and behaviors refected some of the variety of views on
women' s proper place in society and in a revolutionary movement that had
been developed over time within the Spanish anarchist movement. As we
have seen, these views ranged from a Proudhonian acceptance of women' s
secondary status t o a Bakuninist insistence that women were the equal s of
men and ought to be treated as such in all social institutions . Al though the
latter position had been adopted by the Spanish anarchist movement as
early as 1 872, women' s actual contributions to the social struggle were
rarely acknowledged, and the CNT was lax, at best , in its efforts to organ
ize women workers . The situation was worse at home. Virtually all of my
informants l amented that, no matter how militant even the most committed
anarchists were in the streets, they expected to be "masters" in their
homes-a complaint echoed in many articles written in movement news
papers and magazines during this period.
Apparently, the belief that woman' s proper role was to be mother and
wife was shared by at least some anarchist women. Matilde Piller, for
example, writing in Estudios in 1 934, argued that women' s emancipati on
was incompatible with her role as mother: "One cannot be a good moth
er-in the strict sense of the term-and a good l awyer or chemist at the
1 1 8 Martha A. Ackelsberg
same ti me . . . Perhaps one can be an intell ectual and a woman at the same
t i me. But a mother? NO."6 That view was surel y a common one among
men. In 1 935, for exampl e, in an articl e l amenti ng the lack of interest by
women in their own emancipation (and defending the movement agai nst
women' s cl ai ms that it was not doi ng enough to address women' s subordi
nation) , Montuenga asserted that "woman . . . will always be the beautiful
si de of l i fe, and that i s what. . . she ought to be: the l ovable compafera, who
forti fes and soothes us i n the struggle of l i fe, and a l ovi ng mother to our
chi l dren."7
Neverthel ess, the ofcial view of the CNT was that women were the
equals of men and ought to be treated that way in the home and i n the
movement. The Zaragoza Congress of May 1 936 cl earl y articulated the
egal i tari an position. In the "Dictamen sobre ' Concepto confederal del
comuni smo l i bcrari o, ' " the most compl ete spel l i ng out of the constructive
vi si on of the CNT at that ti me, we fnd, "si nce the frst goal of the l i ber
tari an revol ution consists in assuring the economi c i ndependence of all
peopl e, without disti nction by sex, the interdependence (in the sense of
economi c inferi ority) created between men and women under the capital
ist system wi l l di sappear with i t [capitalismJ . . . lin a libertarian communist
society] the two sexes wi l l be equal , both in rights and i n obligations ."8
However, acceptance of the view that women were expl oited econom
i cal l y, and that women' s subordination ought to be a focus of anarchist rev
olutionary attention, did not signify agreement about the nature of the
exploitation or how it would best be overcome. Many argued that women
should contribute to their emancipation by supporting male revolutionar
i es. Some, probably refective of the maj ority within the movement. deni ed
that women were oppressed in ways that required particul ar attenti on.
Federica Montseny acknowledged that "the emancipation of women" was
"a critical problem of the present time." But she argued that women' s
oppression was a manifestation of cultural factors (including women' s
poor sense of self that would not be resolved through organizational strug
gle. 9 Paral l el ing the arguments of Emma Gol dman, she insisted on the
interal nature of the struggle: only when women came to respect them
selves would they be able to effectively demand respect from men. She
agreed with other anarchist writers, both male and female, that the appro
priate goal was not equality with men under the present system, but a
restructuring of society that would liberate all . "Feminism? Never!
Humanism always ! "
Feminism, of course, represented yet another perspective on how best
to achieve equality for women. Although feminism was quite late in taking
root in Spain (the frst independent feminist organization, the Asociaci6n
Nacional de Muj eres Espafolas, was not founded until 1 9 1 8 and had littl e,
i f any, impact on worling-class women) /l feminist analyses of women' s
subordination and strategies for emancipation attracted a great deal of crit
ical attention from anarchists. Federica Montseny was perhaps the most
outspoken Spanish anarchist critic of femini sm. Feminism, she argued,
advocated equality for women, but did not challenge existing instituti ons :
"Feminism i s a word that i s applicable only to wealthy women, because
poor women have never been femini sts, nor would they be permitted to be
SO! "1 2 Privileges were unj ust, however, and "if they are unj ust when men
take advantage of them, they will still be unjust if women take advantage
of them." I 3
Furthermore, Spanish feminists had claimed (along with feminists
elsewhere) that women were more peaceful than men and that, given the
opportunity, they would govern more justly than men. But Montseny and
other Spanish anarchists roundly criti cized this perspective: "Neither cru
elty nor sweetness is the patrimony of one sex . . . The force of authority and
domination makes men haughty and irritable. And the same causes will
produce the same results [in women] ."1 4 Women were not by nature more
peace-loving than men, any more than men were by nature more aggres
sive than women. Both temperaments were the products of social condi
tioning. The only way to end the domination of men over women was as
part of a larger struggle to end all forms of domination. Femini sm was too
narrowly focused as a strategy for women' s emancipation; sexual struggle
could not be separated from class struggle or from the anarchist proj ect as
a whole.
A small minority within the movement as a whol e also argued that
women faced sex- specifc forms of subordination that needed particular
attention. Many of these (both men and women) i nsisted that the struggle
to overcome that subordination had begun to be addressed within the CNT,
FI, Juventudes, ateneos, and other movement organizations, and that the
struggle needed to continue in those contexts. Those who held thi s view
interpreted the movement ' s commitment to direct action and spontaneous
order to mean that, since it was in these organizations that the dilemmas
were experienced, these organizations were the places in which the strug
gles could best be worked through to their logical conclusion. Thus,
Igualdad Ocana, who was well aware of the ways women' s contributions
had been devalued within movement organizations, nevertheless insi sted
that "we are engaged in the work of creating a new society, and that work
must be done in unison. We should be engaged in union struggl es, along
with men, fghti ng for our places, demanding to be taken seriously."I ) They
opposed separate organi zati ons for women to address such problems, and
found support for thei r posi ti on in the anarchi st emphasi s on the unity of
means and ends .
Those who opposed autonomous women' s organizations argued that
anarchism was i ncompatible not j ust with hi erarchical forms of organiza
ti on, but with any i ndependent organi zation that might undermi ne the unity
of the movement. Si nce the ai m of the anarchi st movement was the cre
ati on of an egal i tari an soci ety i n whi ch men and women woul d i nteract as
equal s, the struggle to achi eve it should engage men and women together
as equal partners . They feared that an organi zation devoted speci fcal ly to
endi ng the subordi nation of women would emphasi ze di fferences between
men and women rather than thei r si mi l ariti es, and would make it more di f
fcult to achi eve an egali tari an revol utionary end.
Organizi ng Women: First Steps
Sl owly, women in a variety of movement contexts began to di scuss the
speci fc subordination of women within the movement and to take steps
toward organizing to overcome it. In some Catalan industrial villages,
women' s groups began forming even in the last years of the dictatorship.
In Terrassa, for exampl e, a group of women workers, al l of whom were
members of the clandestine CNT textil e workers ' union there (the CNT
was il l egal during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera), began meeting in
1 928 i n the centr culturl y coopertivista of the FAI. Thei r !urose wa
to become comfortabl e with speaking i n a group and t o di scuss among
themselves those issues (work or salaries, for example) that they might
wish to rai se in union assemblies. It was as a result of these meetings,
reported Teresina Torrelles, a member of the group, that the union includ
ed in its demands, as early as 1 93 1 , the right of women to equal salary with
men for equal work and eight weeks of paid maternity l eae. Although thi s
group hardly had the resources to "prepare" women ful ly, it did contribute
a great deal to working women' s ideological development. When the war
and revol uti on began in 1 936, the women of Terrassa were ready to act:
they set up a clinic and a school for nurses in the trst days of the strug
gle. 1 6
I n Barcelona, a group known as the Grupo Cultural Femenino, CNT,
began to form late in 1 934 in the aftermath of the abortive October revolu
tion. 1 7 This organization brought together women invol ved in CNT unions
in order to foster a sense of solidarity and to enable them to take more
active roles in the union and in the movement. Lucfa Sanchez Saori l , a
writer and poet, and Mercedes Comaposada, a lawyer, undertook a similar
task in Madrid. Lucfa had been active in movement circl es in Barcelona
and had the idea to start an organization to educate women. She took the
idea to a number of unions, but they seemed totally uninterested. So she
left Barcelona and went to Madrid, where she met Mercedes
Comaposada. ' s
Mercedes herself had begun her initiation into leftist politics at an early
age. Her father had migrated to Barcelona fom rral Aragon in hi s early
teens to escape extreme poverty, lear a trade, and fnd a j ob. He became a
shoemaker, but mostly he was a "cultural worker." He taught himsel f
French and German, and was the Spanish correspondent for L'Humanite.
Mercedes recalled that he would get up at 4 or 5 A. M. to study, and would
tease his children by asking them how they could sleep so long. There were
always peopl e in and out of the house: "My poor mother was a victim . . . She
had no control over who would be there or when."
His activities, and his example, left a deep i mpression on her: "My
father, who was a Socialist, lef me with a very strong sense of humanity.
I went to an escuela grduada, which was very special at the time. I had a
wonderful teacher. One day, the teacher took me aside and said, ' Some day
you' ll hear that your father is in j ail. I want you to know that if he i s, it i s
not because he' s a thief, but because he really cares about workers ! ' "
Mercedes leared to type when she was twelve, and she went to work
for a flm company, where she learned editing and mounting. "They were
all in the CNT, so I joined, too. My frst union card was in the cinema! "
During 1 9 1 6-1 9 1 7, she studied in Madrid. It was then, apparently, that she
began taking conscious note of the plight of women, as well as of working
peopl e: "I was living in Madrid, where the condition of women was ver
bad-much worse than in Catalonia. And I was very i mpressed with the
CNT It was so direct, so sensible. And they were working with a prole
tariat that was-if you' ll excuse the expression, I don' t mean it in a deroga
tory way-less prepared than that of the UGT. So I j oined."
In 1 933, while she was studying law in Madrid, Mercedes was invited
by Orobon Ferandez to teach the workers. At that meeting, which Lucia
Sanchez Saornil al so attended, Mercedes was confronted by the negative
ways in which even CNT militants viewed women. She and Lucia were
both frustrated and appaUed. 1 9
Lucia and I left and went outside. We had an immediate understanding.
For months, we' d meet along the Parque del Retiro, sit on the benches ,
tal k, wal k some more, etc, Then, i n 1 935, we started sending out noti ces.
Lucfa was worki ng for the rai l way uni on and had access to a l i st of al l the
anarcho- syndi cal i st-afl i ated "women' s groups" (both those operati ng
wi thi n unions and those outside). We wrote to al l the groups on that l i st,
and to any others we knew of. We asked them what i ssues were i mpor
tant to them, what they' d l i ke to hear about, etc. And of course, our great
joy was the responses. They were enthusi asti c; they came from all over,
i ncl udi ng Asturi as, the Basque country, Andal usi a . . . and there were
al ways more?)
These two women, together wi th Amparo Poch y Gascon, were to be
the i ni ti ators of Mujeres Li bres and the edi tors of its journal . Although they
di tfered in personal style and background, all were deeply committed both
to the movement and to the encul turati on of women. In fact, all were edu
cated women-a characteri stic that di sti ngui shed them from the over
whel mi ng majority of thei r Spani sh si sters-and they sought ways to share
the frui ts of that educati on wi th other women. At ei ghty-eight years of age,
Mercedes sti l l exudes a desi re to educate and to communicate the value
and the breadth of culture and the possi bi l i ti es avail able to women.
As for Lucfa Sanchez Saorni l (who di sappeared somewhat mysteri
ousl y afer the war) , virtually everyone recal led her as a real fre-brand.
She was a small woman with a powerful presence as an orator, who
remi nded them-physical l y and in personality-of Loui se Michel , the
heroine of the Pari s Commune. Al though she was very difdent, Lucia
possessed a rare abi l ity as a speaker and organizer. She was always the one
to sum up di scussions in meetings, and she had a real authority about her,
wi thout being authoritari an.
The thi rn mprhpr 0f th trio '..' ns th phy;ici;, .Iparo r vch y
Gascon. Mercedes recalled that, while she and Lucia always saw eye to eye
pol i tical l y, Amparo was a bit different. She had been a treintista, a mem
ber of the more reformist faction of the CNT, which separated from the
mainstream of the organization in 1 932. The two groups were reunited just
before the war began. 2 1 But she, too, was a woman of enormous energy
with an extraordinary capacity for work. Soledad l amented, in fact, that she
never got to know Amparo very wel l and has l ittle recall of her face
because, on those few occasions when she saw her, Amparo had her head
buried i n work! 22 A physician, committed to breaki ng through the ba iers
of shame and i gnorance about sexuality that had long kept women subor
dinate, she had written many educational articl es and pamphlets advocat
ing greater sexual freedom for women and challenging monogamy and the
sexual double standard. Apparently, she l ived out those beliefs. One of her
coworkers recalled with a smile that, along with her capacity for work,
Free o
of 1 23
Amparo had a tremendous capacity for love. She had had many lovers
(sometimes, they thought, more than one at a time ! ) and ofen teased oth
ers about being sexually monogamous: "Don' t you get bored," Amparo
would ask, "of always breaking bread with the same person?"
Lucia and Mercedes were instrumental in beginni ng Mueres Libres in
Madrid. Amparo j oined them on the editorial board of Mujeres Libres and
later became active in Barcelona as the director of Muj eres Libres' educa
tion and training institute, the Casal de la Dona Treballadora. All three
were spured to action by their prior experiences in male-dominated organ
izations of the anarcho-syndicalist movement. But the groundwork for the
organization was also being laid by women around the country, many of
whom were virtually unaware of one another' s existence.
In Barcel ona, for exampl e, Soledad Estorach, who was active both in
her ateneo and in the CNT, had al so found exi sting movement organi za
tions inadequate to engage women workers on equal terms with men.
In Catalonia, at least, the dominant position was that men and women
should both be involved. But the problem was that the men didn't know
how to get women involved as activists. Both men and most women
thought of women i n a secondary status. For most men, I think, the ideal
situation would be to have a compafera who did not oppose their ideas,
but whose private life would be more or l ess like other women. They
wanted to be activists twenty-four hours a day-and in that context, of
course, it' s impossible to have equality . . . Men got so involved that the
women were left behind, almost of necessity. Especially, for example,
when he would be taken to j ail. Then she would have to take care of the
children, work to support the family, vi sit him in j ai l , etc. That, the com
pafieras were very good at ! But for us, that was not enough. That was not
activism!
23
The first anarchist-affiliated women' s group began to form in
Barcelona l ate in 1 934, building on the experiences that Sol edad and other
women activists had had with activi sm in mi xed groups. As she reported:
What would happen is that women would come once, maybe even join.
But they would never be seen again. So many compaferas came to the
conclusion that it might be a good idea to start a separate group for these
women . . . In Barcelona . . . the movement was very large and very strong.
And there were lots of women involved in some branches, in particular
for example, textiles and clothing makers. But even in that union, there
were few women who ever spoke. We got concered about all the women
we were losing. Late in 1 934 a small group of us started talki ng about
this. In 1 935, we sent out a call to all women i n the libertarian movement.
We couldn' t convince the older militants who had places of honor among
1 24 Martha A. Ackelsberg
the men-ol d-ti mers such as Federica or Li bertad R6denas-to come
along wi th us, so we focused mai nl y on the younger compafi eras. We
cal l ed our group Grupo Cul tural Femi ni no, CNT.
24
The responses to the cal l in Catal oni a were si mi l ar to those Mercedes
and Lucia received i n Madrid-enthusi asm from some and ambivalence
from others , both women and men. Many in movement organi zati ons
feared the devel opment of a "separati st" group. Others framed thei r
objecti ons in the form of a cl ai m that the women were in danger of fal l i ng
into "femi ni sm," by whi ch they meant a focus on access t o education and
professi onal johs. These types of i ssues, of course, had l ong been the con
cern of mi ddle-cl ass feminists, i n Spai n as el sewhere, but they had been
rejected by anarchi sts as i rrelevant to the concerns of working-cl ass peo
pl e, women as wel l as men. and as rei nforci ng structures they were com
mitted to overthrowi ng.
The charge of "feminism" mystifed most of these anarchist women.
As Sol edad explained,
Most of us had never heard of "femi ni sm" before. I di dn' t know that there
were groups of women out there i n the worl d organizing for women' s
rights. There were some one or t wo wi thi n our group who had heard of
femi ni sm-they had been to France. But I di dn' t know that such things
even exi sted in the worl d' We didn' t import this from el sewhere. We had
n' t even reali zed i t exi sted.
Knowing that their agenda was not "femini st" in this derogatory sense,
they ignored the criticisms and went about their business as best they
could. Early in 1 936, they held a meeting in the Teatro Olimpia, in the cen
ter of Barcelona, to publicize their activities and provide an opportunity for
new women to join. Although the meeting was virtually ignored by the
anarchi st press, the hall was packed. The gathering provided the basis for
a regional organi zation that included both various nei ghborhood associ a
tions in Barcelona and organizations from surrounding towns and villages .
It was not until later in 1 936 that the groups in Barcelona and Madrid
di scovered one another' s existence. Mercedes Comaposada recalled that
Lola lturbe frst mentioned to her that there was a group in Barcelona. But
the person who really got them together was a young man named Martinez,
the companero of Conchita Liano (who was l ater to become the secretary
of the Catalan regional committee of Muj eres Libres). Martinez told
Mercedes she must go to Barcelona to meet "those women." In September
or October, she visited Barcelona and attended a regi onal meeting of the
Grupo Cultural Femenino t o talk about the work of Mujeres Libres. The
groups had begun with somewhat diferent foci . The Barcel ona group
I 2o
wanted to encourage greater activism on the part of women who were
already members of the CNT, whereas Muj eres Libres in Madrid wanted,
in Mercedes ' words, "to develop women who could taste life in all its full
ness . . . Women with a social conscience, yes, but al so women who could
appreciate art, beauty."25 Nevertheless, the Catalan women soon recog
nized their affnities with Muj eres Libres, and voted at that plenum to afl
iate and to change their name to "Agrupacion Muj eres Libres." Thus was
begun what was to become a national federation.
During these early months, the groups engaged in a combination of
consciousness-raising and direct action. They created networks of women
anarchists who attempted to meet the need for mutual support in union and
other movement contexts . They attended meetings with one another,
checking out reports of chauvinist behavior on the part of their male com
rades and strategizing about how to deal with it.
Aside from these forms of mutual support, the most concrete activity
in which the Barcelona group engaged during this period was the estab
li shment of guarJer/as vo/antes (fying day-care centers) . In their efforts
to involve more women in union activities, they had met repeatedly with
the cl aim that women' s child-care responsibilities prevented them fom
staying late at work, or going out at night, in order to participate in meet
ings. They decided to addres s this problem by ofering child-care services
to women who were i nterested in serving as union delegates. Members of
the group went to women' s homes to care for children whi le the mothers
went to meetings.
Of course, as Soledad noted with a typical gleam in her eye, the proj
ect was not simply designed to provide a service: "When we got there,
we' d do some ' propagandizing. ' We' d talk to them about comunismo lib
ertario and other subj ects. Poor things, they'd be at meetings, and then
come home j ust to get lectured at by us ! Sometimes, by then, their hus
bands would be home, and they'd join in the discussion."26
By the time the revolution began in July ! VO, both the Grupo Cultural
Femenino in Barcelona and Mujeres Libres in Madrid had been meeting
for some time. They had established a network of women anarchi st
activists and had begun their work of consciousness-rai sing. They were
well prepared to paticipate in the revolutionary events of July and to
"retool" to educate themselves and other women for the work of con
structing the new society.
I 2 |O|IO ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
DO L|@ORZO OR OKO$ L`
Whi l e i ndi vi dual groups were meeti ng in Cataloni a and i n Madrid,
many of these same women were carryi ng on further organi zati on in the
pages of the anarchi st press. Tierr } Libertad, Solidaridad Obrer, and
Estudios, in particular, printed numerous arti cl es concerned with "the
woman questi on." Mercedes Comaposada, Amparo Poch y Gasc6n, and
Lucia Sanchez Saorni l were fequent contributors .
The debates reached a peak of i ntensi ty l ate in | VJ3, when Mariano
Vazquez, secretary of the CNT, published two arti cl es i n Solidaridad
Obrer on the role of women i n the anarcho-syndi cal i st movement. Lucia
Sanchez Saorni l responded with a fve-part series entitled "La cuesti6n
femeni na en nuestros medi os" (The woman questi on in our medi a), fol
l owed by "' Resumen a] margen do l a cuesti 6n femenina: Para el com
pafi ero M. R. Vazquez" (A summary on the woman question: for
Compafi ero Vazquez) , in which she devel oped the rati onale for what was
t o become Mujeres Li bres-both the j ournal and the organizati on. Thi s
exchange merits di scussi on i n some detai l here because it set the terms of
the debate in the anarchist movement and press at the ti me of the founding
of Muj eres Li bres. 27
Vazquez' s initial arti cle seemed sympathetic to the problems women
faced wi thi n the anarchist movement. It began by asserti ng that women
were hi storical actors, though they had ofen been forgotten and their con
tributi ons i gnored. In contemporary Spai n, women were efectivel y slaves
of sl aves; men seemed to think they dominated women by right. Why did
women all ow this, he asked? Because of their economic dependence on
men. To overcome II, he said, it would be necessary for women to j oin
together with men to transform society. In struggling to create a new soci
ety that would guarantee economic independence to everyone, women
would al so liberate themselves from male tyranny.
Lucia began her response with the claim that most anarcho-syndical
i sts seemed barely interested in encouraging the full parti cipation of
women. Many contexts for organizing women existed: factories, school s,
ateneos, homes. That so few women had been recruited to the movement
indicated l ack of interest on the part of the men. The real propagandizing
about women had to be done among men, not among women: "Before you
can reform society, you had better reform your homes."28 Furthermore,
those anarcho-syndical ists who did attempt to organize women did so from
the point of view of the movement, rather than from that of women. 2 If
women were to be recruited into the movement, they had to be approached
on their terms, not on men's, and treated as equal and capable comrades.
Later aticles developed the theme of what we now term woman' s
"personhood" and addressed women's economic subordination. Lucfa
challenged the notion that woman's proper role was mother and wife.
Women earned lower salaries than men (and undercut salaries for all work
ers), she insisted, because men-including men of the CNT-treated them
as inferior. 30 In addition to economics, Lucia took on her generation's
equivalent of "sociobiology." Women, she argued, had been reduced to
nacer gestar morir (to be born, to be pregnant, to die) . "The concept of
mother is absorbing that of woman, the function is annihilating the indi
vidual." By contrast, she insisted, anarchists ought to recognize that moth
er is to woman as worker is to man: "For a anarchist, the man always
comes before the worker, the woman before the mother. Because, for an
anarchist, before and above all is the individual."31
The fnal article in the series addressed the sexual question, chiding
anarchist "Don Juans" who seemed to interpret increased sexual freedom
as license to dominate women. 32 If anarchist ideas about sexuality and free
love were to be communicated to young people-and they certainly should
be-that task should be done by people who fully understand their signif
icance and do not use the occasion simply to increase the possibilities of
their own sexual conquests.
Meanwhile, on October 10, Vazquez had responded to Lucia' s frst
three articles with his "Avance: Por la elevacion de la mujer." While agree
ing with her that too many men were tyrants at home, he insisted that
women were equally to blame in not claiming their rights. Furthermore,
while it might be true that men did not treat women as equals, it was "only
human," he argued, to want to hold on to privilege. Men should not be
expected to give up their privilege voluntarily, any more than we expect the
bourgeoisie to voluntarily cede its power over the Proletariat. 33 Just as
anarchists had always argued that "the liberation of workers must be the
work of the workers themselves," they ought to take up the cry that "the
emancipation of women must be the work of women themselves ! "14 In fur
therance of this goal, he proposed that Solidaridad Obrer should take a
cue from the bourgeois press and dedicate one page each week to women.
Lucfa's response was sharp. She attacked those anarchist men who
seemed to have no patience for women. It was not suffcient to say that
"revolution is around the corer, we have no time to organize women." It
may be valuable to wait for the revolution, "but it's even better to go in
search of it, creating it minute by minute in the minds and hearts of peo
ple." "Preparing" women for social revolution is part of making that revo-
I 2b |O|I O ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
l uti on. The recruitment of women shoul d be a maj or, and not a secondary,
concern of those who wi sh to bri ng about the soci al revol uti on. But she
saved her true fre for Vazquez' s analogy of the bourgeoi s and the prole
tari an. Fi rst, she argued, i t was not sufci ent to say that "i t' s only human"
for men to want to hold on to thei r privilege-especi al l y if you are asking
women for their support ! Second, of course, these were not any men, they
were supposedly anarchi st men, commi tted to equali ty and nonhi erarchy.
"It may be ' very human' [for them to want to preserve their pri vi l eges ] but
i t can hardl y be called ' anarchi st ' ! " Further, the analogy was fl awed. The
i nterests of bourgeoi si e and proletariat were fundamental l y contradictory,
but those of men and women were not. "Si nce, they [ men and women] are
di fferent, their characters compl ement one another and form a totality
together . . . There will be no harmony i n the future l i fe i f al l of these ele
ments do not enter proporti onal l y i nto its creati on."
In short, what was at stake, she argued, was not s i mpl y the emancipa
tion of women, but the creation of a future soci ety for both men and
women. In that task, both men and women must participate as equal s.
Women had already begun t o cl ai m thei r ful l rights and personhood; i t was
t i me for men to recognize the i mportance of that struggle and to meet
women on terms of equal ity.
Final l y, she rejected Vazquez' s suggestion that Solidaridad Obrer
devote a page to women each week, and she stated in print. for the frst
time, the i dea that was to be Mujeres Libres: "I am not takng up your sug
gestion about a women' s page i n Solidaridad Obrer, however interesting
it might be, because I have l arger ambitions. I have a pl an to create an inde
pendent j ournal that would be directed exclusively to the ends you have
proposed."35
Her vi sion, which served as a blueprint for Muj eres Libres' activities
in the years to follow, obviously struck a responsi ve chord i n her readers.
The series of articles, and the letters she and Mercedes sent to activists
around the country, generated much support . By April , they had sent
notices of the forthcoming appearance of Mujeres Libres to the anarchist
press as well as to unions, ateneos, and groups of luventudes around the
country, and they had begun the process of organizing supporters to serve
as reporters and to take responsibility for di stribution of the j ournal . The
l etters they received in response from both men and women demonstrated
great enthusiasm for the project. Many indicated that they had been wait
ing for thi s moment since Lucfa' s announcement of her plan the previous
fal l in the pages of Solidaridad Obrer. 36 The frst i ssue of Mueres Ubres,
published on May 20, I V, was sold out almost immediately. A second
||OO YO|O| OoQO| | 27
issue appeared on June ! 2. Altogether, fourteen issues ware edi ted, though
the last one was at the printer's when the battlefont reached Barcelona,
and no copies of it survive. 3?
As the editors described it to potenti al contributors and subscribers, the
j ournal was to appear monthly, addressed to working-class women
whose education had long been neglected by the movement-ai med at
"awakening the female conscience toward libertarian ideas."38 They saw its
mission in both political and cultural terms. Importantly (a matter stressed
in virtually every communi cation), the journal was not to identify itself as
anarchist "because of the fears that word could raise among most women
in this country . . . [But it] would take upon itself to initiate them into discus
sion of social problems and, at the same time, raise their cultural level ."w
Nevertheless, Lucia constantly reminded her correspondents, although the
word anarchist would not be used, any knowledgeable person reading the
j ournal would easily recognize "the libertarian orientation of all its con
tent."40
A number of features of this correspondence seem worthy of mention,
particularly since it raised issues that were to be with the journal and the
organization throughout the coming years. First, the editors seem to have
relied on existing movement networks to spread the word about the forth
coming publication of the j oural . Almost all corespondents indicated that
they had heard about the j ournal in the anarchi st press or from fyers dis
tributed at union halls, ateneos, or meetings of luventude. Many such let
ters came fom men, especially members of local Juventudes, who placed
substantial orders from their communities .
Yet, although they may have depended on movement organi zations for
communication, the editors repeatedly emphasized that they were inde
pendent of these organizations, fnancially and otherwise, and were under
taking this proj ect on their own. Thus, for example, Lucia thanked Marfa
Luisa Cobos especially for volunteering help with sales and distribution
"because . . . the j ournal is not receiving subsidy or economic support from
anyone, and we are editing it entirely on our own."4! Ofen, the pleas took
on a tone of greater urgency. Lucia began a letter to compaferos of the
Juventudes in Soria by apologizing for the delay in responding to their
offer of support and noting that "you can i magine how hard we are work
ing to organize this all by ourselves, without help from anyone."42
Not surprisingly, most of the requests for material help went to men
and to movement organizations. They were the people who could have
been expected to have fnancial means (however minimal) in Spain at the
time. Both men and women volunteered to serve as distributors, using
I U
|O|I O ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
whatever resources they had. For example, Lucia asked Diego Abad de
Santi l l an (a well -known writer and anarchi st theori st, member of the
regional commi ttee of the CNT and of the editori al board of the anarchi st
j ournal , Tiempos Nuevos) to use hi s connections with Tiempos Nuevo, to
arrangc for the di stribution of Mujeres Lihres in Barcel ona. 41
They expressed gratitude to men and women, local syndi cates and
Juventudes from around the country for all the hel p they had proffered.
Some letters, however, al so expressed the editors' fustrati on with the l ack
of attention from the major anarchi st medi a, parti cul arly Solidaridad
Ohrer-a pattern (support from local groups but not from the major
organizati ons) that was to plague Mujeres Li bres throughout its exi stence.
On May Zo, V, Lucia wrote a sharp l etter to the di rector of Solidaridad
Ohrer, complaining that he had ignored the inaugural i ssue of Mujeres
Lihres. Al though its editors had sent paid announcements of Meres
Lihres ' appearance, as well as two copi es of the frst i ssue, i n the hope of
recei vi ng a revi ew or at l east a mention i n the newspaper, the major dai l y
newspaper of the anarcho-syndical i st movement had gi ven them no notice
whatsoever.
We are not, after al l , unknown to you; we are compaferas who have been
putti ng what abi l iti es we have at the service of the organi zation and the
idea. and we don' t think you' ve been acting i n accordance wi th [the] sol
i dari ty [expected of movement comrades] . In the name of the si mple
decency to be expected among comrades, si nce we are worki ng for a
common cause, and not for anyone' s particular i nterests, the least you
owe us i s to tell us if you think our work i s not worthwhil e-not thi s
absurd silencca 44
In other respects, however, those early months were a time of great
excitement and satisfaction. Muj eres Libres received l etters from all
around the country-letters written by women who were enthusi astic
about the j oural though ofen barely literate themselves. Although
Castilian Spanish i s almost totally phonetic, many of those letters revealed
a l ack of famili arity with written l anguage. Many had mul tiple spelling
erors and little sense of proper sentence construction. It seems, from this
small sample, at least, that Muj eres Libres was reaching those i t was
directed toward-that i s, clearly not the best educated women in Spain.
It i s also clear from thi s correspondence that Mujeres Libres was meant
to awaken women-and men-to the realities of what women were doing
and might do within a larger framework of anarchist understandings of the
nature of social change. So, for example, Lucia requested Josefa de Tena,
who had agreed to report news from Merida, to send information about a
||OO YO|O| O I l
women' s strike in the area. She asked de Tena to provide information about
the background, demands , and size of the strike and also to try to get pi c
tures ("one of the interior of a workshop involved in the confict, another
of a group of compaferas, if possible at a meeting") .45 Similarly, in a l etter
to Maria LUIsa Cobos, outlining what they would like from her as a
reporter for Mujeres Libres in Jerez de la Frontera (a town in Andalusi a) ,
Lucia noted,
We have a great interest in fostering mutual understanding between
women in cities and in the countryside, providing ways for each to learn
about the conditions under which the other lives. To thi s end, you could
send us a report that covers the following points: What is the most i mpor
tant agricultural work in the area, what kinds of l abor does it require, at
what times of the year are these tasks perfrmed and, very specifcally,
what roles do women take in each of these tasks'
Again, they requested pictures to accompany the story.46
Finally, it is i mportant to note that many of the letters were from
men-among them such anarchist luminaries as Eduardo Morales de
Guzman and Mari ano Gallardo, both frequent contributors to Estudios and
outspoken supporters of women' s emancipation-who volunteered not just
to distribute copies, but to contribute articles. To each, the editors respond
ed that they appreciated the support, but that they had committed them
selves to a magazine written and produced entirely by women. To Morales
Guzman, for example, Lucia wrote,
We received your work, which we are returing to you, because we have
adopted the rule that the magazine will be produced excl usively by
women. We believe that the orientation of women is something that must
be left t o . . . women . . . and that however much you [rase, plur] do, with
whatever goodwill-and we recognize that you are among those who
have given thi s most attention and goodwill-you don' t manage to fnd
quite the right tone.
47
Many of these themes and concers were refected in the contents of
the frst issue of the j oural, which appeared in May ! VU. An editori al
introducing the new magazine stated that its aim was "to encourage social
action by women, providing [women] a new vi sion that avoids the con
tamination of their hearts and minds by masculine errors. By mascul i ne
erors, we mean all those curent notions of life and relations; [we term
them] masculine erors because we rej ect all responsibility for past events
in which woman has not been an actor, but a silent witness." Rather than
affxing blame for the past, however, the editors i nsisted that their concern
was with the future. Nor were they interested in a "declaration of war '
I 2
|O|IO ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
between the sexes: "No, no. Mutual ity of interests, easing of anxieties,
eagerness to joi n i n the struggle for a common destiny."
Thi s approach, they i nsi sted, was not "feminism," which would be si m
pl y the obverse of the mascul i ni sm they opposed. Rather, thei r goal was an
"i ntegral humani sm," to be achieved by a proper bal ance of masculine and
femi ni ne el ements in soci ety. Not surpri singl y, the attempt to articul ate just
what those "mascul i ne" and "femi nine" elements were resul ted i n some of
the same confusi ons and stereotypi ng to which many contemporary U. S.
femi ni st anal yses have also fal l en prey. They went on to argue, for exam
ple, that "an excess of the mascul i ne vi rtues of boldness, roughness, and
ri gi di ty has given l i fe that brutal qual i ty by whi ch some are nourished by
the hunger and mi sery of others . . . Woman' s absence from Hi story has
resul ted in the l ack of appropriate understanding, consi derati on, and feel
i ng, whi ch are her vi rtues, the counterwei ght of whi ch would provi de the
world the stabi l i ty it so l acks ." Whi l e the terms were stated somewhat more
crudely, the clai m that women' s behavi or was di fferent from men' s, and
that both perspectives were necessary for a proper balance in the worl d, has
been echoed in our own time by Carol Gi l l i gan, among others ; i t forms an
i mportant part of the arguments of some feminist peace groups, as wel l as
of theori sts of the "maternal thi nking" school . 4
The fnal paragraphs of this editori al validated the editors ' cl aims that
the content of the j ournal would be clearly libertari an. The edi tors stated
that Mujeres Libres aimed to make woman' s voice heard and "to prevent
woman, who yesterday was subj ect to the tyranny of rel igion, from open
ing her eyes and falling victim to another tyranny-no less refned, and
even more brutal-. . . that of politics." The analysis reads almost like a
primer in the anarchi st approach to social change, asserti ng, for example,
that politics-and all power-corrupts, and offering as an alternative the
strategy of direct action: "MUJERES LIBRES strives for this ultimate end
by the free and direct action of multitudes and individual s. We must buil d
the new world by proceeding in new ways."49
Articl es in the j oural addressed the stated intentions of the editors .
Thi s tirst i ssue presented articles offering a mi x of cultural and political
commentary, as well as pieces on child care, health, and fashion. All
assumed an audi ence of working-class women, aware of their class posi
tion and of the social and economic di sabilities that characterized it. And
each assumed that readers would want to know both how to operate with
in that context and how to change it. In short, the orientation of the j oural
was neither to deny class differences nor to encourage resignati on to them.
Whatever the subj ect at hand, aricles pointed out possibl e routes to change
Free Women of pai n 1 33
at both the individual and the communal levels. A number of the pieces
were explicitly political commentaries: a letter from Emma Goldman
describing the openness of Welsh workers to anarchist ideas; a critique of
the failure of both the League of Nations and interational workers ' organ
izations to take effective action against the Italian invasion of Abyssinia;
and an analysis of law as inimical to the fuid nature of life and as specif
ically subordinating of women (an analysis that could be termed "pure
anarchist" in its tone and content, but that never mentioned the word).
In addition, the joural printed a number of articles on cultural themes:
a discussion of Pestalozzi' s educational theories and their appropriateness
to the education of working-class children; a review of Charlie Chaplin' s
"Modem Times," by Mercedes Comaposada, which highlighted its anti
capital ist themes; an essay extolling the value of sports and exercise for
health and vitality; and an article by Lucia Sanchez Saoril on the life of
agricultural laborers in Castile (an article introducing primarily urban read
ers to the nature of li fe in rural areas) .
And, fnally, there were articles on topics of the sort one would expect
to see in women' s magazines, though always with a critical/political slant.
"Vivienda" by Luisa Perez discussed the necessity of home hygiene-the
value of indoor bathrooms and gas (at that time considered unnecessary
l uxuries for worki ng-class apartments), proper arangements for garbage
disposal, and the role of spittoons in spreading disease. An article by
Amparo Poch described the proper care of newborn babies, mixing i nstruc
tions on how much a child should sleep and how to wash and care for a
baby with discussi ons on the i mportance of love and attention for proper
growth and development.5o The magazine even had an article on fashion:
"the aesthetics of dressing." It noted that middle- and upper-class women
seemed to be freer to choose practical clothes, while working-class
women, who could least afford them, remained loyal to traditions that
required major expenditures and were neither comfortable nor attractive.
Most striking about the content of the journal was the attempt to
address women readers "where they were" and also to use every possible
opportunity for political and cultural consciousness-raising. It would have
been possible for a woman not afliated with the anarcho-syndicalist
movement, and with little class consciousness, to pick up this journal and
begin reading it as another magazine devoted to women. Yet, it was surely
different from most: insisting on the importance of woman's personhood
and her experiences and potential as an historcal actor, while at the same
time speaking to her immediate concers as wife and mother. The editors
succeeded in striking a tone that was both respectful of their readers and,
1 34 Mart ha A. Ackel sberg
at the same time, educati onal . It contained none of the "blami ng the vic
ti m" qual i ty so common among arti cl es i n mainstream anarchist joural s
lamenti ng the l ack of women' s partici pati on i n the movement, and none of
the condescensi on so typical of middle-cl ass (even mi ddle-cl ass femi ni st)
women' s magazi nes when they dealt with topi cs rel ated to worki ng-class
women. 5 1
Fi nal l y, Mujeres Uhres was wel l received by many i ndividuals and
groups wi thin the movement. I n the months that fol l owed, Acrcia (the
j ournal of the CNT in Leri da) and the Boletil de Informaci(n, CNT-FAI,
repri nted edi tori al s from Mujeres Uhres, menti oned specifc arti cl es, and
in other ways encouraged their readers to read and support the new maga
zi ne. Duri ng May and June, the editors received numerous letters of sup
port and encouragement from male as well as female anarchi sts, thanking
them for rai si ng i mportant i ssues and prai si ng the quality of the articles.
Many of these l etters i ncluded contributi ons for subscripti ons or support. 52
Thus, whi le the appearance of the j ournal may not have been greeted with
the enthusi asm and fnancial support that the editors had hoped for from
other movement organizati ons, neither di d it fal l on deaf ears. Mujeres
Lihres found an enthusi astic audi ence.
The course of development of both the journal and the organization
changed sharply afer July 1936, The Ci vil War and the months of i ncreas
ing agitation leadi ng up to it between February and July 1936 offered many
new opportunities to women at the same time that it set limits on what they
woul d be abl e to accomplish. Mujeres Libres ' own development could not
help but be aUected by these events .
On the most immediate level, those women who were most invol ved
both in Muj eres Libres in Madrid and in the Grupo Cultural Femenino in
Barcelona j oined their male comrades in the streets in response to the
rebelli on. They supplied food to the militiamen, set up popul ar dining
rooms, and began to organize daily l ife in the "rear guard." Soon thereafer,
the women' s groups began to reform and to redirect their activities.
Soledad Estorach, Pepita Carena, and others traveled through Catalonia
and Arag6n, helping to establish rral collectives. Many went along with
representatives of the CNT and FAr to areas near the battlefronts, with
makeshift loudspeakers, calling on peasants and rural laborers to "come
over to our side." Others organized convoys of food and supplies to send
to Madrid. Mujeres Libres groups formed throughout the Republican zone.
With the specifc goal of empowering women to overcome their trple
servitude-"the enslavement of ignorance, enslavement as producers, and
||Q\O|OOO SC' O I o
ensl avement as women"53-they devel oped literacy programs and, togeth
er with unions, co-sponsored apprenticeship training.
The changes brought on by war and revol ution were quickly refected
in the tone and content of the j ournal . Mercedes Comaposada described the
transformation in an article published in Tierr } Libertad in May V!.
"that calm ' magazine of orientation and social documentation' di d not dis
appear: it was transformed into a livelier journal, which, in tune with cur
rent circumstances, ofers constructive criticism and an orientation for now
and for l ater."54 Issue number 2 ("DIa 2 de la Revol uci6n"), responding to
the new reality and publi shed in October I V, refected this transforma
tion. The j oural continued to carr articles presumed to be of interest to
women, though many were oriented to the wartime situation: a criticism of
political parties for staging marches of children in uniforms, discussi ons of
ration lines, stories of militiawomen at the fronts and women at work in
factories. There were, in additi on, articles devoted to political conscious
ness-raising: reports of the early days of the struggle in Barcelona, of the
expropriation of buildings and establishment of collectives in Torrassa, and
a variety of articl es explicating the "revolution and war" position of the
anarcho-syndicalist movement.
The editors acknowl edged the changed context and its implications for
the j oural . "Al though we might have prefered to work in more tranquil
times," the worl d had changed. In consequence, "we pledge . . . to adj ust our
tone and expression to the speeded-up rhythm in which life unfolds ."
Before, it was necessary to search out women in their homes and convince
them of the necessity of engaging in social life, but the war had made that
need patently obvious. Women had engaged; they had answered the cal l .
"But this response is onl y m instinctive one, not a self-conscious one. Our
task now . . . is to convert that instinct into consciousness." Most dramatical
ly, perhaps, the editors identi fed their goals with those of the anarcho-syn
dicalist movement:
To be antifascist is too little; one is an antifascist because one is
already something else. We have an affrmation to set up against this
negation . . . lthat l can be condensed into three letters: CNT (Confederaci6n
Nacional del Trabajo), which means the rational organization of life on
the basis of work, equality, and social justice. If it weren' t for thi s,
antifascism would be, for us, a meaningless word.
55
Even at this early date, it is possible to see some striking differences in
the tone and approach of Mujeres Libres compared to that of other j ourals
addressed to women at the time. In its issue of October ! VU, Mujeres, the
joural of the Spanish Communist party (PCE) , identifed itself with
I |O|I O ^. ^CKO' SOO|_
"Women Agai nst War and Fasci sm," an earl y popul ar front organi zati on for
women. In contrast to Mujeres Lihres ' revolutionary vi si on, Mujeres stat
ed that the pri mary responsi bi l i ty of women in Madrid was to take the
pl ace of men at the workpl ace so the men could go off to tght and to "learn
to bear arms i f i t should be necessary." 56 An arti cl e by Dolores Ibarruri (La
Pasi on aria) argued that "victory wi l l make work avail able to everyone:
men and women." But the domi nant theme of her article was that women' s
work must be understood as a contributi on to the war effort . "It i s neces
s ary to prepare women so that i f al l men have to take up arms, they can
assure the conti nuation of publ i c l i fe i n Madrid and the producti on of what
i s necessary for war and the provi si on of basi c necessi ties.")7
Consi stent with the Popul ar Front strategy advocated by the PCE, the
focus of vi rtual ly all the arti cles in Mujeres was on wi nni ng the war. The
sol e arti cl e not di rectly related to the war or the defense of Madrid was
ent itled "Preparemos la nueva generaci on: Lo que era la maternidad y U
que debe ser." ["Let us prepare the new generati on: What materni ty was,
and what it should be. "] Thi s arti cl e focused on overcoming women' s fears
of maternity hospital s, di scussi ng the changes that had been brought about
as a result of a lay takeover of these i nstituti ons, and encouraging women
to go to hospi tal s, rather than to give bi rth at home.
Companya, a magazine di rected to women and published by the PSUC
(the Catal an Communi st party) begi nning in March ! V!, addressed
somewhat more explicitly women' s particular subordination as women,
and argued that "the work of women' s emancipation belongs to the
woman." But its formulation of the process of emancipation and its di s
cussion of women' s roles still put primary emphasi s on the importance of
women' s participation to the war effort. 58
By the fall of ! VO, within months of the outbreak of the war and the
accompanying social revolution, Muj eres Libres had begun to establish
itself as an independent organization, with goals and programs that differ
entiated it both from other left-wing women' s organizations and, to some
extent, fom other organizations of the anarcho-syndicalist movement.
While the founders of the j ournal saw their programs and policies as con
si stent with the theory and goals of the larger anarchist movement, they
believed that, left to its own devices, the movement was incapable of mobi
li zing women efctively for the social revolution and the reconstruction of
society.
What was necessary was an organization rn by and for women, one
commi tted to overcoming women' s subordination i n all i t s facets, whether
in their homes, in the workplace, or i n the anarcho- syndicalist movement
||OO OO O I /
itself. The programs they devel oped, prefgured in Lucia Sanchez Saorni l ' s
aticles i n Solidaridad Obrer i n October V3, were t o be created and
implemented by women, for women. These included cl asses to overcome
ignorance and illiteracy, industrial and commerci al apprenti ceshi ps, as
well as consciousness-raising groups, designed to empower women and to
instill in them the knowledge and confdence they would need to partici
pate as ful l citizens in a revolutionary society. These programs were to be
organized in a federated, nonhierarchical way that, in structure as well as
program, would exemplify women' s capacities to act autonomousl y to
contribute to social transformation.
Eree Women of Spai n
Ana Delso (Salamanca), 1 989.
Azucena (Ferandez) Barba, Perpignan, 1 98 1 .
140
Top: Cover of j ournal
Mujeres Libre. i ssue
"8th month of the
Revol uti on." Caption
reads: "Wi th work and
weapons, we women wi l l
defend t he freedom
of the peopl e";
Bottom: Photos of i nner
pages of an i ssue of
Mujeres Libres (taken
with the assi stance of
Federico Arcos).
Clockwise from top: Anti-prosititution
poster and two Mujeres Libres posters
(All three from the exhibition "Women
in the Civil War". Salamanaca, 1 988).
. 1

||8k>
|
qjj[ z
bMy mv)w M mn
M, p1w nl K m
wmm o r mmv
w = w P
.M M M M P ^
FUlLb PL fHbMLI
I 4 I
~M~4==wm
* * P W W ~=
=
~m~~~ mw
~m=~~W
me m:
~~~4 m

" * W
~
Enriqueta (Fernandez) Rovi ra, 1 98 1 .
Soledad Estorach, 1 982.
|OO YOGOG O oO| G I 4
Teresina (Torrelles) Graell s, Montady, 1 988.
Sara (Berenguer) Guillen, Amada de P, and Conchita Guillen, 1 988.
44
^O|!OO /. /CKO| SOO|_
Cri sti na Pi era wi th her two sons, Rugel i o (L) and Enrique ( R) Cassafes, 1 98 ) .
Dolores Prat, 1 988.
EEE Women of Spai n
Pura Perez Benavent (R) with a companer from Mujeres
Libres, Eucarena Garda, 1 942. (Photo Courtesy of Pura Arcos)
1 46
Q@ W
@ gq WM
@WW
W WP
@@W
p WW
:_@-a.
:-
m4 WM
@ gq r m
gq @a m
@ M
mmM
W
Photo from journal, Mujeres Libres, 65 dias de la Revolucfon,
1 936. (With thanks to Federico Arcos)
v
EDUCATI ON FOR EMPOWERMENT
Preparation as Revol ution
The demands of confronting both revol ution and war led Muj eres Libres to
devel op a set of programs with two separate but related goal s : capac
itaci6n, "preparing" women for revolutionary engagement, and captaci6n,
actively incorporating them into the libertarian movement. Thi s dual ori
entation was expressed clearly in its statement of purpose:
(a) to create a conscientious and responsible female force [originally, a
"revolutionary force"] that can act as a vanguard of progress; and (b) to
this end, to establish school s, institutes, conferences, special courses, etc. ,
designed to empower women and emancipate them from the triple en
slavement to which they have been, and continue to be, subject, the
enslavement of ignorance, enslavement as a woman, and enslavement as
a worker. I
Capacitaci6n i s a word that has no exact English equival ent. Some
combination of consciousness-raising and empowerment (in the sense of
developing and feeling confdent in one' s own abilities) is probabl y the
closest we can get. It signifed Mujeres Libres' commitment to enabl e
women to overcome their subordination and to recognize and act on their
potential . Capacitaci6n was Mujeres Libres' appropriati on of the concept
of preparation to the specifc situation of women in Spain. It is best under
stood to refer to the content of the organization' s activities-activities
designed to overcome women' s i l literacy, to prepare them to participate
actively and effectively in the work force, to provide them with informa
tion about themselves as women (e. g. , on motherhood, child care, sexual
ity), and, ultimately, to enabl e them to experience themselves as competent
historical actors.
Captaci6n, a goal which took on ever greater importance as the coun
terevolution grew in strength, refered to the organizational and ideo-
1 47
l ogical context of capacitaci6n. I have al ready noted that one concern of
those who establ ished Mujcres Libres was the dearth of women activi st s;
they had committed themsel ves to encouragi ng female mil itancy i n the
CNT and FAI, i ncreasing women' s participation in movement organi za
ti ons was i mportant to them preci sel y because they saw in the l ibertarian
movement the best hope for change that would beneft women as wel l as
men. As the Civil War dragged on, Muj eres Libres' concern with captaci6n
came to si gnify not j ust a commitment to the greater i nvolvement of
women in the CNT but al so a competi tion with the Asoci aci6n de Mujeres
Antifascistas (and the Communi st and Socialist parti es) for the l oyalties of
newl y mobi l i zed women.
Mujeres Libres rej ected both femi ni sm (by which they meant treating
men as the enemy and striving for equal ity for women within an exi sting
system of privil eges)" and the relegation of women to a secondary position
within the l ibertarian movement:
We are aware of the precedents set by both feminist organi zations and hy
political parti es . . . We could not fol l ow either of these paths. We could not
separate the women' s probl em from the social probl em, nor coul d we
deny the signifcance of the frst by converting women into a simpl e
instrument for any organi zati on, even . . . our own l i bertarian organi zation.
The i ntention that underlay our acti vities was much broader: to serve a
doctri ne, not a party, to empower [ capacitarl women to make of them
individuals capable of contributing to the structuring of the future soci ety,
individuals who have l eamed to be sel f-determining, not to follow bli nd
l y the dictates of any organization.
3
In oractice. howevPL a" the "(mpmht defersive tC:e (f the prcccing
quotation suggests, these goals were sometimes in tension. For example,
both the CNT and FAI (whose fnancial and moral support Mujeres Libres
desperately needed) were more interested in captaci6n than in capac
i taci6n. They would have been more than willing to support Mujeres
Libres' efforts to organize women i nto unions, for example, but they were
less than enthusi astic in thei r support for broad-based programs of capac
itaci6n. These movement organizations never accepted capacitaci 6n as an
i ndependent goal that required organi zational autonomy. Yet, from
Mueres Libres' point of view, captaci 6n without capacitaci6n made no
sense, because women were not yet prepared to enter the movement as
equal s.
Anarchism provided the basic grounding for Muj eres Libres' analysis
and programs. Its ai m was an egalitarian, non hierarchical society in which
people respected themsel ves and were respected by others. However, given
the relative neglect with which women and women' s issues had been treat
ed within the anarcho-syndicalist movement, Mujeres Libres' main con
cern was to address those aspects of the societal system of inequaliti es and
hierarchies that specifcally affected women. Treating women' s subordina
tion as part of a l arger system of hierarchies located its proj ect frmly with
i n an anarchist framework, while a focus on the specifc gender conse
quences of those inequalities differentiated Mueres Libres from the main
stream of the movement at the time.
Organizational autonomy was crucial to this vi sion. Women needed a
separate organization, Muj eres Libres aued, not because men could not
be trusted and not because men might be less than full y committed to
women' s emancipation, but because, i n the end, only through their own
self-directed action would women come to see themselves as capabl e and
competent, able to participate as equal s in the movement. As Lucfa
Sanchez Saornil had written in 1 935: "I believe it is not the place of men
to establi sh the role of women in society, however elevated that might be.
The anarchist way . . . is to let the woman act on her own freedom, without
either guides or enforcement; to let her move in the direction that her incli
nations and abilities direct."4
This chapter explores the nature and functioning of Muj eres Libres'
programs of capacitaci6n-specifcally, its efforts to adapt anarchist prin
ciples of preparation to the particular situation of women in Spain. Key to
understanding these programs was Muj eres Libres' analysis of women' s
difference, both the nature and sources of women' s subordination t o men
in Spanish society and the particular contributions women could make to
the revolution and to the construction of a new society. Although these
views were rarely spelled out i n any direct way, much can be pieced
together from an examination of Mujeres Libres' writings and programs.
Mujeres Libres focused on the li nks among economic, cultural , and
sexual subordination. We can fnd in its writings an analysis of women' s
subordination that runs something l i ke thi s: Women who stayed at home
were economically ( and therefore sexually) dependent on men. That
dependence contributed to, and was reinforced by, their lack of education
which, in turn, contributed to a societal devaluation of women and a l ack
of self-respect on the part of women themselves. The situation was scarce
ly diferent for those women who were paid for their labor, whether in
domestic service or in factories. Their low salaries were ' justifed" on the
grounds that they were secondary workers, not supporting a family. The
low salaries, i n tur, contributed to women' s subordinate status and lack of
1 50
|O|I|O /. /C<O' OO|_
sel f-respect. Final l y, the combi nation of economi c subordi nati on and rela
tive cul tural backwardness made women parti cularly vul nerabl e to sexual
expl oi tation-whether in marri age or outsi de i t. s
Consi stent wi th anarchi st anal yses of rel ati ons of domination and sub
ordi nation, Mujeres Li bres never attri buted women' s subordi nation to any
si ngl e factor. Education would be crucial to overcome women' s cul tural
subordi nati on, but i t would not be sufci ent i n i tself to make women ful l
parti ci pants i n the economy or soci ety. Jobs, too, would be essenti al , but
work al one woul d not overcome cul tural and sexual expl oi tati on.
Consequently, effective programs of capaci tacion would have to focus on
overcomi ng each aspect of women' s "ensl avement" and thei r i nteracti ons.
Acti vi ti es woul d have to be di rected to many fronts at once.
Mujeres Libres' posi ti on on what women speci fcal l y had to contri bute
ei ther to the revol ution or to the new society was ambiguous. Whi l e most
of i ts acti vi ti es and propaganda focused on overcomi ng the subordi nati on
that prevented women fom taking thei r places al ongsi de men i n creati ng
the new soci ety, some wri ti ngs expl i ci tly stressed women' s di fference from
men and the i mportance of i ncorporati ng women-wi th all thei r di ffer
ences-i nto the revol utionary process. An editorial celebrating the found
i ng of the National Federati on of Mujeres Libres i n August 1 937, for
exampl e, stated:
In identifyi ng i ts goal s with the CNT and the FAI, [Muj eres Libresl has
gathered the most genui nel y Spani sh and the most authenticall y revol u
tionary and enriched it with the hest of i ts own, speci fcal l y feminine,
characteri stics . . . Mujeres Libres desi res that i n the new Society, the two
angl es of visi on-masculine and femi nine-will converge, to provide the
eqUlli bnum necessary . . . There cannot be a j ust soci ety unless mascul i ne
and femini ne are present i n equal proportions.
6
Here, the writer seems to be arguing for the i ncorporation of the unique
perspective women bring to politi cal/social l i fe, foreshadowi ng Carol
Gi l l i gan' s recent cal l for l i steni ng to woman' s "different voice." But exact
ly what that perspective was remained elusive. The question of what fem
inine characteri stics are and what women have to offer to society, a focus
of debate and discussi on among contemporary feminists, 7 was al so rai sed
by the members of Muj eres Libres. As we wi l l see, ambi guity about what
constituted woman' s nature was evident in many of Mujeres Libres' pro
grams.
``
Education Programs
Education formed the center of Mujeres Libres' programs of capacita
cion and took primary place in discussions of its accompli shments .
Education was essential to rel easing women' s potential and enabling them
to become fully contributing members of the movement and the new soci
ety: "Culture for culture' s sake? Culture in the abstract? No. Capacitacion
of women with one i mmediate and urgent end: to help to win the war. To
empower [capacitar] woman to free her from her triple enslavement: her
enslavement to ignorance, her enslavement as a producer, and her ensl ave
ment as a woman. To prepare her [capacitarla] for a new, more j ust soci al
order."g
Educational programs were among the frst activities Muj eres Libres
organized, and they had a number of components. Most basic and wide
spread was a crusade against illiteracy. Embarassment about "cul tural
backwardness" prevented many women from active engagement in the
struggle for revolutionary change. Literacy was to be a tool to devel op self
confdence and further participation. 9
In addition to classes in basic literacy, institutes in cities and towns
offered more technically oriented classes and programs in "social for
mation"-by which they meant an orientation to the social and pol itical
world. In the fall of 1 936 Muj eres Libres in Barcelona offered intensive
courses in general culture, social history, economics, and l aw in its offces
in the Plaza de Catalufa. At the end of that year, the Agrupacion had an
Instituto Muj eres Libres at a site in the Calle Cortes; a few months l ater,
the Casal de la Dona Treballadora opened its doors. By October 1 937 the
Casal de la Dona adverti sed courses in the following areas :
Elementary Classes (Illiterates and three grades): Reading, writing, arith
metic, geography, grammar, and natural phenomena
Classes Complementary to Elementary Education: World history, French,
English, Russian, typing, and stenography
Complementary Professional Classes: Nursing, child care, skills
(mechanics, electricity, business), sewing, agriculture, and aviculture
"Social Formation": Union organization, sociology, economics, and gen
eral culture.
10
I 2 |Ol!lO /. /CKOlSOO|_
No matter what the l evel of the course, the material discussed i ncl uded
a new understanding of what i t meant to be a woman. Courses i n "social
formation" were a must for would-be activi sts. As new members of the
organi zation, Pepita Carpena, Conchita Gui l l en and Amada de No all stud
ied with Mercedes Comaposada during 1 937-1 938. The essence of the
course was that women had to take responsibil ity for their lives: "There has
to be equality between the compafero and the compafera, that i s, inde
pendence, personal ity. The compafiera is capabl e of developing herself i n
her own way, without her compafero tel l i ng her what to do. They expl ained
that the woman has to take her own ini ti ative and independence.""
Mujeres Libres al so offered courses in el ementary educati on, with a
goal of preparing a new generati on of teachers to educate children for a
new soci ety. Final l y, there were courses and programs in agriculture and
avi culture. Mueres Libres establi shed farm school s for girl s who had
come to the ci ty from rural areas to engage in domestic service. ai med at
teachi ng them ski l l s that would enable them to parti ci pate more effective
ly i n col l ectivized farmi ng in their native vi l l ages .
In l arge citi es, Mujeres Libres organized both on a citywide basis and
in nei ghborhoods . Neighborhood centers offered night courses, so that
women who worked during the day could attend. In urban nei ghborhoods
and rural vi l l ages , basic li teracy classes were the most common offering,
supplemented by courses in elementary education, mechanical skill s, child
care, and nursing and medical assi stance. These allowed the women who
"graduated" fom them to teach in new schools or to work in hospital s and
clinics, whether at the front or in their barrio. As the war created more and
more refugees. Muj eres Libres groups formed in the areas where refugees
were gathering and offered extensive educational programs to serve the
needs of both adults and children.'2
The goal s of Mujeres Libres' educati onal programs went beyond sim
ple transmission of skills. In July 1 937, the Catalan Generalitat had estab
l ished an Institut d' Adaptaci6 Profesional de la Dona [Institute for the
Professional Training of Women] , with the participation of both the UGT
and the CNT. Formed when the Generalitat took control over the Escuela
de Adaptaci6n Profesional de la Mujer (a j oint venture of Muj eres Libres
and the CNT in Barcelona) , the Institute aimed to provide women with the
sklls they would need to enter the work force and replace men who had
gone to the front. 13 Apparently, this Institute compl emented the "Escola
Profesional per a la Dona," created in 1 883 to provide training for work
ing-class girl s entering the textile industry. Its program had expanded dra
matically after July 1 936, when the Generalitat included a wider
ree Wcmen clSpcin I .
range of courses. 1
4
But Muj eres Libres saw this new institute as offering only a partial
response to women' s needs : "Those institutes cannot achieve their ends
without a prior preparation, not just in the sense of facilitating the acqui si
tion of basi c knowledge and understanding, but also of spiritual and social
formation."1 5 Muj eres Libres' aims were broader. As Soledad explained,
"The professi onal training schools Lrun by the Generalitat] opened their
doors to women and gave them technical training to allow them to take
over the j obs of men. But we [in the Casal] joined technical training with
a kind of social preparation. It was more like a kind of school for
activists."1 6 Muj eres Libres, of course, was not the only organization to
attempt to use training programs for broader pol itical purposes . In fact, as
we will see in chapter 6, one of its main complaints about the Escuela de
Adaptacion Profesional de la Mujer was that it was being used for propa
ganda puroses by other organizations.
These programs of direct educational services reached many thousands
of women; between 600 and 800 women were attending classes each day
at the Casal de l a Dona i n Barcelona i n December 1 938Y Beyond thi s,
Muj eres Libres' programs of press and propaganda spread its message
even more widely, supplementing the joural with books and pamphlets on
a variety of topi cs, from child-rearing to biographies of revolutionary
women (see Appendix B). Within the frst months of the revolution,
Muj eres Libres in Barcelona establi shed a kiosk on the Ramblas to make
these publications more easi ly available to potential readers.lR It also
mounted public expositions to highlight the activities and achievements of
women during the revolutionary period.
Finally, both nationally and regionally, Mujeres Libres established
committees focused on culture and propaganda to spread the message in
person as well as in writing. A group in Barcelona made regular radio
broadcasts . Others traveled through the Catalan countryside to speak to
those who might not be reached by written or radio propaganda. Afer she
completed her course with Mercedes Comaposada, for example, Pepita
Carena became a regular participant in propaganda tours as a member of
the Catalan Regional Committee of Muj eres Libres, responsible for culture
and propaganda. On the local level, individual agrupaciones agreed to
establi sh circulating libraries. 1 9 In November 1 938, a budget of the
Regional Committee of Muj eres Libres of Catalonia showed that of the
twelve members of the Committee, seven had posts related to culture and
propaganda.20 The patter was similar elsewhere in the country_
The work was clearly satisfying and exciting. Pepita's description of
her experiences on propaganda trips communicates her enthusiasm:
We would call the women together and explain to them ... that there is a
clearly defned role for women, that women should not lose their
independence, but that a woman can be a mother and a compafera at the
same time ... Young women would come over to me and say, 'This is very
interesting. What you're saying we've never heard before. It's something
that we've felt, but we didn't know," ... The ideas that grabbed them the
most? Talk about the power men exercised over women ... There would be
a kind of an uproar when you would say to them, "We cannot permit man
to think themselves superior to women, that they have a right to rule over
them:" I think that Spanish women were waiting anxiously for that cal1.
2
1
In many ways these talks were as important for those who delivered them
as they were to the listeners. Sara Berenguer Guillen, Conchita Guillen,
and Amada de No, for example, made their frst appearances on a public
rostrum as speakers for Mujeres Libres, urging others to study and prepare
themselves. The exhilaration and sense of accomplishment they felt was
palpable, even as they described these activities fify years later.
Cultural work was critical because, if Mujeres Libres aimed to create a
"conscientious responsible [revolutionary] force," that force would have to
be educated. Programs had to proceed on a number of levels simultaneous
ly. Even while women were taking classes to develop their skills and self
confdence, they were participating in organizational activities that neces
sarily took those skills and confidence for granted. Since virtually all the
activists were self-taught within the libertarian movement, Mujeres Libres
had to put into practice anarchist theory about direct action and "learning
uy uuing:' The range 01 Its accomplishments is eloquent testimony to the
possibilities of such an educational approach.
Employment and Apprenticeship Programs
Closely connected to programs of general culture and education were
activities and projects designed to facilitate women's entry into the work
force as skilled workers at decent pay, which meant, in effect, training
women for jobs that had previously been perceived as men's work. The
apprenticeship programs that formed the core of this component of Mujeres
Libres' agenda were usually joint ventures with local unions. The working
out of the relationship was difcult, refecting all levels of disagreement
about women's subordination and the understanding of women's diference.
ree Wcmen cl n
The secciones de trabajo [labor sections] were probably the most i mpor
tant activi ti es. We started in that area immediately, because i t was essen
tial to get women out of the home. Eventually, there were Muj eres Libres
groups i n almost all the factories. Many of them probably focused on
i ssues that had li ttle to do with women' s emancipation, but they di d pro
vi de a way for women to talk about factory i ssues . . . We had to be careful
not to take over the j ob of other organizations, especi ally the unions,
[and] not to foment male-female antagonism.
22
155
While union cooperation with these programs was based pri mari l y on
a desire to fll the factory j obs lef vacant when men went to the front,
Mujeres Libres' commitment to women' s participation was based as well
in the belief that decently paid work, under reasonale working condhi ons,
was as much a woman' s right as a man' s, whether in war-time or in peace.
"We are not talki ng about the incorporation of women into work either as
a gif or as a necessity," asserted an article in 1 938. "Work is a right that
women won in the frst days of bloody struggle."23
In conjunction with education, work was the key to women' s self
development. We wanted to open the world to women, to allow women
to develop themselves in whatever ways they wanted to . . .
The frst thing was to get women out of the house. It' s true that even
women who worked were not entirety independent economi cally-that
would have been impossible, given the situation of the working class i n
those years. But getting women out of the house to do paid work does
make a diference. It enables them to develop a social sense. Al so, hus
bands had a certain respect for their wives when they worked, too. So we
saw i t as important to get women out of the house, even i f they wouldn't
be fully independent economically.
24
Mujeres Libres addressed women and work in two different, though
rel ated, ways . Articles in the j ournal analyzed the history of work and of
women' s participation in the work force; organizational programs ad
dressed the specifc needs of women in the wartime and revolutionary sit
uation.
Most of Muj eres Libres' theoretical writings treated work in the his
torical context. Work had traditionally been conceived, Mercedes Co
maposada wrote, as either a punishment, a necessity, or some combination
of the two. Peopl e worked in order to survive. But with the advent of capi
talism, the punitive aspects of work took on even greater force. Capitalism
(and scientifc management) achieved industral progres s at the cost of "for
getting the human being." Revolutionary change woul d have to address the
spiritual, as well as the physical, damage caused by dull , repetitive work. 25
I t |Ol!lO /. /CKOlSOO|_
A number of arti cles explored how the i deology of what we now cal l
"separate spheres" and the expectati on that woman' s pl ace was in the home
di ffrenti al l y affected rural and urban, worki ng-cl ass and mi ddle-class
women. Wi th i ndustrial i zati on, for exampl e, many rural worki ng-class
women had mi grated to the cities, hoping to support themselves by domes
ti c servi ce or factory work. But they encountered "j ust a more el evated
form of sl avery." Middle-class women were al so affected by i ndustri al i za
ti on and by the ri si ng expectati ons that fol l owed World War I. Many took
j obs in ofces or shops, but for them, too, the promi se of "wealth through
empl oyment" was often more a dream than a real i ty. 2
6
Although Mujeres Libres was cri ti cal of the condi ti ons of work-for
both women and men-under pri mi tive, feudal , and capital i st condi ti ons,
writers set forth a vi si on of what work woul d mean and how i t woul d be
experi enced i n the new soci ety. Fi rst work was a necessary and i ndi spen
sable part of l i fe. Humans had the capaci ty to use technology to l i ghten the
burden of l abor, structuri ng producti on so that machi nes would be at the
servi ce of people, and the expl oi tati on of some by others would end.27
Labor shoul d be the expressi on of human capabi l ity and creati vi ty, a pre
n:qui si te for freedom: "Work is creati on, or it i s nothi ng; creation is pro
gressive enl i ghtenment [supercion], and the aim of enl i ghtenment is free
dO."2x The vi si on of work as part of a fulfed l i fe was especial l y i mpor
tant for women-who, until then, had been deemed unft for productive
labor. Muj eres Libres insisted that work contributed both to general soci al
progress and to women' s emancipation more specifcally, enabling women
to be-and to experience themselves as-productive members of the soci
ety. 29
A second aspect of this vision was that women should be treated as
equals i n the work force-with equal access to j obs and equal pay for the
work they did. Mercedes Comaposada went so far as to argue that all
salary differentials (including those between manual and "technical" l abor
ers) ought to be eliminated immediately. 30 To the degree that woman' s
expl oitation was rooted i n her economi c dependence, it woul d be over
come only when she became independent-or at least equally dependent
with men ! "Equal pay for equal work" was thus an immediate necessity. In
a discussion at a plenary of the libertari an movement in October 1 938,
Muj eres Libres challenged the unions that "if they did not want to agree
that women who do the same j obs as men should receive equal wages, they
should say so clearly."3 1
But i f women were t o participate fully as workers, they needed prepa
ration, the meaning of which varied somewhat with the circumstances. In
I 7
the early months of the struggle, the organization encouraged women to
get involved in whatever ways they could, arguing that lack of preparation
ought not stand in the way of women' s working. 32 During the course of the
war, however, as the fronts advanced and foreign orders fell, j obs became
scarcer. While Muj eres Libres still insi sted on the incorporation of women
into the work force, it placed even greater emphasis on the i mportance of
education. "Muj eres Libres does not make demagogic promi ses or false
appeals. Muj eres Libres does not assure you an immediate placement.
[But] Muj eres Libres offers you the possibility of preparing yourselves to
serve our struggle effectively."33 Still, at the fnal stages of the war, Mujeres
Libres continued to argue that work was women' s right, a right exerci sed
dramatically in their enthusiastic and voluntary incorporation into the
workforce in the early days of the revolution. "Woman has put all her faith
in the revolution. Let her not be defrauded by atavi stic egoisms."3
4
Although the maj ority of articles argued that work was women' s right,
some suggested that women' s work in the paid labor force was only tem
porary, a necessity of war.35 Even these, however, insisted that women must
lear to think and act collecti vely: "The woman must produce for the col
lectivity, she cannot retur to egoisti c, domestic, familial production."36
Another article criticized those who viewed their incorporation into the
paid labor force as a personal , individual triumph: "This i s not the time to
strive for individual gains, nor those of a sex; we are dealing here with the
defense of our very way of life, with the collective defense of a people. No
one can think, when she takes up a piece of equipment at work, that she i s
resolving some personal situation.' '37
The ambiguity of these views on women' s incorporation into the labor
force was related to Muj eres Libres' understanding of women' s "differ
ence." Some writings emphasized women' s specifcally feminine quali
ties-"they knew how to stamp the coarse atmosphere of war with the del
icate smoothness of their feminine psychology"-or focused on the vari
ety of ways women might contribute to the war effort: "At the fronts, some
[women] fght, others stand in wait for those who tght. In the rear, they
work ceaselessly and contribute to the growth of that culture which, until
now, the women' s movement has so lacked. Woman is redeeming her
self."38At other times, Muj eres Libres seemed l ess concered with the
specifcally "feminine," and focused more on overcoming that which pre
vented women from full incororati on as equals in the work force.
Although Muj eres Libres' programs of capacitaci6n seemed to take for
granted that women would work-to support themselves, their families,
and the war efrt-some articles in the joural continued to address
It
|Ol!lO /. /CkOlSOO|_
women primari l y as mothers or "support personnel ." Cl earl y, the question
of what was woman' s "nature," and what could be expected of her, was far
from resol ved.
The apprenticeships and other work-rel ated programs that Muj eres
Li bres devel oped retected both the exi genci es of the war si tuation and
these ambi gui ti es surrounding women' s subordi nati on in the workpl ace.
The majority of its programs consi sted of technical or skills trai ning, but
trai ni ng was always accompanied by "soci al formation," directed to other
di mensi ons of subordinati on.
Beginning at the local l evel and then spreading ul ti matel y to regi onal
and national units, Mujeres Libres organi zed secci ones de trabajo, labor
sections wi th responsi bi l ity for specifc trades or industri es, which co
operated wi th rel evant CNT uni ons. By Jul y 1 937, for example, Mujeres
Libres in Madrid was running a mechani cs school , sewing cl asses, trai ning
programs for domestic servants and cl eri cal workers, a workshop for
women in the texti l e trades, and school s for drivers and metalworkers.
Muj eres Li brcs in Barcel ona had seccioncs de trabajo in transport, metal
l urgy (preparation for work in factories producing war materi el ), publ i c
services, texti l es, domestic service, health, commerce, and cl erical work.
Most l ocal uni ons were apparently eager and enthusi astic participants
in these programs. Pura Perez Arcos, for example, who took a course in
transport and was among the frst group of women licensed to drive trams
i n Barcelona, described the Transport Workers ' Union as "fantastic":
"They took people on as apprentices, mechani cs, and drivers, and really
taught us what to do. If you could only have seen the faces of the passen
gers [when women began serving as drivers] , I think the compaferos in
Transport, who were so kind and cooperative toward us; really got a kick
out of that."39
Mujeres Libres prepared women for work in rural areas as well, most
notably by establishing experi mental stations for agriculture and avi culture
to provide women wi th the knowledge they would need to participate i n
rural production. Agri cultural experiment stati ons exi sted in Barcelona,
Aragon, and Valenci a, and women came to them from many surrounding
communities .40
The secci ones de trabajo encouraged women to become more involved
in their workplaces, in both rural and urban contexts. They made frequent
educational vi sits to factories.
Groups of us would go to collectivized factories, and stop the lines for ff
teen or twenty minutes, sometimes up to an hour, and talk to the workers,
have little classes. This, of course, we did only with the approval of the

workplace council; so we had the assistance of the unions. We did this
throughout Barcelona-in war industries, textiles, transport, light and
power, metallurgy, and wood-and also in some pueblos. Some days we
went to as many as ffty diferent places!
41
I 7
The purpose of these visits-as of those to rural collectives-was twofold,
refecting a commitment to both capacitacion and captacion. They aimed
to talk to women about their responsibil ities at work (social formation) and
also to encourage women to afliate with Mujeres Libres and to j oin
unions. One further goal was to assure that Mueres Libres would have rep
resentation in all factories and on all union committees.
4
2
Finally, the secciones de trabaj o concered themselves with child care.
If women were to be incororated into the workforce, they woul d have to
be relieved of child-care responsibilities during work hours. Responsibility
for child care belonged to the community as a whole. In its frst congress,
Muj eres Libres called for the establishment of childcare centers in facto
ries and workshops with rooms for nursing, and committed itself both to
setting up such centers and to writing about them, so that groups around
the country would have guides to their establishment.
4
3
Consciousness-raising and Support of Women's Activism
Through all of these educational programs, Muj eres Libres attempted
to raise consciousness about women' s activism. Virtually every i ssue of the
journal had at least one article on women as social-political activists or on
the exploits of exceptional women, whether in contemporary Spain or in
other hi storical and geographical contexts.
44
In attempts to reach both unaf
fli ated women and anarchist men with its message, Muj eres Libres pub
lished columns in other anarchist periodi cals, such as Acrcia, Ruta, CNT
and Tierr y Libertad, dealing with women' s parti cipation in the revolu
tionary struggle. A number of other booklets and pamphlets, as well as pic
torial expositions in Madrid and Barcelona, highlighted the achievements
and activities of women.
In addition, Muj eres Libres actively supported women' s participation
in military aspects of the struggle. The journal ran articles about mili
tiawomen at the front and about those few women who held si gnifcant
military positions. At least some of these women soldiers evidently valued
the support. Amada de No recalled sitting in the l ocal Barcelona ofce of
Mujeres Libres when "a very good-looking soldier" came in and asked if
this were the ofce of Muj eres Libres. When she replied that it was, the
ItU
|Ol!lO A. Acke|sLerQ
sol di er said "he" wanted to si gn up. At frst, Amada thought it was a joke
or someone wanti ng to harass them. Then she real ized the soldier was a
woman, Mi ka Etchebehere, one of the few women who actual l y held a
command posi ti on in the Republ i can army!
4
5 Muj eres Libres in Madri d set
up a shooting range and target practi ce for those women "di sposed to
defend the capi tal ," and Mujeres Libres i n Catalonia establ i shed a secti on
of "war sports," which provi ded "premi l itary preparati on for women so
that, i f i t shoul d be necessary, they could i ntervene efcti vely, even on the
battl efeld."46
Muj eres Li bres i nsi sted that women' s acti vi sm should not be seen as
an anomal y. Women belonged i n t he publ i c arena: "It i s a very wi despread
but wrongheaded bel i ef that i ntel l ectual and spiritual activi ties kill
woman' s femi ni ne and maternal character. The opposi te i s more l ikely.
Pursui ts that expl ore life' s i deal s give more tenderness, kindness, feel i ng,
and generosi ty to a woman than the vul gar preoccupation with material
thi ngs ."47
Some argued that women' s activi sm had a character qui te distinct from
that of men. Federica Montseny, i n her sol e contributi on to Mujeres Uires,
argued that women were notable for "the col l ecti ve force of a sex, sacri
fci ng themsel ves, struggl i ng as do the women workers i n muni ti ons fac
tories in Spai n, defyi ng death during many hours of the day," rather than
for i ndi vi dual acts of heroism. Woman' s particular contribution to the
struggle, in Montseny' s view, was her "heroic resignati on" to the di sloca
tions of war and revolution.
4

Not all writers argued in thi s vein, however. Equall y common was the
sort of c1aim, made by Aurea Cuadrado in the same i ssue of the journal .
that women were capable of the same levels of self-mastery and self
devel opment as men. Pythagorean women in ancient Greece, she argued,
"occupied prominent positions in public halls, i n the legi slature, and in
both private and public life." Spani sh women should expect no l ess, but
with one important difference: "If the norm of the ancient Pythagoreans
was self-mastery, creating an ari stocracy to which the slaves did not have
access, the self-mastery of the contemporary woman must be based on the
hope of nurturing an ari stocratic spirit that will relegate all memory of
slavery to obl ivion." This insi stence on the need for spiritual development,
in addition to cultural capacitacion, was an important part of Muj eres
Libres' message, one manifest particularly in the writings of Mercedes
Comaposada and Lucia Sanchez Saorni1.
4
9
Finally, Mujeres Libres attempted to articulate a sense of what life
might be like for flly self-conscious, self-empowered women. Women' s
situation differed from that of men: Although men and women should
engage together in the struggle to overcome relations of dominati on
imposed on them from outside (primarily by capitalism), women had an
additional struggle for their "interior liberty," their sense of self. In this
they would have to struggle alone and, all too frequently, against the oppo
sition of their male comrades or family members. Nevertheless, "when you
have achieved your goal, you will belong only to yourselves . . . You will
become persons with freedom and equality of social rights, free women in
a free society that you will build together with men, as their true com
pafers . . . Life will be a thousand ti mes more beautiful when the woman
becomes a really 'free woman' [muj er libre]."5o
The importance of this approach cannot be overemphasized; it was one
of the ways Muj eres Libres difered most dramatically from other women' s
organizations in Spain at the time. Many of the organization' s publications
appealed to women to educate themselves and to j oin the work force as
their contribution to the war and revolutionary effort-a perspective shared
by organizations such as the AMA and the women' s organization of the
POUM. Mujeres and Companya, for example, j ournal s published by
groups affliated with the PSUC (the Communist party in Catalonia) dur
ing the war, contained frequent appeals to women to work to replace men
at the front, but they did not locate those appeals in the context of a larger
campaign for capacitacion or women' s self-development for her own sake.
An article by "La Pasion aria," for example, in the frst issue of Companya,
noted that "we have an inexhaustible source of human reserves; but we
must prepare them, organize them, empower them [capacitar-les] for the
war."51 Mueres Libres' insistence on women' s emancipation as an end in
itself was unique. In fact, as we will see, the contenti on that women' s
emancipation was a goal t o be valued even apart from the revolutionary sit
uation ofen set Mueres Libres at odds not only with other women' s organ
izations but with many colleagues in the libertarian movement.
Motherhood
Many arti cles in the j ournal took issue with the identifcation of
women with motherhood, and insisted that women had an identity and
social function independent of their (potential) status as mothers .
Nevertheless, the organization' s programs were based on the presumption
that motherhood was the reality for many, if not most, Spanish women. As
Mercedes Comaposada explained:
One thing we wanted to make very cl ear was that the woman is an indi
vidual , and she has value and worth even apart from being a mother. Yet,
at the same time, we wanted to make sure there was a pl ace for moth
ers ... What we wanted, at the l east, were madres conscientes [sel f-con
scious mothers J . Peopl e shoul d be abl e to choose whether and when and
how to have chil dren and to know how to raise them . .. And they shoul d
n't have to be one's own children-there is need to take care of other peo
pl e's chil dren, of orphans, and the l ike.
52
A commi tment to the "woman as person," not just as mother, was evi
dent i n vi rtually al l Mujeres Li bres' literature. Begi nni ng wi th Sanchez
Saorni l ' s concern that "the concept of mother i s absorbi ng that of woman,
the functi on i s anni hilati ng the i ndi vi dual ,")' Muj eres Libres' writers i nsi st
ed that devel opi ng oneself as a person was a woman' s frst pri ori ty. It
mi ght be true, Pi lar Grangel argued, that women must gi ve bi rth to chi l dren
if there i s to be a next generati on. But women can not do it alone; they need
the assi stance of men and, more i mportantl y, the self-confdence and intel
l i gence to ori ent themsel ves and thei r chi ldren to the worl d. She pl aced
reproducti on thi rd on the l ist of women' s soci al responsi bi l i ti es, after work
and the development of a social consci ence. 54 As one i ssue of Mujeres
Libres proclai med on i ts cover, "She i s not a better mother who holds her
chi l d close to her heart, but she who hel ps to make the world a better place
for hi m [si c 1."55
Rel ated to thi s perspective was Mujeres Libres' insistence that moth
erhood was not somethi ng that "comes naturally"-except in the bio
l ogi cal fact of bearing chi ldren. Much of women' s soci alization-a social
i zation that oriented her to be a mujercita [a doll baby] and to devote her
:ttenticn tc makirg her;clf uttracti"v- to iiici-va, 111 [acl inirlical to
good mothering. To be a mother, one must lear to pay proper attention to
the needs of a chi l d. One could not be a mujercita and a mother at the same
time. The other side of this claim was the insi stence that women needed to
learn to be proper mothers (as men needed to learn to be proper fathers)
how to feed and care for their children, how to facilitate their growing into
strong, independent persons as adults. 56
Despi te this insistence that women were not "born to mother," Muj eres
Libres expressed a range of views on the naturalness of materal feelings
to women. Amparo Poch y Gascon dedicated her book Nino "to all those
women who love their children or others' children; that is to say, to all the
women of the World."57 Etta Feder' s Mujeres de las revoluciones made
frequent reference to materal feelings on the part of the revolutionary
Free Women of Spain 163
women she described, even though most of them did not have any children
of their own. 58
Muj eres Libres' programs to educate women about child care took the
form of written materi als and "hands-on" activities. Many issues of the
j ournal contained articles on aspects of proper child care, written either by
Amparo Poch or by "Florentina" (Carmen Conde). In an effort to reach a
wide range of women, Poch y Gasc6n also contributed articles to a variety
of general di stribution anarchist newspapers. In the context of providi ng
medical and health information, an overview of the basic stages of child
development, and a review of what to expect from your child at what
ages-a kind of si mplifed Dr. Spock-Poch y Gasc6n presented what
was, in effect, an anarchist approach to child-rearing. She insisted, for
example, that parents must let their children develop in their own way:
"Repression Lof habits such as thumb-sucking] must have a limit if you
don' t want the child' s personality to be entirely lost . . . Remain attentive so
that the soul and mind of your child retain their own character, the stamp
of his or her own personality. Allow your child to create and follow his or
her uni
q
ue path, free from coercion."59
Muj eres Libres' attempts to respond to women' s health-care needs and
to educate them about proper motherhood went beyond the written word.
In the frst days of the revolution, for example, Teresina Torrelles and other
activists from Muj eres Libres in Terrassa establi shed a school for nurses
and an emergency medical clinic to treat those injured in the fghting. They
worked together with Dr. Juan Paulis, athor of Ls obrers de la aguja, a
physician with a social conscience who had long been a member of the
CNT. Teresina and the others became, in her words, "instant apprentices"
in those frst few days. They took sheets and mattresses from their own
houses and outftted the clinic through a combination of donations and re
q
uisitions from the local goverment.

Within a short time, they created the frst maternity clinic there, also
under the direction of Dr. Paulis. Despite her lack of experience in the
medical feld (but probably because of her extensive experience as an
organizer and activist in the CNT and in the women' s group in Terrassa),
Teresina was named administrator. On the frst day she reported:
I went to the operating room, and looked around. I put things i n their
places, and saw what we needed. And then I went to City Hal and said,
this and this is what we need ... They either gave it to me or arranged for
me to get it. If we needed alcohol, for example, I went to the pharacy
and got it, with money they gave me, because we had nothing, not even
disinfectant.
The j ob was a diffcult one; not everyone was eager for thi s new system:
The midwives-there were twel ve of them-went on strike. They refused
to work for us ... When they returned to work, they woul d eat frst and
give the women who had given birth what was l eft over. I said, "This can
not be." So I took the food and took it around to the patients, and what
was l eft, I took to the kitchen for the nurses and midwives".We used dia
pers with buttons, instead of pins, because Dr, Paul fs said that the pins
weren't safe for the babies, I had to arrange that, too, ..
I rememher how many times fathers woul d come up to me in the cl inic to
request something, and I woul d say, "Please, here al l of us are equals."
And they woul d say to me, "Here, you real l y have made the revol ution."
I had such satisfaction from this. Because I administered the whol e thing
without any education ... What I believed, that's what I put in practice
there ... And that's what I can tel l you of what I did for the revol ution. The
rest, I did what everyone el se did. But this, this was something I did.
60
In Barcel ona, Mujeres Libres ran a lyi ng-i n hospital , Casa de Mater
ni dad, directed by Aurea Cuadrado, which provided birth and postnatal
care for women and their babi es and offered a cl ass on conscious mother
hood, deal ing with such topics as child and maternal health, birth control,
sexual ity, and eugenics. As part of its educational program, the hospital
(together with Mujeres Libres) ran a veritable campai gn about breast-feed
i ng, trying to convi nce women of the superi ority of breast milk over cow' s
milk. Mujeres Libres no. 7, i n fact, reported that the hospital would not
allow women to leave the hospital with their babies until they had breast
fed them!6! Cuadrado' s aim was to enable women to overcome the igno
rance and the prej udices of the "society of the past," and to give them a
:tart (n dCv':0pint the "cyuilibrium necessary for intelligent mothering."
She hoped that, once in possession of more information about their bodies
and sexuality, women would take control over other aspects of their lives,
"develop their capacity for maternal love, rai se their moral l evel, and gen
erate a feeling of social solidarity."62
Dr. Paulis, who had directed the clinic and the nursing school in
Terrassa, later went to Barcelona and colaborated with Muj eres Libres and
health-care unions there to establish the Instituto de Puericultura y
Maternologia Luisa Michel (the Luisa Michel Institute of Maternal and
Child Care) in February 1 938. The Institute provided medical services for
mothers and children, maternity counseling and fnanci al assistance, pro
grams to train child-care workers, and a child-care center (for the children
of working mothers, particularly in the needle trades) . This center had two
units, one for children between three and twenty-four months, and one for
FreA Women of Soain 165
children aged two to fve years, as well as a library and a program of med
ical check-ups for children attending rationalist schools . 63
While this Barcelona program was, no doubt, the most extensi ve,
Mujeres Libres worked with health-care unions in other towns and cities to
meet the health needs of women. Nursing education programs were prob
ably the most common form this cooperation took. Since, in the prewar
period, nursing care had been a monopoly of the church, the need was cer
tainly great. Not surrisingly, a considerable number of the women I inter
viewed had served as nurses at some time during the war.
Child Education
Women had been given the primary responsibility for raising children.
That responsibility, Muj eres Libres argued, re
q
uired that women educate
themselves in order to raise their children properly. But it also req
uired that
women struggle to see that children had the best educati on possible.
Mujeres Libres' attitudes toward children were expressed almost as
often through pictures as through words. Issue after issue of the j ournal
contained pictures of children-playing, exploring, working; hopeful and
sad; in schools or out in the world. The captions and articles that accom
panied such pictures emphasized a number of characteri stics of children
that formed the basis of virtually all Mujeres Libres' programs in the feld
of education. Children were naturally enthusiastic and open, constantly
taking in information from the world around them; adults (and especially
teachers) ought to guard against doing anything to dull that youthful enthu
siasm. Children were the hope of the fture; they should never be made to
feel ashamed of themselves or their bodies ; they should be allowed to
remain open to all points of view. 64 Children should never be used for prop
aganda purposes: the vision of young children marching through the streets
in unifm-even those of workers' organizations-was an abomination.
"Children cannot, and ought not, be either Catholics, socialists, commu
nists, or libertarians. Children ought to be only what they are: children."65
Finally, a child' s curiosity and adventurousness ought to be encouraged as
much as possible. Rather than punishing a small child for breaking some
thing valuable, adults should keep valuables i n a place where children can
not reach them. 66
166
Mujeres Libres' philosophy of education drew on anarchist theory and
practice, and was consistent with these views of childhood. Education
ought to be viewed as a process of development and exploration, rather
than as one of repressing a child's instincts and inculcating obedience and
discipline. Children learn best when they feel good about themselves, oth
ers, and the world. The best education, therefore, would orient the child to
the world, facilitating the child's learning from others and from his or her
environment. Furthermore, it would engage children as fully as possible
(taking advantage of all the senses), encouraging them to develop and
value their own abilities as well as to cooperate with others. Education, that
is, should be active, noncompetitive, and as nondirective as possible, rely
ing heavily on children's natural curiosity.o7
Respecting children and educating them well was vitally important to
the process of revolutionary social change. Ignorance made people partic
ularly vulnerable to oppression and suffering. More importantly, education
prepared people for social life. Authoritarian schools (or families), based
on fear, prepared people to be submissive to an authoritarian government.
Difrent schools would be necessary to prepare people to live in a socie
ty without domination.fx
Teachers needed to be specially trained to prepare children for a more
egalitarian world. They would have to think of themselves as artists, able
to spark creativity in others: "Let no one without imagination, without
intuition, without inspiration become a teacherl"69 And these new teachers
must be taught new principles of education:
(1) Pedagogy must be considered an art, based in creativity.
(2) Education is about a teacher's discovering in every child and at every
moment the living truth that each child and each moment has to ofr.
(3) There is no doctrine so perfect as to be legitimately imposed on a child.
(4) A teacher should not love "children in the abstract," but each child in
his or her particularity, and should attempt to lear from each child.
(5) A teacher should teach according to the capacities and abilities of each
particular student.
(6) A teacher should avoid competition and exteral rewards and punish
ments.
(7) Classes should be small (ideally, no more than ten children per
teachcr).
7o
Free WomEn of Spain 167
Sexualit
I noted in chapter 1 that Spanish anarchists had devoted considerable
attention to sexual liberation, for both women and men. They advocated
increased information about sex and sexuality, greater sexual freedom, and
the aboliti on of legal and religious marriage in favor of "free love," by
which they meant voluntarily contracted relationships that could be termi
nated a the will of either partner. Some small percentage of anarchi st mil
itants had attempted t o live by these precepts even in the prerevolutionary
period. But the advent of the Civil War and the social revolution made i t
possible for much larger numbers of people t o live according t o new sexu
al norms. The revolution allowed for the implementation of new public
policies i n the arena of sexuality, particularl y in Catalonia. For example,
decrees of the Generalitat legalized abortion for "therapeutic, eugenic, or
ethical reasons," simplifed divorce procedures, and made birth control
information and devices more readily available.
We might expect that Muj eres Libres would have devoted considerable
attention in its writings and in its programs to the sexual liberation of
women. Many women who were later t o be active i n the organization had
been among those writing (in the prewar years) in favor of greater sexual
freedom. For example, between 1 932 and 1 935, Amparo Poch y Gascon
wrote a number of articles and an educational pamphlet that di scussed
women' s sexuality, emphasized the importance of sexual expres sion for
women as well as for men, criticized monogamy and the sexual double
standard, and advocated education about physiology, sexual pleasure, sex
ual fnctioning, and contraception. Many of her arguments paralleled
those of earlier anarchist writers, particularly her insistence that sexuality
was an important aspect of human identity and development. As a result of
both social convention and uncaring husbands, she had written, women
were denied the natural right to satisfy their bodily needs and desires. They
must be given access to the information they needed about themselves,
their bodies, and their sexuality so that they could develop themselves fully
as persons. Further, since sexual expression was an important aspect of
women' s lives, rather than simply a means of satisfying male desire or of
creating children, women needed information about, and access to, contra
ception-not exhortations to sexual absti nence.71
Little of this explicitly "pro-sex" writing was to be found in Mujeres
Libres, however. Nor did education about sexuality 100m very l arge in its
programs or in the joural . While some articles advocated the abolition of
the sexual double standard, none dealt explicitly with women' s sexuality
168
or sexual liberation. The majority of articles related to sexuality concerned
prostitution, analyzing its causes and elrts to eliminate it. Nevertheless,
the view of sexuality as an important constituent of human personhood,
and of sexual expression as a normal and necessary aspect of human life,
did fnd voice in some of Etta Federn's sketches in Mujeres de las revolu
ciones. For example, during the course of an explication of Alexandra
Kollontai's views on free love, she stated that Kollontai "struggled against
the false but widely held belief that sexual satisfaction without love is a
symptom of moral perversion-especially in the case of a woman .. .The
double standard with respect to masculine and feminine sexuality, which
reigned even among revolutionaries, was the object of her vehement and
forceful struggle."72
Essays about sexual issues were generally more subdued in Mujeres
Lihres; "frec love" did not appear in its pages at all. The journal did nev
ertheless contain a few articles explicitly critical of marriage, especially
the so-called casamientos { la libertaria-the practice of replacing
church-or state-sanctioned weddings with those performed by unions or
revolutionary organizations. A number of Mujeres Libres' writers found
this a practice ripe for ridicule. Mujeres Libres no. 7, for example, printed
a "Proposal for the creation of a marriage factory" (see Appendix C), gen
tly poking fun at the practice of union organizations' formalizing mar
riages.73 As secretary of the Building and Wood-Trades Union in
Barcelona, Sara Berenguer Guillen often drew up such documents. But her
most intriguing memory was of a couple who returned, some months afer
their "marriage," to request a divorce. She replied that, as they were not
legally married, they needed no divorce; they could simplv part com!any
and go on with their lives. But the couple refused, and in the end, Sara
drew up a document of divorce, which was duly witnessed by members of
the union.74
Lucia Sanchez Saomil was rather less gentle in an article she wrote,
"La ceremonfa matrimonial 0 la cobardfa del espfritu" ("The Mariage
Ceremony or Spiritual Cowardice"), which appeared in Hors de revolu
cion. It was ridiculous and hypocritical, she insisted, to engage in such
practices: "If we spent all those years asserting that the free consent of both
parties is suffcient for union between them, and that a wedding certifcate
was nothing other than a contract of sale, how can we explain these absurd
ceremonies in union organizations ... ?" The practice was doubly reprehen
sible, she continued, because most of those ceremonies simply imitated
religious rites and because, like church and state weddings, they repre-
Free Women of Spain
169
sen ted the inappropriate intervention of the public into what should be pri
vate relations between people. 75
Most of the attention Muj eres Libres devoted to issues of sexuality
focused on the relationship between economic and political expl oitation
and women' s sexual subordination, a relationship made manifest in prosti
tution. Both Muj eres Libres and other organizations of the libertarian
movement engaged in extensive campaigns against prostitution, which
they saw as emblematic of human relations under capitalism. 76 But while
mainstream movement organizations focused mainly on unionizing prosti
tutes or on exhorting women not to engage in the profession (or men not
to patronize them), Mujeres Libres focused its attention more on what it
took to be the causes of prostitution, especially the economic and pol itical
exploitation of women.
The frst i ssue of the j ournal to appear after the outbreak of the Civil
War asserted that eliminating prostitution, "the greatest of slaveries," ought
to be Mujeres Libres' frst priority. Prostitution was not "their problem
[speaking of the prostitutes], but ours, that of all women and all men." The
labeling of some women as "dishonorable" was what allowed other women
to label themselves "honorable." Furthermore, since prostitution was a
result of women' s economic exploitation, it would not be suffcient to pro
hibit its practice. Instead, women would have to be trained to support
themselves in other ways. Accordingly, Mueres Libres announced i ts
intention to establish a network of libertorios de prostitucion, (retraining
centers for prostitutes) which would involve "(1) medical-psychiatric
research and treatment, (2) psychological and ethical programs to devel op
in the students a sense of responsibility, (3) professional orientation and
capacitacion, and (4) moral and material assistance whenever they need it,
even after they have left the liberatorios."77
The CNT and the anarchist press applauded the plan, even if they were
more inclined to view prostitutes as victims who needed to be rescued.
However, at the same time there were some groups within the movement
who insisted that prostitution could not be eliminated; at best, prostitutes
could be protected from exploitation via unionization. In the early days of
the revolution, there were attempts to organize prstitutes into a sindicato
de amor [love union]. Most of these attempts were short-lived, however,
and within a few months to a year, articles appeared in the anarchist press
ridiculing the notion of unionization of prostitutes and, instead, calling on
men not to patronize prosti tutes. 78 Overall, the anarchist movement seems
to have been rather lax on this point: both articles in Mujeres Lihres and
interviews with participants noted that anarchist men were much less like
l y to live up to their ideology in this respect than in many others. 7'
As an organization of and for women, Mujeres Libres directed its proj
ects to women, particularly to those women most vulnerable to the sexual
and economic exploitation considered to be the root of prostitution.
Although war conditions prevented the project of liberatorios de prostitu
cion from getting ot the ground in any formal way, Mujeres Libres
appealed to prostitutes to abandon their occupation and join the movement.
Pepita Carpena recalled one prostitute who responded to the appeal, joined
Mujercs Libres, attended classes, and eventually became a member of
Pepita's cadre of traveling speakers and cultural workers. ()
Despite the diffculties of the wartime situation, Mujeres Libres in
sisted that any program to eliminate prostitution must address the eco
nomic exploitation that was its source. Mujeres Lihres no. 9, for example,
noted that prostitution had worsened and suggested that the root of this
i ncrease was twofold. Many young women who had been domestic ser
vants in the cities were thrown onto the streets without work once their for
mer employers fled the republican zones. Second, young men had greater
access to money to pay prostitutes. Women had become the "blind play
things of historical process." In such a context, revolution alone-without
specifc attention to "the sexual problem"-would not be enough: "We
insist that the only way to resolve the social problem is through economic
and political equality, aspects of an empowerment of women [capacitacion
femenina] that can endow women with a sense of responsibility and obli
gation. Any institution for the capacitacion of women is, more than a lib
eratorio, a preventorio of prostitution." s ,
Further, prostitutes were not to be identifed only with women who
sold their bodies on the streets or in brothels. Muj eres Libres insisted, as
Emma Goldman had some years earlier, that all women who depended on
men were in some sense prostitutes. "A woman who lives in economic
dependence receives a payment [for sex] , even if it be from her legal hus
band . . . All that propaganda, all those actions, in favor of the family, of that
fctitious ' homey warmth,' keep woman in her eternal position: distant
from production and without any rights." Only full economic equality
between men and women, allowing women access to paid productive work
on terms equal to those of men, could address and eliminate the true caus
es of prostitution. 2
Mujeres Libres provided information on sexuality and encouraged
women to take advantage of educational programs and other services avail
able in hospitals. A number of articles in the journal spoke proudly of the
Free Women of Spgi n 1 7 1
accomplishments of Federica Montseny i n the Ministry of Health and
Public Assistance or those of Aurea Cuadrado in the Casa de Materni dad
in Barcelona. The programs cited included those providing information
about eugenics, contraception, and euthanasia, in addition to basic infor
mation about sexuality and procreati on. 83 Muj eres Libres also took pride in
the legalization of abortion in Catalonia (by decree of the Generalitat) and
in the increased contraceptive options available to women as a result. 84
Compared to its programs i n the felds of literacy, work, motherhood,
and education, those related to sexuality (and, in particular, sexual free
dom) seem rather limited, both in scope and in result. For all of the anar
chist movement' s discussion of the importance of sexual liberation to full
human emancipati on, Muj eres Libres devoted virtually no attention to it as
a goal. How can we explain the relatively narow range of its programs i n
thi s area?
First, we must take note of the difference between written material s
and day-to-day activities. Along with other movement organizations,
Muj eres Libres frequently sponsored talks and educational sessi ons on
sexuality and contraception, Julia Mirabe reported that doctors affliated
with the FIJL and Muj eres Libres "aranged to get us silver gadgets [obvi
ousl y some sort of IUD]. Every six months, you would go, and they' d take
out the mechanism and boil it, they' d examine you, and put it back in, and
you wouldn' t get pregnant."85 Sexual practices among activists in Muj eres
Libres, as among female movement activists more generally, were consid
erably more liberated than traditional Spanish culture allowed. For some,
being part of the revolutionary culture meant that they were free to "unite"
with thei r compaferos without either church or state sponsorship. For oth
ers, the new mores provided a way out of a conventional marri age. Sara
Berenguer Guillen, for example, recalled that, almost on the eve of the rev
olution, a young teacher had asked her father for her hand. Sara admired
his learning, but was not in love with him. Nevertheless, she said, had i t not
been for the revolution, she would almost certainly have married him. In
fact, she did not. Later, she met and freely united with the young man who
was to be her li felong companion, Jesus Guillen. Similar stories of sexual
openness, experimentation, or, at the very least, the rel axation of previous
ly existing stri ct standards of behavior were common among activists.
The relative silence of Mujeres Libres on thi s issue refects both fac
tors interal to Muj eres Libres and the dynamics of the broader cultural
context. Spanish anarchist calls for greater sexual openness had always
gone hand in hand with a certain puritanism. As one activi st remarked,
"We were always very puritanical, worse than the Christians i n some
1 72
ways . . . Take free love, for example, Compaferas vi rtual l y never had more
than one compafero at once; the rest was theory."86 Most men apparently
i nterpreted free l ove to mean freedom for them, but not for thei r com
paferas. Those women who did attempt to take free love seriously
whether by havi ng more than one lover at a time or by leavi ng a l over when
the relati onship no longer felt satisfying-often faced social ostraci sm,
even among thei r friends and comrades from the movement. Men may
have talked about free l ove, but most men ri di cul ed or denigrated those
women who practiced i t. g7
Thi s puri tani sm was certai nl y evi dent i n my recent conversati ons wi th
many of the women of Mujeres Li bres as well as wi th anarchi st men. A
surpri si ng number expressed di scomfort wi th what they saw as the fri vo
l ousness of the modern femi ni st movement, wi th its focus on "sexual free
dom, l esbi ani sm, l ove, and aborti on." Both Suceso Portales and Pepita
Carpena noted that Mujeres Li bres did not focus attention on sexual pref
erence or homosexual i ty, even though LucIa Sanchez Saomi l was a les
bi an, an aspect of her l i fe she made no effort to hide from others in the
movement. Everyone ought to be able to love whomever she or he wanted,
they argued, but one' s sexual ity was hardly a "pol i tical " i ssue, one on
which the movement should feel called to take a stand. xx
Mujeres Libres attempted to teach women about sexuality and sexual
pleasure by trai ning nurses and midwives and ofring courses to provide
women with information about their bodies . However, its programs were
clearly l i mited by prevailing attitudes toward sexuality. Given continued
male dominance, Muj eres Libres may have hesitated to advocate greater
sexual freedom for women, for fear that men woul d use the changed ideo
l ogIcal cllmate to take advantage of women. Overall , many of the women
i ndicated that issues of sexuality (beyond prostitution, porography, or
abortion rights) were "private," to be negotiated by women in their rel a
tionships, not issues to be the focus of a movement. "What is there to talk
about?" one woman repl ied to my question about sexuality. "It' s something
between individuals ." Mujeres Libres, as they saw it, aimed to empower
women so that they could fend for themsel ves i n the context of their rel a
tionships (or nonrelati onships) .
In addition, the wartime si tuation placed limits on Mujeres Libres'
accomplishments in this feld. Surely, liberatorios de prostituci6n woul d
not be high on the priority list of a movement that was already short of
workers, funds, and faci lities . Since so much of Mujeres Libres' funding
came from movement organizations, without thei r support it would have
been abl e to accomplish very little. More i mportant, perhaps, were the dis-
Free Women of Spain 1 73
locations caused by the war. Refugees were constantly pouring into the
maj or cities from areas taken by Franco' s troops. Increasingly, Muj eres
Libres ' limited resources were needed for basic education and for shelters
for newly homeless women and children. The constant infux of people
(including young women) also made it diffcult to develop and maintain
any long-term coordinated efort against prostitution.
Muj eres Libres may have toned down some of its radicalism on sexu
al questions in recognition of the difculties of the wartime situation.
Although there were some articles in the early issues of Mueres Libres
criticizing the practi ce of casamientos a la l i bertaria, none appeared after
the frst few months of the war. One woman' s reactions t o them, looking
back on those years, may be instructive:
Some of us looked askance at the "marriages" that took place in unions
then. But when I think back on all that now, I react somewhat diferent
ly. Afer all, there were these young people who had j ust gotten together,
and the boys were going off to the front, perhaps not to retur. How could
you criticize a poor young woman who wanted some formal recognition
of that union, some piece of paper signed before her compafero went of
to the font?
89
Finally, Muj eres Libres may have limited the expression of its sexual
radicalism in order to avoid alienating the women it hoped to attract. While
programs devoted to literacy, j ob-training, child care, and motherhood
would certainly have been radical in their context, all could be explained
in terms of the needs of the war and the construction of the new society.
None of these directly challenged male authority in the household,
although, of course, any and all programs to empower women ultimately
posed a challenge to male authority. Each of the programs made a contri
bution to the l arger social efrt while empowering women. On the other
hand, programs focused on women' s coming to a sense of thei r own sexu
ality might have seemed more threatening, especially to working-class
women. They could not so easily be justifed in terms of contrbution to the
larger social whole. In short, it may be that Mujeres Libres' initial com
mitment not to operate from an explici tly anarchist stance found its clear
est expression in the limits of its programs on sexuality.
Refugee and Social Serice Programs
Finally, Muj eres Libres devoted attention to the support services tradi
tionally perfrmed by women and women' s organizati ons in times of war.
1 74 Martha A. Ackel s berg
These programs fll into two maj or categori es: ( 1 ) refugee programs pro
vi di ng shel ter, schools, and other servi ces for the growing numbers of
adul ts, ol d people, and children di spl aced as the frontlines receded, and (2)
assi stance to combatants, i ncl uding vi sits to sol diers at the front or i n hos
pi tal s, washi ng or mendi ng clothes, etc.
Work wi th refugees was a source of considerable pride to Muj eres
Li bres. In the major citi es, refugees were aided by the l arge organi zations,
slch as SIA (Sol i daridad l nternacional Antifasci sta, a kind of anarchist
Red Cross) . However, many refugees did not make it to the major cities,
remai ni ng i nstead in smaller towns or vi l l ages . There, Mujeres Libres
cooperated wi th SIA to provide services both to refugees (adults and chil
dren) and to the wounded. 91l
As the war dragged on, articles i n Mujeres Lihres li sting the activities
of various groups around the country made increasing mention of refugee
work, i ncl udi ng appeals to women to welcome the refugees. Given the
shortages of food and other necessi ties, one can i magine that vi l l agers
would not have been too eager to take in extra people, particularly those
wi th many mouths to feed but few hands to work. Providing school s for the
refugees was an i mportant aspect of thi s proj ect. Anna Delso, for example,
noted that once she and her younger siblings moved to the Catal an town of
Vilanova i l a Geltnl in November 1 936, she spent virtually all her time
establishing and then teaching in a school for forty refugee chil dren. ,1
Mujeres Libres no. 1 1 reported that the 1 27th brigade of the 28th Division
( what was lef of an anarcho-syndicalist-based militia) had, with the assis
tance of Muj eres Libres, established a nursery school serving seventy
refugee children.
Traditional women' s support work al so formed a part of Muj eres
Libres' program. Vrtually every agrupaci6n had at least some members (if
not a ful l secci6n) dedicated to solidarity work, assisting combatants and
wounded sol diers. One aspect of this work in Barcelona was setting up and
running a "soldier' s place": the local transit workers' union provided the
building, Marianet (national secretary of the CNT) provided the beds, and
they scrambled around to buy or borow whatever else they needed.
Conchita Guilen recalled that the three speeches she gave as a member of
the propaganda committee toward the end of 1 938 involved encouraging
women to be strong in the rearguard in order to strengthen the men who
were at the font.92
Of course, Mujeres Libres was hardly alone i n doing support work:
AMA and other women' s groups made such support work a rai son d' etre
of their organizations. Mujeres Libres mobilized groups of women to make
I 7
periodic trips to the battlefronts, to bring the men fresh clothes, hot food,
and-perhaps most important-company. Since many of the women of
Mujeres Libres were militants in one of the other anarchist organizations,
they sometimes traveled under diferent sponsorship. Amada de N6, who
was a representative of her barrio to the local committee of Muj eres Libres
in Barcelona, recalls going to the front on a missi on sponsored by SIA,
along with Lucia Sanchez Saomil (then the general secretary of SIA),
Soledad Estorach, Libertad R6denas, and Conchita Liano. Although all
were members of Muj eres Libres, they traveled not as Muj eres Libres, but
as women of the CNT.93
Of course, as might be expected, Mujeres Libres ' intentions in sending
women to the fronts were not always coincident with the soldiers' expec
tations. Educational work among both women and men was constant. In
her capacity as SIA representative, for example, Sara Berenguer Guillen
had many dealings with militi amen, and coresponded with many soldiers
as a way of keeping up their morale. More than once she had to fend off
mariage proposals from young men who misinterpreted her letters as evi
dence that she had a romantic interest in them!
Nevertheless, she, Pepita Carpena, and Conchita Guillen spoke enthu
siastically of their trips to the front to visit soldiers. Sara described one
such trip, organized through SIA. "There was a group of young women
factory workers who . . . wanted to do something for the soldiers. They said,
' Why don' t we all contribute something-maybe twenty-fve pesetas, or
something-and we' ll buy supplies through SIA and take them to the
front. ' " Since Sara was then working for SIA, she served as the delegate of
the SIA National Council for the trip. "We rented two buses, loaded them
up with the material and with all the girls from the factory. Two CNT mil
itants accompanied us: Exp6sito, a teacher in a rationalist school, and
Saturino Aransaez." One of the buses broke down en route near a military
encampment. Convinced by Sara of the need to get moving as soon as pos
sible (since they were carying goods for the anarchist 26th Division and
the soldi ers would likely be moving their position fairly soon), the
mechanics worked well into the night and repaired the axle. The girls got
back onto the bus and arrived at the camp of the 26th Division early the
next morning.
The girls were exhausted from lack of sleep, so they went to the dining
room to nap, resting their heads on the tables. When the soldiers came in
and saw the girls there, they started to make advances. Meanwhile,
Saturnino, Exposito, and I had gone of to fnd the company command
ers to arange for the day' s events. When we came back. we heard the
gi rl s screami ng and cryi ng. The sol di ers had di sappeared as soon as they
saw us ! We asked the gi rl s what had happened, and they expl ai ned . . . 1
sai d to them, "Look, they di dn' t know how to act, but maybe i t ' s not al l
thei r faul t . Maybe, before we got here, another group of women had been
here, from who knows where, for other purposes, and the sol di ers fg
ured, wel l , al l women are al i ke. So l et' s tel l them why we' re
here." . . . That ' s what they di d, meet i ng wi th the sol diers i n groups of two
or three, and it al l worked out fne.
94
As women of Mujeres Li bres, they wanted not j ust to vi si t and cheer
the sol di ers but also to educate. Muj eres Li brcs was al ways qui ck to poi nt
out that i t understood thi s sol i dari ty work wi thi n a l arger pol i ti cal context.
As Lucia Sanchez Saorni l expressed i t in July 1 938, referri ng to Muj eres
Li bres ' goal of creati ng a "consci enti ous and responsi bl e femal e force":
' Thi s femi ni ne force that we wi sh to create and that we are creati ng has,
of course, a purpose and a pol i ti cal desti ny much greater than sewing uni
forms for mi l i ti amen or vi si ti ng t he si ck . . . These are i mmedi ate needs,
requi red by the ci rcumstances . . . Our organi zati on has other more far-reach
i ng goal s that i nform i ts pri nci pl es and that must, at al l ti mes , gui de i ts
acti ons. Y5
It i s evi dent from my conversati ons wi th some of those who were
young "recrui ts" to Mujeres Libres that, although thi s sol idarity work often
took on a l i fe of its own, the ulti mate goal s never were far from si ght.
Young women l i ke Conchita Guillen and Sara Berenguer, who were onl y
s i xteen when the war broke out and who had had l i ttle personal exposure
to anarchist i deal s and activities in the years before the war (they described
themsel ves as "novices, who knew nothing about nothi ng"), became total
l y Cfl 1 Eht nr i n 1-1leres Libres in the fnal rGntlt vi the wal . Thei r under
standing of the larger i ssues of capacitaci6n and thei r insistence that
Mujeres Libres enabled women to "respect themselves and be respected"
come through clearly in all their conversations .
VI
SEPARATE AND EQUAL?
Dilemmas of Revol utionar Mobilization
Given Mujeres Libres' dual commitment to education and activism, we
might expect it to have been welcomed with open arms by the CNT and
FAI, its "brother" organizations in the libertarian movement. Mueres
Libres shared much with these organizations. Virtually all its militants
were also activists in at least one of the others. Mujeres Libres' appren
ticeship programs and programs of formaci6n social prepared women to
assume active roles in production and CNT activities. The anarchist/liber
tarian orientation of Mueres Libres' cultural and educational programs
addressed many of the goals of the FAI (and of the FUL) .
Nevertheless, these libertarian movement organizations never treated
Mujeres Libres as a flly equal partner. In addition, Mujeres Libres' rela
tionships with nonlibertarian women's groups were also strained, due to
the greater fnancial and political power of the Communist party and its
affliated organizations. Examination of Mujeres Libres' relations with
women's groups outside the libertarian movement and with other organi
zations within it can provide insight into the nature of Mujeres Libres'
project and the "separate and equal" status it struggled to achieve within
the libertarian community.
Relations with Other Women's Organizations
Mujeres Libres' relations with nonlibertarian women's organizations
were a product of its attitude toward feminism and of its role in the liber
tarian movement. As I have argued, Mujeres Libres rejected existing fem
inist ideology and political organizing. It insisted that women's subordina
tion would be overcome not by a narrow struggle for voting rights, or even
1 77
I 7d
MOrImOA. Acke|sOerQ
for equal pay at the workpl ace, but onl y through a movement wi th cl ear
soci al and educational goal s. In i ts vi ew, politi cal organi zi ng (i . e. , organiz
i ng wi thout a soci al/educational and cl ass di mensi on) would onl y perpetu
ate the subordination of worki ng-cl ass women. '
One purpose for which Mujeres Li bres was founded, then, was to meet
those women's needs which exi sting movement organizations had ne
gl ected. Neverthel ess, as the ci vi l war within a ci vi l war progressed,
Muj eres Li bres' act i vi t i es took on a further di mensi on and purpose: to
compete wi th soci al i st organi zati ons for the al l egi ance of the Spani sh
worki ng woman. In a retrospect i ve j ustifi cati on of i ts acti vi ti es, Mujeres
Li bres argued to the l i bertari an movement:
With the advent of the Republic i n Spain, there began a veritabl e con
test of captaci6n among the political parties . . .
It was then, i n view of the danger these events posed for the l i bertari
an tendency and for the society as a whol e, that a group of companeras
conceived the idea of creati ng a joural , managed and directed by our
women, that woul d hegin to work among the femi ni ne sectors of our
country, introducing among them . . . an i ncl ination toward l i bertari an ten
denci es. This journal was the magazi ne Mujeres Lihres, which appeared
in May 1 936. 2
Of course, some l i bertari an women' s groups (those i n Terrassa and in
Barcelona, for example) existed even before the journal began to be pub
l i shed. Mercedes and Lucia had sent letters to many of those groups i n an
efrt to begin a network as earl y as 1 935 . But since those groups were
expl icitly rooted in the libertarian movement, they may not have ft the
broader scenario Mujeres Libres was attempting to sketch out in these
l l l eI llOranua.
In fact, i t i s not at all clear that competition wi th social i st organi zations
was a primary goal at frst. However, once the various lefist parties
l aunched women' s organizations, the captaci6n piece of Mujeres Libres'
agenda intensifed, parti cularly the competition with the AMA.
In the prewar period, most other lefi st organizations and parties, whi l e
committed in theory t o overcoming the subordination of women, had tend
ed to adopt the traditional Marxist perspective that the subordination of
women was secondary to the divi sions of a class society. Consequently, the
most effective way to overcome that subordination was to organize women
into working-class organizations to struggle jointly for an end to class
oppression. In general, they denied what Mary Nash has termed the "speci
fcity of women' s oppression," and argued that "the emancipation of
woman would be achieved exclusively through her incororation into the
I 77
class struggle."3 Many of the organizations developed "women' s sections,"
aimed at mobilizing women to participate in their activities.
Left-wing and dissident socialist organi zations differed slightly i n thei r
orientation. They addres sed the need for equality between men and women
in the workplace and at home, and actively supported programs of cultur
al preparation. Nevertheless, their strategy was politically similar to that of
PSOE, PCE, and PSUC: both the BOC and the POUM created "women' s
sections" t o attend specifcally t o the mobilization of women into those
parties. 4
With the advent of the war, the strategy of the Marxist parties changed.
They established separate women' s organizations, among them Dona a la
Reraguarda and the Asociaci6n de Muj eres Antifascistas, and j oural s
specitcally oriented to women (e. g. , Mujeres and Companya). These
focused not on overcoming women' s subordination, but on mobilizing
women to contribute to the war ef In neglecting to address the speci
fcities of women' s subordination, these socialist and communist organiza
tions differed signifcantly from Mujeres Libres.
The AMA, in particular, represented itself as a nonpartisan organiza
tion, concered with mobilizing women for the struggle against fasci s m.
Its formal obj ectives were ( 1 ) t o contribute to the struggle against fascism
and in favor of peace, (2) to defend culture and women' s right to an edu
cation to overcome their enslavement to ignorance, (3) to defend civil
rights and equal justice, and (4) to incorporate women fully into the polit
ical and social life of the country. 5 Despite this stated concer with cul tur
al subordination, however, its war-related activities soon overshadowed
these gender-specifc goal s.
It was in this context that Mujeres Libres took i ssue with the AMA.
Mujeres Libres was deeply committed to the revolutionary struggle: not
just to winning the war but also to societal transformation. The AMA mar
ginalized that struggle, downplaying both women' s particular sub
ordination and issues of broader social transformation. It focused instead
on mobilizing women for work. In Mujeres Libres' view, the political
effects of thi s supposedly nonideological mobilizati on effort were clear: i t
would reinforce the ideological dominance of the group already holding
efctive political power, the Communist party.
A concer with the political implications of the AMA' s alleged non
partisanship was at the forefront of Mujeres Libres' dealings with that
organization. These i mplications were perhaps clearest in the syndical con
text. Over and over again, in circulars and letters to the CNT, Muj eres
Libres emphasized the dangers of the AMA' s "winning the battle" at work-
I tU
MOI mOA. Acke|sLeg
pl aces. As male workers (most of whom, at least i n Barcelona, had been
members of the CNT) went of to the fronts, they were increasi ngl y
repl aced by women. But would these women be afl i ated with the CNT
and conti nue the anarcho-syndical i st tradi ti on in the workpl aces? Or would
they be "nonpol i tical" women, trained i n General i tat programs, who, i n
j oi ni ng the workforce as unafli ated workers, would undermi ne, if not
reverse, the gai ns made by generati ons of CNT organi zi ng?6
In short, Mujeres Li bres interpreted AMA' s "nonparti san" work as
deeply pol i ti cal and as a direct chal l enge to the unions. Mujeres Li bres saw
i t s own programs of apprenti ceship and capacitaci on as eforts to compete
wi th AMA at the workpl ace: "The primordi al preoccupati on of Mujeres
Li bres was to preserve the syndical strength on which our l i bertari an
movement rests:' 7 The ai m was to devel op a revolutionary soci al con
sci ousness that would enable women to join i n the uni on-based struggle at
the workplace and withstand the ideological i nfl uence of the Communi st
party i n techni cal trai ni ng programs.
Thi s competi ti on with AMA for the l oyalti es of women in factori es,
however, formed onl y a smal l part of Muj eres Libres' broader concern wi th
devcl opi ng a female force that was oriented toward revolutionary soci al
transformati on in al l its di mensi ons. The other maj or context in which the
competition revealed itself was in Muj eres Libres' response to the AMA' s
cal l for the "unity" of all women and women' s organi zations (i ncluding
republ i cans, social i sts, and communists, along with Mujeres Libres) under
the umbrella of the AMA.
Consi stent with the position of the larger libertarian movement, Mu
j eres Libres vociferousl y opposed all cal l s for "femi ni ne uni ty" that deni fo
the Important i deological and political di fferences among the groups. It
i nsi sted on the need to maintain an i ndependent libertari an women' s pres
ence in a true coalition, in which each group would maintain its i dentity
and autonomy. Such a coalition could draw strength from the variety of
perspectives, rather than attempting to present a uni fed-and not coinci
dentall y 10nrevolutionary-common front. From the frst, Mueres Libres
expressed deep distrust of the motives and intentions of the AMA and other
"unity" organi zations, emphasizing the political and ideological context i n
which these calls for uni ty were taking place. For example, in response to
an i nvitation to attend the congress of the "Unio de Donas de Catalufa" i n
November 1 937, Mujeres Libres i ssued a critique of the congress' state
ment of goal s. I reproduce pa of that response here, to provide a sense of
i t s tone and intensity:
1. To contribute to antiascist unit:
Response: End the persecutions against antifascist organizations that
are not represented in the goverment . . .
2. To work for equalit ofsalar with men:
. . . the problems of working-class families will not be resolved by equal
ity of salaries . . .
5. To save our countr frm the fascist invasion:
From the two invasions: that which is being fought at the fronts, and
that which is operating in the rearguard . . .
6. To emancipate womenfor work, teaching them new skills:
For Muj eres Libres, thi s is a fact that has been a reality for some time,
and not a point to attract people to a congress.
8
I dI
Many of the critiques Mujeres Libres circulated could have been meant
for the education of its own agrupaciones (local groups) and CNT unions
as well as for the AMA. Afer it had been rej ected repeatedly by the nation
al and regi onal committees of Mujeres Libres, the AMA began approach
ing individual agrupaciones to participate in its conferences and activities.
A circular from Mujeres Libres' national committee to local s, dated May
23, 1 938, wared them specifcally not to be taken i n by AMA propagan
da.9
Mujeres Libres insisted that true unity must recognize diversity. l o As
Lucia Sanchez Saoril wrote, i n response to an invitation from the AMA:
"Muj eres Libres is not i nterested in ' feminine unity,' because that does not
represent anything. We have called a thousand times for political and syn
dical unity, the only kind of unity that trul y contributes to the cause . . . As
long as differences [of politics and strategy] among the tendencies exist, a
fusion of groups is impossible, because it i s incompatible with human vari
ety."1 1 It was i mportant that each organizati on should retain its "character
and personality" and continue its work to futher the war efort, the revo
lution, and women' s emancipation. "Women' s interests," Muj eres Libres
argued, were neither so "clearly defned nor so universally agreed upon
that, in themselves, they could form the basis for a single organization."
True antifascist unity would require not the merging of all i nto one, but a
recognition of the diversity of political views and a willingness to accept
the autonomy of perspective and action of all the groups i n the coalition.
Muj eres Libres was not about to sacrifce its principles of direct action and
spontaneous order to some vague and counterrevolutionary notion of "fem
inine unity."
I t2 MOImO A. Acke|sLeg
The Libertarian Movement
Thi s i nsi stence on autonomy and on the recogni ti on of di versity among
women' s groups paral leled Mujeres Libres' cl ai ms for organizati onal
autonomy and the recognition of diversity wi thi n the l arger libertarian con
text. Mujeres Li bres had been prepared for a struggle wi th women' s groups
al l i ed wi th other organi zati ons, but i t was not prepared for the resi stance i t
encountered wi thi n the libertari an movement. Though aware of the sexi sm
of men i n movement organizati ons and of the fai l ure of those organi zations
to deal adequatel y with women and women' s i ssues, Mujeres Li bres
pl anned to work cl osel y wi th both the CNT and the FAT on the l ocal ,
regional, and national level s. It expected to be welcomed i nto the libertar
i an "fami l y." On the l ocal l eveL thi s expectati on was partial ly ful fl led, but
at the level of nati onal organizati ons, Mujeres Li bres was consi stently di s
appointed.
Part of its disappoi ntment may, i n fact, have been a consequence of the
confusi on evidentl y generated by its si multaneous i nsi stence on incl usi on
and autonomy withi n the larger movement. Unti l its establ i shment as a
nati onal federation in August 1 937, Mujeres Li bres had consi sted of a
series of more or l ess independent agrupaci ones. Mercedes Comaposada
recal l ed that, at vari ous times during the trst half of 1 937, she and Lucia
had traveled to Valencia (the seat of the national government and the
national committees of l i bertari an movement organizations) to request
offci al recognition and support for Mueres Libres.
One time I had with me all sorts of pamphlets and records of all the dif
ferent kinds of work we had done. I asked Marianet. "Why don' t I(II rpf_
ognize us as an organization?" And he said, "How can we recognize you
as an organization? We know what you' re doing, and you' re doing it well.
But until you come to us with an organization, that is, committees,
regional committees, a national committee, people who are ready to serve
in positions of responsibility, etc. , there is nothing we can dO."
12
That conversation and others like it provided an i mpetus for calling a frst
national conference in August 1 937, which brought together repre
s entatives of ninety local groups and established Muj eres Libres as a
national organi zation.
The conference establ ished a federal structure with provincial, re
gional, and national committees, a form of organi zation designed to pro
vide maximum fexibility. Not coincidentally, it was a form based on the
model of the CNT and the FI, with which the members of Mujeres Libres
were thoroughly familiar. In addition, the conference followed "accepted
ree Wcmen cn I d.
federal procedures" as these had been developed over the years in the CNT
and the FAL For example, rather than naming specifc individuals to par
ticular tasks, the conference named delegations (by locality), and the dele
gations, in tum, designated the individuals who would participate in the
particular committee. 1 3 These practices clearly located the organization
within the larger libertarian community.
Mujeres Libres identifed itself ideologically with the goal s and meth
ods of the CNT and the FAL At the same time, it j ealously guarded its
autonomy. Its initiators chose "Muj eres Libres" (free women), rather than
"Mujeres Libertarian" (libertarian women), as its name, for example, to
make clear that it had ideological connections to the libertarian movement,
but was not a subsidiary organization. 1 4 The tension was also evident in the
debate over the design for what was to be Mujeres Libres' membership
card. After some discussion of the compaferas' "special fondness" for red
and black (the colors of the CNT and FAI), it was agreed that the mem
bership card should cary those colors-but not the letters "CNT-FAl. "
Although "we are a related organization, we are not a dependent of the oth
ers." Similarly, the offcial banner would be blue (for "optimism") with
whi te letters, but would also cary a black-and-red stripe. 1 5
The complexity of Muj eres Libres' own goals with respect t o auton
omy and inclusion was apparent. At the frst meeti ng, the assembly voted
to invite the relevant committees of the CNT and the FAI to send delegates
to meetings of the regional and national committees of Muj eres Libres
in a nonvoting capacity-and to request that Mujeres Libres be permitted
to send delegates (again, with no voting privileges) to meetings of the par
allel committees of the CNT or FAL The conference decided not to request
that representatives from Muj eres Libres be accorded voting rights in the
meetings of these other organizations because (a) they already had infu
ence in those organizations through membership i n unions (in the case of
the CNT) and participation in anarchi st agrupaciones (in the case of the
F AI and FIJL) ; and (b) they did not want to run the risk of being bound by
decisions taken by those organizations with which they might disagree.
The scenario the confrence discussed was : "Let us suppose, for example,
that the CNT National Committee-which we would belong to-should
decide, in opposition to our opinion, that our organization had lost its rea
son for existence and agreed, by maj ority vote, to dissolve it. What would
be our position?"1 6 In short, Mujeres Libres wanted to be included i n con
gresses and in the deliberations that took place during them, but not to lose
its independence.
I t4 MOImOA. Acke|sLerg
Over the course of the next ei ghteen months, whi le insisting that it was
"an integral part of the libertari an movement," Muj eres Librcs continually
asserted its autonomy. "Mujeres Libres," one statement argued,
could have converted itself into an appendage of the union movement
with respect to femi ni ne preparati on, transforming women i nto a recep
tacl e of anarcho-syndical ism . . . It coul d have converted itself into an
annex or a "Women' s section" of the FA! . . . but it di dn' t do t hi s either. . .
Si nce those of us who were its "pri me movers" were anarchists, we
coul d not accede to a situation i n which, within this specific organization,
there woul d be individual s without a soci al formati on; nor coul d we, as
anarchists, convert those indivi dual s into bl i nd instruments I in the service
of thc movement I without contradicting our own anarchi st pri nci pl es.
1 7
Despite its frustrations with movement organi zati ons, Mujeres Li bres
continued to communi cate its expectati ons for support and acceptance. It
i nvi ted the FAI and CNT to send representatives to i ts congresses, hoping
t o demonstrate its membership i n the l i bertarian communi ty and to win
l egiti macy wi thin i t. I X
The struggl e for ful l organi zati onal recognition was relentless. Repre
sentat ives of Mujeres Libres often joi ned representatives of CNT and FAI
when a car went out to the countryside on propaganda tri ps, marking
shared goals and puroses i n a symbolic way. Mujeres Li bres further
i nsi sted that when the libertarian movement held rall ies, a speaker from
Mujeres Libres should be on the podi um, al ong with those from the CNT,
FAI, and FIlL. Announcements of such rallies i n the press indicate that
they were ofen successfl . In preparati on for the events commemorating
the frst anniversary of the death of Durruti, for example, the nati onal com
Illi lle of the eNf sent a circular to all the regional committees wi th
i nstructi ons that, at each event, there should be fve speakers, one from
Muj eres Libres, one from SIA, one from FUL, one from the CNT, and one
from FALl 9
Nevertheless, I could fnd no other circulars from the National Com
mittee following up on thi s one nor any documents of those organi zations
that mentioned either Mujeres Libres or SIA along with FAI and CNT as
equivalent organizations. Further, Sara Berenguer Guilen reported that,
when plans were announced for the second anniversary commemorati on,
there were no representatives from Muj eres Libres on the list of speakers.
According to Sara, Soledad Estorach rai sed a fuss with the Catalan region
al committee, demanding that representatives of Muj eres Libres al so take
part in the meetings. She succeeded in convincing the committee, but then
they had to come up with speakers to go to rallies in towns and cities
reeWcmemc I d
throughout Catalonia. Saa and Amada de No were among the young
women who represented Muj eres Libres at some of these gatherings. Sara
was to go to Hospitalet and Granol lers, though she was not able to speak
at the former because the highway had been cut by fascist bombs and the
event was cancelled. Amada went to Gerona. To deal with her nervousness,
she memorized an article Sol edad had written for a newspaper and recited
it en route. 20
Within this complex and ofen confusing context, Muj eres Libres did
receive some recognition and support from other movement organizati ons.
Much of the anarchist press seems to have been at least supportive, and at
times enthusiastic, about Muj eres Libres' work and accompl ishments.
Acrcia, the anarchist daily in L6rida, referred to the work of Muj eres
Libres with some regularity, usually in the most laudatory of terms. 2 1
Terr y Libertad, Solidaridad Obrer, Tiempos Nuevos, and a variety of
other periodi cal s al so made frequent reference t o the work and activities of
Muj eres Libres.
Locally, Muj eres Libres received help from individual CNT unions.
Many local s participated actively in the apprenticeship programs and read
ily opened the doors (and temporarily stopped the assembly lines) of col
lectivized factories to Muj eres Libres' teams of speakers. There were al so
examples of direct support. When Pepi ta Carpena' s compafero was ki lled
at the front, the metalworkers' union, of which he had been a member and
with which she had been involved since her youth, paid his weekly salary
to her, so that she could continue her work with Muj eres Libres. Some
local unions and many soldi ers at the front also sent regula contributions
to Muj eres Libres in support of its work. 22 At least i n some communities,
Muj eres Libres seems to have achieved the recognition it desired: being
included as an organization as pat of the larger l i bertarian movement.
Minutes of meetings of the local federation of ateneos libertarios in
Madrid, between July 1 937 and April 1 938, for example, report the atten
dance of Muj eres Libres, the l ocal FAI, the local federation of CNT uni ons,
and the local federation of the FUp3
Mujeres Libres sent a steady stream of requests for fnanci al and other
substantive assi stance to the CNT and FAI at the national and regional lev
els. It appealed to them as "one more member of the libertarian family" in
need of fnancial support to carry out work that was critical to all libertar
ian organizations. Muj eres Libres requested fnancial suppor and facilities
for regional congresses (one held in Barcelona in February 1 938, another
held there in October 1 938), for publications and propaganda work, for
maintaining ofces, and for salaies for members of the regional commit-
I dt MOrImO A. Acke|sLerg
tee. Both the CNT and the FAI, parti cularly i n Catal oni a, seemed quite
prepared to provi de meeting space, food, and support for these confer
ences. In additi on, between July and October of 1 938, both the Catalan
Regi onal Commi ttee of the FAI and the National Committee of the CNT
offered s mal l but regul ar subventi ons to Muj eres Libres, which subsidi zed
the pri nti ng of i ssue no. 1 3 of Mujeres Libres. 24 While the fnanci al contri
buti ons usually fel l short of what Muj eres Libres had requested, rarely was
the organi zation turned away empty-handed.25 Although l i ttle of the corre
spondence among the organi zati ons i ndi cates that Muj eres Li bres was
treated as an equal member of the l i bertari an fami ly, it was certai nl y treat
ed as a member, even if as a younger and perhaps i mmature si ster.
Mujeres Libres nevertheless expressed frustrati on at not being treated
wi th respect and seriousness by members of these organi zati ons. Al l too
ofen, indivi dual compaferos referred to Muj eres Libres i n sexual l y
degradi ng or derogatory ways: call ing them Muj eres Liebres, for example.
CLi ebre" means hare; the term was obvi ousl y one of opprobri um, i mpl y
i ng that they j umped from bed to bed l ike rabbits. Thi s l abel i ng of female
acti vi sts as sexual deviants was not uni que to Spai n. )26 Mujeres Li bres
repeatedl y appealed to both the regi onal and nati onal committees of the
CNT and the FAl, asking them to "rein in" the hosti l i ty of their local
groups and encourage them to provide direct supportY
Muj eres Libres also sought support from regi onal and national organ
i zati ons of the libertarian movement. For example, in 1 937, Mujeres Librcs
requested of the National Committee of the CNT that local unions regu
l arly allow women time for extra apprenticeship training sessions in work
shops and factories. But the CNT did not respond positivelv. Consec: nentl y
many training opportunities were taken over by the government, and the
AMA and socialist unions were taking ready advantage of them. Mujeres
Libres later requested that women identifed by Muj eres Libres as poten
tial militants be allowed an hour and a half off with pay, a few times a
week, so that they could attend classes in "general culture and social prepa
ration." This arrangement, they argued, would be in the interest of the
movement, as well as of individual women, and would help to counter the
effects of government (and communi st-dominated) programs.28 At this
same time, the secretariat of the UGT i n Barcelona was attempting to pres
sure its local unions to be more accepting of women workers trained i n the
General itat-sponsored institute. 29 Mueres Libres' concern that other
organizations were taking better advantage of the training programs thus
seems wel l founded.
I d/
Muj eres Libres repeatedly requested fnancial assistance at both the
regional and national level s. Noteworthy is a March 1 937 letter to the
Peninsular Committee of the FAI, in which Muj eres Libres identifed itself
as "Agrupaci6n Muj eres Libres, FAl." The letter detailed some of its goal s
and activities, reporting that it had fve hundred members, but was in des
perate fnancial need. The Catalan Regional Committee, however, wri ting
in response to thi s letter, met Mujeres Libres' request for eight thousand
pesetas with a grant of only fve hundred pesetas to support its work.
30
Three months later, Mercedes Comaposada, writing for the Secretariat of
Propaganda of Muj eres Libres, again addressed the Peninsular Committee
of the FAI, noting that Communist-sponsored organizations (all of which
were receiving substantial fnancial assistance from both the Party and
government ministries) were "making headway among women i n the UOT
and even in the CNT." In a statement that reveals a great deal about the way
Comaposada thought Muj eres Libres was being perceived by the l ibertari
an movement, she concluded, "Mujeres Libres arose in opposition to thi s,
with the ai m of educating the women our movement i s so in need of-and
not, as some compaferos misunderstand us, with intenti ons of separati sm
or of feminist agitation."3 l
Mujeres Libres frequently compared its position in the libertarian
movement to that of AMA in the communi st camp. One circular noted that,
in addition to offering substantial fnancial support, a VOT transport work
ers' union had even presented a car to the AMA' s Secci6n de Propaganda.
"Comparing this with our own economic impotence brought tears of rage
to our eyes. What we could do with even half of what they have ! Just with
what they spend on posters ! 32
Emma Goldman took up the cause during one of her visits to Bar
celona. Since Muj eres Libres had refused to dissolve itself into AMA, she
wrote to Mariano Vazquez: "They receive no aid whatsoever, while the
Communist women not only receive aid, but are also collecting money out
side the country from women in factories . . . Mujeres Libres is being left
behind on all fronts ."
You must know that I have struggled for the emancipation of women for
some years, so i t i s natural that I shoul d be interested i n Mujeres Libres.
I am very surri sed that our organizations CNT, FAI, and even the Juven
tudes have done so li ttle to help them, and have shown so li ttle interest.
Don' t you think. dear companero. that it would also be in the i nterest of
the CNT and of the FAI to assist Mujeres Libres as much as you can?
33
`tt MOImO A. Acke' sOeQ
Vazquez was qui te defensive in his response, i nsi sti ng that the CNT
was "j ust as concerned about Mujeres Li bres as you are" and that the l i b
ertari an movement had provided whatever assi stance it could to Mujeres
Li bres-al though, since it did not have the backi ng of a strong i nterna
ti onal organi zati on, its fnancial capabi l i ti es were far inferior to those of
the Communi st s. "I must, therefore, reject total l y your cl ai m that the CNT
has not done everythi ng possible for Muj eres Libres. It is true that the CNT
has not been abl e to give i t [Muj eres Li bres] t he mi l l i ons that other organ
izati ons and parti es can give to thei r women' s organizations. And we have
not done so, because we don' t have them [the mi l l i ons of pesetas]." 3. The
CNT' s resources were i nferi or to those of the Communi st party.
Neverthel ess, as we wi l l see, budgetary consi derati ons were not the onl y
factor in these deci si ons. The questi on of the autonomy of Mujeres Li bres
seems, i n fact, to have been much more si gni fcant.
ImeWcen ' sSeceIO. OIscl Ime FI JL
Questi ons of autonomy and i ncl usion came cl early to the fore i n
Mujeres Li bres' rel ations with the FIlL. When the FIJL establ i shed a
Secretada Femenina (women' s bureau) at the end of 1 937, Mujeres Libres
found itself in a directl y competitive relationship. Pepita Carpena, who had
l ong been a member of both Juventudes and of the CNT, and who had orig
inally refused to join Mujeres Libres on the grounds that she saw no need
for the separation of men and women in the struggl e, described her reac
ti on:
I was active i n the .uventudes . . . They called a meeting and put forward
the proposition to establish a Secretariado Femenino inside the FIJL. It
seems that the compaferos had this idea from the Communists, who were
becoming quite powerful, and had established "women's sections" every
where. Now, I had been committed to the emancipation of women from
the beginning. But I accepted the prevailing view that the struggle should
be carried out equally by men and women. So I didn' t like this business
of a "women' s bureau" in the FUL at all . . . I said that I was totally
opposed. Nevertheless, even though my group accepted the proposition,
I was named delegate from my .uventudes group to the Local Federation
of .uventudes . . . So, I had to go to the meeting and announce that we
accepted the proposition. But I decided then (and told them) that, since it
seemed to me counterproductive that the FIJL should have a Secretariado
Femenino, r was leaving, and from then on, I would carry on my mili
tancy in Mujeres Libres.
35
The Secretaria was meant to counter the efforts of the Communist
sponsored Asociaci6n de J6venes Antifascistas, the Asociaci6 de l a Dona
Jove (young women' s organization), and the Union de Muchachas (girl ' s
union) t o engage i n propaganda and poli tical work among young people
and, frther, to provide programs of captaci6n and capacitaci6n for young
women.36
Pepita viewed the creation of a special women' s section in the FIJL as
an abandonment of what she took to be the l ongstanding anarchist princi
ple that struggles should be carried on jointly. She al so saw it as a negation
of the work Mujeres Libres was already doing. Why create a special
women' s department in the FUL, she wondered, when there was already a
libertarian group devoted to educating and preparing women of all ages?
Pepita' s concerns were shared by others, both within and without
Muj eres Libres. In the months afer the decision was taken, the Secre
tariado Femenino sent out a stream of announcements addressing these
concers-explaining its goals and insisting that it meant neither to deny
the signifcance of, nor to compete with, Mujeres Libres. However, since it
defned its purpose in almost exactly the same terms as Muj eres Libres
the capacitaci6n and education of young women-and since the activities
it proposed to undertake-schools, apprenticeship programs, j ournals, dis
cussion groups-were virtually identical, the argument was a difcult one
to sustain.
Its Circular no. 3 of November 1 937, for example, argued that "there
is no duality of functions, nor is there any basic competition between
Mujeres Libres and Juventudes Libertarias." Muj eres Libres, the document
asserted, was valuable as an organization, but one directed to the needs of
adult women. The Secretariadas Femeninas, on the other hand, would
address young women, challenging their marginalization and assuring that
there would be women in the organization to repl ace the men who were
constantly being called away. The language is virually identical with that
of Mujeres Libres, the sole difference being the claim that Muj eres Libres
addressed adults whereas the Secretariado Femenino would be oriented to
young peopl e.37 But since so many of the activists in Muj eres Libres were
young people (Pepita, Soledad, Sara, Conchita, ad many of their friends
were in their mid to late teens at the beginning of the revolution), it seemed
to many in Mujeres Libres that the Secretarias Femeninas would simply be
duplicating its work and draining the movement' s scarce resources.
The Secretari ado was well aware of this sentiment, and apparently
devoted as much energy to discussions of how to deal with Mujeres Libres
as it did to dealing with the AJA and other Communi st-afliated youth
190
organi zati ons. Rel ati ons with Mujeres Libres were strai ned, at best. The
Secretarfas frequently referred to Mujeres Libres as a "young" or "i mma
ture" organizati on, one with l i ttle success is organizing women-al though
they did acknowl edge that Mujeres Libres' "weakness" mi ght be due to its
precari ous fnancial conditi on. They were wel l aware of Mujeres Li bres '
opposi ti on to the exi stence of the Women' s Bureau: "Its positi on with rela
ti on to our Secretari ats i s of opposi ti on. They bel i eve that they should be
the only ones i n the l i bertarian camp to win over [ca
p
tar/ women-and the
ones to di stri bute the acti vi sts they don' t need to thei r si ster organi za
t i ons."3K
Of course, Mujeres Li bres did not see i ts rol e as "di stributi ng excess
mi l itants" to other organi zati ons. I t saw itself as preparing women t o par
ti ci pate in whatever l i bertarian movement organi zati on they mi ght choose.
What these passages and other documents reveal i s a strong sense of orga
ni zational rivalry. 3l Mujeres Libres saw the creation of the Women' s
Bureaus as redundant . The Women' s Bureaus, for thei r part, wanted
Mujeres Li bres to become a "dependent" organizati on of the Li bertarian
movement : "all of us orient its [Mujeres Libres ' ] work, and we should have
the responsi bi l i ty for its development and acti vi ties and for provi di ng it
wi th economi c means."40
In October 1 938, the Secretariado Femenino prepared a report of its
acti vi ties for presentation to the National Plenary of the FIJL, in which it
rei terated earl ier clai ms that Muj eres Libres was acti ng improperly i n
attempting to incorporate both young and adult women i n its programs,
and rai sed with the congress whether it might wish to bring to the forth
coming j oint congress of the l ibertarian movement a resol nti on that
Muj eres Libres be an organization for adult women only. Further, the
report revealed that the Peni nsul ar Committee had experienced consider
abl e diffcul ties in convincing some of its own regional committees of the
need for a Women' s Bureau. Apparentl y, both the Local Federation of
Barcelona and the Catalan Regional Committee had rejected the proposal
for a bureau, arguing that "a number of the tasks we set out were being
addressed already by Mujeres Libres, and that there was no reason for us
to put ourselves i n competi tion with them."4 1
The report may be even more important, however, for what it revealed
about the frustration of the Secretarfa with its position in the FIJL. Despite
the earlier cl aims that Mujeres Libres had been l argely inefctive in
achieving its goals (and that the Women' s Bureaus were much better
pl aced to engage effectivel y in this work), what is evident is a sense of
frustration wi th how little the Secretarfas had accompl ished in the past
Free Women of Spain
1 9 1
months. They referred to a number of problems, including the cl aim that
the position of the Secretarfa within the FIJL severely limited its freedom
of action. It was time, they insisted, either for a recommitment or a reori
entation: "Either we recognize ' the special characteristics of women' and
create an organism with sufcient independence of activity to address
them; or, on the contrary, we deny the existence of ' special characteristics'
and stop bothering with this problem any more, dissolving the Secretarfas
Femeninas ."42
Thus, despite the organizational competition with Muj eres Libres, the
women who participated in the Women' s Bureaus apparently had experi
ences that validated Mujeres Libres' insistence on the importance of auton
omy. The Women' s Bureaus adopted goals very similar to those of Muj eres
Libres, but attempted to achieve them within the FIJL. The Bureaus' com
plaints about their treatment by other organs of their own movement, the
lack of support they received, and their need for greater independence
seem to justify Muj eres Libres' own position vis-a-vis the movement as a
whole. Nevertheless, the Bureaus never offered public support for Mujeres
Libres' view.
The Libertarian Movement Congress, October 1 938
After many months of informal approaches to specifc organizati ons
and movement leaders for moral and fnancial support, Muj eres Libres for
mally requested organizational recognition at the joint National Plenary of
Regionals, CNT-FAI-FIJL in October 1 938. That congress, which took
place in Barcelona and lasted two weeks, was the frst national meeting to
bring together representatives from the three major movement organiza
tions.
Mujeres Libres had not received an offcial invitation to attend. In the
past, members of Mujeres Libres had ofen participated in meetings of
movement organizations as members of those organizations. But with a
few minor exceptions they had never attended as representatives of
Muj eres Libres. This time, however, Mujeres Libres wished to attend as an
organization. It assembled a delegation of fifeen women who presented
themselves at the congress, seeking accreditation as delegates of Mujeres
Libres and formal recognition of Mujeres Libres as a fourth constituent
branch of the libertaian movement.
Pura Perez Arcos traveled from Valencia to Barcelona to serve as a
Muj eres Libres delegate:
We sai l ed from the port of Al i eante on the afternoon of October 7, in a
smal l Engl i sh boat. The group i ncl uded peopl e from Madri d, Val enci a,
and a vari ety of pl aces i n Andal usi a. Our tiny Muj eres Li bres delegation
was i nspi red by the great hopes and expectati ons we had of the
Congress . . . To make a trip in those days was very ri sky, and we al l knew
i t.
The harbors were bei ng bombarded every ni ght, and we were total l y i l l e
gal travelers on thi s Bri ti sh boat, which had to sail right by Franqui sta
shi ps. We were due to arri ve the next morni ng, but as we neared the har
bor, we coul d hear the expl osi ons of the fasci st bombi ng of the port. The
captai n headed north, and we sai l ed around all that day and ni ght, fnal l y
arri vi ng i n Barcel ona, exhausted and hungry, on t he morni ng of t he 9th.
We were tremendousl y excited, and ready t o argue the case for Mujeres
Libres on the noor of the congress. But they would not even al l ow us i nto
the meeti ng ! 43
The delegate accreditati on committee (comprised of the secretari es of
the three major organi zati ons) brought the i ssue of Mujeres Libres' atten
dance to the ful l congress for deci si on. Interestingly, i n addition to the del
egation from Mujeres Libres, there was another person present who had
requested permi ssi on to j oin in the proceedi ngs : Emma Goldman, the of
ci al representative of the CNT i n London. The assembly readi l y agreed to
al low her to si t in on the meetings as an observer, given her "speci al char
acter." But the matter of the delegation from Mujeres Libres was not so
easi l y resol ved. After much debate the assembly agreed that "Muj eres
Li bres should attend only [the discussion oi that point which affected
them directl y." Consequently, whil e some of the would-be delegates were
abl e to stav through the mefti ne ;< rpleg:tes f!om chcr org;nizOtiGHS,
Muj eres Libres' delegation was present only for the congress' eighteenth
and nineteenth sessions (October 25 and 26, 1 938) , to participate in the
discussion of the ffh point of the agenda, "How to assist the work of aux
iliary organizations of the libertarian movement."44
Muj eres Libres had attempted to l ay the groundwork for its attendance
and proposal in the preceding months. In January i t circulated a document
entitled "Some Considerations fom the National Committee of Mujeres
Libres to that of the CNT about the Political Importance of the Former." In
September it sent a nine-page statement to the national and peninsular
committees, reviewing its histor and accompli shments and emphasizing
its work of captacion vis-a-vis the AMA.
In its presentation at the congress, Muj eres Libres discussed the par
ticular disabil ities confronting women in Spain, the need to counteract
"political" forces (that i s, the Communist party and the AMA), and the
Free Women of Soain
1 93
importance of a separate libertarian organization to meet these needs. Its
statements repeatedly emphasized both the libertarian character and com
mitments of Muj eres Libres, and the necessity for its autonomy within the
context of the larger movement.
The only way to serve both aspects of our movement, the syndical and the
specifc [anarchist] , was by maintaining the autonomy of the new organi
zation. That autonomy would permit us to work with the female sector in
the pure teritory of ideological and professional capacitaci6n, providing
women opportunities . . . to engage in an apprenticeship in self-deter
mination, accustoming them to study and confront political problems.
Only . . . the independence [of this female force] curates the possibility
of its being useful in either an ideological or syndical sense . . .
This is why Mujeres Libres has insisted on being . . . a movement that is
politically autonomous, protecting its ability to determine its own ends,
while its Statutes and Declaration of Principles guarantee its libertarian
essence.
45
The delegates, however, did not understand Mujeres Libres' insistence on
both membership and autonomy. And the parliamentary situation in which
Mujeres Libres found itself did not make the job of explaining it any easi
er. Ofcially, Muj eres Libres was attending the meeting only as an "auxil
iary" to the movement.
The resulting situation made Mujeres Libres' task particularly diffcult,
and it provided many opportunities for parliamentary maneuvering to
those who opposed granting Mujeres Libres equal and autonomous orga
nizational status. Muj eres Libres presented cogent and powerful arguments
in support of its claims, but these were effectively marginalized in the
debate. The assembly never addressed Mujeres Libres' request directly
because others argued that the question of Mujeres Libres' status had never
appeared on the agenda of the call to the meeting and that, given the rules
of the organization (according to which, delegates could only vote on the
basis of prior instructions given them by the bodies that had elected them),
the assembly was not empowered to make a decision. In the end, the
assembly refused to vote on Mujeres Libres' proposition, agreeing instead
to a two-part alterative proposal : ( 1 ) that since the delegates did not bring
directions from their organizations, a proposal should be drawn up which
could be circulated to all the national and regional committees and be dis
cussed by the local s; and (2) that since Mujeres Libres was in need of both
moral and fnancial assistance, unions should encourage their female
members to j oin Mujeres Libres and should commit themselves to sup
porting Mujeres Libres fnancially, whenever possible. Despite Muj eres
Libres ' complaint that the proposal solved nothing, it passed unanimous-
I 74 MOrImOA. Acke|sLerQ
l y. 46 Mujeres Libres did draw up a two-page summary of its arguments,
i ncl uding a formal request that i t be accepted as a fourth branch of the l i b
ertarian movement, which was ci rcul ated to national and regi onal commit
tees shortly after the congrcss.47 But, because of the rapi dly deteri orating
war situati on, no further plenary was held, and the motion never came to a
vote. Mary Nash has written of thi s meeti ng that Mujeres Libres' bid for
recognition "was rejected on the grounds that a specifcal l y woman' s
organi zati on would be a source of di suni ty and inequal ity withi n the l i ber
tari an movement."4H Neverthel ess, apart from the parl iamentary maneu
vers, Mujeres Libres' proposal was never formal l y rejected.
A study of the debate at the congress and of the documents Mujeres
Libres circul ated before and afer it reveal s a great deal about the position
of Mujeres Libres within the movement, both organi zational ly and ideo
l ogi cally. Organizational l y, Mujeres Libres anal ogi zed its situati on to that
of the AMA in other pol i tical movements and to that of the FIlL within the
l i bertarian movement. Mujeres Libres poi nted to the support the FIJL was
receiving from the CNT and FAI despi te the fact that i t was an organi za
ti on devoted "only" to young people, and argued that Mujeres Libres ought
to be accorded comparabl e support and recogni ti on for its work i n mobi
l i zi ng women. Ideological l y, Muj eres Libres i nsi sted that l ibertarians
ought to recognize that the specifc needs of women would requi re partic
ular ideological, as well as organizational , attention.
The analogy with the Juventudes did not serve Muj eres Libres wel l , at
least in part because the status of the FIJL was also ambiguous. At one
point in the debate, for example, delegates argued that, since the FIJL was
only an auxil iary organization, Mujeres Libres should he consirered i n thp
same category. Representatives of the FIJL objected to this characteriza
tion, noting that the FIJL had been invited to the congress. Later in the
debate, however, others commented that, although the FIJL was present as
a result of a fait accompli, there was no reason to "repeat the same mis
take" with Mujeres Libres. 49
In the end, the FIJL and Muj eres Libres were treated very diferently.
The FIJL had been invited as an organization; its secretary sat as one of the
three members of the credentials committee, and its delegates participated
with voice and vote in all the debates of the congress. Further, the congress
approved a proposal to provide the FIJL with regul ar and substantial fnan
cial assi stance. It is true that, even within the debates about that proposal,
representatives of the FIJL chafed at what they regarded as insuffcient
recognition of their own autonomy and achievements as an organization.
Nevertheless, FIlL succeeded in asserting its own defnition of its mission
Free W
o
men
o
f
-----
and goals and received widespread support, both fnancial and moral , for
its activities and for its status as a constituent organization of the
libertarian movement. 50
There was no such support for Mujeres Libres. One after another the
delegations indicated that, although they were willing to provide moral and
material support to Muj eres Libres, they opposed granting the organization
equal status as a fourth branch of the movement. A number of diferent
arguments were adduced: ( 1 ) that anarchism (and syndicalism) admitted of
no difrences by sex, and, therefore, that an organization oriented only to
women could not truly be a libertarian organization; (2) that Mueres
Libres was causing confsion because it was engaging in work that should
be done by unions; and (3) that Muj eres Libres should not be functioning
as an autonomous organization, but should be operating within the unions
and cultural centers .
In its responses, Muj eres Libres attempted to meet all these obj ections.
Its initial presentation to the congress addressed the question of autonomy,
stressing the uniqueness of women' s situation in Spain, the need for an
organization to address i t, and the demonstrated failure of the CNT, FAI,
and FIJL t o meet that need. Mujeres Libres' speakers expressed anger at
being asked constantly to j ustify themselves and to prove their worth and
commitment. They argued that the organization was working both within
and outside the unions and that the work of capacitacion and captacion
required a much broader and multifaceted approach than any of the exi st
ing organizations were equipped to do. Further, Muj eres Libres was repre
senting women and their interests in the workplace: for example, strug
gling for equal pay for equal work, a goal which unions had not defended
with appropriate vigor. Speakers repeated that Mujeres Libres was not a
separatist organization, and that it had intervened in opposition when it had
heard of women' s efforts to establish separate women' s unions, arguing
that the women ought to j oin with men in existing union organizations.
Finally, they argued that anarchism and syndicalism were not the exclusive
province of men: as compaferas, they had a right-and a responsibility
to propagate libertarian ideas and practices: "Our self-determination can
not be opposed on the grounds that Anarchi sm doesn' t admit of sex difr
ences, because then it would be necessary to conclude that, as of now, our
Libertarian Organizations are not deserving of that name because, whether
by choice or by neces sity, its militants are almost exclusively men! "5 1
My own sense, confrmed by interviews with participants, i s that the
key issue was autonomy. The fact that it was an organization of women
would not necessaril y have been sufcient t o deny recognition. Afer all ,
1 96 Martha A. Ackelsberg
the FIJL was an organi zati on of onl y young peopl e. The Women' s Bureaus
were set up wi th an even narrower purview: young women. Where Muj eres
Li bres trly differed from the FIJL was in its i nsi stence on autonomy. It
cl ai med the right to defne its priori ties; i t woul d organize its programs not
j ust to mobilize women [ca
p
tarj , but also to educate and empower [ca
p
ac
itarl them. Mujeres Libres' demand for autonomy in setting its goals and
priori ti es seems to have been the "sticking poi nt" for other movement
organizati ons .
Despite its frustration wi th the deci si on (or, more accurately, non
deci si on) of the Congress wi th respect to its status as an organi zation,
Mujeres Libres took the delegates at their word on the question of fnan
ci al and moral support. In the weeks fol lowi ng, Mujeres Libres corre
sponded wi th the regi onal and national committees of both the FAI and the
CNT, remi ndi ng them of the resolutions passed at the meeti ng and request
ing fnanci al assi stance-requests whi ch apparentl y met wi th some suc
cess. 52
It i s al so cl ear, however, that even i n the afermath of the Congress they
felt a l ack of moral as well as of fnancial support. In December 1 938, for
example, the Mi ni stry of the Interi or attempted to di spossess Mujeres
Libres of the bui lding on the Paseo Pi y MargaU in Barcelona that housed
the Casal de la Dona Treballadora and to tur the bui ldi ng over to the Bank
of Spai n. Afer repeated, though unsuccessful, attempts to have the deci
si on reversed. Mujeres Libres agreed to move if the Mini stry found them a
suitable replacement building. But the Mi nistry was unresponsive, sending
police to evi ct them. Mujeres Libres requested assistance from the FAI,
CNT, and FIJL i n Barcelona. The FAI responded. arrangi ng speci al meet
ings between representatives of Muj eres Libres and of the Bank of Spain,
and call i ng on Federica Montseny to intervene with the Ministry of the
Interior, which she did. FAI representatives supported Mujeres Libres'
decision to remain in the building and to engage in passive resi stance to
eviction until a suitable replacement site should be found. 53 But Muj eres
Libres received little support from the CNT, and expres sed disgust with the
CNT' s attitude, characterizing it as "rather ti mid, and little i nclined to sup
port a frm position on our part." "It i s a pity," Lucia wrote to the National
Committee of the CNT, "that you compaferos have always had so l ittle
time to acquaint yourselves with the valuable work of Mujeres Libres and
that the consequence of this is the l ittle interest you have shown i n
responding to our plea."54 Mujeres Libres was still a long way from
being fully accepted by other li bertari an organizations.
1 97
Nevertheless, it had made considerable progress. Conchita Guillen
mentioned one poignant detail that may shed some light on the relations
between Mujeres Libres and other organizations in the last days of the war.
On the very day of the evacuation of Barcelona [January 24, 1 939] , when
the fascists were practically at the gates, we were called to a meeting of
the libertarian movement; CNT, FAI, FUL, and Mujeres Libres. Jacinta
Escudero and I attended as delegates of the Local Federation of Mujeres
Libres. It was a meeting of some importance, because it was a crucial
moment: we had either to resist, or to abandon lBarcelona] . . . We put our
selves at the disposition of the movement; they thanked us, but said it
would be a useless sacrifce, since they had no strength at all , and we all
should get out as quickly as possible.
55
The frst time that Mujeres Libres was called, as an organization, to a
meeting of the libertarian movement was to be, in fact, its last. Even so,
Conchita' s memory of the event was clear and strong: for once, they were
accorded the status as equal members of the movement that they had strug
gled so long to achieve.
CONCLUSI ON
Communi ty and the Empowerment of Women
One can talk/or a long time about experiences such as those we lived.
The most important thing, though, is not having made the revolution,
but having continued the struggle in the years since, each in his or her
particular setting, or in many settings at once, without trumpet or
drum.
l
-Anna Del so
As women whose particular needs had been neglected by the larger socie
ty and by their libertarian comrades, the women of Mujeres Libres had a
special commitment to the creation of a society that recognized and valued
diversity. Empowerment would come through the struggle for the anarchist
vision of coordination without hierarchy, diversity without inequality, and
individuality with collectivity.
However short-lived the revolution in which Mujeres Libres played so
important a role, the experience of paicipating in it had a dramatic and
long-lasting impact on the lives of the women active in the organization.
Women who were only in their teens and early twenties at the time of the
revolution refected years later that those events changed their lives dra
matically. The energy, enthusiasm, and sense of personal and collective
empowerment that they experienced stood as makers for them of what life
could be and of what people could achieve, if they worked together with
commitment and hope. The most rewarding aspect of engaging in this
study was the contact with people, both women and men, who retained that
vision through years of exile and/or oppression. Surely one of the reasons
they were able to do so was that, for them, social revolution had not been
1 99
2UU MOrImO A. Acke|sLer_
s i mpl y a vi si on or a hope; they had actual l y l ived a change i n their dai l y
l i fe. 2
I wi sh to expl ore the i mpl i cati ons of Muj eres Libres' acti vities for
some of the central i ssues confronti ng contemporary femi ni sts and soci al
change acti vi sts-questi ons of empowerment, the incorporation of diversi
ty, and the meani ng and nature of pol i tical and soci al participati on. The
women of Mujeres Libres addressed women' s di frence from men wi thi n
t he context of a worki ng-class movement. Contemporary femi ni sts and
parti cipatory democrats are stri vi ng to create a soci ety that can address di f
ferences of cl ass, raci al-ethnic communi ty, sexual orientati on, age, and
physical abi l i ties, as wel l as of gender. Muj eres Libres' experi ence, how
ever, has much to teach us about empowerment and changi ng consci ous
ness, about the rel ation between i ndi vi dual s and communi ti es, and about
the meaning of difference.
"Cowards Don't Make History": A legacy of Empowerment
Do you live in a town where women are relegated to a position of
insignifcance, dedicated excl usively to housework and the care of chil
dren? No doubt, many times you have thought about this with some dis
gust, and when you' ve noticed the freedom that your brothers or thc men
of your households enjoy, you have felt the hardship of being a woman . . .
Well, against all thi s which you have had to suffer comes Mujeres Libres.
We want you to have the same freedom as your brothers . . . we want your
voice to he heard with the same authoritv as vour father'" We WCnt Y""
to attain that independent life you have wanted . . .
But reali ze that all thi s requires your efrt: in order to achieve them, you
need the assistance of others. You need others to be concered with the
same things as you, you need to help them, as they will help you. In a sin
gle word, you must struggle communally.
3
Both feminists and communal i sts have recognized that it is diffcult for
isolated individuals to feel strong and powerful . As Marge Piercy wrote,
"Strong is what we make I each other. Until we are all strong together, I a
strong woman is a woman strongly afrai d."4 In developing a sense of con
nection wi th others, subordinated people often overcome the sense of pow
erlessness that can inhibit social change.
Free Women of pai n 20 1
Thoroughly rooted as it was in the communal i st anarchist tradition,
Mujeres Libres insisted that the process of individual empowerment was,
at base, a collective one. Along with contemporary feminists, Muj eres
Libres recognized that people do not exist as social isolates. They live in
families and communities, and their sense of self derives from the relations
they have with others in those communities. Truly egalitarian communities
respect the diversity and individuality of their members, and only when we
live and work in such communities can we come fully to a sense of our
own powers and capacities.
Mujeres Libres was founded because too few women had experienced
empowerment within the existing organizations of the Spanish anarchi st
and anarcho-syndicalist movements. It aimed to become a "community of
empowerment" for working-class women and, at the same time, an orga
nizational context for women' s empowerment within the libertarian move
ment as a whole.
The organization clearly contributed to the empowerment of many of
its members, both those who had little prior involvement in the anarchist
and anarcho- syndicalist movements and those who had been activists in
them. Each experienced the fears-and the pride-of having "to do for
oneself' that went along with being an activist in a group of women
dependent only on themselves. The sense of community they developed
and shared with others through the years transformed them. Having lived
through those times, and having planned and organized new arenas of
social life, they came to kow a much wider range of their own capacities .
The community of other women with whom they shared those activities
became a primary source of validation of their new sense of self.
Continued connection with other Spanish libertaians and with women of
Mujeres Libres in the years since the war helped to keep alive not only the
memory of their activities together, but the reality of their personal trans
formations.
The long-range impact of the experiences varied greatly with the indi
vidual and with the social and political contexts that they found or created
for themselves. 5 The empowerment each of these women experienced was
connected not only to what she personally had achieved but, more impor
tantly, to the community of activists, male and female, with whom she
lived and worked-both during the revolution ad in the years of exile and
repression that followed it. This fnding should hardly be surrising.
Contemporary feminist theorists have placed increasing emphasis on the
importance of relationships among women. Some have argued that
women' s networks provide important supports for women in their families,
workplaces, and communities, and enabl e them to engage in what i s com
monly recognized as "pol itical acti on."6 Others have focused on the ways
women' s l ocation within networks of fri ends, fami l y, and associates and
thei r parti cul ar relati onship to social i nstitutions defne the ways women
experi ence themselves in the worl d to the extent that women may devel op
psychological orientations, patterns of moral reasoni ng, and cri teria for
action that di ffer si gni fcantly from prevai l i ng (mal e-defned) norms. ?
Attention to context, a defni ng characteri stic of what we mi ght term a
"femi ni st world-view,"x was also an i mportant element of the Spani sh anar
chi st ori entation. Many of Mujeres Libres' programs had a strong "con
sci ousness-raisi ng" component, which enabled the parti ci pants to locate
thei r experiences i n a soci al context and to bui l d soli darity with others on
the basi s of shared perspectives. As i n consci ousness-rai si ng (CR) groups
i n the earl y days of the contemporary women' s movement in the Uni ted
States, the real i zati ons an i ndi vi dual woman experienced empowered her
because they were val i dated by the experi ences of others.
Consci ousness-rai si ng groups, of course, are not the only contexts in
which consci ousness changes. As Marx insi sted, consciousness changes i n
and through struggle. Traditional l y, Marxi sts have i nterpreted that to mean
that trul y revolutionary consciousness-in other words, that based i n
cl ass-i s born out of confict at the workplace, when workers come t o rec
ogni ze themselves as engaged i n a common struggle agai nst the bour
geoi si e. Spanish anarchi sts criticized the economic monocausality of this
analysis while retaining the emphasis on struggle and activi ty as the prime
generators of radi cal consciousness . General strikes i n both rural
Andal usi a and industrial Barcelona (discussed in chapter 2) demonstr:ted
that consciousness of oppression can deri ve from a variety of experiences
in diferent contexts and that community-based networks can be as i mpor
tant to consciousness-change as factory-based struggl e. Ateneos and ratio
nalist school s also provided contexts for people to test out new cultural
visions, new understandings of themselves, and new relationships to the
world.
Spanish anarchists recognized, and Muj eres Libres drew on the rec
ognition, that radicalization is born of action. Peopl e develop new senses
of themselves by breakng with traditional molds, takng on roles and mov
ing in areas previousl y closed to them. When those who cross the bound
aries of what is considered appropriate behavior do so in the context of a
supportive group, they can become empowered-and come to question the
appropriateness of those boundaries in the frst place. The women who par
ticipated in the general strikes and "women' s war" in Barcelona in the frst
decades of thi s century, for exampl e, did not necessarily leave their neigh
borhoods in protest against high food prices because they were challeng
ing conventional understandings of "women' s place." However, movement
out of their neighborhoods and into more public/governmental arenas
opened new perspectives and provided the grounds for the development of
a critical consciousness. The women who went to work in factories during
the Spanish Civil War did not do so because they were challenging the sex
ual division of labor, but because they needed income to support their fam
ilies while their husbands, brothers, or fathers were at war and because j obs
had to be done. But the process of working in factories-and meeting with
other women in similar circumstances-had radicalizing effects . Women
who become involved in community-based struggles in their neighbor
hoods often follow a similar process. While they may j oin in protests out
of their understandings of traditional women' s role to protect their fam
ilies, the process of engaging in action can itself be politicizing. 9
The development of a "critical consciousness" i s an active process, one
that involves both "participation in social struggle and the design of
change. Collective confrontation with structures of authority and/or the
creation of some new social-political reality in the interstices of existing
power relations generates changed consciousness and energizes continued
action (resistance)."l o I would emphasize here the importance of collective
confrontation. Radicali zation seems to require-or at least be enhanced
by-the existence of a community of others with whom one shares the
experience and which then continues to validate the new sense of self
(though, of course, not all experiences of commonality are radicalizing in
a progressive sense ) . l l It is that community which Muj eres Libres provid
ed to its members, and it i s that sense of community among contemporary
feminists (and those of the "frst wave" as well) which has been crucial to
feminist consciousness-change.
The experience of consciousness-raising and of empowerment through
shaed experience is not the only parallel between contemporary femini sm
and Mueres Libres. Another side of the recognition of the importance of
community is the insistence that we can devise ways to overcome oppres
sive relations only by taking account of the familial , work, and other rela
tionships in which all of us are embedded. Feminist theory and practice
have begun to make clear that the "social glue" holding many societies
together is not a formal structure of authority but, rather, patters of human
relationships rooted in common needs. Communities-and even political
movements-succeed not because of hierarchical lines of command, but
because groups of people build the day-to-day connections that sustain
204
them. 1 2 The affni ty groups of the FAI , the ateneos, the agrupaci ones i n
whi ch Mujeres Libres structured i tsel f were more or l ess egal itarian col
l ectives, i n whi ch everyone coul d feel part of the communi ty. The inter
personal connecti ons on which those structures were based ( and which
they fostered) i n turn sustai ned the group and its members. The emphasi s
i n feminist theory on the i mportance of mutually supportive rel ationships
is stri ki ngl y si mi l ar to the Spani sh anarchi st i nsi stence that the i deal soci
ety is one based on, and regul ated through, rel ati onshi ps of mutual ity and
reci proci ty, rather than of hierarchy and domi nance.
Neverthel ess, the women of Muj eres Libres were al so aware of the
ambi guous nature of communiti es. Speci fcal l y, communities that ignore
or deny di fferences can perpetuate rel ations of hi erarchy and domi nation
despi te an ostensible commitment to equal ity. Muj eres Libres' critici sms of
the fai l ure of anarchist organi zati ons adequately to address women' s
uni queness paral l el s the criti ci sms that worki ng-cl ass and ethnic mi nority
women have l eveled agai nst U. S. femi ni st movements. Networks may be
crucial to the creation and maintenance of communiti es. But if the com
munities are trul y to be egal i tari an and transformative, those networks
must include the previ ousl y dominated, as wel l as the previ ousl y dominant,
members of the minority and the maj ority.
Thus, fnal l y, another aspect of anarchi st and femini st attention to com
munity as a context for empowerment is a focus on the interrel ationship of
community and individual ity. As Martin Buber once noted, a person needs
"to feel his [sic] own house as a room in some greater, all-embracing struc
ture in which he is at home, to feel that the other inhabitants of it with
whom he lives and works are all acknowledging and confrmi n hi s i nrl i
vidual exi stence."1 3 For Buber, the essence of true community was the
strengthening of self that comes fom active membership in a community
of peers. Spanish anarchists insisted that individuality and community
were mutually reinforcing. Mujeres Libres built on that insight. The expe
rience of both personal and collective empowerment, rooted in networks of
support and shared commitment, was a crucial aspect of revolutionary
transformation. The empowerment they experienced required, in tur, a
community that respected and valued differences among its members.
Difference, Diversit, and Communit
Although Muj eres Libres understood empowerment as a communal
process, i t also recognized that not all communities empower. For exam-
pIe, societies structured hierarchically along lines of class, race, and gen
der, empower some while disempowering others. A second legacy of
Muj eres Libres, then, i s its efort, through a focus on gender, to create a
community that fully incorporates all its members-in this case, respect
ing both women' s similarities to, and difrences from men.
Muj eres Libres demanded that the call for recognition and respect for
diversity include women as well as men. It insisted that the anarchist
movement and the new society it was attempting to create treat women
equally with men while, at the same time, respecting women's di erences
frm men. The women of Muj eres Libres did not always agree about what
those diferences or their sources were. But all insisted that women had to
be accepted in their particularity: to be addressed in ways that acknowl
edged their different life situation-without necessarily assuming its per
manence-and that women must be allowed, in fact encouraged, to con
tribute their unique perspective to the movement and the new society.
Their experiences parallel those of contemporary feminists in impor
tant ways, and offer suggestions for dealing with some of the more press
ing questions on the contemporary feminist agenda: ( I ) How do we
acknowl edge differences among people (whether differences between men
and women or diferences of class, ethnicity, and culture among women)
without precluding the possibility of change? (2) Once those differences
are acknowledged and named, what "difference" should they make? How
ought they be incorporated organizationall y? What could it mean for us to
create a society that recognizes diverse groups of people with diverse
needs without treating the perspectives and characteristics of some as the
norm for all?
Women ' s Di fference, Di fferent Pol i ti cs?
Prevailing defnitions and expectations of what constitute legitimate
political issues and forms of political behavior have imporant implications
for our understandings of politics, for what we recognize as political
activism or protest, and for the creation of policies and programs . In the
political realm, the clai m that women are fndamentally diferent from
men has been used both to justify women' s relative marginality from polit
ical and social power and to blame women for it. 1 4 Unions and political
parties have set their agendas according to male-defned criteria, ignored
issues of primary concer to women (such as materity leave, equal pay
for equal work, child care), and devoted little attention to mobilizing
women into their ranks. In addition, they have tended to ignore, ridicul e,
or deny the pol itical signifcance of protest actions women did undertake,
whether on their own or others ' behalf. As a resul t, women have rarel y seen
themsel ves, or been seen by others, as "political animal s" capable of
engaging i n j oint action to address issues of common concern.
I S
The experience of women wi thin the Spanish anarchist and anarcho
syndicalist movements has i l l ustrated some of the ways in which these
understandings of difference constrai ned women' s activi sm within the
movement. A burgeoning l i terature on women i n social protest move
ments, particularly in socialist organizati ons, makes cl ear that the frustra
tions Spanish anarchist women experienced were hardl y unique.
In western Europe and the United States, political parties and work
pl ace-based unions have been the dominant normative structures of social
and pol itical participation. But with a few notable exceptions, each of these
types of organizati on has appealed overwhelmingl y to men. Denied the
right to vote through the ni neteenth century and wel l into the twentieth on
the grounds that it would "defemini ze" them, women were l argely ignored
by pol i tical party organizations, except when these organizations were
pressured on the question of suffrage. 16 Although women were j oining the
paid industrial work force in increasing numbers during the earl y years of
the twentieth century, only rarely did unions actively mobilize women as
members or make women' s issues their priority demands in negotiations
with management. Prevailing gender ideology constructed work as a male
responsibility and treated any women who did engage in paid work as,
somehow, anomalies. With the exception of unions i nspired by traditions
of direct action (for exampl e, the Wobblies in the United States. in addition
to the CNT i n Spain) , women seemed largely to disappear fom the con
sciousness of both party and union. 1 7 In Spain, for example, during the
early years of thi s century, only the Cathol ic church and related organi za
tions took the plight of women workers seriously enough to mount sub
stantial organizing drives.
Socialism and femini sm arose in western Europe more or l ess simul
taneously, sparked by related economic and cultural phenomena-the
promises of freedom and universal citizenship offered by the French
Revolution and the promises of abundance and economic growth ofred
by the Industrial Revolution. Both socialism and femini sm highlighted the
contradictions of these revolutions and of the democratic political regimes
that struggled into being during the course of the nineteenth century.
Socialists challenged the protection of private property built into demo
cratic constitutions and the mockery it made of any process of universal
Free W
o
mpn
o
f Snai n 207
sufrage. Feminists, too, focused on the contradiction between theory and
practice: "The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen did not exclude
women from social and political spheres; it did what was f worse: it
established their absence."1 8 In such a context, feminists and sociali sts
might have tured to one another as allies, both strggling against l imited
notions of citizenship that, i n not recognizing difrences (whether of class
or of sex) , masked and perpetuated relations of domination and subordina
tion.
In fact, European socialists and feminists did make common cause on
many occasions. But as Barbara Taylor noted in Eve and the New
Jerusalem, the "sex equality radicalism" that characterized British utopi an
social ism in the early nineteenth century was lost with the development of
Marxist, scientifc socialism, which forefronted class as the central cate
gory of anal ysi s. "Organized feminism was increasingly viewed not as an
essential component of the socialist struggle, but as a disunifying diver
sionary force with no inherent connection to the socialist tradition."1 9
Socialism lost its feminist component; mainstream feminism lost its con
cer with class and "collectivity," providing the backdrop to the equal
rights, liberal individualist feminism that is the dominant contemporary
variety, at least in the United States. 20 The British experience was far from
unique. In France, Italy, the United States, and even in the USSR, as well
as in Spain, left-wing opposition groups were no l ess affected than were
mainstream parties by the bifurcation of sex-and class-based criti ques
and by polarized understandings of women' s diferences from men.
Women in European socialist movements were repeatedly forced to choose
between socialism (posed as loyalty to the working class) and feminism
(cross-class loyalty to women) .
Socialist women throughout Europe challenged this polarization and
attempted to create a socialist femini sm that recognized women' s speci
fcity within the working class. They called on socialist movements to rec
ognize women with their gender diferences. But they were largely unsuc
cessful . 2 1 Forced to choose between loyalties, most of these women, whose
political identities were rooted in socialist organizations and who certain
ly had little sympathy for bourgeois feminists, felt they had no option but
to "choose socialism," efectively abandoning their efforts to appeal to
women workers in their particularity. Constructions of women' s diference
and gendered understandings of politics and protest combined to assure
that both parties and union movements, even those committed to radical
social transformation, accepted gendered defnitions of what was an appro
priate issue and of how people ought to be mobilized around it. Dominant
understandings of "women' s difference" either denied the signifcance of
any differences between men and women-and therefore of the need to
make a special appeal to working woman-Of el se defned women so com
pletely in terms of their difference from men that there seemed to be no
pl ace for them within party or union organizations. The pattern of " ' forced
choice," in fact, continues to our own day. Yasmine Ergas has noted in her
discussion of women in the Italian Left in the post-World War II decades,
for exampl e, that women confronted a "bi pol ar process of val idation
[between the mutual ly excl usive categories of ' woman as mother' or
' woman as worker' J, based on the alternative between specifcity and mar
ginality on one side, and integration and assimilation on the other."
While the approaches may have differed, the consequences were sim
il ar. Women were thoroughly underepresented in organi zed socialist
movements in western Europe in the early years of this century, and those
women who were present fought a l osing battle for attention to their needs
as women. Although social ist parties and organi zati ons recogni zed that
prevai l ing understandings of politics were biased against the worki ng
cl ass, they were unable to recognize the social construction of their own
views about women. Women' s "otherness" was as encoded into the pro
grams of socialist oppositional groups as it was into the policies of the cap
ital ist regimes they opposed.
As I noted earlier, a parall el set of blinders affected many feminist
movements. With the exception of working-class suffragists in England,
for example, virtually all feminist organizing effectively ignored the class
dimension to their critique of "male hierarchy."23 It was, of course, for thi s
reason that Mujeres Libres refused to identify itself as "femini st."
It women are marginalized in mainstream politics, there is also a fr
ther sense in which gender diferences are inscribed in prevai ling defni
tions of "the political ." Both revolutionary activists and scholars of social
movements often fai l to recognize women' s activism when it does not fol
low conventional lines. And women' s activi sm ofen does not. Women are
much l ess likely than men to take on l eadership rol es in union movements,
for exampl e, especially when the work force is a mixed (male-female) one.
Women' s activism tends to focus, more than does men' s, on quality of life
i ssues, which may be centered in communities rather than in workplaces or
which cross the boundaries between home, workplace, and community.
Most dramatically, women' s activism often takes forms that, by conven
tional standards, appear as "spontaneous," "unpl anned," or "disorgan
ized."24
Free Women of S
p
ain 209
In effect, the social construction of gender difrences creates different
contexts for women' s organization and protest activities. As Frances Fox
Piven and Richard Cloward noted, people protest those institutions in those
contexts and with those means to which they have access.25 To the extent
that the sexual division of labor and other institutional forms of oppression
structure women' s lives differently from men' s, the contexts in which they
experience and resist oppression must necessarily be different. Even
unionized women may not have the fll support of unions for the speci
fcity of their situations as women. The expectation that they bear prime
responsibility for household maintenance and for child care, for example,
may render it impossible for them to participate fully in union meetings .
I t should not be at all surpri sing, then, to fnd that the contexts and
forms of women' s resistance often differ quite makedly from those of
most men. They ofen depend less on work-related or formally structured
organizations and more on local networks of friends, family, associates, or
co-workers. Much more so than men' s, women' s protests tend to be of the
direct action sort, functioning as much to mobilize and raise the con
sciousness of participants as to infuence those in power. The experience of
participating in protest actions in those arenas of life formerly marked out
as "private" or "personal" can have a maj or radicali zing efect. While
according to Marxist theory, men are most likely to come to a conscious
ness of class in workplace-based organizations such as unions, the sources
of changing consci ousness for women may be quite different. As Myrna
Brietbart and I have argued, "neighborhoods, like workplaces, are neither
all-encompassing footholds of domination nor the loci of revoluti on . . . but
they may contain the possibility for emancipatory struggle."26
Formally structured organizations, particularly those constructed along
hierarchi cal lines such as union organizations and political parties, are
defned as political. More loosely structured and non-hi erarchically organ
ized "spontaneous" forms of protest such as food riots, rent strikes, peace
demonstrations, and publi c shaming-the predominant forms that much
female activism has taken-are ofen dismi ssed as nonpolitical .
Paradoxically, as Jacquelyn Dowd Hall and Nancy Hewitt have reported of
women workers ' resistance activities in the early part of thi s century i n
North Carolina and in Florida, the more efective the women' s protests
became, the more they were l abeled "di sorderly" and their characters and
actions devalued. This labeling seems to have been the consequence of a
number of factors. First, it suggests a denial of the legitimacy of organiza
tions structured differently from the norm: the truly political is the formal
ly structured; temporary organization is not deserving of that titl e. Second,
2 1 0
it may al so retect an attempt to undermi ne and devalue those activities by
women that challenge male domi nance. 27
One way thi s l atter process i s efcted i s through the use of sexual ity
to l abel and undercut the activities of women protesters. On the one hand,
those women who clai m the same prerogatives to sexual freedom that men
enj oy are ofen made the butt of ri dicule designed to negate the seri ousness
of thei r activi sm. But even those who do not make sexual freedom a focus
of thei r protest often fnd themselves defned by thei r sexual ity. Thus, both
Nancy Hewitt and Jacquel yn Hal l have noted that radical women l abor
uni on acti vi sts and organi zers i n the southern Uni ted States met frequent
ly with sexual i nnuendos and sl urs, not only from representatives of man
agement, but even from male uni oni sts who apparently resented thei r i nde
pendence and autonomy. Such l abel i ng recal ls the ways i n which members
of Mujeres Li bres were taunted wi th the epithet "Muj eres Liebres."
In such cases, gender again becomes a constitutive element of what i s
defned as pol itical . Women, as women, cannot be political bei ngs. But thi s
splitting of sexuality from activi sm or, more properly, from personhood i s
not requi red of men. I n fact, to the contrary, male pol i ti cal acti vi sts tend to
be descri bed, and to describe themselves, in language that emphasizes thei r
maleness as a component of their "politicalness." Of course, not all men
are allowed the free expression of thei r sexuali ty, ei ther. A focus on sexu
ali ty has been used i n the United States to control black men as well as all
women.
These patterns of gender differenti ation may help to explain some of
what has happened to women i n traditional mixed-sex organizations. The
Spanish case i llustrates thi s point. The forms of activi sm most common to
women-through which many of them came to consciousness and became
active in more traditional unions or protest organizations-were deval ued
by the male members of those organizations. For example, although "qual
ity of life" strikes mobili zed many thousands of women in the frst two
decades of thi s century and many anarchist men recognized that women' s
protests had accompli shed much that traditional union activity had not
been able to achieve, the CNT did not change its sense of the form that
organization ought to take or of how to mobi li ze women. The vast maj ori
ty of the women who participated in those strikes were never full y i ncor
porated into the anarchist movement because the movement was unable to
acknowledge dirence, either in forms of participation or in its defnitions
of activism.
On the other hand, even when women did j oi n unions and other move
ment organizations (such as the FIJL, ateneos, and the FAI) , many were
FrEe Women of Spai n 2 1 1
drawn in by the more nontraditional structures, especially ateneos and
youth groups . But once they were in the mainstream organizations such as
unions, the agendas of those organizations raely changed to accommodate
them. If Teresina Torre1les Oraells was able to report that her textile work
ers' union advocated equal pay for equal work and maternity leave for
women workers as early as 1 93 1 , her case was exceptional-an excepti on
she attributed to the strength of the women' s group in the union. Very few
unions adopted the call for equal pay or concered themselves with mater
nity leave or child cae-concers which were, of necessity, primay to
many women workers.
Although the movement' s commitment to a politics of direct action
provided for the possibility that its prctices would address the specifcity
of women' s lives, movement organizations rarely took that step. Instead,
their agendas relegated issues of concer to women to a secondary (or ter
tiary) status, treating them as special interests, rather than as i ssues that
affected all workers. In such a context, it is hardly surpri sing that women
did not join these movements in equal proportion to men or that they were
only minimally active when they did j oin. The pattern in Spain up until the
time of the Civil War was barely different from that found in most work
ing-class organizations in wester Europe or the United States.
Mujeres Libres and the Politics of Women ' s Difference
Mujeres Libres attempted to address this marginalization of women
and of women' s concerns through its insistence on a separate and
autonomous status. Independence allowed the women of Mujeres Libres to
defne their own agenda for organizing and capacitaci6n and to retain their
focus despite the demands of the war situation. Having created an inde
pendent base for themselves, they could reject the bipol ar analysis that
destroyed the visions of so many socialist women, who were forced to
choose between class and gender. Instead, they were able to forge an analy
sis and a program that spoke to the needs and aspirations of working-class
women in their particularity. That is not to say that the realities of war and
of inter-organizational competition with AMA and other Communist-afl
i ated organizations did not affect Muj eres Libres ' programs. We have
already seen that they did. But organizational autonomy, so precious to
Mujeres Libres' members and so threatening to the mainstream organiza
tions, partially shielded Muj eres Libres from the control that male-domi
nated movement organizations attempted to exercise over it.
2 1 2
Stil l , Muj eres Libres paid a price for its autonomy. It never had the
funds or the organizational support that its leaders desired. Further,
al though most of the l eadership of Muj eres Libres continued to be active
i n other organizations of the l ibertari an movement, their infuence was rel
ativel y l imited. As l ong as Muj eres Libres was denied organizational
access to ongoing discussions and pol icy debates (a l i mitation it attempted
to overcome through its claim for autonomous incorporation i nto the
movement in October 1 938), the l i bertarian movement never ful l y i ncor
porated women or issues of concern to women i nto its agenda. In fact, the
FIlL' s deci sion to create a Women' s Bureau il l ustrates the widespread per
ception that women were not adequatel y engaged in the movement as a
whole. As it was, i ndependent women' s voices were margi nali zed.
Autonomy al l owed Mujeres Libres to continue its work with women virtu
al l y unconstrained except fnancially, but it did not necessari l y hel p the
organization to make its case efectively with men.
Muj eres Libres' claim to organi zational autonomy was based both on
its understanding of the gender dynamics of intraorgani zational rel ations
and on its views of women' s "difference" fom men. In its argument that
women were triply oppressed by ignorance, by capitali sm, and as women,
we can fnd an attempt to articulate a perspective on the worki ngs of insti
tutional oppression. Mujeres Libres drew from its analysis the lesson that
these forms of institutional oppression were problems not j ust for women,
but for all workers . Consequently, overcoming the subordination of
women-whether in the home, at the workpl ace, or in the l arger culture
was essential to the well-being of all workers, men as well as women.
Therefore, Muj eres Libres agued, the appropriate response of working
class orgamzatIons (e. g. , the CNT and FAI) to differences between men
and women based in institutional oppression was to struggle to eliminate
them.
Nevertheless, many of Muj eres Libres' writings and programs seemed
to assume that at l east some of the di fferences between men and women
were not based solely in oppression. These diferences also represented
values that ought to be retained in the new society. A number of articles in
Mujeres Libres, for example, seem almost to foreshadow Carol Gilligan' s
call for listening to that "different voice" ofen associated with women. We
read in an editorial celebrating the founding of the National Federation of
Muj eres Libres in August 1 937:
I n identifying its goals with the CNT and the FAI, [Mueres Libres] has
gathered the most genuinely Spanish and the most authentically revolu
tionary and enriched it with the best of its own specifcally feminine char-
Free Women of Spain
acteristics. Muj eres Libres desires that the new social structure not be
aficted by that same unilateral quality that has been the undoing of the
world to date. Muj eres Libres desires that in the new Society, the two
angles of vision-masculine and feminine-will converge-that they
will provide the equilibrium necessary on which to pour the foundations
of the new j ustice. There cannot be a just society unless masculine and
feminine are present in equal proportions. n
2 1 3
Here, the writer seemed to be discussing the incorporation of a special
perspective that women bring to political/social life. Another article in the
same issue, which addressed problems of food distribution in the republi
can zone, made the case even more explicitly:
The bars and restaurants of the rich and propertied must be controlled by
workingmen [obreros] or, better, by workingwomen [obreras] because it
is women and mothers who know what it is not to have milk for a weak
or sick child, meat for a husband tired out from hard work in war indus
tries . . . Control of food must be in the hands of community women.
29
Such arguments can easily slide into, or reinforce, assumptions about
some "eteral female" characteristics. Mujeres Libres was not completely
immune to such constrcti ons, despite the anarchist insi stence on the
social construction of personality and of sexuality. Many articles in the
journal seemed to presume the existence of some timeless notion of "fem
ininity," omitting any reference to its social construction. Others focused
on the particular hardships women faced as mothers, and took it for grant
ed that women would be the ones most affected by what happened to their
children.
As an organization, Muj eres Libres did not articulate a defnitive posi
tion about the difrences between men and women, what their sources
were, or which of them ought t o be retained and revalued in the revolu
tionary society. At times, Mujeres Libres seemed to agree with Emma
Goldman and Federica Montseny, who had ridiculed feminist claims that
women were morally superior to men. Given the opportunity to exercise
power over others, Goldman and Montseny had insisted, women would be
just as likely as men to abuse it. Their writings, and those of Lucfa Sanchez
Saoril and Amparo Poch, implied that any exi sting difrences in attitude
or perspective between men and women were rooted in societal oppres sion
and would disappear in a more egalitarian society.
More commonly, however, Muj eres Libres seemed to assume that
women were somehow diferent from men, that those difrences had not
found full articulation in the existing oppressive society, and that a fully
egalitarian anarchist society would incorporate the female along with the
2 1 4 Martha A. Ackel sberg
male. Although Mujeres Libres did not develop an anal ysi s of these differ
ences comparable to that which has si nce been arti cul ated by contempo
rary femi ni st "difference theori sts,",1 1 the group attempted both to reval ue
those di frences and to develop a strategy for i ncorporati ng them i nto a
newly organi zed soci ety. Whatever the source of women' s higher levels of
concern for chi l dren and for morality in the social-political arena, they
argued, that perspective was valuable. The anarcho-syndicalist movement
could only be enriched by i ncorporati ng it.
Muj eres Libres demanded of its members that they see themselves as
ful l y capabl e social beings and act accordi ngly. Its programs of educati on,
consciousness-rai si ng, and apprenticeshi p provided opportunities for
women to educate themselves and to develop skills in organi zi ng, publ i c
speaki ng, and building self-esteem-ski lls they would need to act effec
ti vel y i n mi xed-sex organizations. Female sol i darity as a context for chang
ing consciousness was essential to the capacitaci6n for which they ai med.
The separati on Mujeres Li bres insi sted on was strategic and temporary
necessary only until suffci ent numbers of women had developed the req
uisite ski l l s and self-confdence that they could then rely on their numbers
and the force of thei r arguments and personalities to i nfuence the mai n
stream organi zati ons from within. Until then, Mujeres Libres would stand
as a kind of direct-acti on remi nder of the signifcance of gender to the
movement.
From " Difference" to " Di versi ty"
ThIS review of Muj eres Libres ' analysis and experence returs us to an
earli er question: What difrence should differences make? Neither
Muj eres Libres nor contemporary feminist theori sts have articulated a
methodology for distingui shing between those differences which are tem
porary, socially constructed manifestations of women' s social and pol itical
subordination and those particularities which, although they might now be
rooted i n relations of domination, are worth valuing and retaining in a
future society, either as special characteristics of women or as characteris
tics of both men and women. The early feminist tendency to deny the sig
nifcance of diferences has, in fact, been repl aced more recently by a
countertendency to emphasize them, although feminists have never agreed
on what those differences might be.
A number of signifcant common themes emerge fom contemporary
feminist eforts to deal with differences. Feminists inspired by the work of
2 1 5
Michel Foucault and literary deconstructionists have focused on patterns
of cultural dominance and subordination, as well as the resistance
expressed in "submerged discourses ." They suggest that we need to attend
not only to differences between women and men, but also to different ori
entations to life and politics that are captured under the rubri c of gender
and then ascribed differenti ally to women and men. o J Others focus on the
particula life and social circumstances of women (or members of the
working class) that generate different orientations to politics and social
life. 32 Still others have adopted methodologies focusing on the develop
ment (or blocks to development) of subnational collective or communal
identi ties, which may generate cultural and political perspectives different
from the dominant norm. 3 3
While the variations among these groups are signifcant, we can see
them contributing to the development of an emergi ng perspective on dif
ference. Such a perspective rej ects the notion of woman (or person of
color, or worker) as "other," insisting that we must de-center the dominant
defnitions, understandings, and institutions and make room to cl aim and
validate a variety of perspectives . It insists on locating women within col
lectivities, while recognizing that many, if not most, women are located
within a variety of collectivities, not j ust one. It therefore refuses the
choice so many political women have had to confront between solidarity
with other women and solidari ty with their class or racial-ethnic group. At
the same time it affrms the multilayered character of women' s ( and of all
people' s) identities . It would replace a politics of difference, in which all
are defned relative to one norm, with a poli ti cs of diversity, which recog
nizes and validates distinct ways of being without ranking them accordi ng
to some hierarchically defned norm. 34 Those in Muj eres Libres who
afrmed the i mportance of a "women' s perspective" in the anarchi st
movement, and those of our own day who insist on hearing women' s "dif
ferent voices ," all urge women to value their particul ar strengths. At the
same time, they insist that society as a whole would be better off if many
of those characteristics were more widely shared.
We must challenge the hierarchical ranki ng of the dominant value sys
tem and begin to conceptualize a society (or movement) in terms of diver
sity, rather than of diferences from one particular norm (however it may
present itself as "universal") . Such a perspective underlies the calls by
Andre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Marilyn Frye, and others for feminists to
confront raci sm, heterosexi sm, and class oppression within the women' s
movement and within the society at large. 35 It is also one way t o understand
what Muj eres Libres was attempting in its insistence on a separate status.
2 l 6
One approach to de-centeri ng the male-defned norms of the anarchi st and
anarcho-syndical i st movements, they seemed to be arguing, was to incor
porate i nto that movement another organi zati on wi th a different set of val
ued characteri stics .
Muj eres Libres' very exi stence, then, was a form of direct acti on. The
i ncorporation of Mujeres Li bres i nto the l ibertarian movement as a fully
equal organi zational partner would have challenged the normativeness of
male-defned vi si ons, not only of women and thei r capabi l i ties, but al so of
the range of human nature and, more general ly, of the possi bi li ti es of a
truly egali tari an soci ety.
Toward a New Conception of Pol itics
What l essons can we draw from Muj eres Li bres that might contribute to
contemporary femi ni st and parti ci patory democrati c politics in the United
States? Al though Mujeres Libres' expl i ci t focus vi s-a-vi s other lefti st
movements was gender, its experience ofers us the model of an independ
ent, but nonseparatist, strategy for dealing wi th diversity.
Speci fcally, beyond a focus on empowerment and on the incorporati on
of difrences , the hi story of Mujeres Libres poi nts t o the i mportance of a
communi ty of ori entati on in the process of consci ousness-change.
Femini sts and soci al i sts, as well as anarchi sts, have argued that truly mean
ingful poli ti cal participation can take place only within a more or less egal
itarian, mutually respectful political community. But the question remains,
What kind of community meets those criteri a? Mui eres Libres identifed
i tself not with other women' s organizati ons, but with the libertari an move
ment.
Feminists, workers, and people of color have argued repeatedly in the
contemporary context that we need subcommunities of people l ike our
s elves in order to feel validated and val uable in our specifcity.36 Muj eres
Libres insisted that however important and necessary those subcommuni
ties might be, they are, in the end, insuffcient and partial . No one group by
itself can provide the sole basis for a movement to transform soci ety. A
movement must incorporate many such collectivi ti es under a l arger
umbrella that respects the differences among them, values the particular
contributions each group has to ofr to the whole, and can take advantage
of the power that comes from united action. Concepts of difference and
diversity can provide us wi th new ways of thinking about the constitution
of empoweri ng communities . I will end by focusing on two rel ated aspects
2 l Z
of Muj eres Libres' legacy: the challenge to the gendered and class-biased
construction of "the political" and the beginnings of a conceptualization of
a politics of diversity.
Critics of liberal democratic politics point to the class bias built into
the structure and very conceptualization of politi cs. As E. E. Schatt
schneider once put it, "The faw in the plurali st heaven is that the heaven
ly chorus sings with a strong upper-class accent."37 Poor and working-class
people are disproportionately underepresented among those who parti ci
pate in politics, and they are fundamentally disadvantaged in the outcomes.
As generations of critics have noted, the "rules of the game" of liberal
democracy-the emphasis on isolated individuals with independently con
structed interest profles-beneft those already in power and prevent oth
ers from recognizing their differing needs, let alone articul ating and strug
gling for them in the political arena. 3S Politics, as both Marxists and anar
chists insist, is not simply about the distribution of positions in a "politi cal
opportunity structure." It i s about the structuring of power in the s ociety as
a whole. Thus Marxists and, more especially, anarchists have insi sted on
the practice of widespread popular participation in a variety of forums.
Marxists focused pri maril y on unions and workers ' parti es; Spanish anar
chists added cultural struggle and community-based organizing. Much cur
rent protest politics in the United States, beginning with the civil rights and
antiwar movements of the 1 950s and 1 960s and includi ng education, ten
ant organizing, ecological, and antinuclear protests, has been based on
nonunion organizational forms : neighborhood or community groups,
racial-ethnic cultural communities, and coalitions formed around shared
political/social concers.
Feminists have added another dimension to this critique of liberal dem
ocratic politics, pointing out that our conceptions ( and practices ) of poli
tics have gender as well as class encoded into them. When "the pol itical"
is defned as those matters which take place in some publi c sphere,
allegedly separate from (and superior to) the prvate or domestic sphere,
the concerns of many women and men are defned as outside of politics ;
the political nature of their activities i s denied or made i nvisible. Carole
Pateman has noted in The Sexual Cou/mc/, for example, that the subordi
nation of women was not problematized in liberal political theor. Since,
she argues, the assumption of these theories is that women are related to
society through men, women' s exclusion from the social contract has bare
ly been noti ced. Her claim, I believe, is related to my earlier one that when
women are seen totally in terms of their "specifcity," the actual concerns
of real women are ofen neglected. Entire dimensions of human concer
2 l 8
Mart ha A. Ackel s berg
and collective action are thus deval ued, and the community as a whole i s
di mi ni shed. 'Y
In hi ghl i ghting the collective nature of the oppressi on that both men
and women experienced as members of the working class, Mujeres Li bres
i nsi sted that li beration from oppressi on requi red col lective action and
could only be eval uated according to col l ective norms: success could not
be defned as indivi dual women making it in the pol itical or corporate
worl d. Hi erarchi cal structures had to be abol i shed, and women had to be
i nvolved both in that process and in the creation of the new soci ety. Issues
of class and gender must be addressed si multaneousl y.
Many femi ni sts (both in Spain and el sewhere i n Europe and in the
Uni ted States) share an aspect of that i nsi ght, argui ng that women are
oppressed as a group and can redress thei r gri evances only through collec
tive acti on. The class component of the anal ysi s, however, has all too ofen
been neglected. Thi s neglect resulted i n femi ni sm becomi ng i dentifed
wi th the eforts of women to achi eve favored positions i n exi sti ng hierar
chi cal i nstitutions and organi zations. There have been excepti ons, of
course-worki ng-class women' s suffrage organi zati ons i n Great Britai n,
efforts to organi ze social i st femi ni st groups in France, "materi al femini sts"
in the United States who attempted to assert control over the so-called
domestic sphere. But many of these were ulti matel y unable to sustain the
j oint focus on gender and class i s sues. As Dolores Hayden argues with
respect to materi al femini sts in the United States, for example, many of the
collective strategi es the women proposed to address the i sol ation and di s
criminati on they experienced as women were open only to other middle
cl ass women like themselves. They i gnored the extent to which their pro
grams relied on the continued exploitation of working-class women. 40 Over
time, feminism came to be identifed with the goal of access to, rather than
fundamental restructuring of, exi sting hierarchi es of privilege.
In the contemporary United States, protest groups have argued that
prevai ling conceptions of politics are biased not only along class and gen
der lines but also along lines of racial -ethnic identity, sexual orientation,
physical ability, etc. The "universal citizen" of l iberal democratic theory is
not only an upper-class male, but also a white, able-bodied, heterosexual
family head. 41 In treating all people as mere bearers of interests, liberal
democratic i ndividualism masks structures of power and, in particular,
relations of domination and subordinati on that affect people (and structure
thei r "interests") as members of subnational collecti vi ties .
At the same time, the i ndividual ist paradigm provides little or no place
for the conscious articulation of interests and perspectives deriving from
21 9
difring cultural , ethnic, religious, or gender backgrounds . That paradigm
treats these either as generating different "interests" around which individ
uals may gather or, more commonl y, as occasions for oppression or di s
crimination, on the basis of which members of pari cular groups are denied
equal access to social goods. But being a part of a coll ectivity is not sim
ply a matter of experi encing oppressi on as a member of that collectivity.
To say that blacks, women, gays, Jews, Muslims, or the dis abled are dis
criminated against (or disadvantaged) in a system that takes the normative
citizen to be a white, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied male should not
deny that there are positive characteristics and values that members of
those groups have developed-en if they have developed them partly in
response to their oppression. Liberal individualism would "wash out" all
those differences in the name of universal citizenship. Marxi st soci alism
woul d wash out all but those based on class i n the name of the workers '
revolution. Similarly, some radical feminists would wash out all but those
based on gender, in the name of "sisterhood." But those who are now fnd
ing strength in their identiti es as members of one or more of these collec
tivities are rightl y unwilling to abandon them as the price of fully inclusive
citizenship.
The challenge is to develop a conception of politics and political li fe
that moves beyond both individual ism and a narrow class or gender analy
sis . Such a reconceptualization must recognize people not as bearers of
interests, but as participants in a variety of communities that contribute
important components to their identity. When French socialist women
were forced to choose between "women" and "the working class," their
own identity as working-class women disappeared. Similarly, when black
or Jewish women i n the United States are forced (whether by members of
their ethnic-cultural group or by other women) to choose between a loyal
ty to other women or a loyalty to their ethnic-cultural group, their own
identities are denied. It i s not surprising in this context that many worki ng
class or ethnic minority women in the United States are way of "the fem
inist movement," even though they may express support for many feminist
goal s. Individualist appeals deny or demean the bonds that working-class
or ethnic minority people feel toward one another. It appears that the prom
ise of individual achievement and fulfllment is to be won at the cost of
abandoning group identity and solidarity.42 At the same time, these appeals
divide working-class women (whether white or of color) from middle
class white women by denying the separate reality of each situation.
No one should be forced to choose among aspects of her or his identi
ty as the price for political or communal belonging. We are each whole
220
Martha A. Ackel s berg
bei ngs, capable of mul tiple commitments to a variety of collectivities.
Those commi tments enrich our l ives and empower us. Although, as i n the
case of Muj eres Libres, they are often l abeled "divisive," they need not be
so. In fact, multiple commitments are divisive only in the context of com
muni ti es that make cl aims to exclusive loyalty. If we can move away from
prevai l i ng hierarchical patterns, in which one sort of commitment is con
ceived as pri mary or superior, and acknowledge that each of us has a vari
ety of commi tments of different intensi ti es to di fferent groups-the i mpor
tance of which may change over ti me-then we can begi n to create com
muni ti es that recognize those commitments and do not make excl usive
clai ms on our loyalties . Perhaps we can then claim for oursel ves the l ega
cy Mujeres Libres struggled so hard to create.
We took the fi rst steps . . . toward emanci pati on, frst steps that have been
taken up by women' s l iberation movements of today. They were frst
steps; we coul dn' t take the "gi ant steps," because of the war and the exi l e,
whi ch cut our struggl e shor . Now, the worl d has changed . . . Our chi l
dren have t o be t he pacesetters for t he future. But our memori es, such
beauti ful memori es, of that struggl e so hard and so pure . . . I s i t possi bl e
that i t has been of some use?
43
LESSONS FROM THE FREE WOMEN OF SPAI N
An Interview with Martha Ackelsberg
by Geert Dhondt via Email, April 8-9, 2004
Geert Dhondt is a Ph. D. Candidate in Economics at the Universit of
Massachusetts, Amherst, where he also teaches for the Social Thought
and Political Economy Prgrm. He is a Staf Economist with the
Centerfor Popular Economics. He is a member ofthe Up The Ante!
Collective-a local ofBring the Ruckus-and has been particularly
active in its anti-prison, anti-police and counter recruitment work. This
interview frst appeared in Up The Ante ! : Anarchist News and
Commentary from the Pioneer Valley.
Up the Ante!: Who were the Free Women of Spai n?
M. Ackelsberg: Mujeres Libres was the name of an organization, founded
offcially in the summer of 1 937, although it had its beginnings in various
towns and cities around Spain as early as 1 934. The women who founded
it were, for the most part, members of one or another of the anarchist-afl
iated organizations then active in Spain (the CNT, Confederaci 6n Nacional
del Trabaj o, the anarcho-syndicalist trade union confederation; the FIlL,
Federaci6n Iberica de luventudes Libertarias, the anarchist youth organi
zation; or the FAI, Federaci6n Anarquista Iberica) . While the women were
committed to the ideals of these organizations-including their expressed
commitment to the goal of gender equality-they believed that women
were not taken suffciently seriously by many of the male members of
these organizations. They (those who were to found Muj eres Libres)
believed that if a social revolution were, in fact, to be successful , women
would have to be involved in it along with men; which meant that women
would need to be part of the organizations "preparing" people to partici
pate in the revolution. To the degree that the mainstream anarchist organi
zations were largely ignoring potential women members, they were under
mining their own goal s. Thus, the women decided to establish a new organ
ization that would work alongside the others, but would be devoted explic-
22 1
222
i tl y to overcoming what they referred to as the "triple enslavement of
womcn"-as workers, as women, and to i gnorance.
What made you write a book on thi s group?
I di scovered Mujeres Li bres, i ni tial l y, through an arti cl e that Temma
Kaplan had written i n the early 1 970' s and was fasci nated by them. A few
years later, when I was i n Spai n, conducting research on anarchist collec
ti vi zati ons duri ng the timc of the Spani sh Civil War, I met some people
who had been peri pheral ly i nvolved in the organizati on, who told me that
some of the major partici pants were sti l l alive. I embarked on a kind of
extended "treasure hunt" to fnd them; and, the more I found and talked
wi th them, the more moved and i nspi red I was by their stories of what they
had been through, what they had struggled for, and what they had achieved.
I felt as though they had given me a gi f by tel l i ng me thei r stories, and that
l owed it to them-and to contemporary pol itical acti vi sts, especial l y fem
i ni sts-to tel l that story to a broader audi ence.
How was Mujeres Libres engendered by the civi l war, the soci al
revol uti on and the anarchist movement?
The i ni ti al stages of the formation of Muj eres Libres began consider
ably before the Civil War (which started in July of 1 936)-at l east as early
as 1 934. But Mujeres Libres was sparked by the participation of its initia
tors in various anarchist movement organizations-and their dissati sfac
tion with the nature of that participation. Lucfa Sanchez Saori l , for exam
pl e, wrote a series of columns on "the women' s problem" in movement
Those columns (and the exchange that foll owed with Mariano Vazquez, a
l eader of the CNT) helped publicize their concerns, and led to the begin
ni ngs of a network of like-minded women. By early 1 936, small groups
had formed in a variety of cities and towns around Spain, and the frst i ssue
of a j ournal , Mu]eresL/hres,edited entirely by women, hit the newsstands.
Neverthel ess, the outbreak of the Civil War in July 1 936 certainly
made Muj eres Libres' proj ect all the more critical . As more and more men
l ef their homes and workpl aces to fght the fascist rebel s, women were
increasingly called upon to take their places . Muj eres Libres saw that as an
opportunity: they wanted to educate (in the broadest possible sense)
women so that they could take the pl aces of men who had lef, but al so so
that they could recognize that as a frst step toward a more equal place in
the society in the l onger term. Once the social revolution was underway,
Mueres Libres' programs of l i teracy, j ob training, child-care, health infor-
Free CClSpai n
mation and the like could easily be seen as part of the larger social revolu
tionary proj ect.
How di d they chal l enge the soci al revol ution and the anarchi st
movement?
In a sense, they did not challenge it at all-except to call for the move
ment to live up to its stated beliefs about the equality of all people. As I
mentioned before, although the movement had been committed to equali
ty between women and men as one of its goal s, rarel y did individual anar
chi st men, or most movement organizations, treat women as fully equal
partners. Most of the women I intervi ewed said that both men and boys
expected the women to do the cookng and the cleaning, to "be there" to
meet their needs, but not necessarily to be fully equal partners in planning
activities. Thus, Muj eres Libres saw i tself as needing to empower i ndivid
ual women to stand up for themselves, and to empower groups of women
to help one another to make a difference in their workplaces, communi ties,
labor organi zations, etc.
Nevertheless, although the women of Mujeres Libres saw themselves
as working completely in partnership with the other movement organiza
tions-and most of its militants continued their activism in whatever other
organizations-CNT or PUL-they belonged to, many of the men and the
organizations experi enced them as challenging. Some clai med that
Muj eres Libres was being divisive, and sidetracking the movement from its
most i mmedi ate goal s of social revolution and winning the war.
What ki nd of strategy di d these revol utionary women have to
accompl i sh thei r goal s?
They had what we might call a "two-pronged" strategy of achieving
women' s emancipation through "capacitaci6n" (loosely translated as
"empowerment," or "coming to a sense of one' s capacities") and
"captaci6n" (mobilizing women to j oinparticipate i n movement organiza
tions) . The programs of capacitaci6n were the center of their program.
These included l iteracy classes at all levels, since they believed that the
inability to read prevents people from being actively engaged in their soci
eties, and that learing to read i s a profoundly empowering process . In
addition, they developed programs of support for women who were work
ing in factories, meeting with them in groups to help them become accus
tomed to hearing their own voices in pUblic, so that they would be able to
participate more efectively in union meetings. They had programs on
materal and child health and on chil d-care, as well as programs and c1ass-
es about women' s bi ology and sexual i ty (si nce virtual l y all education had
been control l ed by the Cathol i c Church, i gnorance about women' s biology
and sexual ity was rampant) . Together wi th uni on organizati ons, they devel
oped job-trai ni ng and apprenticeshi p programs, t o trai n women t o move
into the paid l abor force. And they al so developed a kind of "speaker' s
bureau," training women to become comfortabl e speaki ng in publ i c about
thei r ideas, so that speakers from Muj eres Libres woul d be avai l abl e to par
ti ci pate al ong wi th representatives from the CNT, FAI, and FIJL in publ i c
ity or propaganda "j unkets" to vi l lages i n the countryside. And they al so
hel ped organi ze in factori es and workplaces, to counter the efcts of the
Asoci aci 6n de Muj eres Antifasci stas (a Communi st-led organi zati on) to
mobi l i ze women i nto party organi zations .
What ki nds of contri buti ons di d they make to femi ni st theory
and practi ce?
Thi s i s a bit hard to summarize, si nce i t is, real ly, the focus of much of
the book! First of all, it's i mportant to acknowl edge that they di d not con
si der themsel ves "femi ni sts ." For them, "femi ni sts" meant l argely mi ddl e
cl ass or upper-cl ass women who were tghting for equal ity with men with
in the same system of privi leges, whereas, as anarchi sts, Mujeres Libres
wanted to abolish all privi leges-of cl ass and rel i gi on, as well as of sex.
Nevertheless, of course, I see (and saw) them as feminists, in that
broader sense. I believe they provided us with i mportant al ternative mod
els of leadership, of organizational structure, of how to achieve autonomy
within the context of a l arger confederation of groups, and of how to strug
gle for equal i tv even withi n the context of war ann rf\I{l l 1 ti (\f
Why di d these women organize autonomousl y? What was the
reception by the anarchist movement?
They organized autonomously because they came to believe (through
their experiences in other movement organi zations) that only by organiz
ing themselves, i n their own organizations, could the women develop both
the sense of self and the skil l s they woul d need to take themselves seri
ously, and to be taken seriously by others. If they continued to participate
only in the existing, male-dominated, organizations, they would never
lear how to lead meeti ngs, speak up, take minutes, develop strategies,
cary them out, plan activiti es, etc. They needed to be i n a situation where
there was no one other than themselves to do the work (and also, of course,
not to be in a situation where they would be called on constantly to do
"support" work) . They saw thi s situati on as temporary-it would no longer
Free Wo of SQai n 225
be necessary once enough women had developed themselves, and once the
men had come to recognize their capacities and achievements.
While some men-and some local organizations-welcomed their
ideas and activities, and even supported them monetaily, the national lead
ership and many individual men and groups were wary, if not dismissive.
The male-dominated organizations could not understand Muj eres Libres '
insistence on the need for autonomy; most of them wanted Muj eres Libres
to become either a "branch" of the FIlL or a subsidiary of the CNT. They
were not willing for it to have an independent place as the fourh con
stituent organization of the broader anarchist movement (along with CNT,
FIlL and FAI) .
How does anarchi sm rel ate to women' s emanci pati on? What
rol e does or shoul d anarchist theory have in the current femi ni st
movement?
This is another very big question that I can only begin to answer here.
As I point out in the book, anarchists have had a variety of difrent per
spectives on women' s emancipation. Some (e. g. Proudhon and his fol l ow
ers) believed, in brief, that women' s place was i n the home and family, and
that women' s rol e was as "helpmeet" to men. Others-. g. Bakunin,
Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Isaac Puente-insi sted that anarchi sm
opposed all hierarchical power relati ons, including those of men over
women. Thus, women and men had ultimately to be, and to act as, equals
in all domains of life, which meant transforming workplaces, families, and
communities. Beyond this, there was also a signifcant number of writers
in Spain in the years before and during the Civil War who recognized
imporant connections between sexual repression and women' s subordina
tion: they were advocating more openness about sex and sexual practices,
for both men and women. This, too, was a profoundly important contribu
tion. Nevertheless, as more than one commentator ( and most of the women
of Muj eres Libres) pointed out, a commitment to equality in theory is very
diferent from a commitment to equality in practice.
In short, they believed (and I believe, as well) that anarchism provi des
important resources for women' s emancipation. It ofers a perspective on
the nature and process of social revolutionay transformation (e. g. the
insistence that means must be consi stent with ends, and that economi c
issues are critical, but not the only source of hierarchical power relations)
that can be extremely valuable to/for women' s emancipation. But that is
not to say that anarchist theorists-or activi sts-have always committed
themselves to the goal of women' s emancipation.
226
As for the second part of the question, that' s a bit hard to answer. My
own sense is that the women' s liberation movement of the l ate ' 60s and
' 70s was, in fact, very anarchi st, although i t di d not necessari l y recognize
i tsel f as such, given the predomi nance of Marxi st soci al i sm withi n the Lef
at the time. Personally, I think femini sts of that time would have done bet
ter to draw on anarchist theory than they di d by attempting to draw on, and
transform, soci al i st theory. Social i sm focused on economic structures as
the basi s for all systems of oppressi on. Femi nists recognized that, whi le
economics were i mportant, si mply transforming from capi tal i sm to social
i s m would not necessari l y bring about the emanci pation of women. And
they struggled to create a "sociali st-femi nism" that was a ki nd of "amend
ed" Marxi sm that would take these di fferent structures of oppressi on into
account. As I said i n the book, I think anarchi sm was already there, and
didn' t need to be "amended" in the same way, because anarchi sts had
al ready recognized that we have to take account of multiple forms and
di mensi ons of power.
However, the si tuati on now i s quite di fferent. I sti l l thi nk the anarchi st
message i s a valuable and vali d one; on the other hand, the real ly radi
cal/emancipat ory strai n of the women' s movement seems largely to have
been lost. Too much of what passes for feminism now seems to be focused
on getting women into posi tions of political or economic power; it has left
aside the early femini st (and anarchist) critique of those structures of
power, themselves. So, I guess maybe what I ' m saying is that anarchist
theory might help to remind feminists of what some of the most basic
i ssues really are!
How di d they rel ate to their contemporary femi nist movements?
What about Emma Gol dman?
As I suggested above, they were not particularly interested in contem
porary femini st movements, which they considered to be too bourgeoi s,
and focused onl y on reforming what they (the anarchists) took to be a pro
foundly corpt political system, or gaining access for some women, while
i gnoring the deep problems of class. Federica Montseny, for exampl e (who
was not a member of Muj eres Libres, but did write for them occasionally)
wrote a number of scathing articles about women' s sufage that drew on
Emma Goldman' s work.
Emma Goldman was a supporter of Muj eres Libres, and an occasional
contributor to the magazine. As an anarchist who was critical of the state,
and of voting, etc. , her views were much more in line with those of
Mujeres Libres than were the views of most of her feminist contemporaries.
Free of 22Z
Why did thi s group not consi der themsel ves femi nist? And why
do many of these women that you i nterviewed reject femi nism?
What are t he l essons femi nists can draw from this for today?
They did not consider themselves feminists because, in their view,
feminists (of their day) were too interested in gaining equality within an
existing system of privileges (i . e. the capitalist system) , and were, there
fore, insufciently attentive to issues of class. To call for "equality between
men and women" is not enough if a society is deepl y divided along class
lines: their goal was not simply that workng-class women should be equal
to working-class men, but that all class differences should be abolished,
along with differences along sex/gender lines.
I believe these i ssues are still with us. There are many who have
argued-and continue to argue-that "the feminist movement" in the U. S.
i s also insuffciently attentive to issues of class (and race) . Is "welfare
reform" a "feminist issue," for example? Why were there not more repre
sentatives of mainstream feminist organizations speaking out in 1 996 when
President Clinton proposed "ending welfare as we know it"? Workplace
health issues, NAFTA, (non-)availability of health care, of day care . . . all
these are profoundly important issues for working-class and poor women;
but mainstream feminist organizations do not always speak out about
them. The lesson of Muj eres Libres, in thi s regard, is to think about what
a "feminist agenda" that takes the li ves of poor women, working-cl ass
women, and women of color as seriously as it takes the lives of wealthier
women would look like.
How has Mujeres Li bres i mpacted the struggl e for women' s l i b
erati on i n the l ast 70 years?
This is a hard one to answer. Unfortunately, outside of a relativel y
small circle of people, the story of Muj eres Libres was largely lost.
Therefore, I think it had relatively little impact at least until the death of
Franco, in 1 976/77. At that point, people in Spain (and outside) began to
explore their own hi story, and new groups, for example, groups that called
themselves either Muj eres Libertarias or Mujeres Libres began to spring
up in Spain. But my sense is that very few in the U. S. , or elsewhere in
Europe, who were involved in the Women' s Liberation movements of the
late ' 60s or ' 70s knew enough about Mujeres Libres for that knowledge to
have had an impact on their activities. Even those who read Emma
Goldman' s L/v/uM, Lcor her essays, for example, probably knew very
little about her involvement with the Spani sh anarchists in general, or
Muj eres Libres in particular.
How has thei r experience i nformed the struggl es of U. S. femi
ni sts and women radi cal s? How was your book received by U. S.
femi nists?
Agai n, I thi nk most U. S. femi ni sts were not terribl y aware of what was
happeni ng wi thi n the so-cal led Republi can "camp" duri ng the time of the
Spani sh Ci vi l War; and very few second-wave femi ni sts knew enough
about anarchi sm (whether in Spai n or el sewhere) to look to Mujeres Libres
for i nspirati on or model s . That was part of the reason why, once I di scov
ered them, I wrote the book!
Si nce the book has been out, I have gotten very posi tive responses from
femi ni sts, both i n the U. s. and el sewhere. But as to how much the book has
i nformed the activities of U. S. femi ni sts, I couldn' t real ly say.
In a ti me when there i s a huge backl ash from the right tryi ng to
restore "fami l y val ues" and attacks on women' s rights, what are
the l essons contemporary femi nists can l earn from Mujeres
Libres? What about contemporary anarchists and "revol uti onar
i es"?
Thi s i s a question I ask myself all the time. I think that perhaps the
most i mportant thing to remember i n these di fcult ti mes is the i mportance
anarchi sts in general (and Mujeres Libres in parti cular) gave to preparation
and to direct action. They recogni zed that revoluti ons (or, to put i t more
mi ldly, perhaps) profound social transformations do not happen overi ght.
They take preparati on. Peopl e need to l earn about new possi bi l i ti es, rec
ognize that thi ngs can be other than they are. I thi nk that i s one important
l esson for us: not to give up, to remember that things have not always been
thi s bad, and to keep remi nding ourselves-and others-that they can
change. The greatest all y of Conservatives i s res i gnation and despair on the
part of woul d-be progressives !
But the other major piece i s to remember that the anarchi st movement
in Spai n began and even fouri shed during times of considerabl e econom
ic diffculty and political repressi on. Muj eres Li bres began to be formed
long before the Popular Front electoral victory of February 1 936. And
what those organi zati ons/movements "speci alized" i n was di rect
action/preparation: creating small- scale i nstitutions (whether they be l abor
unions, store-front school s, drama groups , excursions, di scussi on groups,
or the l i ke) where people could experience diferent ways of being and act
i ng, and develop new understandings of themselves and their (possible)
places in society. In that way, they were able to overcome resignation and
hopelessness, and offer their members alterative perspectives .
Free Women of SQai n 22
I think we need to be doing much more of that type of activity. Of
course, we need to be doing everything we can to block/stop/oppose the
retrograde policies being imposed by the U. S. Goverment, both interna
tionally and domestically. But Mujeres Libres (and the anarchists more
generally) recognized that oppositional politi cs, alone, do not sustain peo
ple, do not motivate people over the long term. There has also to be a pos
itive vision. That is the area where, I think, we are sorely l acking right now.
We know what we oppose; but we are much less clear about what our pos
itive vision i s. If there is any one lesson I would take from thinking about
Muj eres Libres, that woul d be it: we need to gather together i n groups l arge
and small and start really thi nking/talking, and then acting on alternati ve
visions of social life.
r
0
.
el
.
..
0
r.
C
0
.::
. -
el el
..
r.
.
..
"
0

c
c
0
0
;:
U
el
r.
e
.
"
C

.::
c
-
el
0
Z
U
..
C
0
'5
.

230
ApPENDI X A
Schematic Organization of the
National Confederation of Labor of Spain
Syndicate:
General assemhl y of members
Admi ni strative commi ttee
section of a syndicate:
General assemhl y of t he secti on
Admi ni strative Committee
Local federation:
Administrtive committee (!l delegates .om each syndicate
Meeting of admi ni strative committees of the syndicates of a com
muni ty
( Comarcal) Cantonal Federation:
Commi ttee composed of delegates from each syndicate in the can
ton
Regional Committee:
Named by local federation of community i n which Regional com
mi ttee si ts (one delegate from each syndi cate i n locality except in
Catatonia)
Rpeion' P'(nHI
L
Composed of delegates from each local and each cantonal
federatlOn in the region
Regional Congress:
Composed of delegates from each syndicate in the region
National Committee:
Named by local federation of sown in which (by deci sion of a
National Congress) the Committee si ts (one delegate/syndicate)
Plenum of Regionals (National Plenum) :
Composed of delegates from each regional commi ttee
National Congress:
Composed of delegates from every syndi cate in the country
SOUC: A. Schapi (Assoiation Intemationale des Teurs), Rappor sur lvite d
f Confedrn Ne
d
u Travai
d
'Espagn, 1 6 decemb 1 932-26 fever 1933.
Stctment cnfdentia, 2.
ApPENDI X B
Publications of Mujeres Libres
Actividades F N Mujeres Libres, ( 1 938) Comaposada Guillen, Mercedes.
Esquemas (Barcelona: Muj eres Libres, 1 937)
"Como organizar una agrupaci6n Mujeres Libres," (Barcelona, 1 937?), 16 pp.
Conde, Carmen. Ensefanza nueva ( 1 936)
-. Poemas en la Guerr ( 1 937)
-. La composicion literaria inantil ( 1 938).
Fedem, Etta. Mujeres de las Revoluciones (Barcelona: Mujeres Libres, n. d. [ 1 938] ) .
62 pp.
Poch y Gasc6n, Amparo. Nino (Barcelona: Muj eres Libres, n. d. , [ 1 937] ) , 20 pp.
-. La ciencia y la enfermedad ( 1 938)
Sanchez Saomil, Lucia. Horas de Revoluci6n (Barcelona: Muj eres Libres, n. d,
[ 1 937] ), 62 pp.
-. Romancero de Mujeres Libres (Barcelona: Mujeres Libres, n. d. 1 1 938l )
Dr. Salud Alegre, Sanatorio de optimismo (Barcelona: Muj eres Libres, 1 938)
(in addi tion to thirteen i ssues of the j oural Mujeres Libres and numerous articles i n newspa
pers and journals of the libertarian movement. )
23 1
ApPENDI X C
||OjCSO| |O| l|O C|OOl|O| O| WOOO||_ |OClO|y
Comrde Revolution has made us aware oj' his great afliction.
People continue to marr . . . Comrde Revolution thought that people 's
morls and spirit had imprved somewhat, but he realizes that the spirit
and morls ofpeople are not susceptible to imprvement. People are
continuing to marry . . . In the face ofthis inescapable reality, we attempt
to alleviate some ofits inevitable consequences. People continue loving
the modes oftheir oppression. At the least, let us see ifwe can lighten
the chains . . .
Proposal
Location
The wedding factory will be located far from every urban nucleus. It i s not good that
tragedies take place in the public eye, because they will demoralize the people.
B."iJ., ill. J;['il ';c vf d(\ tu the iacLUry wiii force (he smpw ones to thmk
[ about what they're doing] .
Materials for construction
Should be of such kind that dampen noise. What goes on inside i s not anyone' s busi
ness , and it's always better not to hear the statements of those who come to complain
about how theirs have gone wrong.
Subdivisions
A waiting room, divided into two-person cubicles by parti al partitions. Isolation is
essential in case of epidemic. One room for ceremonies and an exi t ramp.
Speed i s i mportant so that people shouldn' t have time to change their minds . . .
Material
Of two kinds: (a) necessary and (b) voluntary
232
Free WomAn of SQai n 233
(a) A cold shower; a committee convinced of the importance of its mission; a seal that
says: "Enter, if you dare"; a stamp pad of rod or red and black for the seal.
(b) A stake.
Library
One copy of the Laws of Common Sense.
Related institutions
A shop for rivets, collars, rings, and chains. An allegorical tricolor of Freedom.
Functioning of the factory
It is quick. Individual s wait, by pairs, in the two-person cubicles.
Later they will pass into the ceremonial room. They can do nothing, absolutely noth
ing, without the proper stamp. [An offcial] stamps a small piece of paper, their
cheeks, and their underwear.
Then, with a very hollow voice, the Committee reads them the Laws of Common
Sense, which can be reduced to three:
] . When there were priests, the priest deceived you; when there were j udges, the j udge
deceived you; now we are deceiving you ourselves, since you came here.
2. He who cannot go on without a guarantee of property and fdelity deserves the most
vile oppressions upon his heart (danger of asphyxiation) .
3. The act of passing through the factory gives evidence of idiocy, and predi sposes to
two or three affictions per day. We know what we are doing!
The ceremony is free. Those who go have already sufered enough misfortune.
Afterwards, rings and chains are put on them, they are made to ki ss the tricolor pic
ture of libertarian communism, and they are thrown down the ramp. In order to avoid
disturbances to the normal fnctioning of the factory, it is a good idea to pl ace the fol
lowing poster at the exit:
NO COMPLAINTS ACCEPTED.
SOURCE: "Proyecto para la creaci6n de una fabrica de bodas en serie (ChuIOS auten
ticos)" Mujeres Libres, no. 7.
NOTES
I ntroduction
I . Federi ca Debat i n, i nterview wi th author, Madri d, June, 1 979.
2. Confederaci on Naci onal del Trabaj o ( Nati onal Confederation of Labor) ,
the anarcho- syndi cal i st labor uni on confederation; and the Fcderaci6n
Iberi ca de l uventudes Li bertari as ( Iberian Federation of Libertari an
Youth) , al so known si mpl y as the luventudes , the movement-affl i ated
youth organi zati on. Virtual l y all of the activists in Muj eres Libres were
al so acti vi sts in one or both of these movement organizations.
3. I use the term libertarian movement to refer to the compl ex of organiza
ti ons and activities undertaken by anarchist and anarcho- syndicalist
organizations i n Spai n. These included, most i mportantly, the CNT, the
Federaci6n Anarqui sta Iberica (the Iberian Anarchist Federation) , or
FAI. and the Fur . . whi ch j oi npn tnth1r as th: "Ebertarl:r mo,'zmert"
only during the war. Nevertheless, I use the term here as a shorthand to
refer to anarchist, anarcho-syndicalist, and rel ated organizations . The
organizational detai l s are explored in greater depth in chap. 2.
4. Suceso Portal es, interview with author, M6stoles , Madri d, June 29,
1 979. Thi s was a perspective shared by many elements of the early fem
inist movement in the United States, dubbed "the tyranny of structure
lessness" by "Joreen" in her article by that titl e, The Second Wave 2, no.
1 ( 1 972) : 20-25.
5. Suceso Portal es, i nterview, M6stol es (Madri d), June 29, 1 979.
6. Ana Cases, personal communication, August 1 0, 1 98 1 .
7. Lol a Iturbe, interviews, Alella (Barcel ona) , August 3, 1 98 1 , and
Barcelona, August 4, 1 98 1 .
8 . Azucena Barba, i nterviews, Perpignan, France, August 1 4-1 5, 1 98 1 .
234
|ee WOmem Ol 235
9. Enriqueta Rovira, interview, Castellnaudary, France, December 29,
1 98 1 .
1 0. Enriqueta Rovira, i nterview with author, Castellnaudary, France,
December 29, 1 98 1 .
1 1 . Sara Berenguer Guillen, interview, Montady, December 28, 1 98 1 .
1 2. Sara Berenguer, Entre el sol y la tormenta: Treinta y dos meses de guer
r ( 1 936-1 939) ( Barcelona: sueBa, 1 988) .
1 3 . During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera ( 1 923-1 930), the CNT was
outlawed, and operated clandestinely. These practices (of going to cul
tural events to recruit new adherents) began during thi s period, and con
tinued during the frst few years of the Republic, when the unions were
no longer illegal. See below. Chapter 2.
1 4. Pepita Carpena, interview with author, Montpellier, France, December
1 9, 1 98 1 .
1 5 . Pepita Carpena, interviews, Montpellier, France, December 30-3 1 ,
1 98 1 , and Barcelona, Spain, May 3-4, 1 988.
1 6. Soledad Estorach, interview, Pari s, January 6, 1 982; personal communi
cation, October 1 989.
17. By communalist anarchism, I refer to the tradition represented i n the
works of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Michael Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin,
Errico Malatesta, and Emma Goldman, among others. I frst explored
the evolution of these ideas i n my doctoral dissertation, "The Possibility
of Anarchi sm: The Theory and Practice of Non- Authoritarian
Organization," Department of Politics, Princeton University, 1 976.
1 8. See Nancy Cott, The Grounding of Moder Feminism (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1 987) ; Zillah Ei senstein, The Radical Future of
Liberl Feminism (New York: Longman, 1 98 1 ) ; and Barbara Taylor, Eve
and the New Jerusalem (New York: Pantheon, 1 983) . Benj amin Barber
notes i n The Death of Communal Liberty ( Princeton: Pri nceton
University Press, 1 984), for example, that Swiss communes understood
freedom as "collaborative self-reliance."
1 9. Among early articles are Temma Kaplan, "Female Consciousness and
Collective Action: The Case of Barcelona, 1 91 0-1 9 1 8," Signs 7, no. 3
(Spring 1 982) : 545-66; Kaplan, "Class Consciousness and Community
in Nineteenth Century Andalusia," Political Power and Social Theor 2
( 1 98 1 ) : 2 1 -57; Paula Hyman, "Immigrant Women and Consumer
Protest: The New York City Kosher Meat Boycott of 1 902," American
Jewish Histor 70 (Summer 1 980) : 9 1 -1 05 ; and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich,
"A Friendly Neighbor: Social Dimensions of Daily Work in Northern
Coloni al New England," Feminist Studies, 6, no. 2 (Summer 1 980) :
392-405 . For more recent studies exploring the importance of com
munity-and workplace-based networks to women' s political activism,
236 MO|l mO ^. ^C<e| :Oe|Q
see Ruth Mi l kman, ed. , Women, Work and Prtest: A Century of us.
Women 's Labor History ( Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul , 1 985) and
Ann Bookman and Sandra Morgen, eds. , Women and the Politics of
Empowerment ( Phi l adelphi a: Templ e Uni versi ty Press, 1 988) .
20. Floya Anthias and Ni ra Yuval -Davi s, "Contextual i zi ng Femi ni sm: Gen
der, Ethni c and Cl ass Di vi si ons, " Feminist Review, no. 1 5 ( 1 983) ;
Mi chel l e Barrett and Maureen McKi ntos h, "Ethnocentr i s m and
Soci al i st- Femi ni st Theory," Feminist Revi ew, no. 20 ( 1 985) ; Bel l Hooks ,
Ain
'
f 1 a Woman: Black Women and Feminism ( Boston: South End Press,
1 98 1 ).
2 1 . I have reviewed much of thi s l i terature i n "Si sters or Comrades? The
Pol i ti cs of Fri ends and Fami l i es," in Families, Politics and Puhlic
Policies, ed. I rene Di amond ( New York: Longman, 1 983) , 339-56, and,
wi th Irene Di amond, i n "Gender and Pol i ti cal Li fe: New Di recti ons i n
Pol i tical Science," i n Analyzing Gender: Social Science Perspectives,
ed. Beth B. Hess and Myra Marx Ferree ( Beverly Hi l l s : Sage, 1 988) . See
al so Ruth L. Smi th and Deborah M. Val enze, "Mutual i ty and
Margi nal i ty: Liberal Moral Theory and Worki ng-Cl ass Women i n
Ni neteenth-Century England," Signs 1 3, no. 2 (Wi nter 1 988) : 277-98.
22. Tayl or, Eve and the New Jerusalem, pas s i m.
23. Starhawk, Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power Authority, and
Mvstery ( San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1 988) , especi al l y 8-1 0.
24. Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (Trumansburg, N. Y: Crossing Press,
1 984) ; Di ane K. Lewi s, "A Response to Inequality: Black Women,
Racism, and Sexi sm," Signs 3, no. 2 (Winter 1 977) : 339-6 1 ; Margaret
A. Simons, "Raci sm and Femini sm: A Schi sm in the Si sterhood,"
Feminist Studies 5, no, 2 (Summer 1 979) : 389-4 1 0; Bonnie Thornton
Di l l , "Race, Class and Gender: Prospects for an Al l -i ncl usive
Sisterhood," Feminist Studies 9, no. 1 (Spring 1 983) ; 1 3 1 -50.
25. One early exploration of the connections between racism and sexism i s
Lillian Smi th, Killers of the Dream (New York: Norton, 1 96 1 ) . See also
El izabeth V Spelman, Inessential Woman ( Boston: Beacon Press, 1 988) ;
Adrienne Rich, "Disloyal to Civil i zation: Feminism, Racism, and
Gynephobi a," in On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prse
1966-1978 (New York: Norton, 1 979), 275-3 1 0; Phyllis Marynick
Palmer, "White Women/Black Women: The Dual i sm of Female Identity
and Experience in the United States," Feminist Studies 9, no. 1 (Spring
1 983) : 1 5 1 -70; El l y Bulkin, Minnie Bruce Pratt, and Barbara Smith,
Yours in Struggle (New York: Long Haul Press, 1 984) .
26. Marfa C. Lugones and Elizabeth V Spelman, "Have We Got a Theory
for You ! Femi ni st Theory, Cultural Imperial i sm, and the Demand for
' The Woman' s Voice, ' " Women 's Studies Interational Forum 6, no. 6
Free Wom

of Spai n
( 1 983) : 573-8 1 ; Martha Ackel sberg, "Personal Identities and Collective

Vi sions: Refections on Being a Jew and a Femini st," lecture, Smith
College, March 8, 1 983.
1 . Anarchist Revol uti on and the Li beration of Women
1 . Soledad Estorach, interview with author, Paris , France, January 6, 1 982.
2. Enriqueta Rovira, i nterview with author, Castellnaudary, France,
December 28, 1 98 1 .
3 . Anarcho-syndicalism was the particular creation of Spanish theori sts
and activists , a unique blend of anarchist vi sion with a revolutionary
syndicalist strategy. See chap. 2.
4. Peter Kropotkin, Fields, Factories, and Workshops Tomorrw, ed. Colin
Ward (New York: Harper and Row, 1 974) . See al so Myrna M. Breitbart,
"Peter Kropotkin: Anarchist Geographer," in Geogrphy, Ideology and
Social Concer, ed. David Stoddart (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1 982) , 1 34-53 . For parallels with contemporary ecofemini st
analysis see Susan Grifn, Women and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her
(New York: Harper and Row, 1 978) ; Carol Christ, "Finitude, Death, and
Reverence for Life," in Laughter ofAphrdite: Reections on a Jourey
to the Goddess ( San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1 987) , 2 1 3-28 ; Ynestra
King, "Feminism and the Revolt of Nature," Heresies 4, no. 1 ( 1 98 1 ) :
1 2-1 6.
5 . Ralf Dahrendorf, "On the Origin of Social Inequality," i n Philosophy,
Politics, and Societ, 2d series, ed. Peter Laslett and W. G. Runci man
(Oxford: Basil Bl ackwell, 1 962), 1 05.
6. Max Weber, "Politics as a Vocation," From Max Weber: Essays i n So
ciology, ed. Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1 958) ; Robert Michel s, Political Parties, ed. and trans .
Eden and Cedar Paul (New York: Free Press, 1 962), especi ally 326,
344-66; and V I. Lenin, Wat Is t o Be Done ? Buring Questions ofOur
Movement (New York: International , 1 929), especially parts II-IV.
7. Isaac Puente, "Independencia economica, libertad y soberanfa individ
ual ," Estudios, no. 1 2 1 ( September J 933) : 22-23.
8. Fernando Tarrida del Marmol , Prblemas trscendentales (Barcelona:
Bi blioteca de "La Revi sta Blanca", 1 930), 1 1 8-21 ; Ricardo Mella,
"Breves apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas," prize essay originally
written in 1 889, reedited in 1 890 and 1 903, and repri nted in Breves
apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas (Barcelona: Tusquets, 1 976) ,
20-21 ; and Federico Urales (Juan Montseny), "Consideraciones morales
sobre el funcionamiento de una sociedad sin gobierno," La Revista
Blanca 1 , no. 4 (July 1 5 , 1 923) , 5 (August 1 , 1 923) , 6 (August 1 5,
1 923) , and 7 (September 1 , 1 923) . For a contemporary view, see Ri chard
Sennett, The Uses ofDisorder (New York: Pantheon, 1 970) .
9. A las mujeres, Conferenci a l efda en el ' Centro Obrero' de Sabadel l y en
el ' Centro Fraternal de Cul tura' de Barcel ona, October 1 8 and 24, 1 903
( Barcel ona: Bi bl i oteca Edi torial Sal ud, 1 923) , 1 4-1 5 .
1 0. Mariano Gal l ardo, "Tendencies del i nstinto sexual humano," Estudios,
no. 1 36 ( December 1 934). See al so "Tnfl uenci a de l as i nstituci ones
soci al es sobre el canicter humano," ibi d. , no. 1 37 (January 1 935) : 63;
and Gregorio Maraf6n, "Sexo, Trabaj o y Deporte," and "Materni dad y
Femini smo," in Tres ensayos sobre la vida sexual, 5th ed. (Madri d:
Bi bli oteca Nueva, 1 929), especi al l y 43, 80, 87ff, and 1 29f.
I I . Isaac Puente, El communismo libertario: Sus posibilidades de real
izaci6n en Espmla (Valenci a: Bi bl ioteca de Estudi os, 1 933) , 9; Mi chael
Bakuni n, "The International and Karl Marx," i n Bakunin on Anarchism,
ed. Sam Dol gof (Montreal : Bl ack Rose Books, 1 980) , 3 1 8; and Erri co
Mal atesta, Anarchy (London: Freedom Press, 1 949 [ pamphlet origi nal l y
publ i shed 1 89 1 ] ) , 1 2-1 5 .
1 2. A substantial part of thi s anal ysi s was devel oped i n col l aborati on wi th
Kathryn Pyne Parsons Addel son and Shawn Pyne, in a paper del i vered
to the Phi losophy Cl ub at North Carol i na State University at Raleigh,
March 22, 1 978; see Martha Ackel sberg and Kathryn Addel son,
"Anarchi sm and Femi ni sm" in Impure Thoughts: Essays on Philosophy,
Feminism and Ethics, ed. Addelson (Phi ladelphi a: Temple University
Press, 1 99 1 ).
1 3 . Wil l i am Chafe, Women and Equality (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1 977) ; Kathy E. Ferguson, The Femi nist Case against
Bureaucracy (Phi l adelphia: Templ e Universi ty Press, 1 984), especi al l v
chaps. I , 2, and 5.
1 4. Carol P. Christ, Diving Deep and Surfacing: Women Writers on Spiritual
Quest ( Boston: Beacon Press, 1 980); Judith Plaskow, Sex, Sin, and
Grce: Women ' . Experience and the Theologies of Reinhold Niebuhr
and Paul Tillich (Washington, D. C. : University Press of America, 1 980),
especi all y chap. I . See also W. E. B . DuBoi s, The Souls ofBlack Folk
(Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1 903) , especially chap. 2.
1 5 . Jose Prat, Necesidad de fa asociaci6n (Madrid: Ediciones el Libertario,
n. d. ) , 1 0; Ricardo Mella, Organizaci6n, agitaci6n y revoluci6n,
Cuadernos de Educaci6n Social ( Barcelona: Edici ones Tierra y
Libertad, 1 936), 5 ; Isaac Puente, "Mi concepto del apoliticismo,"
Solidaridad Obrer, January 8 , 1 936, 8 ; and Federi co Ural es,
" Consideraciones morales sobre el funcionamiento de una sociedad sin
gobierno."
1 6. Mella, "Breves apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas," 34.
23
1 7. Federico Urales , "Comunistas y comunismos," La Revista Blanca I , no.
2 (June 1 5 , 1 923) : 2, 4; Federica Montseny, "El espiritu gregario y el
individuo," ibid. , 2 ( 1 924) : 9-1 1 and "Influencias marxistas en el anar
quismo," ibid. , 1 0 ( 1 932) : 265-67; and Ricardo Mel la, "El soci alismo
anarquista," Natura, nos. 1 7 and 1 8 (June 1 904) , reprinted i n Breves
apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas, 53-54. Among non-Spanish anar
chist writers see, for example, P. J. Proudhon, "Philo sophie Populaire:
Programme," i n De la justice dans la revolution et dans Z ' eglise, in
Oeuvres completes de P J. Prudhon, 14 vol s . , new ed. , ed. Roger
Picard (Pari s: Marcel Riviere, 1 930) , vol. 9: 206; and Emma Goldman,
"Anarchism: What It Really Stands For," in Anarchism and Other
Essays, ed. Richard Drinnon (New York: Dover, 1 969), 4767, especi al
l y 55, 59, 62.
1 8. "Florentina" [pseudonym of Carmen Conde] , "Lo que debe decir 10 que
tiene fe," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 2.
1 9. Jose Prat, Necesidad de la asociaci6n, 1 , 2, and 4; Tarri da del Marmol ,
"Los siete enigmas del universo," Prblemas trscendentales, 25-26.
20. Mella, "El socialismo anarqui sta," 55-56; Errico Malatesta on solidari
ty i n Anarchy, 1 9-20; Mal atesta, "El individualismo en el anarquismo,"
"La anarquia," and "Nuestro programa," all in Socialismo y anarqufa
( Madrid: Editorial Ayuso, 1 977), 55-62. 1 89-238; and "Organisation"
i n Malatesta: Lie and ldeas, ed. Vernon Richards (London: Freedom
Pres s , 1 977) , especi al l y 86-87. See al so Nathan Rotens trei ch,
"Community as a Norm," i n Communal Life: An Internati onal
Perspective, ed. Yosef Gorni, Yaacov Oved, and Tdit Paz (Efal , Israel :
Yad Tabenki n; New Brunswick, N. J . : Transaction Books, 1 987) , 2 1 -27.
2 1 . See, for example, Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contrct ( Stanford: Stan
ford University Press, 1 988) , and Teresa Brennan and Carol e Pateman,
' ' ' Mere Auxiliaries to the Commonwealth' : Women and the Origins of
Liberalism," Political Studies 27, no. 2 ( 1 978) : 1 83-200.
22. P. J. Proudhon, What Is Prperty? trans . Benj . R. Tucker (London:
William Reeves , n. d. ) , 57; Jose Prat, Necesidad de l a asociaci6n, 6-7;
Fernando Tarrida del Marmol, "Interpretacion matematica del interes,"
Prblemas trscendentales, 1 06-1 07; and Puente, El comunismo liber
tario, 20-2 1 . All drew on Peter Kropotki n. See his " Anarchi st
Communism: Its Basi s and Principles," in Krotkin 's RevoLutionar
Pamphlets, ed. Roger N. Baldwin (New York: Vanguard Press, 1 927) ;
and The Conquest ofBread (London: Chapman and Hall, 1 9 1 3) , 34.
23. P. J . Proudhon, Du Principe federti et de la necessite de reconstituer
La Parti de La Revolution (Pari s: E, Dentu, 1 863) , 73-74; Puente, El
comunismo libertario, especially 1 6-1 9; Mel l a, "Breves apuntes sobre
l as pasi ones humanas," 35; and George Woodcock, Railways and
Society: For Workers ' Contrl (London: Freedom Press, 1 943) .
24. Chri sti an Cornel i ssen, El comunismo libertario y el regimen de trnsi
ei(5n, Spani sh version by El oy Muni z (Val enci a: Bi bl i oteca Orto, 1 936),
29-30; Puente, EI comunismo lihertario, I 1 6-20.
25. Sol edad Gustavo, "EI si ndi cal i s mo y l a anarqufa," La Revista Blanca I ,
no. 3 ( Jul y I , 1 923) : 2.
26. Federi ca Montseny, "Si ndical i smo revol uci onari o y Cumuni smo anar
qui sta: Al rededor de un articul o de Pi erre Besnard," La Revista Blanca
1 0, no. 2 ( 1 932) : 330, 332.
27. Puente, EI comunismo Iibertario, 29-30. See al so "Ensayo program<ti
co del Comuni smo l i bertari o," Estudios, no. 1 1 7 (May 1 933) , 23-29.
2). I compare Spani sh anarcho- syndi cal i s m and other European worki ng
cl as s movements i n the concl usi on of thi s book.
29. Mel l a, Organizacic5n, agitacicn y revolucion, 1 9; "Breves apuntes," 1 5 .
30. Maran6n, "Materni dad y femi ni smo," Tres ensayos sobre Ia vida sexual,
especi al l y 1 23-25 , 1 29, 1 40, 1 49.
3 1 . Nash, "Estudi o Prel i mi nar," "Mujeres Libres " Espana, 1 936-1 939
( Barcel ona: Tusquets, 1 976), 1 0-1 1 .
32. See the statement of the Zaragoza Congress of the Spani sh movement of
1 )70, ci ted in Ansel mo Lorenzo, El prletariado militante (2 vol s . ;
Toul ouse : Edi torial del Movi mi ento Li bertari o Espanol , CNT en
Franci a, 1 947) II, 1 7-1 8.
33. Javierre, "Retejos de l a vida rusa en el regi men fami l i ar," Solidaridad
Obrera, October 1 3, 1 935, 8; also Federi ca Montseny, "La tragedia de I a
emancipacion feme nina," La Revista Blanca 2 ( 1 924) : 1 9.
34. Kyral i na [Lol a IturbeJ , "Temas femeni nos : EI comuni smo amirquieo l i h
ertara a la mujer," Tierra y libertad ( supplement) 2, no. 1 1 (June 1 933) :
1 97-99.
35. On Briti sh groups, see Barbara Tayl or, Eve and the New Jerusalem, and
Ruth L. Smith and Deborah M. Valenze, "Mutuality and Marginali ty."
On Fourier and hi s French fol lowers see The Utopian Vsion of Charles
Fourier: Selected Texts on Work, Love and Passionate Attrction, trans .
and ed. Jonathan Beecher and Richard Bienvenu (Columbia: University
of Mi ssouri Press, 1 983) ; and Jonathan Beecher, Charles Fourier: The
Visionar and His World (Berkeley: University of Cal ifornia Press,
1 986) .
36. La Revista Blanca was published by t he Montseny famil y (Juan
Montseny [Federico Ural es] and Soledad Gustavo) in Madri d from 1 898
until 1 906, and then from 1 923 through 1 936 i n Barcelona. Estudios was
published in Valencia during the 1 920s and 1 930s.
24 l
37. A. G. Llaurado, "Por el sensual i smo," Estudios, no. 1 34 (October 1 934) ;
Antonio de Hoyos y Vinent, "De, en, por, sin, sobre l a moral sexual,"
Estudios, no. 1 38 ( February 1 935) ; Mariano Gal lardo,
"Experimentacion sexual," Estudios, no. 1 46 (October 1 935) ; Ll aurado,
"La march a triunfal del sexo," Estudios, no. 1 1 9 (Jul y 1 93 3 ) : 1 9-20.
38. Martf-lbanez wrote regularly for Estudios on a variety of topics rel ated
to sex and sexuality. During 1 936-1 937, he publi shed a regular col umn
of questions and answers, "Consultorio Psiquico- Sexual," reprinted i n a
book of the same title, ed. Ignacio Vidal ( Barcelona: Tusquet s, 1 976) .
39. Marti-Ibanez, "Nueva moral sexual," Estudios, no. 1 34 (October 1 934) :
1 3-1 5; Marti-Ibanez, "Erotica, matrimonio y sexualidad," ibid. , no. 1 36
(December 1 934) : 2 1 -23.
40. Marti-Ibanez, "Carta a Buenos Aires, a don Rafael Hasan," Estudios, no.
1 44 (August 1 935) : 1 3 , Compare Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic: The
Erotic as Power," in Sister Outsider (Trumansburg, N. Y. : Crossing
Press, 1 984), 55-57.
4 1 . Marti-Ibanez, "Carta a una muchacha espanol a sobre el problema sex
ual," Estudios, no. 1 3 8 (February 1 935) : 5-6.
42. Marti-Ibanez, "Consideraciones sobre el homosexualismo," Estudios,
no. 1 45 (September 1 935) : 3-5. Si milar assumptions about the "natural
ness" of heterosexuality are to be found in Maranon' s Tres ensayos and
throughout the di scussions of sexuality in Estudios.
43 . Maria Lacerda, "El trabaj o femenino," Estudios, no. 1 1 1 ( November
1 932), cited in Mary Nash, "El estudio del control de natal i dad en
Espana: ej emplos de metodologias diferentes," in L mujer en La histo
ria de Espana (Siglos XVI-XX), Proceedings of the II Interdi sciplinary
Research Conference ( Madri d: Seminario de Estudios de la Mujer,
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid [ 1 984] ) , 252.
44. Juan Lazarte, "Significacion cultural y etica de la l i mi tacion de
nacimientos ," Estudios, no. 1 20 (August 1 933) through no. 1 28 (Apri l
1 934).
45 . Lazarte, "Significacion cultural y etica," Estudios, no. 1 26 (February
1 934) ; Diogenes Ilurtensis, "Neomaltusianismo, maternidad consciente
y esterilizacion," Estudios, no. 1 25 (speci al i ssue; J anuary 1 934) : 1 2-1 4.
For a discussion of anarchist neomalthusiani sm more generally see
Mary Nash, "El neomaltusianismo anarquista y l os conocimientos pop
ul ares sobre el control de natalidad en Espana," in Presencia y prtago
nismo: aspectos de La historia de la mujer, ed. Mary Nash ( Barcelona:
Ediciones del Serbal , 1 984), 307--0; and "E! estudio del control de
natalidad en Espana," especially 248-53.
46. Federica Montseny, "En defensa de Clara, II," L Revista Blanca 2, no.
47 (May 1 , 1 925) : 26-28; Leonardo, "Matri monio y adulteri o,"
Estudios, no. 1 1 3 (January 1 933) ; Hugo Treni , "EI amor y la nueva etica
sexual en l a vi da y en l a l i teratura," Estudios, no. 1 1 8 (June 1 933) ; and
Maranon, "Materni dad y femi ni smo."
47. Mariano Gal l ardo, "Tendencias del i nsti nto sexual humano" ; and Brand,
"EI probl ema del amor," La Revista Blanca 2 ( 1 924) : 23.
48. Amparo Poch y Gascon, "Nuevo concepto de pureza," Estudios, no. 1 28
( Apri l 1 934) : 32.
49. Marfa Lacerda de Moura, "Amor y l ibertad," Estudios, no. 1 32 ( August
1 934) , pp. 1 8- 1 9; see al so Lacerda de Moura, "Cuando el am or muere,"
Estudios, no. 1 27 ( March 1 934) , pp. 20-2 1 ; " Que es el amor pl ural ?"
Estudi os, no. 1 28 (Apri l 1 934), pp. 24-25; and HEI amor plural frente a
l a camaraderfa amorosa," Estudios, no. 1 29 ( May 1 934) , pp. 22-24.
50. Sol edad Gustavo, "Hablemos de l a muj er," La Revista Blanca I , no. 9
( October I . 1 923) : 7-8.
5 1 . Federi ca Montseny, "En defensa de Cl ara, I I I ," La Revista Blanca 2, no.
48 ( May 1 5, 1 925) : 23-25 ; also "En defensa de Cl ara I I ," 29; and Brand,
"EI probl ema del amor," 23.
52. Montseny, "La tragedia de l a emanci pacion femenina," 20-2 1 . See
Gol dman. "The Tragedy of Woman' s Emanci pation," in Anarchism and
Other Essays, especi al ly 223-25 . Two recent bi ographies of Emma
Gol dman hi ghl ight her confusi on and frustrations . See Al ice Wexl er,
Emma Goldman: An Intimate Le (New York: Pantheon, 1 984) and
Candace Fal k, Love, Anarchy and Emma Goldman (New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1 984) .
5 3 . Y. R. , "Por caminos autoritarios no se consi gue l a Ii bertad," Acracia 2,
no. 250 (May 1 3, 1 937) . According t o Federico Arcos (personal com
munication, July 25, 1 989, and November 5, 1 998) , YR. was probablv
Vicente Rodriguez Garda (known as Viroga) who, along wi th Jose
Pierats and Felipe AIaiz, was a member of the editorial committee of
Acracia.
54. Peter Kropotkin, quoted in Diego Abad de Santi ll an, En toro a nuestrs
objetivos libertarios (Madrid: Edicion de la seccion de propaganda del
Comite de Defensa confederal del centro, n. d. ) , ] 8.
55. Enriqueta Rovira, i nterview, Castellnaudary, France, December 28,
1 98 1 .
56. Martha Ackel sberg and Kathryn Pyne Addel son, "Anarchi st Alternatives
to Competition," i n Competition: A Feminist Taboo ? ed. Valerie Mi ner
and Helen E. Longino (New York: Feminist Press, 1 987) , especially
227-3 1 .
57. For contemporary articulations see Chafe, Women and Equality; Frances
Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Poor People 's Movements (New
York: Pantheon, 1 977) ; and Sara M. Evans and Harry C. Boyte, Fe
Spaces: The Sources of Democrtic Change in America (New York:
Harper and Row, 1 986) .
58. Isaac Puente, El comunismo libertario, 1 5 .
59. Mella, Organizacion, agitacion y revolucion, pp. 3 1 -32.
60. Soledad Estorach, intervi ews, January 4 and 6, 1 98 2 ; personal
communication, October 1 989.
6 1 . Enriqueta Rovira, interview wi th author, Castellnaudary, France,
December 28, 1 98 1 .
62. Mella, "Breves apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas," especi ally 35-36;
Proudhon, Systeme des contradictions economiques au Philo sophie de
la misere, i n Oeuvres completes de P J. Prudhon.
63. Federi ca Montseny, i nterview, Toulouse, France, February I , 1 979.
64. Max Nettlau, "La actividad libertaria tras la revolucion," La Revista
Blanca l O (May 1 5 , 1 932) ; and Ricardo Mella, Organizacion, agitacion
y revolucion, 1 0-1 1 .
65. Hi gini o Noj a Ruiz, La revolucion espanola: Hacia una sociedad de
trabajadores libres (Valenci a: Ediciones Estudios , n. d. ) , 62.
66. P. A. Kropotkin, "Must We Occupy Ourselves with an Examination of
the Ideal of a Future System?" in Selected Writings on Anarchists and
Revolution, ed. Martin A. Mi l ler (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1 970) , 94-95;
Bakunin, "The Policy of the International," in Bakunin on Anarchism,
ed. Dolgoff, 1 67.
67. Eli seo Reclus, A mi hermano el campesino (Valenci a: Ediciones
Estudios, n. d. [originally published in 1 873] ) ; Higinio Noj a Rui z, Labor
constructiva en el campo (Valencia: Ediciones l ibrestudi o, n. d. ) ; and
Camilo Berneri, "Los anarquistas y la pequena propiedad agraria," La
Revista Blanca 1 0 ( November 1 932) through 1 1 (May 1 933) .
68. Emma Goldman, "Anarchism: What I t Really Stands For," i n Anarchism
and Other Essays, 50.
69. Enriqueta Rovira. interview, Castellnaudary, France, December 29,
1 98 1 .
70. Mi chael Tayl or, Community, Anarchy and Liberty ( Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1 982), especially 1 23-29. See al so John
Rawl s, A Theor of Justice (Cambri dge; Harvard University Press,
1 970).
7 1 . "Breves apuntes," 24-26; and "La coaccion moral ," 62, 64. Also
Proudhon, De la justice, in Oeuvres Completes 1 2: 363-64.
72. Proudhon, What Is Prperty?, 22 1 , 223; Proudhon, De l a Justice, i n
Oeuvres Completes 1 1 : 334-43 .
73. Mella, "Breves apuntes sobre las pasiones humanas," p. 66. Compare
Bri an Barry, The Liberl Theor of Justice: A Critical Examination of
244 MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` : Oe|Q
the Principal Doctrines in "A Theory of Justice " by John Raw!s
( Oxford: Cl arendon Press, 1 973) , 1 37-38.
74. Pat Mai nardi , "The Pol iti cs of Housework," i n Sisterhood Is Powetul:
An Anthology of Writings frm the Women 's Libertion Movement, ed.
Robi n Morgan ( New York: Vi ntage Books, 1 970), 447-54.
75 . Di scussi on at the Centro Ll ei data, Barcel ona, August 6, 1 98 1 .
76. Prat, A las mujeres, 28-29; Montseny, "El ocaso del donjuani smo," La
Revista Blanca 2, no. 46 (Apri l 1 5 , 1 925) : 9-1 1 ; Gustavo, "Hablemos de
1 mujer," 9.
2. Community Mobi l izati on and Uni on Organizati on
1 . Xavi er Cuadrat, Socialismo y anarquismo en Cataluna: los orfgenes de
la CNT ( Madri d: Edi ci ones de 1 Revi sta de Trabaj o, 1 976) ; Murray
Bookchi n, The Spanish Anarchists: The Heric Years, 1 868-1 936 (New
York: Free Li fe, 1 977; AK Press, 1 998) ; Juan Gomez Casas, Historia del
anarchosindicalismo espana! ( Madri d: ZYX, 1 969) . Joaquin Romero
Maura, "La Rosa de Fuego ": republicanos i anarquistas. La po{{tica de
los obrers barceloneses entre el desastre colonial y La semana tragica.
1 899-1 909 (Barcel ona: Grij al bo, 1 974) focuses on the earl i er decade
but di scusses the background to the creation of anarcho-syndi cal i sm.
2. Tcmma Kapl an, Anarchists of Andalusia ( Princeton: Pri nceton
Universi ty Press, 1 977), 1 64-65, 1 6 1 -62.
3. George Esenwein, Anarchist 1deology and the Working- Class Movement
in Spain, 1868-1 898 ( Berkeley: University of Californi a Press, 1 989),
1 07- 1 08, 1 28-33, and chap. 8.
4. See Edward Mal efaki s. Agrrian Rpfnrm !na P(s(nt Revoh!t:on in
Spain (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1 970) , especiall y 3-1 5 ; Juan
Martinez-Alier, Labourers and Landowners in Souther Spain (London:
Allen and Unwin, 1 97 1 ) ; Gerald Brenan, The Spanish Labyrinth: The
Social and PoliticaL Backgrund to the Spanish Civil War (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1 943) , 87-1 3 1 .
5 . Joseph Harri son, An Economic History of Moder Spain (New York:
Holmes and Meier, 1 978) , 5 . But see also Juan Pablo Fusi , "EI
movimiento obrero en Espana, 1 876-1 9 1 4," Revista de Occidente, no.
1 3 ] ( February 1 974) : 207.
6. Josep Fontana, "Formacion del mercado nacional y toma de conciencia
de l a burguesfa," Cambio economico y actitudes po{{ticas en la Esana
del siglo X1X (Esplugues de Llobregat: Ariel, 1 973) , 33.
7. Antoni o-Miguel Bernal , La lucha Por La tierr en la crisis del antiguo
regimen (Madrid: Taurus, 1 979) , 302-306, 3 1 2- 1 3 (map 1 8) ; Fontana,
"Formacion del mercado nadonal," especially 24-37, 41 -53.
|ee WOmeqSO| m 245
8. Josep Fontana, La revolucicn liberal: Polit{ca y hacienda en 1 833-1 845
(Madri d: Instituto de Estudi os Fiscales, Mini sterio de Haci enda, n. d. ) ,
336.
9. Bernal , "Persistencia de la probl emctica agraria andaluza durante la
Segunda Republ i ca. " La prpiedad de la tierra y las fuchas agrrias
andaluzas ( Barcelona: Ariel , 1 974), 1 42.
1 0. Susan Friend Harding, Remaking Ibieca: Rural Life in Argon under
Frnco ( Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1 984), 53-55.
1 1 . Susan Tax Freeman, Neighbors: The Social Contrct i n a Castilian
Hamlet (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1 970) , 1 7.
1 2. Juan Pablo Fusi, "El movimiento obrero," 206; Harri son, An Economic
Histor of Moder Spain, 69.
1 3 . Fusi, "El movimiento obrero," 2 1 3. See al so Alvaro Soto Carmona,
"Cuantifcaci6n de l a mana de obra femenina ( 1 860-1 930)," in La mujer
en la historia de Espana (Siglos XVI-XX) (Madrid: Seminario de
Estudios de l a Muj er, Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid [ 1 984J ) ,
279-98.
1 4. Bernal , La lucha por la tierr, 390-93, 41 4-1 5 .
1 5 . Fernando de los Rlos, "The Agrarian Problem in Spain," International
Labour Review 1 1 , no. 6 (June 1 925) : 840, 844-45 ; Jerome M. Mintz,
The Anarchists of Casas Viejas ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1 984) , especially 33-63 ; and Bernal , "Burguesia agrari a y proletariado
campesino en Andalucla durante la crisis de 1 868," in La prpiedad de
fa tierr, 1 07-36.
1 6. Ildefonso Cerda, "Monografia estadistica de la c1ase obrera a Barcelona
en 1 856," Teor{a generl de fa urbanizaci6n ( Madrid: I nstituto de
Estudios Fiscal es, 1 968) , vol . II, 657, cited in Fontana, "Nacimiento del
proletariado industrial y primeras etapas del movimiento obrero,"
Cambio economico y actitudes poifticas, 85.
1 7. See, for example, Ignasi Terradas Saborit, Les colonies industrials: un
estudi entor del cas de l 'Ametlia de Merla (Barcelona: Laia, 1 979) .
1 8 . Rose Marfa Capel Martinez, El trbajo y la educacion de l a mujer en
Espana (1900-1930) (Madrid: Ministerio de Cu1tura, Direcci6n General
de Juventud y Promoci 6n Socio-cultural , n. d. ) , especially 6 1 -75,
224-34; al so Mary Nash, Mujel; familia y trabajo en Espana,
1 875-1 936 ( Barcel ona: Anthropos, Editorial del Hombre, 1 983) ,
3 1 5-62; Albert Ba1cells , "La muj er obrera en la industria catal ana
durante el primer cuarto del siglo XX," Trbajo industrial y organiza
cion obrer en la Cataluia contemporanea, 1 900-1 936 ( Barcelona:
Laia, 1 974) , 7-1 2 1.
1 9. Bernal , La lucha por la tierr, 394-95.
246
MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
20. For 1 878, see Maria Laffi tte, Conde sa de Campo Alange, La mujer en
Espana: Cien anos de su historia J 860-J 960 ( Madri d: Agui l ar, 1 964) ,
26. For the l ater years, Rosa Marfa Capel Martfnez, "La muj er en el
rei nado de Alfonso XI I I : Fuentes, mctodol ogfa y concl usi ones de un
estudi o hi stori co," Nuevas perspectivas sobre fa mujer ( Madri d:
Seminari o de Estudi os de l a Muj er, Universidad Autonoma de Madri d,
1 982) , 1 82.
2 1 . Juan Bosch Marrn, El niFo espaFof en el sig{o XX ( Madri d: Graficas
Gonzal ez, 1 947) , 43-50; Margari ta Nel ken, La condici()n social de la
mujer en EspaFa: Su estado actual, su posible desarrllo ( Barcel ona:
Mi nerva, n. d. ), 1 1 9.
22. JoaquIn Costa, "Col ecti vi smo agrari o," i n Oligarqu{a y caciquisl7o,
colectivismo agrrio, y otros escritos, ed. Rafael Perez de la Dehesa
( Madri d: Ali anza, 1 969 [ori gi nal l y publ ished, 1 898 n, 50. Juan Diaz del
Moral , Historia de las agitaciones campesinas andaluzas-Cordoha
( Madri d: Revi sta de Derecho Privado, 1 929; rei ssued Madri d: Al i anza
Edi tori al , 1 967) , 39-40.
23. Fontana, "Naci mi ento del prol etari ado i ndustri al ," 60-62; Constanci o
Bernal do de Qui ros y Perez, Ef espartaquismo afrario auda/uz ( Madri d:
Reus , 1 9 1 9) and "La expansi on l ibertari a," Archiv(s de psiquiatda y
criminofogfa 5 ( 1 906) : 432-38 ; and Constanci o Bernaldo de Qui ros y
Perez and LUIS Ardila, "El bandol erismo en Andalucfa," pt. 1 of El han
dolerismo en Espana y en Meico (Mexico: Jurfdica Mexi cana, 1 959) .
24. Most notably E. J. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels (New York: Norton,
1 959) .
25 . Bernal, La lucha por la tierr, 442-44. See Kapl an' s si mi l ar evaluation
of Andal usian anarchist organizing in Anarchists of Andalusia, especial
ly chap. 8.
26. Ansel mo Lorenzo, Ef prletariado militante l : 22-27 ; Josep Termes,
"La Primera Internacional en Espana ( 1 864-1 88 1 ) ," in Federlismo.
anarchosindicalismo y catalanismo ( Barcelona: Anagrama, 1 976) , 1 3 ;
and Max Nettlau, Miguel Bakunin, La Interacional y la Alianza en
Espaia (1868-1873), ed. Clare E. Lida (New York: Iberama, 1 97 1 ) ,
especiall y chaps. 1 and 2.
27. See Termes, Federlismo, 1 2-1 3 ; Fusi , "El movimiento obrero en Es
pana" ; and Esenwei n, Anarchist Ieology.
28. Termes, Federlismo, anarchosindicalismo y cataianismo, 7-9; C. A. M.
Hennessey, The Federl Republic in Spain (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1 962) ; Esenwei n, Anarchist Ideology.
29. Cited in Clara E. Lida, Anarquismo y revolucion en la Espana del X
(Madri d: Sigl o XXI, 1 972) , 1 50.
|e e SpO| m
247
30. Termes, Federalismo, 1 7-23 ; JoaquIn Romero Maura, ' The Spani sh
Case," Goverment and Opposition 5, no. 4 (Autumn 1 970) : 462-64;
Romero Maura, "Les origines de l ' anarcho- syndical i sme en Catalogne:
1 900-1 909," i n Anarchici e Anarchia nel mondo contemporaneo
(Torino: Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, 1 97 1 ) , 1 1 0-1 2; Renee Lamberet,
"Les travailleurs espagnols et leur conception de I' an archie de 1 868 au
debut de XXe siec1e," ibid. , 78-94.
3 1. Kaplan, Anarchists of Andalusia, 1 40.
32. Ibid. , 1 35-36; see also Clara Li da, "Agrarian Anarchism i n Andal usi a,"
International Review of Social Histor 14 ( 1 969) : part 3, especially
334-37. George Esenwein argues that these differences are overstated in
Anarchist Ideology, 1 07- 1 08 .
33. Kaplan, Anarchists of Andalusia, 1 66-67; see also her "Cl ass Con
sciousnes s and Community i n Nineteenth-Century Andalusi a," Political
Power and Social Theor 2 ( 1 98 1 ), 2 1 -57.
34. George Esenwein, Anarchist Ideology, 1 1 0-1 6.
35. Azucena Barba, interview with author, Perpignan, France, January 1 ,
1 982.
36. Kaplan, Anarchists of Andalusia, 202-205. See al so Dfaz del Moral ,
Historia de las agitaciones; and Victor Perez Dlaz, "Teorfa y conflictos
sociales ," Revista de occidente, no. 1 3 1 (February 1 974), especially
252-56.
37. Fusi, "E! movimiento obrero en Espana" ; Romero Maura, La rsa de
fuego, especially chaps. 1 and 2.
38. Lafftte, La mujer en Espana, 1 44-45 . Ellen Gates Starr, who, together
with Jane Addams, was to found Hull House in Chicago, was struck by
the militancy of female tobacco workers in Seville during her travels in
Spain i n 1 888. See EGS to her parents, May 2, 1 888, Ellen Gates Starr
papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, box 7, fle 2.
3 9. Balcel l s, "La mujer obrera," 6-22.
40. Fusi, "El movimiento obrero," 204; Capel Martinez, El trbajo y la edu
cacion, 42-43, 2 1 1 -30; Soto Carmona, "Cuantifcaci6n de l a mano de
obra femenina," 280-8 1 ; and Balcells, "La muj er obrera," 45 .
4 1 . Summarized i n Jose Gonzalez Castro, El trbajo de la mujer en fa
industria: Condiciones en que se efecta y sus consecuencias en el por
venir de la raza. Medidas de prtecci6n necesaria. Instituto de
Reformas Sociales, Secci6n segunda (Madrid: Imprenta de la sucesora
de m. Minuesa de los Rfos, 1 9 1 4) , 8.
42. Gonzalez Castro, 1 1 , 1 2, 27; see also Jose-Ignacio Garda Ninet,
"Elementos para el estudio de la evoluci6n hist6rica del derecho espanol
del trabaj o: regulaci6n de l a j ornada de trabajo desde 1 855 a 1 93 1 , II
parte," Revista de trbajo, no. 52 (4th trimester 1 975) : 30-32; and Juan
248 MO|l mO^. ^C<e' :Oe|Q
Paul fs, Las ohreras de fa aguja ( Barcel ona: Iberica, 1 9 1 3) , especial l y
1 9-25 .
43 . Marta Bi zcarrondo, "Los orfgenes del femini smo soci al i sts en Espana,"
in La mujer en la historia de Espana (siglos XVI-XX) , 1 36-38; Antoni o
Elorza. "Feminismo y social i smo en Espana ( 1 840-1 868) ," Tiempo de
historia ( February 1 975) : 46-63 .
44. Bi zcarrondo, "Los orfgenes," 1 39, 1 44, 1 46; Geraldine Scanl on, La
polem;ca feminista en fa Espana cOl1 temporunea ( 1 868-1 974), trans.
Rafael Mazarrosa ( Madri d: Si gl o XXI , 1 976) , 234.
45 . Aurora de Al bornoz, "Virgi ni a Gonzalez, Mujer de acci on," Tiempo de
historia, no. 32 (Jul y 1 977) : 26-29; Mary Nash, Mujer y movimienlo
obrer en Espana, 1 93/-/ 939 ( Barcel ona: Fontamara, 1 98 1 ) , chap. 4.
46. Nel ken, La condic;rn social de la mujer en E!pana, 6 1 -62 (quotati on) ,
99, 1 1 9.
47. Robert Kern, "Margarita Nel ken: Women and the Cri si s of Spanish Pol
i ti cs," i n Eurpean Women on the Lejt: Socialism, Feminism, and the
Prblems Faced by Political Women, / 880 to the Present, ed. Jane
Sl aughter and Robert Kern (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1 98 1 ),
1 59. George A. Col l ier di scusses the fai l ure of Huel va' s soci al ists ful l y
t o incorporate women, and t he consequences for women during the
postwar repression in "Social i sts of Rural Andal usia, 1 930-1 950: The
Unacknowledged Revol utionaries," unpubl i shed manuscript, Stanford
University, 1 984, especiall y 5 1 -52. Thi s theme i s addressed i ndirectly i n
Col l i er' s book, Socialists of Rural Andal usia: Unacknowledged
Revolutionaries of the Second Republic (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1 987), chap. 9.
48. Cited i n Capel Martinez, El trabajo y la educaci6n, 228.
4Y. t liberal (Madrid) , April 30, 1 89 1 , cited i n Bizcarrondo, "Los ori
genes," 1 43.
50. On the 1 901 strikes see Romero Maura, "La rsa de fuego, " 206-1 1 ; for
the 1 902 Barcelona strike see Ba1cel l s, "La muj er obrera," 48; al so Lola
Iturbe, La mujer en la lucha social y en la Guerr Civil de Espana
(Mexico, D. F. : Editores Mexicanos Unidos, 1 974), 52-56; Romero
Maura. , "La rsa de fuego, " 2 1 5 ; and Temma Kapl an, "Femal e
Consci ousness and Colective Acti on: The Case of Barcelona,
1 9 1 0- 1 9 1 8," Signs 7, no. 3 ( 1 982) : 545-67.
5 1 . Romero Maura, "Les origines," 1 1 5 ; "La Rosa de Fuego, " 498ff; Cesar
Lorenzo, Les anarchistes espagnols et Ie pouvoir 1 868-1 969 (Paris : Les
editions du seuil , 1 969) , 45-52.
52. Cristina Piera, interview, Santa Col oma, August 6, 1 981 .
5 3 . Lola lturbe, i nterview, Barcelona, August 4, 1 98 1 .
249
54. Joan Connel l y Ullman, The Tragic Week ( Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1 968) , especially 2 1 5 , 227, 232, 236, 241 -44, 28 1 ,
292-93.
55. Congreso de constituci6n de la Confedercion Nacional del Trhajo
(CNT, ed. Jose Peirats ( Barcelona: Cuadernos Anagrama, 1 976) ; see
also Congresos anarcosindicalistas en Espana 1 870-1 936 (Toulouse:
CNT, n. d. ) , 35-40.
56. Congreso de constitucirn de la Cdercion Nacional del Trbajo,
p. 65.
57. Congreso de constitucion, 90.
58. Capel Martinez, El trbajo y la educaci6n, 208-209.
59. Balcells , "La muj er obrera," 46; Capel Martinez, El trbajo y la edu
cacion, 234-35, 245.
60. Ci ted in Balcells , "La mujer obrera," 47.
6 1 . Kaplan, "Female Consciousness and Collective Action," especi ally
557-59; Bizcarrondo, "Los origenes," 1 42-53.
62. Lola Iturbo, interview, Barcelona, August 4, 1 98 1 ; Balcells , "La muj er
obrera," 49; and Capel Martinez, EI trbajo y fa educacion, 234-42.
63. Gonzalez Castro, EI trabajo de l a mujer en l a industria, 20-2 1 .
64. Maria de Echarri , Conferencia a las senors de Pamplona, 1 912, cited
i n Capel Martinez, EI trabajo y la educacion, 223; see also 2 1 7-22,
258-62. On Catholic unionizing efforts see Mercedes Basauri, "El fem
ini smo cristiano en Espana ( 1 900-1 930)," Tiemo de Historia, no. 57
(August 1 979) : 22-3 3 ; and Basauri, "La mujer social : Benefciencia y
caridad en la cri si s de la Restauraci6n," ibid. , no. 59 (October 1 979) :
28-43,
65 . Kaplan, "Female Consciousness and Collective Action," especially
560-64; Lester Golden, "Les dones com avantguarda; El rebombori del
pa del gener 1 9 1 8," L'avenr, no. 44 (December 1 98 1 ) : 45-5 2; and
Martha Ackel sberg and Myrna M. Breitbart, "Terrains of Protest:
Striking City Women," Our Genertion 1 9, no. 1 (Fall ] 987) : 1 5 1 -75.
66. Syndicalist from Badalona, cited in Golden, "Les Dones com avant
guarda," 50.
67. Balcells , "La muer obrera," 49.
68. Comici os Hi st6ricos de l a CNT, Memoria del Congreso celebrdo en
Barcelona los dias 28, 29 y 30 de junio y 1 de julio de 1918 (Toul ouse:
CNT, 1 957) , 83-84.
69. Dol ores Prat, i nterview, Toulouse, France, April 28, 1 988.
70. Eduardo Pons Prades, Un soLdado de la Republica: Memorias de La
Guerr Civil espanola, 1 936-/939 (Madri d: G. del Toro, 1 974), 23.
7 1 . Capel Martinez, EI trabajo y La educacion, 370, 374-75. See al s o "La
mujer en el reinado de Alfonso XIII," 1 82.
250 MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
72. Azucena Barha, i ntervi ew, Perpignan, France, August 1 5, 1 98 1 .
73 . Cl ara Lida, "Educaci6n anarqui sta en la Espana del ochoci entos,"
Revista de occidente, no. 1 97 ( April 1 97 1 ) : 33-47, especi al l y 40-42;
Paul Avri ch, The Modem School Movement: Anarchism and Educatio/l
in the United States (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 980; AK
Press, 2005) , 7.
74. From a l etter from Franci sco Ferrer y Guardi a to Jose Prat, ci ted i n
Avri ch, The Modem School Movement, 6.
75 . Ferrer y Guardi a, La escuela modema: P()stuma explicacion y alcance
de la enseianza rcionalista ( Barcel ona: Tusquets , 1 976) ; Pedro Costa
Muste, "La escuel a y la educaci 6n en l os medi os anarqui stas de
Catal ufa, 1 909-1 939," Convivium, nos. 44-45 ( 1 975) , reproduced as
the prol ogue to the Tusquets edition of La escuela modema; Pere Sol a,
Las escue/as racionalistas en Cataluia ( 1 909-1 936) ( Barcel ona:
Tusquets, 1 978) , 22-25; and Fel i x Carrasquer, Una experiencia de edll
cacion autogestionada: Escue/a 'Eliseo Reclus, ' calle Yallespir 1 84.
Barcelona. Aios 1 935-36 ( Barcel ona: Fel i x Carrasquer, 1 98 1 ), espe
ci al l y chaps. 1 and 2.
76. Cri sti na Piera, Interview, Santa Col oma, August 6, 1 98 1 .
77. Sol a, Escue/as rcionalistas, 203-1 4; Ti na Tomasi , ldeologia libertaria
y educacion (Madri d: Campo Abierto, 1 978) , especi al ly 1 79-86; and
Alej andro Tiano Ferrer, Educach5n libertaria y revolucion social.
Espana 1 936-39 (Madrid: Universi dad naci onal de educaci6n a distan
cia, 1 987) , chap. 2.
78. Igualdad Ocana. interview, Barcel ona, February 1 4, 1 979.
79. Ana Cases, personal communication, August 1 98 1 .
80. Valero Chine, interview, Fraga ( Aragon), May 1 1 , 1 979.
1 . Arturo Parera, i nterview, Barcelona, July 5, 1 979.
82. Juan Padre ny, Necesidad del excursionismo y su infuencia libertaria en
los individuos y los puehlos ( Barcel ona: Ateneo Iibertari o del Clot, "Sol
y Vida," Secci6n excursionismo, 1 934), 32.
83. Enriqueta Rovira, interview, Castellnaudary, December 28, 1 98 1 .
84. Sol edad Estorach, interview, Paris , January 6, 1 982.
85 . Azucena Barba, i nterview, Perpignan, January 1 , 1 982.
86. Enriqueta Rovira, interview, December 29, 1 98 1 .
87. Mercedes Comaposada, interview, Pari s, January 5, 1 982.
88. Intervi ew, Paris , January 3, 1 982.
3. Civil War and Soci al Revol ution
1 . Gabriel Jackson, The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1 931-1939
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 965) ; Shlomo Ben-Ami, The
Origins of the Second Republic in Spain (Oxford: Oxford Universi ty
Press, 1 978) ; Richard A. H. Robinson, The Origins ofFranco 's Spain:
The Right, the Republic and Revolution, 1 931-1 936 (Pittsburgh: The
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1 970) ; Paul Preston, The Coming of the
Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Second
Republic 1 931-1 936 (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1 978) ,
chaps. 3-7 ; Josep Fontana, "La Segunda Republica: una esperanza frus
trada," in La I Republica: Una espernzafrustrda, Proceedings of the
April 1 986 Conference on the Spanish Republ i c, held in Val encia
(Valenci a: Al fons e1 Magnanim, Instituci6 Valenciana d' Estudis i
Investigaci6, 1 987) , 9-22; and Manuel Tun6n de Lara, "Cri si s de l a
Segunda Republica?" ibid. , 23-36.
2. Pierre Broue and Emile Temime, The Revolution and the Civil War in
Spain, trans. Tony White (Cambridge: MIT Press 1 970) , 75-78. See al so
Gabriel Jackson, "The Spani sh Popular Front, 1 934-37," Joural of
Contemporar History 5 ( 1 970) : 2 1 , 28; and Stanley Payne, The Spanish
Revolution (New York, 1 970) .
3. For frther details on these struggl es, see Adrian Shubert, The Road to
Revolution in Spain: The Coal Miners ofAsturias, J 860-1 934 (Urbana:
University of Il l i noi s Press, 1 987) ; Gerald Brenan, The Spanish
Labyrinth, 284-95; and Jose Peirats, La CNT en fa revolucic5n espanola
(3 vol s, ; Pari s : Ruedo Iberico, 1 97 1 ), I : 93-1 04.
4. Ronald Fraser, Blood ofSpain: An Oral Histor ofthe Spanish Civil War
(New York: Pantheon, 1 979) , 83-1 04 and 5 1 3-74; Bookchin, The
Spanish Anarchists, chaps. 9 and 1 0. On agrarian reform see Edward
Malefaki s, Agrarian Reform and Peasant Revolution il1 Spain;
Ma1efakis , "EI problema agrario y la Republica," in La J RepIlblica,
37-8.
5. Pepita Carpena, interview, Montpellier France, December 30, 1 98 1 .
6. Cristina Piera, interview, Bada10na, August 6 , 1 98 1 .
7 . Soledad Estorach, interview, Paris, January 4, 1 982.
8. Enriqueta Rovira, interview, Castellnaudary, France, December 29,
J 98 1 .
9 . Concha Perez, interview with author, Barcelona, May 3, 1 988.
1 0. Mary Nash, "Las Mujeres en l a Guerra Civil ," introductory text t o the
memorial volume, Las mujeres en la Guerra Civil: Salamanca, 1 989
(Madri d: Ministero de Cultura, Direcci6n Genderal de Bellas Artes y
Archivos , 1 989) , p. 27. See also Nash, Defving Male Civilization:
Women in the Spanish Civil War, Women and Modern Revolution Series,
Jane Sl aughter and Richard Stites, Series Editors (Denver, CO: Arden
Press, Inc. , 1 995) , pp. 1 05-6.
252
MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
I I . H. E. Kami nski , Los de Barcelona, Pr610go de Jose Pei rats, transl ated
(from the French) by Carmen Sanz Barbera ( Barcel ona: Edi ci ones del
Cotal , S. A. , 1 976) , pp. 1 97-8.
1 2. Kami nski , Los de Barcelona, p. 1 95 ; see al so p. 1 96.
1 3 . Kami nski , Los de Barceluna, p. 2 1 0. See also Nash, Defyi ng Mal e
Ci vi l i zati on, pp. 1 08-9.
1 4. Concha Perez, i ntervi ew wi th author, Barcel ona, May 3, 1 988. See al so
Dol ors Marin, "Conxa Perez, al go mas que una mi l i ci ana," i n I ngrid
Strobl , Partisanas: La mujer en la resisteneia armada contra el laseis
mo y la oeupaeirn alemana ( 1 936-1 945) , Col ecci 6n Memori a
( Barcel ona: Vi rus Editori al , 1 996) , pp. 354-56. See al so Luis Marfa
Ji menez de Aberasturi , Casilda, milieiana: Historia de un sentimiento
(San Sebastian: Editorial Txertoa, 1 985) ; and J. Massot i Muntaner,
" Di ari o de l a mi l ici ana," EI desembarament de Bay 0 a Mal l orca, agost
setembre de 1 936 ( Barcel ona: Publ i caci ons de I ' Abadfa de Montserrat.
1 987) .
1 5 . See, especi al l y, Nash, "Las muj eres en l a Guerra Civi l ," pp. 25-27.
1 6. See Nash, Defving Male Ci vilization, p. 1 0 1 .
1 7. Even Mi ka Etchebehere, who actual l y hel d a posi ti on of command in the
Republ i can army duri ng much of the war, acknowl edged that women at
the fronts were cl early (treated as) anomal i es; and that even she felt that
she had to appear "super- strong" so as not to give even a hi nt of weak
ness. See Strobl , Partisanas, pp. 47-8; Rosari o Sanchez (another mi l i
ci ana, wi th soci al i st affl i ati ons) expressed simi l ar concerns, p. 72. See
also Etchebehere' s memoi r, Ma guerre d'Eagne a moi, Dossi ers des
lettres nouvel l es (Pari s : Denoel , 1 976) .
1 8. Nash, "Las muj eres en la Guerra ci vi l ," p. 27; see also Defing Male
Civilization, pp. 1 09-1 1 2.
1 9. See Nash, Defing Male Civilization, pp. 1 1 2-1 1 6.
20. See, for exampl e, Comite Local, "A les dones de Catalunya Organitzem
els Grups de Reraguarda! ," Tre ball , 1 2 setembre 1 936, cited in Nash,
Defing Male Civilization, p. 2 1 4.
2 l . "La capitana de Somosiera," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3. (otono de 1 938) . See
also "Nuestro sentido humano," Mujeres Libres, no. 5, Dia 65 de l a
Revoluci 6n, (octubre de 1 936) : " . . . we especially note the strong arm of
the woman brandishing a rife . . . " Or the cover of no. 7, VIII mes de l a
Revoluci 6n, which proclaimed "Con el trabaj o y l as armas defenderemos
las muj eres la libertad del pueblo." ["By work and arms we women will
defend the freedom of the people"] Similarly, "La lucha en Barcelona," in
Mleres Libres, no. 1 0 (II ano de la Revoluci6n) spoke gl owingly of the
expl oi ts of "la camarada Concha y Palmira, la companerita Pi l ar
Negrete . . . " who fought in Barcelona in the frst days of the war.
22. "Nuestro sentido humano," Mujeres Libres, no. 5 (Dfa 65 de l a
Revoluci6n) ; see also "Las muj eres en los primeros dfas de lucha,"
Mujeres Libres, no. 1 0, II ano de la Revoluci6n; and "Mujer de Iberia,"
Mujeres Libres no. 1 2, Mayo de 1 938.
23 . George Orwell , Homage to Catalonia (Boston: Beacon Press, 1 955) , es
pecially 3-6. The most comprehensive recent study of collectivization i s
Walther L. Bernecker, Colectividades y revoluci6n social: el anarquis
mo en la Guerr Civil Espanola, 1 936-1 939 (Barcelona: Criti ca, 1 982) ;
see al so Aurora Bosch, Colectivistas (1936-1 939) (Valencia: Almudfn,
1 980) ; and Bosch, "Las colectivizaciones : estado de la cuesti6n y aspec
tos regionales ," in La I Republica, 1 47-68.
24. Jose Peirats, interview, Montady, France, January 22, 1 979. Compare
Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread.
25. Estorach, interview, Pari s, January 4, 1 982.
26. Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, 5 .
27. Estorach, interview, Pari s, January 6, 1 982.
28. "Decret: Creaci6 del Consell de l ' Escola Nova U nifcada," 27 Julio
1 936, reproduced in Jose Peirats, La CNT en la revoluci6n espanola
(Pari s: Ruedo Iberico, 1 97 1 ) , Vol . I, p. 1 9 1 .
29. Emma Goldman to a friend, September 9, 1 936, NYPL-EG.
30. EG to Rudolf and Milly, October 1 , 1 936; see al so EG to Stell a [Ballan
tine] , September ] 9, ] 936, NYPL-EG.
3 1 . Rovira, interview, Castellnaudary, December 29, 1 98 1 ,
32. Eduardo Pons Prades directed me to Tapiolas 1 0, Barcelona and told me
about the remains of the workplace and recreational center. Reports
from the unifed building and construction trades union can be found in
AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Barcelona: 1 41 1 , 1 41 9, 628, 1 74, 855, 889, and 1 323 ;
also Memoria del primer Congreso regional de sindicatos de La
Industria de la Edcaci6n, Mader y Decorci6n de Cataluna, cele
brdo en Barcelona, los dlas 26, 27, y 28 de junio de 1 937 ( CNT- AIT,
n. p. , n. d. ) , AMB A. M. Entid. 259-4. 8; Memoria del primer Congreso de
sindicatos de la Industria de la Edicaci6n, Madera y Decorci6n
(Valenci a: CNT, 1 937) ; Memoria del primer Pleno de Comarcales de la
Industria de la Edicaci6n Mader y Decorci6n de Cataluna, celebra
do los dlas 5, 6 Y 7 de marzo de 1 938 en Barcelona (AHN/SGC- S, sec
ci6n propaganda, no. 242) . I am grateful to Rafael Puj ol for providing
me with copies of minutes from local committees, Carpeta 1 08, docu
mentos 882 and 883.
33. Minutes of these meetings can be found i n AHN/SGC-S, P. S. Barcelona:
1 82: September 29, 1 936 ( salary unifcation) ; October 20, 1 936 (work
er discipline) ; October 23-30, 1 936 (efforts to purchase coal from
Germany) .
254 MO|l mO^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
34. A hook of mi nutes of the Si ndi cato Uni co de l a Metalurgfa, Barcel ona,
CNT, Secci 6n Cal dareros en Cobre, for exampl e, begi ns with the report
of a meeting that took pl ace on Septemher 26, 1 93 1 , and continues
through December 1 936. AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Barcel ona: 1 428.
3S. Dol ores Prat, interview, Toul ouse, France, April 28, 1 988.
36. "Copia del texto que como mani festo l anz6 a l os trabaj adores l a j unta
central del si ndi cato de industri a fabri l y texti l de Badalona y su radi o el
dla 22 de Jul i o de 1 936, apl astado el movi mi ento de las fuerzas armadas
produci do el dla 1 9 en Barcel ona," and "Comuni cado," La Junta Central
del Si ndi cato de I ndustria Fabri l y Tcxti l de Badal ona y su Radi o,
Badal ona, Jul y 29, 1 936, both documents from the col l ection of Josep
Costa.
37. Costa, i ntervi ews, February 1 2 and 1 9, 1 979.
38. Perez-Bar6, intervi ew, Barcel ona, Jul y 1 4, 1 979. On worker control of
trams, see Wal ter Trauber, "Les tramways de Barcelone col l ecti vi ses
pendant la revolution espagnole ( 1 936- 1 939 ) ," Bulletin d '/lormation
F. I. E. H. S. , no. 2 ( March 1 977) : 8-S4.
39. Prat, i ntervi ew, Toul ouse, France, Apri l 28, 1 988.
40. There were frequent features, for exampl e, i n Sfder-metalurgfa, the
j ournal of the CNT uni on of the Barcel ona steel i ndustry, and i n
Espectaculo, a review published by Barcel ona entertainment workers
(CNT) .
4 1 . Mi nutes of the Central Committee of Worker Control for the Electricity
and Gas Industry in Cataloni a, for exampl e, refect fequent discussi ons
about the equal ization of salary scales across the industry. "Reunion del
Pleno del Comite Central de Control Obrero, celebrada a las 1 1 . I S
horas, del dia 29 de Septiembre de 1 936 . . . " AHN/SGC- S, P. S.
Barcelona: 1 82. See also AHN/SGC- S, PS. Barcelona: 626 (on textiles) ;
and Trauber, "Les tramways de Barcelone," 29. Also interviews wi th
Federi ca Montseny, Toul ouse, February 1 , 1 979; Jose Peirats, Montady,
France, January 22 and 23, 1 979; Josep Costa Font, Barcelona, February
1 2, 1 979; and Magi Mirabent, Barcelona, February 8, 1 979.
42. Pepita Carnicer, i nterview, Pari s, January 7, 1 982.
43. Teresi na Graell s, i ntervi ew, Montady, April 29-30, 1 988.
44. On this point, the work of Mercedes Vilanova on a collectivized steel
plant in Barcelona is i nstructive; her fndings were echoed, at least in
part, by anarchist activists, including Pons Prades (intervi ew, Barcelona,
August 1 98 1 ) , Andres Capdevila ( interview, Perpignan, France, July
1 979) ; Igualdad Ocana (interview, Barcelona, February 1 979) ; Pepita
Carpena ( interview, Montpellier, December 1 98 1 ) .
4S . Both Albert Perez Bar6 and Andres Capdevi l a reported in interviews
that there had been many problems "disciplining" these women: they
|eeWOmem Ol 255
were reluctant to work under the new system. But neither suggested that
the women' s resi stance might have a source other than l azines s or stub
bornnes s .
46. See, for exampl e, the letter from a woman worker t o the textil e workers '
union in Reus ( Catalonia), in which she said she would have to resi gn
from her union post and her role as factory committee del egate as a
result of her forthcoming marriage. AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Barcelona: 857.
47. Estorach, interviews , Paris, January 4 and 6, 1 982.
48. Material on the Lerida collective is based on documents l ocated i n
AHN/SGC- S, most particul arly, Sindicato Unico de Campesi nos ,
Colectividad AIT, CNT, Libr de Aetas, October 1 5, 1 936, to November
2, 1 937, P. S. Leri da: 3; and other documents of the same collective, P. S .
Lerida: 3 , 5 , 1 4, and 5 7 . Information on the di stribution of l andholdings
i s derived both from interviews and from Reparto Rustica, Lerida,
AMHL, 35, no. 2,433 .
49. Interviews, Lerida, May 1 979. See also Juan Domenech to Juan Garda
Oliver, May 1 938, I1SG/CNT: 35.
50. AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Aragon; 1 1 3 .
5 1 . For example, Arturo and Luzdivina Parera, interviews with author,
Sitges, Jul y 22 and 23, 1 979; see al so Fraser, Blood of Spain, especial l y
347-72. For contrary perspectives see Felix Carrasquer, Las colectivi
dades de Aragon: Un vivir autogestionado prmesa de futuro
( Barcelona: Laia, 1 986) , especially 27-28; and Gaston Leval , Espo[ne
libertaire 36-39 (L' oeuvre constructive de la Revolution espagnole)
(Pari s : Editions du Cercl e, Editions de la Tete de Feuil les, 1 97 1 ) .
52. Susan Friend Harding, Remaking Ibieca, 72. For her discus sion of the
constitution of the collective in Ibi eca see 61 -64.
53. Bosch, "Las colectivizaciones: estado de la cuestion y aspectos region
ales," in La I Republica, 1 47-68.
54. See, for exampl e, Aetas, Sindicato Agricola Colectivo de Al caniz, De
cember 4, 1 936, September 4, 1 937, AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Aragon: 1 36.
55. Myrna Margul ies Breitbart, "The Theory and Practice of Anarchist De
centralism in Spain, 1 936-39" (Ph. D. dis s . , Department of Geography,
Cl ark University, 1 977) ; and Prblemes da la construction et du foge
ment dans la revolution espagnole, 1936-39, ed, and trans , Bernard
CatHa ( Saill agouse, France: n. p. , 1 976) , Gonzal o Mata and Antonio
Alcazar showed me some of the canals built by CNT coll ectives in
Vi1anova i l a Geltru during the course of an interview, August 1 6, 1 98 1 .
56. Felix Carrasquer, interview, Barcelona, February 1 6, 1 979. See al so
Rudolf de Jong, "El anarquismo en Espana," in El movimiento libertario
espaiol: Pasado, presente, futur, Cuaderos de Ruedo Iberica ( special
i ssue, 1 974), 1 4-1 5 ; and Bosch, Cofectivistas, x I vii .
256 MO|l mO^. ^C<e` : Oe|Q
57. See, for exampl e, "En Motri l , en vez de di nero exi sten bonos de
rel aci on," Solidaridad Obrer, September 27, 1 936, 3 ; "Los pequeno
burgueses no deben al armarse," i bi d. , August 29, 1 936, 1 .
5S. On Monzon and Miramel , i ntervi ews wi th Matil de Escuder and Fel i x
Carrasquer, Barcelona, February 1 6, 1 979. For an overview of wages i n
col l ecti ves i n Catal oni a see "' L' Enquesta de l a Consell erfa sobre l a col
l ecti vi tzaci 6 de l a terra," Butlleti del Departament d'Agricultura 1 , no.
3 ( December 1 936): 2 1 -30; and 2, no. 4 (January 1 937) : 75-78.
59. I nformati on on wages i n Lerida comes from "Certi fi cats de Trebal l ,"
AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Leri da: 5 . On Tabernes de Val l di gna in Val enci a, see
"Col ecti vi dad productora ' EI Porveni r, ' de Tabernes de Yal ldi gna."
(UGT-CNT) , CLUEA, no. 4 (July 1 937) : 1 1 -1 3, repri nted in Bosch,
Colectivistas, 29.
60. On Fraga, i ntervi ew wi th Val ero Chi ne, Fraga, May 1 1 , 1 979. A s i mi l ar
pl an seems to have been i mpl emented in Al cafz. See Aetas, Si ndi cato
Agricol a Colecti vo, Al caniz, November 2 1 , 1 937, AHN/SGC-S, P. S.
Aragon: 1 36.
6 1 . Lihr de Aetas, entri es for December 20, 1 936, and Jul y 1 8, 1 937.
62. See the rul es of a col l ective i n Bi nefar, Realizaciones revolucionarias y
estructuras colectivistas de la Comanat de Monzon (Huesca)
( Confederaci on Nacional del Trabaj o de Espana, Regi onal de Aragon,
Ri oj a, y Navarra: Cultura y Accion, 1 977) , 85. Susan C. Bourque and
Kay B. Warren report simi lar patterns of defning "work" along sex l i nes
i n Women of the Andes (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1 98 1 ) , 1 1 4-26.
63. See Eduardo Pons Prades, Un soldado de l a Republica: Memorias de La
guerra civil e:aioZa (Madri d: G. del Toro, 1 974), 93ff; and AHN/SGC
S, P. S. Barcelona: 1 392 and 626.
64. Juan Garcia Oliver, Et eeo de los pasos (Barcelona: Ruedo Iberico,
1 978) , 1 7 1 ; Diego Abad de Santillan, Por que perdimos fa guerr? EI
Area de Papel ( Barcelona: Pl aza y Janes, 1 977) , 88, 1 24-25 ; and Cesar
Lorenzo, Les anarchistes espagnols et Ie pouvoir, 1 868-1 969, 1 02-1 0.
65 . Emma Goldman communicated her fears about these arangements to
many friends and comrades . See EG to My dear Mark [Mrachny] ,
October 3 , 1 936, NYPL-EG.
66. Burnett Bolloten, The Spanish Revolution (Chapel Hill : University of
North Carolina Press, 1 979) ; Pierre Broue and Emile Temime, The
Revolution and the Civil War in Spain; and Douglas Littl e, Malevolent
Neutrlity: The United States, Great Britain, and the Origins of the
Spanish Civil War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1 985) .
67. For further detail s see Martha Ackelsberg, "Women and the Politics of
the Spani sh Popular Front : Pol i ti cal Mobi l i zati on or Soci al
Free Wo of S1i n 25/
Revolution?" Interational Labor and Working- Class Histor, no. 30
(Fall 1 986) : 1 -1 2.
68. " Federica Montseny habl a en Madrid ante el micr6fono de Union
Radio," SoUdaridad Obrera, September 2, 1 936, 7.
69. "Es necesario que los trabaj adores cooperan a la obra de los camaradas
que ocupan los puestos de responsabilidad," Solidaridad Obrra,
September 30, 1 936, 1 ; related articles appeared on September 29 and
October 2.
70. "Importantfsimo manifesto de la CNT," Solidaridad Obrera, October 1 ,
1 936.
7 1 . EG to Rudolf, Barcelona, November 3, 1 936, NYPL-EG.
72. Actas, Comite Central de Control Obrer, Gas i Electricitat, November
1 8-1 9 and December 5, 1 936, AHN/SGC- S, PS. Barcelona: 1 82.
73. EG t o Senia F1 echine, London, February 23, 1 937; EG to a comrade,
Barcelona, December 7, 1 936, NYPL-EG; EG to Rose Pesotta, February
1 , 1 938, NYPL-RP, Special Correspondence, Box 1 0.
74. For further detail s on these changes, see Franz Borkenau, The Spanish
Cockpit (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1 963) , especially
chap. 2; George Orwell , Homage to Catalonia, chaps . 5, 7-1 2; Noam
Chomsky, "Obj ectivity and Liberal Scholarship," in American Per
and the New Mandarins (New York: Random House, 1 969), especi ally
72-1 58; and Bolloten, The Spanish Revolution.
75. EG to Ethel Mannin, November 1 8, 1 937, NYPL-EG.
76. Fraser, Blood of Spain, 321 -47; Vernon Richards, Lessons of the
Spanish Revolution (London: Freedom Press, 1 953) ; Garcia Ol i ver, El
eco de los pasos, chap. 3 ; and "Aetas del pleno naci onal de regional es,
CNT, septiembre 1 937," 2 1 ff, IISG/CNT, Paquete 48A.
77. EG t o the Dutch Pacifst, Wim Jong, February 1 0, 1 937, NYPL-EG, EG
t o Moll itchka [Mollie Stiemer] , January 1 9, 1 937. IISG/EG, no. 20094;
her address to the Extraordinary Congress in Paris of the IWBA [sic] ,
December 1 937. NYPL-RP, Special Correspondence. Box 1 0; and EG to
Max Nettlau, May 9, 1 937, Labadie Collection, University of Michigan
(Federico Arcos , who originally donated this material to the Labadie
Collection, supplied me with a copy).
78. Mariano M. Vazquez, for the National Committee of the CNT, and
Pedro Herrera, for the Peninsular Committee of the FAI , to EG, January
1 1 , 1 938, IISG/EG, #1 9 1 87 . I am grateful to Alice Wexler for calling
these letters to my attention. See Wexler' s Emma Goldman in Exile
( Boston: Beacon Press, 1 989), especially chap. 9.
79. Hugh Thomas , The Spanish Civil War ( New York: Harper and Row,
1 96 1 ) . Gabriel Jackson, The Spanish Republic and the Civil War
1 931-39; Edward Malefaki s, panel presentation, "Revolution and
258
MO|l mO^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
Counterrevol uti on" at the conference . , 1 936-1 986: From the Ci vi l War
to Contemporary Spai n, Perspecti ve on Hi story and Soci ety," Center for
European Studi es, Harvard Uni vers i ty, November 1 4- 1 6, 1 986.
80. Vazquez to EG, Pari s, February 2 L 1 939; March 5, 1 939, I 1 SG, Rocker
Archi ves, fi le 1 07.
8 1 . On the Franco years, see Loui s Stein, Beyond Death and Exile: Spanish
Repuhlicans in Frnce (Cambri dge: Harvard Uni versi ty Press, 1 979) ;
Li di a Fal con, Los hUos de los vencilos. 1 939-1949 ( Barcel ona: Pomaire,
1 979) ; Carlota O' Nei l l , Trpped in Spain, trans. Leandro Garza ( Toronto:
Sol i darity Books, 1 978) ; and Javi er Tusel l , Los hUos de La sangre: La
Espaia de 1 936 desde 1 9R6 ( Madri d: Espasa Calpe, 1 986).
4. The Foundi ng of Mujeres Li bres
1 . Ki ral i ne [Lol a I turbe] , "La educaci 6n soci al de la mujer," Tierr y
Lihertad 1 , no. 9 ( October 1 5 , 1 935) : 4.
2. Enri queta Rovi ra, i ntervi ew, Castel l naudary, December 28, 1 98 1 . For
contemporary paral l el s. see Sara Evans, Personal Politics: The Roots of
*"nen 's Liheration in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left
( New York: Knopf, 1 979) ; and El l en Kay Tri mberger, "Women i n the
Old and New Lef: The Evol ution of a Pol i t i cs of Personal Life,"
Feminist Studies 5 (Fall 1 979) : 432-50.
3 . Azucena Barba, intervi ew, Perpignan, December 27, 1 98 1 .
4. Pepita Carpena, i ntervi ew, Montpel l i er, France, December 30, 1 98 1 .
5 . Pura Perez Arcos, i ntervi ew, Windsor, Ontario, December 1 9, 1 984.
6. Mati l de Pill er, "Adonde va la mujer?" Estudios, no. 1 33 (September
1 934) : 1 8-1 9. Marv Berta made a si mi l ar argument i n "La vercacera
madre," Estudios, no. 1 2 1 ( September 1 933) : 40-4 1 .
7 . Montuenga, "Consideraciones sobre l a mujer," Solidaridad Obrera,
September 4, 1 935, 4.
8. CNT, El congreso confederal de Zaragoza. 1 936. Biblioteca
"Promocion del Puebl o" (Madrid: Zero, 1 978) , 237.
9. Federi ca Montseny, "La muj er: problema del hombre," i n La Revista
Blanca ( February-June 1 927) ; see also Mary Nash, "Dos intelectuales
anarquistas frente al problema de l a muj er: Federica Montseny y Lucia
Sanchez Saomi l ," Convivium ( Barcel ona: Universidad de Barcelona,
1 975) , 74-86.
1 0. Federica Montseny, "Femini smo y humanismo," La Revista Blanca 2,
no. 33 (October I , 1 924) ; see also "Las muj eres y las elecciones ingle
sas," La Revista Blanca 1 , no, 1 8 (February 1 5 , 1 924) . For a different
i nterpretation of Montseny' s views, see Shirley Fredericks, "Femi ni sm:
The Essential Ingredient i n Federica Montseny' s Anarchist Thought," i n
259
Eurpean Women on the Le, ed. Sl aughter and Ker, 1 25-45, especi al
ly 1 27-35.
1 1 . See Geraldine Scanlon, La polemica Jeminista en l a Espana contem
poranea (1868-1 974) , 1 95-209; and Maria Teres a Gonzal ez Calbet, "El
surgimiento del movimiento feminista, 1 900-1 930," in EI Jeminismo en
Espana: Dos siglos de historia, ed. Pilar Folguera (Madrid: Pablo
Iglesias, 1 988) , 5 1 -56.
1 2. Federica Montseny, "La Falta de ideal i dad en el feminismo," La Revista
Blanca 1 , no. 1 3 (December 1 , 1 923) , p . 3.
1 3. Federica Montseny, "Feminismo y humanismo," La Revista Blanca 2,
no. 33 (October 1 , 1 924) .
1 4. Montseny, "La falta de idealidad en el feminismo," 4; see al so Emma
Goldman, "Woman Suffrage," especially 1 98-201 , 208- 1 1 , and "The
Tragedy of Woman' s Emancipation," especially 2 1 5-1 7 i n Anarchism
and Other Essays.
1 5 . Igua\dad Ocana, i ntervi ew with author, Hospi tal et ( Barcel ona) ,
February 1 4, 1 979.
1 6. Teresina Torrel les, i nterview, Montady, April 29, 1 988.
1 7. The CNT and UGT had attempted a coordinated rising i n October 1 934
in protest against the reactionary pol icies of the government. In most
areas, the revolt failed, l argel y through lack of communi cati on and
cooperation. In the mining communities of Asturias, however, UGT and
CNT miners coordinated their activities and actually took over a num
ber of towns and cities before they were crushed by Moori sh troops sent
by the government. The "revolution of October" became a model for
prol etarian unity and a rallying cry for working-class organizing in the
ensuing years . See Adrian Shubert, The Road to Revolution in Spain.
1 8. Interviews with Pura Perez Arcos, Windsor, Ontario, December 1 6,
1 984, and Mercedes Comaposada, Pari s, January 1 982, April 1 988.
1 9. See chap. 2.
20. Mercedes Comapos ada, i nterviews, Pari s, January 3 and 5, 1 982; April
22, 1 988.
2 1 . John Brademas, Anarcosindicalismo y revoluci6n ( Barcel ona: Ariel ,
1 974), especial l y chaps. 5-7; Juan Gomez Casas, Historia de l a FA!
(Madrid: Zero, 1 977) ; Gomez Casas, His to ria del anarcosindicalismo
espanol ( Madri d: ZYX, 1 968) , especi ally 1 67-9 1 ; and Murray
Bookchi n, The Spanish Anarchists: The Heric Years , especi all y
241 -5 1 .
22. Soledad Estorach, conversation, Paris, April 27, 1 988.
23. Estorach, interview, Pari s , January 6, 1 982.
24. Soledad Estorach, interview with author, Pari s, January 4, 1 982. For
more i nformation about Federica Montseny and Libertad Rodenas see
Lol a Iturbe, La mujer en fa lucha social y en la Guerr Civil de Espaia
( Mexi co, D. F. : Mexi canos Uni dos, 1 974), 64-7 1 .
25 . Mercedes Comaposada, i ntervi ew, Pari s, April 22, 1 988.
26. Sol edad Estorach, i ntervi ew, Pari s , January 4, 1 982.
27. Mari ano Vazquez, "Mujer: factor revoluci onari o," appeared i n Soli
daridad Obrera, on September 1 8, 1 935 ; "Avanee: Por la el evaci 6n de l a
mujer," appeared i n Solidaridad Ohrer on October 1 0, 1 935, i n
response t o Sanchez Saorni l ' s fi rst three. "La cuesti 6n femeni na en nue
stros medi os" appeared i n fi ve parts on September 26 and October 2, 9,
I S, and 30, 1 935; "Resumen al margen," appeared on November 8.
Sanchez Saorni l ' s pieces are repri nted i n Mary Nash' s i mportant col l ec
ti on. "Mujeres Libres " Espaia, 1 936-1 939, 43-66.
28. Lucia Sanchez Saorni l , "La cuesti 6n femi ni na en nuestros medi os,"
Solidaridad Obrera, September 26, 1 935 .
29. See Mi guel Benj umea Garcia, "La muj er ante l a revol uci 6n,"
Solidaridad Obrera, October 6, 1 935, or Peter, "Una proposi ci 6n a I a
mujer," i bi d. , October 1 0, 1 935.
30. Stri ki ngl y, Solidaridad Obrer publ i shed an arti cl e a few days l ater i l
l ustrati ng her poi nt, "Cr6ni ca del di a: EI trabaj o de l a mujer,"
Solidaridad Obrera, October 2S, 1 935, 6.
3 1 . Lucia Sanchez Saorni l , "La cuesti 6n femeni na en nuestros medi os, I V,"
Solidaridad Obrer, October I S , 1 935, p. 2.
32. Sanchez Saorni l ' s arti cl e drew on Marfa Luisa Cobos, "A l a muj er, no;
a vosotros, prol etarios," Solidaridad Obrera, October 8, 1 935, 3.
33. See al so Jos e Alvarez Junco, La ideologia po[{tica del anarquismo
espaiol, 1868-/910 (Madri d: Siglo XXI, 1 976) , 302n; and Kahos,
"Mujeres . Emancipaos ! " Acracia, November 26, 1 937, 4.
34. M. R. Vazquez, "Avance: Por l a elevaci6n de l a muj er," Solidaridad
Obrera, October 1 0, 1 935. Similar claims appeared periodically in var
i ous anarcho- syndicalist j ournal s . See, for example, "Femeninas,"
Obrer Balear, Organo de 1a Federaci 6n Soci al i sta Balear, October 30,
1 93 1 , and a series of articles i n Cultura Obrera,
O
rgano de la
Confederaci 6n Regional del Trabaj o de Baleares y Portavoz de la CNT,
January 7, 1 935, and February 1 4, 1 935. I am grateful to Neus for
providing me with copies of these document s.
3S. Lucfa Sanchez Saorni l, "Resumen al Margen de l a cuesti6n femenina,"
Solidaridad Obrer, November 8, 1 935.
36. Letters, both from the editorial collective of Mujeres Libres to would-be
distributors and from supporters back to the editorial board; can be
found in AHN/SGC-S, PS. Madrid: 432. I am grateful to Mary Nash for
alerti ng me t o the location of these documents .
|eeWOmem OlSpO|
26 1
37. The frst i ssue appeared toward the end of May 1 936. According to a list
prepared by Mercedes Comaposada, there were four i ssues of the j our
nal edited before the war (of which two were of the brief newsl etter
sort) . A second i ssue appeared in June. Issue no. 4 was apparently being
prepared when the war broke out on July 1 9, but was never published.
The second extant i ssue (officially no. 5) dated Dfa 65 de l a Revoluci6n,
appeared in October 1 936. I am grateful t o Pura Perez Arcos for provid
ing me with a list, "Revista Mueres Libres," prepared by Mercedes
Comaposada.
38. Letter to Emma Goldman from the editors of Mujeres Libres, Madrid,
April 1 7, 1 936, AHN/SGC- 5, P. S. Madrid: 432. Goldman commented on
her receipt of the letter i n a note to a comrade, April 24. Thi s l etter i s
reproduced in David Porter, ed. , Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the
Spanish Revolution ( New Paltz, N. Y.: Commonground Press, 1 983) ,
254.
39. From a letter to Maria Luisa Cobos, April 20, 1 936. AHN/SGC- S, P. S.
Madri d: 432.
40. Lucia Sanchez Saornil t o Federica Montseny, Madrid, May 24, 1 936;
also Muj eres Libres to Campafero Hernandez Domenech (La Union),
Madrid, May 27, 1 936.
4 1 . Letter from Lucia Sanchez Saornil to compafera Marfa Luisa Cobos,
April 20, 1 936, AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Madrid, #432.
42. Mueres Libres to Compafero Ce1edonio Arribas (Soria) , Madrid, May
1 4, 1 936; and Editorial Committee to Camarada Moral es Guzman
(Granada) , May 7, 1 936.
43. Lucia Sanchez Saornil to Camarada Abad de Santillan ( Barcelona) ,
Madri d, May 6, 1 936.
44. Lucia Sanchez Saornil, for the Editorial Committee t o Compafero
Director of Solidaridad Obrer ( Barcelona) , Madrid, May 28, 1 936.
45 . From the Editorial Commi ttee to Compafera 10sefa de Tena (Merida) ,
Madrid, May 25, 1 936; and de Tena' s response, June 3, 1 936.
46. Lucia Sanchez Saornil t o Compafera Marfa Luisa Cobos, April 20,
1 936.
47. Lucia Sanchez Saornil, for the editors, to Camarada Morales Guman
[sic] ( Granada) , Madrid, June 1 4, 1 936.
48. See, for example, Carol Gilligan, In a Diferent Voice ( Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1 982) ; and Sara Ruddick, Maternal Thinking:
Toward a Politics of Peace (Boston: Beacon Press, 1 989) . For a criti cal
review of this literature see Martha Ackel sberg and Irene Di amond,
"Gender and Political Life: New Directions in Political Science," in
Analyzing Gender: A Handbook of Social Science Research, ed. Myra
Marx Ferree and Beth B. Hess (Beverly Hills : Sage, 1 987) , 5 1 5-1 8 .
262 MO|l mO^. ^C<e` : Oe|Q
49. Mujeres Lihres, May 1 936.
SO. Thi s arti cl e became part of her booklet Nino ( Barcel ona: Muj eres Libres
[ 1 937] ) .
5 1 . One exampl e of such a j ournal in an earlier period i s La mujer:
Peri(dico Cientiico, Artistico y Literario, publi shed in Barcel ona in
1 882.
5 2. For exampl e, AHN/SGC- S, P. S. Madri d: 432.
5 3 . "Estatuto de l a Agrupaci on de Muj eres Li bres," Articl e I .
54. Mercedes Comaposada, " Orfgen y actividades de l a Agrupaci on
' Muj eres Li bres ' " Tierr y Libertad, no. I I ( March 27, 1 937) : 8.
5 5 . "Henos aqui otra vez . . . " Mujeres Lihres, no. 5 (October 1 936) .
56. "Muj eres de Madrid: Prepanios a vencer," Mujeres, no. 1 2 (October 29,
1 936) : 3; see al so Aurora Morci l l o Gomez, "Femi ni smo y l ucha pol fti ca
durante 1 II Republ ica y l a Guerra civil," in El feminismo en Espana,
ed. Pi l ar Folguera, 75-76.
57. Dol ores Ibarruri , " Vivan l as muj eres heroicas del puebl o," Mujeres, no.
5 (October 1 936) .
5 8 . C01 panya I , no, I ( March 1 1 , 1 937) . See al so my "Women and the
Pol i ti cs of the Spanish Popul ar Front."
5. Education for Empowerment
1 . "Estatutos de la Agrupacion de Muj eres Libres," 4 pp. , Al fAfar
( Valenci a), n. d. , AHN/SGC- S, PS. Madri d: 432, Legaj o 3270; also
Federacion Nacional "Mujeres Libres," Comite Nacional , "A todos l os
Comites Regionales y Provinciales de l a Federacion Nacional Mujeres
Libres" (Barcelona. July 1 2. 1 938) . 1 . IISG/FA I : 4R. c l . a.
2. "Muj eres Libres tiene una personalidad," Mujeres Lihres, no. 8; and Etta
Federn, Mujeres de las revoluciones ( Barcel ona: Muj eres Libres
[ 1 9381 ) , 58.
3 . " Anexo al informe que la federacion Mujeres Libres eleva a los comites
s uperiores del movimiento libertario y al pleno del mismo," 2.
Federacion Nacional ' Muj eres Libres, ' Comite Nacional , Barcelona,
October 1 938, IlSGICNT: 40. cA.
4. "Resumen al margen de la cuestion femenina," Solidaridad Obrer, No
vember 8, 1 935 . See al so Emma Goldman, "La situacion social de la
muj er," Mujeres Libres, no. 6.
5 . "El problema sexual y la revolucion," Mujeres Libres, no. 9, and "Liber
atori os de prostitucion," Mujeres Libres, no. 5 . Compare Jose Luis
Aranguren, "La muj er, de 1 923 a 1 963," Revista de Occidente (Segunda
epoca) , nos. 8-9 (November-December 1 963) : 23 1 -43.
6. "Un acontecimiento historico," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 .
7. See, for example, Carol Gilligan, In a Di erent Voice; Sara Ruddick,
Materal Thinking; Mary Field Belenky et aI . , eds . , Women 's Ways of
Knowing: The Development of Sel Voice, and Mind (New York: Basic
Books, 1 986) ; and, for critical perspectives, Mary G, Dietz, "Citizenship
with a Feminist Face," Political Theor 1 3, no. 1 ( 1 985) : 1 9-37 ; and
Martha Ackelsberg and Irene Diamond, "Gender and Political Life."
8. Instituto Mujeres Libres, Actividades de L a F N Mujeres Libres
(Barcel ona: Muj eres Libres, [ 1 938] ) , See also "Realizaciones de
Mujeres Libres : Organizacion, Cultura, Trabajo, Maternidad," Tierr y
Libertad, July 30, 1 93 8 ; and Soledad Estorach, "Caracteres de nuestra
lucha," Tierra y Libertad, December 3, 1 938.
9. See the advertisement "Mujeres Libres," Tierr y Libertad, no. 47 (De
cember 1 0, 1 938) : 3, On the l iteracy campaign more generally sec
"Salvemos a las muj eres de la dictadura de la mediocridad: Labor cul
tural y constructiva para ganar la guerra y hacer la Revol ucion," Ruta, 2,
no. 29 ( April 30, 1 937) : 8 ; also "Realizaciones de ' Mujeres Libres, ' : La
Mujer ante el presente y futuro social ," in Sidermetalurgia (Rcvista del
sindicato de la Industria sfderometalurgica de Barcelona) 5 (November
1 937) : 9.
1 0. As announced in Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 ( 1 937).
I I . Pepita Carpena, interviews, Montpellier, December 30, 1 98 1 and Bar
celona, May 3 , 1 988; Conchita Guillen and Amada de No, interviews,
Montady, April 29 and 30, 1 988.
1 2. Anna Delso de Miguel , "Demarche evocatrice," Tris cents hommes et
moi (Montreal: Editions de la pleine lune, 1 989) : 48-55; interviews .
1 3. "Reglament per a l ' Applicaci6 del Decret del l O de Juliol del 1 937 que
Crea l ' Institut d' Adaptaci6 Profesional de la Dona," TTSG/CNT:
001 . A. 3 .
1 4. "Informes : Instituto de Adaptacion Profesional de l a Mujer," IISG/CNT:
001 . A. 3 . ; Federacion Local de Sindicatos Unicos, "Acerca del Instituto
de Adaptacion Professional," Boletin de Informacion, CNT-FAI , no.
393, September 24, 1 937; General itat de Catalunya, Escola profession
al per a la dona-Reglament (Barcelona: Casa d' A. F. Macia, 1 937) ; and
Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura, Les noves ill stitu
cions juridiques i culturaLs per a La dona (Setmana d' Activitats
Femenines, February 1 937) (Barcelona: Gnifcas Olivade Vil anova,
1 937) .
1 5 . "Realizaciones de ' Mujeres Libres, ' ' ' Tierra y Libertad, July 30, 1 938.
] 6. Interview, Pari s, January 4, 1 982. See also Soledad Estorach, "Escucha,
compafera," Acracia, February 6, 1 937.
1 7. Lucia Sanchez Saomil, for the National Committee of Muj eres Li bres,
to the national or peninsular committees of the CNT, FAl, and FUL
264
(December 1 3, 1 938) and to Juan Negrfn, presi dent of the Counci l of
Mi n i sters ( December 2 1 , 1 938) , I I SG/FAI : 48. C. l . a.
I X. For many months, Amada de N6 was responsibl e for thi s ki osk.
I nterview, Montady, Apri l 30, 1 988.
I g. "Acts de l a Segunda Sesi6n de l a Conferenci a Nacional de ' Mujeres
Li bres' Cel ebrada en Val enci a el Dfa 2 1 de agosto 1 937," and "Acta de
l a Tercera Sesi 6n de l a Conferenci a Naci onal de Mujeres Li bres
Cel ebrada en Val enci a en 2 1 de agosto a l as Cuatro de la Tarde," 6-8,
AHN/SGC-S. P. S. Madrid: 432.
20. Those named i ncl uded Sara Berenguer ( now Gui l l en) ( Barcelona),
Propaganda; Angel a Col ome ( Badal ona) , Pepi ta Margal l o ( Matar6),
Angel i na Cortez (Gui xol s) , and Pepi ta Carpena ( Barcel ona), Cul tura;
and Marfa Lufsa Cobos ( Barcel ona) and Agueda Abad ( Barcel ona),
Propagandi stas y Organi zadoras. "Presupuesto de l os gastos mensual es
del Comte Regi onal ' Mujeres Li bres ' de Catal ufa," Barcel ona,
November 3, 1 938, I I SGICNT: 40. CA.
2 1 . Pepita Carpena, i nterview, December 30, 1 98 1 .
22. Sol edad Estorach, i nterview, January 4, 1 982.
23. "Real i zaci ones de ' Mujeres Libres. ' " Tierr y Libertad, Jul y 30, 1 938, 4.
24. Mercedes Comaposada, i nterview, Pari s, January 5, 1 982.
25 . hEI trabaj o" and "EI accidente espiritual ," Mujeres Libres, no. 6.
26. "La muj er como productora," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 .
27. Pil ar Grangel , "El trabaj o intelectual y manual de l a mujer," Mujeres
Libres, no. 1 2; see also "Mujeres con carga," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 0, and
"Campesinas," Mujeres Libres no. 8.
28. "Trabaj o: Redoblemos el esfuerzo," Mujeres Libres, no. 6 (December
1 936) .
'1. "hi trabaj o," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3 .
30. Mercedes Comaposada, "Nivel aci6n de salarios ," Tierr y Libertad,
February 27, 1 937, cited in Nash, "Muj eres Libres," 1 50-52.
3 1 . "Actas del Pleno Nacional de Regionales del Movimento Libertario,"
Barcelona, October 1 938, 1 60, IISGICNT: 92. A. 3 . See al so "Hasta
cuando?" Mujeres Libres, no. 1 0.
32. "Hay sitio para todas," Mujeres Libres, no. 7.
33. "Muj eres de Espana," Mujeres Lib res , no. 1 2. See al so Pi l ar Grangel,
"EI trabaj o i ntelectual y manual de l a mujer," and "La muj er y l a tecni
ca" (in the same i ssue) .
34. "EI trabaj o," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3.
35. "La muj er como productora," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 .
36. "La mujer como productora," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 .
37. "La incorporaci6n de las mujeres al trabaj o," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 2.
38. "Las muj eres en los primeros dfas de lucha," Muj eres Libres, no. 1 0.
39. Pura Perez Arcos, interview, Windsor, Ontari o, December ] 6, 1 984; and
personal communication, June 5, 1 989.
40. As reported by Marfa Gimenez, "Una colectividad: Amposta," Mujeres
Libres, no. 1 1 ; see also, in that same issue, Marfa Perez, "Utiel revolu
ci6nario"; also Marfa Gimenez, "Aragon revolucionario," in no. 1 0, and
"Campesina," in no. 1 3 .
4] . Soledad Estorach, interview, January 4, 1 982.
42. Comite Nacional de Muj eres Libres , "Circul ar a l os Comites
regional es," May 1 0, 1 938, fragment in ITSG/FAI; 59; als o cited in
"Informe que esta federaci6n eleva a los comites nacionales del
movimiento libertario y a los delegados al pleno del mismo," 6,
IlSG/CNT: 40. CA. For a direct appeal to women see "La mujer en el
Sindicato," Acracia, November 1 9, 1 937, 2.
43. "Aetas ," August 2 1 , 1 937, 6; and Aurea Cuadrado, "Adaptaci6n Profe
sional de l a Muj er," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 .
44. Those by Etta Federn were l ater publi shed as Mujeres de las revolu
ciones; those by Kiralina [Lola lturbe] appeared i n La mujer en la lucha
social.
45 . Amada de N6, interview, Montady, April 30, 1 988. Mujeres Libres ran a
brief article on the 70th Brigade, accompanied by a picture of Mika
EtcheMMre, Captain of its 1 4th Division, in i s sue no. 1 0. See also
EtcheMhere, Ma guerre d'Espagne a moi, Dossiers des lettres nouvelles
(Pari s : Denoel, 1 976) .
46. On women at the battlefronts see "La capitana de Somosierra," Ml.eres
Libres, no. 1 3 . The shooting range for women in Madrid was noted in
Actividades de fa FN Mujeres Libres, 2; and the section on "war sports"
in Catalonia i n "Actividades de Mujeres Libres," Mujeres Ubres, no. 1 2.
47. Federn, Mujeres de las Revoluciones, 5 ; also Lucia Sanchez Saornil , "El
dfa de la muj er, commemorado por el Comite de Muj eres contra la
Guerra y el Fascio," Hors de Revolucion (Barcelona: Muj eres Libres
r 1 937] ) , 52.
48. Federica Montseny, "Acci6n de l a mujer en l a Paz y en l a guerra: El pro
greso es la obra de todos," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3 .
49. Aurea Cuadrado, "Superaci6n," Mujeres Ubres, no. 1 3; Mercedes Co
maposada, Esquemas (Barcelona: Mujeres Libres, n. d. ) ; and Comite
Nacional , Mujeres Libres, Como organizar una agrupacion Mujeres
Libres (Barcelona: Muj eres Libres, n. d. ) . The latter two are reprinted in
Mary Nash' s anthol ogy, "Mujeres Libres " Espana, 1 936-J939
(Barcelona: Tusquets, 1 976), 1 1 5-1 8, 75-85.
50. lI se, "La doble lucha de l a muj er," Mujeres Libres, no. 7; see also "La
mujer y el problema de la libertad," Acrcia, June I S , 1 937.
266
5 1 . ' La Pas i onari a [Dol ores Ibarruri J , "Cri t a l es dones: Endavaut ! "
Companya, n o. I ( 1 936) .
52. Mercedes Comaposada, i ntervi ew, Pari s , January 5, 1 982. On con
sci enti ous motherhood in the U. S. context, see Li nda Gordon, Woman 's
Body Woman '. Right: A Social History of' Birth Contrl in America
( New York: Pengui n, 1 974).
5 3 . Lucfa Sanchez Saorni l , "La cuesti on femeni na en nuestros medi os, I V"
Solidaridad Obrer, October I S, 1 935, 2.
54. Pi l ar Grangel , "En vez de crft i ca: sol uci ones," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3 .
5 5 . Thi s quotati on adorned the cover of Mujeres Lihres, no. 1 2 ( 1 938) .
56. Etta Federn, "Materni dad y Maternal i dad," Mujeres Lihres, no. 1 2; and
"Maternidad," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3 .
57. Amparo Poch y Gasc6n, Nino ( Barcel ona: Muj eres Li bres , n. d. [ 1 937? 1 )
58. On Al exandra Kol l ontai , 45, and on Angel i ca Bal abanof, 37, in Mleres
de las revoluciof7es.
59. Amparo Poch y Gascon, Niflo ( Barcel ona: Muj eres Li bres, n. d. 1 1 937] ) .
60. Teresi na Torrel l es, i nterview. Montady, France, Apri l 29, 1 988.
6 1 . "Pueri cul tura," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3 .
62. Aurea Cuadrado, "Nuestra l abor en l a casa de materni dad de Barcel ona,"
Mujeres Lihres, no. 7.
63. " Notes I nformati vas," Instituto de pueri cultura y maternologfa, Bar
cel ona, April 3, 1 938. See al so "Manifesto de l os compaferos respons
abi es tecnicos, sindical es, y administrativos del Insti tuto de Puericul tura
y Maternologia, Hospi tal del Puebl o, y Hospital de Sangre de Pueblo
Nuevo, a Todos los Militantes y Affi l i ados que pertenecen a los si ndi
catos de l a Confederacion Nacional del Trabaj o de Barcelona," May 3 ,
1 93 8 (both i n IISG/CNT: 40. C. ) .
64. For example, "Nifos," i n Mujeres Libres, no. 5 ; and "Nifos ," by
Florentina in Mujeres Libres, nos. 9 and 1 1 .
65 . "Nifos , Nifos, Nifos," Mujeres Libres, no. 5 , Dia 65 de la Revolucion
(October 1 936).
66. Etta Federn. "La cruel dad y la ira del nifo," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 I .
67. Florenti na, "Nifos," Mujeres Lihres nos . 8 , 9, 1 0, 1 1 , and 1 2; "Educar
es equili brar," Mujeres Libres, no. 7 ; and Etta Federn, "Mi ideal de una
escuela," Tiempos nuevos (July-August 1 937) , nos . 7-8.
68. On the i mportance of a "ft" between educational institutions and au
thority rel ations in society see Harry Eckstein, Division and Cohesion in
Democracy (Pri nceton: Princeton Universi ty Press, 1 966), chap. 7;
Carole Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theor (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1 970) , chap, 2; Dennis F. Thompson, The
Democrtic Citizen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 970) ;
John Rawl s, A Theor of Justice, chaps. 5 and 8; and Michael Walzer,
Free Women of pai n
267
Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Plurlism and Equality (New York:
Basic Books, 1 983) , chap. 8.
69. Florentina, "Nifos ," Mujeres Libres, no. 8 ; also "Infancia sin escue1a,"
Mujeres Libres, no. 1 2; Pilar Grange1, "Pedagogia," Mujeres Libres, no.
1 0; Etta Federn, "Eli min ad el miedo," Mujeres Libres, no. 9; "De poco
servinin todos l os sacrifcios ," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 3 .
70. Summari zed from "Ensefanza nueva," Mujeres Libres, no. 6.
7 1 . Poch y Gasc6n, La vida sexual de la mujer (Valencia: Cuadernos de
Cultura, 1 932) , especially 22, 26, 3 1 ; "La autoridad en el amor y en la
sociedad," Solidaridad Obrer, September 27, 1 935, I ; and "La con
vivencia, antidoto del amor," Solidaridad Obrer, December 1 9. 1 936,
8.
72. Federn, Mujeres de las revoluciones, 44.
73. See also "Ante que te cases, mira 10 que haces," Mujeres Libres, no. 7.
74. Sara Guillen, interview, Montady, April 29, 1 988; see al so Antonina
Rodrigo, "Nuestras muj eres en la Guerra civil," Vindicacion feminista,
no. 3 (September 1 , 1 976): 37.
75. "La ceremonia matrimonial 0 la cobardia del espiritu," Hors de revolu
cion, 24-26, citation from 25 ; see also "Con la l ibertad sexual l os hom
bres y las muj eres dej arian de ser esclavos incluso de la moral mas roj a,"
Acrcia, August 1 9, 1 936.
76. Michel Froidevaux, "Les avatars de l ' anarchi sme: l a revolution et l a
guerre civile en Catalogne ( 1 936-1 939), vues au travers de l a presse
anarchiste," 2 vol s . , typescript, International Institute for Social History,
Amsterdam, 2 1 2.
77. "Liberatorios de Prostituci6n," Mujeres Libres, no. 5 .
78. For example, "Nota local," Acrcia, July 1 4, 1 937; "Saboteando l a
revoluci6n," Acrcia, January 1 , 1 937; and "Muj eres Libres," Ruta,
January 2 1 , 1 937.
79. For example, Nita Nahuel, "Los que deshonran al anarquismo," Mujeres
Libres, no. 7.
80. Pepita Carpena, interview, Barcelona, May 3, 1 988.
8 1 . "El problema sexual y l a revoluci6n." Mujeres Lib res , no. 9. See also
Amparo Poch, La vida sexual de La mujer, 25 ; and Lucia Sanchez
Saorni l , "La cuesti6n femenina en nuestros medi os: V," Solidaridad
Obrer, October 30, 1 935, 2.
82. "Acciones contra l a prostituci6n," Mujeres Lib res , no. 1 1 . Compare
Emma Goldman, "The Trafc in Women," especi ally 1 78-79, 1 84-86,
and "Marri age and Love," especially 228-3 1 , both in Anarchism and
Other Essays.
83. See "Nuestra l abor en la casa de maternidad de Barcelona," Mujeres
Libres, no. 7; "La enorme labor del Ministerio de Sanidad y Asistencia
268 MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
Soci al ," Mujeres Libres, no. 8, "Nuevas conqui stas para Asi stencia
Soci al ," Mlieres Lihres, no. 1 0.
84. Lol a I turbe, in parti cul ar, emphasi zed the i mportance of thi s reform, and
the number of women who took advantage of it, in an i nterview August
4, 1 98 1 . A few articl es in the col umn "La mujer en l a l ucha" of Tierr y
Libertad made reference to the avai l abi l ity of abortion ( see, for exam
ple, Jul y 3 , 1 937); but there was no ment i on i n Mujeres Lihres. See also
Mary Nash, "EI neomaltusi ani smo anarqui sta y l os conoci mi entos pop
ul ares sobre el control de natal i dad en Espana."
85. Jul i a Mi rabe de Val l ej o, i nterview, i n I sabel l a Cuenca, "La mujer en el
movi mi ento l i bertari o de Espana durante l a Segunda Republ i ca
( 1 93 1 - 1 939) ," thesi s, Uni versite de Toul ouse Le Mi rai l , I nstitut
d' Etudes Hi spani ques et Hi spano-Ameri cai nes, 1 986. I am grateful to
Sara Berenguer Gui l l en for lending me her copy of this thesi s.
86. Soledad Estorach, i ntervi ew wi t h author, Pari s, France, January 4, 1 982.
The puritan streak was al so evi dent i n arti cl es i n Mujeres Lihres. See, for
exampl e, Etta Federn, "Materni dad y Maternal i dad," Mlieres Lihres, no.
1 2; "Fi estecitas que no deben propagarse," Mleres Libres. no. 1 3 ; and
"Val enci a: Cartel eras permanentes," Mujeres Lihres, no. 8.
87. Enri queta Rovi ra, for exampl e, was effectivel y ostracized by many of
her movement comrades for endi ng a relati onship with her companero
after the war. Sara Guillen, Pepita Carpena, and Azucena Barba all
reported observi ng similar atti tudes .
88. Suceso Portales, interview, Mostol es (Madrid), June 29, 1 979; Pepita
Carpena, i nterview, Barcel ona, May 3 , 1 988. Others I interviewed,
though they did not use the word "l esbian," made frequent reference to
Lucia' s companera, Mary.
89. Soledad Estorach, interview with author, Pari s, France, January 4, 1 982.
90. See, for exampl e, letter from Fel i sa de Castro, secretary of Mujeres
Libres in Barcelona, to SIA, June 9, 1 938, IISG/CNT: 64. C. 4.
9 1 . Anna Del so de Mi guel, Trois cents hommes et moi , especially 42-56.
92. Conchita Guillen, interview, Montady, Apri l 30, 1 988.
93. Amada Victori a de No Galindo, interview, Montady, April 30, 1 988.
94. Sara Berenguer Guillen, interview, Capestang, France, April 30, 1 988;
personal communication, August 1 989.
95. Federacion Nacional Mujeres Libres, Comite Nacional, "A todos l os
Comites Regionales y Provi nciales de l a Federacion Nacional Muj eres
Libres."
269
6. Separate and Equal ?
1 . "La personnalite de ' Femmes Libres, ' " Mujeres Libres: Bulletin
d'Information IISG/FAI: 48. c. I . a; al so "Anexo al informe que la
Federaci6n Muj eres Libres eleva a los comites superiores del movimien
to libertario."
2. "Anexo al informe," 1 . See also "Algunas consideraciones del Comite
Nacional de Muj eres Libres al de la CNT sobre la importanci a politica
de aquella organizaci6n," undated, contained in memorandum from
CNT National Committee to organizational delegates , Barcelona,
January 20, 1 938, p. 1 , IISGICNT: 45. B. I 7.
3 . Nash, Mujer y movimiento obrer, 1 76.
4. See La Mujer ante L a revoluci6n, Publicaciones del secretariado femeni
no del POUM ( Barcelona, 1 937) ; Nash, Mujer y movimiento obrer;
Ackelsberg, "Women and the Politics of the Spanish Popular Front :
Political Mobilization or Social Revolution?", 5; and Antonina Rodrigo,
"Nuestras mujeres en la Guerra Civil," 39-40.
5 . Emilia Elias , Por que luchamos ? cited in Nash, Mujer y movimiento
obrer, 244.
6. Muj eres Libres , "Algunas consideraciones del Comite Nacional "; "In
forme que esta federaci6n eleva a los comites nacional es del movimien
to libertario y a l os delegados al pleno del mismo," Barcelona,
September 1 938, pp. 1 , 8, IISGICNT: 40. C. 4; Federaci6n Nacional
Muj eres Libres , Comite Nacional, Circular n. , Barcelona, July 12, 1 938,
IISGIFAI: 48. C. l . a; and Emma Goldman to Mariano Vasquez, October
7, 1 938, IISG/CNT: 63 . C. 2.
7. "Informe que esta Federaci6n eleva; " 6.
8. The text is reproduced in ibid. , 2-3 .
9. Ibi d. , 7. Nevertheless, letters and articles in Acrcia, the anarchist daily
in Lerida, appealed to anarchist women to participate in the AMA. Anna
Cunsigne, "Lletres de dona," Acrcia, December 2, 1 937, 1 ; and Una de
ellas. "Las muj eres de retaguardi a por los luchadores del frente," ibid. ,
December 3, 1 937, 4.
10. Comite Regional Muj eres Libres "Circular no. 1 de Informacion,"
March 7, 1 938, JISGICNT: 40. CA.
1 1 . Lucia Sanchez Saornil , "Actitud clara y consecuente de Mujeres Libres .
En respuesta a Dolores Ibarruri," Solidaridad Obrer, August 1 1 , 1 938,
repri nted in Nash, "Mujeres Libres, " 1 09-1 2.
1 2. Mercedes Comaposada, interview, Pari s, January 5 , 1 982.
1 3 . Federaci6n Nacional Muj eres Libres, "Aetas de I a conferencia nacional
celebrada en Valencia," August 21 -23 , 1 937," AHN/SGC- S, P. S.
Madrid: 432.
270 MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` : Oe|Q
1 4. Mercedes Comaposada, i ntervi ews, Pari s, January I and 3, 1 982.
1 5 . "ACTAS de l a conferenci a naci onal ," 9.
1 6. I bi d. , August 2 1 , 1 937.
1 7. "Anexo al i nforme," 3.
1 8. Muj eres Li bres, Valencia, to Peni nsul ar Commi ttee of the FAl , August
1 7, 1 937, I ISG/FAI : 48. C. l . a.
1 9. Letter from J. Domenech, Secretary, Catal an Regional Commi ttee of the
CNT, November I I , 1 937, transmi tti ng Ci rcul ar no. I I from CNT
Nati onal Commi ttee, Valenci a, November 6, 1 937, I I SG/CNT: 48. B. 1 .
20. Amada de No, i ntervi ews, Montady, Apri l 30, 1 988.
2 1 . "Una publ i cacion i nteresante Mujeres Li bres," Acracia, Jul y 27, 1 937,
p. I ; "Dfa tras dia: Transformaci 6n soci al si n decretos," i bid. , September
4, 1 937, p. I ; "Muj eres Li bres," i bi d. , November 23, 1 937, p. 4.
22. Mercedes Comaposada, i ntervi ew, Pari s, January 7, 1 982. Letters can
also be found i n AHN/SGC-S, P. S. Madri d: 432.
23. See the mi nutes of the organi zati on of ateneos l i bertari os of Madri d,
Jul y 29, 1 937, August 1 9, 1 937, September 1 6, 1 937, February 1 9, 1 938,
Apri l 1 4, 1 938. Circul ar no. 7 of the Commi ssion on Anarchi st and
Confederal Propaganda, Madrid, January 29, 1 938, si mi l arly incl uded
Muj eres Li bres in its scope. Both documents i n AHN/SGC-S, P. S.
Madri d: 1 7 1 2.
24. "I nforme que esta Federaci6n el eva," 8-9.
25 . Propaganda Secti on, Levanti ne Regi onal Commi ttee, Muj cres Librcs, to
Peni ns ul ar Commi ttee, FAI , 3 - 1 - 1 93 8, and response, I I SG/FAI :
48. C. l . c . ; Catalan Regional Committee, Muj eres Libres, t o Catalan
Regional Commi ttee, CNT, February 2 and 26 and October 6, 1 938, and
responses, I I SG/CNT: 40. C, 4. ; National Propaganda Section, Muj eres
Li bres , t o Peni nsul ar Commi ttee, FI, March 1 93 8, IISG/FAI :
48. C. l . a. ; and the exchange of letters between Lucia Sanchez Saornil,
for the National Committee of Muj eres Libres, to Germinal de Sousa,
Peni nsul ar Committee, FAI, November 22, 1 938, IISG/FAI: 48. C. 1 . a.
Copi es of correspondence between the Catalan Regional Commi ttee of
Muj eres Libres and the Catalan Regional Committee of the CNT can
al so be found in AHN/SGC- S, P. S . Barcelona: 1 049.
26. See Nancy Hewitt and Jacquel yn Hall, presentations i n "Disorderly
Women: Gender, Politics and Theory," Berkshire Conference, Wellesley
Coll ege, June 1 987; and Marie Marmo Mul l aney, Revolutionar Women:
Gender and the Socialist Revolutionar Role (New York: Praeger, 1 983) ,
53-96.
27. For example, Lucia Sanchez Saornil , for the National Committee, Mu
j eres Libres, to the Peninsular Committee, FAI, Val encia, October 6,
|eeWOmem Ol SpO| m 27 1
1 937, IISG/FI : 48. C. l . a. and Regional Committee, Muj eres Libres to
Regional Committee, CNT, August 2, 1 938, IISGICNT: 40. C. 4.
28. Federacion Nacional Muj eres Libres, "Algunas consideraci ones del
Comite Nacional de Muj eres Libres al de la CNT," especially 3.
29. D. G. T. , Federacion Local Barcelona, Secretari o de Organizacion de l a
Federacion Local D. G. T. , "AI Sindicato . . . " Barcelona, March 1 6, 1 938,
AHN/SGC-S, P. S. Barcelona: 628.
30. Muj eres Libres ' letter, March 1 2, 1 937; response, March 20, IISGIFAT:
48. C. I . a.
3 l . Mercedes Comaposada, Barcelona, June 1 937, IISG/FAI: 48. C. l . a.
32. Propaganda Section, Levantine Regional Committee, Muj eres Libres, t o
Peninsular Committee, 3 1 - 1 - 1 938; and response from the Peninsular
Committee, February 1 , 1 938; IISG/FAI: 48. C. l . c; also Lucia Sanchez
Saornil to Peninsular Committee, FAI, March 1 0, 1 938.
33. Goldman to Vazquez, October 7, 1 938, IISGICNT: 63. C. 2.
34. Vazquez to Goldman, October 1 1 , 1 938, IISGICNT: 63. C. 2.
35. Pepita Carpena, interview, Barcelona, May 3, 1 988. For a sl ightly dif
ferent version of the story see Pepita Carpena, "Spai n 1 936: Free
Women. A Feminist, Proletarian and Anarchist Movement," 5 I , i n
Women of the Mediterranean, ed. Monique Gadant, trans. A. M. Berrett
(London: Zed Books, 1 986).
36. FIJL, National Committee, Women' s Bureau, Circular no, 1 , Valencia,
November 4, 1 937; FIJL, Women' s Bureau, Circular no. 1 , April 1 9,
1 938, both in IlSG/FAI: 48. C. l . d. See also "La j uventud actual y l a
emancipacion juvenil feme nina," Acrcia, January 1 1 , 1 937.
37. FIJL, National Committee, Women' s Bureau, Circular no. 3, Valenci a,
November 25, 1 937, 2 pp. typescript. IISG/FAI: 48. C. I . d. See al so
"Dictamen Que Presenta l a Ponencia a l a Consideracion del Congreso,
Sobre el 4 Punto del Orden del Dia Apartado Tercero" (from the second
National Congress of FIlL, February 1 938) , 1 p. typescript, AHN/SGC
S, P. S. Barcelona: 903 ; and Carmen Gomez, for the FIJL Women' s
Bureau t o the FAI Peninsular Committee, March 22, 1 938, lISG/FAI
48. C. l . a.
38. "Del Movimiento de Muj eres Libres" AHN/SGC-S, P. S. Barcelona: 903.
39. Carmen Gomez, from the Peninsular Committee, Women' s Bureau,
FIJL, to Regional Committee, Barcelona, July 23, 1 938. AHN/SGC-S,
P. S. Barcelona: 903 . See also "Conversacion con la compafera Suceso
Portal s [sic] , Secretaria del Subcomite NacionaI de Muj eres Libres en eI
dia 16 de diciembre de 1 938," 2 pp. typescript, IISG/FAI: 48. C. 1 . d.
40. "Formas y Actividades a Desarrollar por la Secretarfa Femenina, Po
niendo en Pnictica Diversos Procedimientos a Nuestro Alcance," 3 pp,
typescript, p. 2, AHN/SGC-S, P. S. Barcelona: 903 .
272
MO|l mO^. ^C<e` : Oe|Q
41 . FIJ L, Comite Peninsul ar, Secretaria Femenina, "I nforme que presenta l a
Secretarfa Femeni na del Comi te Peni nsul ar sobre el sexto punto del
orden del dia del proxi mo pleno naci onal de regi onales de la FI JL que
ha de cel ebrarse en Barcel ona," Barcel ona, October I , 1 938; see also
"Exposi ci on del probl ema de l as rel aciones de l as secretarfas femeni nas
de l a FIJL con Muj eres Li bres, que presenta a estudio de l as regionales
l a Secretarfa Femeni na Peni nsul ar," Barcel ona, September 8-9, 1 938.
AHN/SGC- S, PS. Barcel ona: 1 40.
42. "I nformc que presenta," 6. See al so "Di ctamen Que Presenta la Ponenci a
a l a Consi deraci 6n y Aprobaci on del Congreso" and "Formas y
Acti vi dades a Desarrol l ar."
43 . Pura Perez Arcos, i ntervi ews, Wi ndsor, Ontari o, Canada, December 1 6,
1 984; and New York City, September 1 0, 1 989; and Pura Perez Arcos,
"Evocaci 6n de un vi aje," unpubl i shed manuscript, 1 985.
44. "Actas del Pleno Naci onal de Regi onal es del Movi mi ento Li bertari o,
CNT-FAI -FIJL (cel ebrado en Barcel ona durante l os dias 1 6 y sucesi vos
del mes de octubre de 1 938) ," Barcel ona, 1 938, 226 pp. typescript.
I I SGICNT: 92. A. 3. ; see al so Jose Pei rats , La CNT en fa revollci6n
espanola, 3 vol s. (Pari s: Ruedo Iberico, 1 97 1 ) , I I I : 253 .
45 . "Anexo a l i nforme."
46. "Actas del Pleno Naci onal de Regi onal es," 1 62, 1 63 .
47. "Di ctamen que l a Federaci6n Nacional Muj eres Libres elabora a peti
ci 6n del Pl eno de Conj unto Libertario, para su discusi6n por l a base de
las tres organizaciones, FAI, CNT, FIlL," 2 pp. , undated, IISGICNT:
40. C. 4.
48. Nash, 'Mujeres Libres ' Espana, 1 936-1 939, 1 9.
49. "Aetas del Pleno Nacional de Regionales ," 1 5 8 ; al so Juan Garcia Oliver,
1 eco de los pasos, 1 28.
50. "Aetas," 2 1 0-1 3; "Dictamen que emite l a ponenci a nombrada para el
estudio del cuarto punto del orden del dia: ' Forma de ayudar a las
JJ. LL. , ' " 2 pp. Typescript, Barcelona, October 27, 1 938; and CNT, AIT,
Comite Naci onal, "Circular N 35: A l os Comite Locales y Comarcales,"
3 pp. typescript, Barcelona, November 1 1 , 1 938, both in IISGICNT:
92. A. 3 .
5 1 . "Dictamen que 1 a Federacion Nacional ' Mueres Libres' elabora," 1 .
52. National Federation, Muj eres Libres, to Peni nsul ar Committee, FAI,
November 1 2, 1 938 (and response), IISG/FAI: 48. C. l . a. ; Catalan
Regional Committee, Muj eres Li bres to Regional Committee, CNT,
November 3, 1 938, and response (November 7, 1 938) , IISGICNT:
40. C. 4. ; and Peninsular Committee, FAI, "Circular N 5 1 : A los Comites
Regionales de la F. A. l," 3 pp. typescript, Barcelona, November 25,
1 938, IISG/PAI : 29. E. 1 .
2Z3
53. Germinal de Sousa, for the Peninsular Committee, FAI, to National
Committee, Muj eres Libres, December 20, 1 938. IISG/FAI 48. C. l.a. ;
and Mueres Libres, "In forme sobre los incidentes surgidos con motivo
de l a imposici6n del Ministero de Hacienda para que cedieramos el edi
fcio del ' Casal de la Dona Treballadora' al Banco de Espana,"
Barcelona, December 20, 1 938, AHN/SGC-S, P. S. Barcelona: 1 049.
54. Lucia Sanchez Saornil, to Peninsular Committee of the FI, December
2 1 , 1 938, and to National Committee of the CNT, Barcelona, December
20, 1 938, 3 pp. typescript, IISG/FAI: 48. C. l. a.
55. Conchita Guillen, interview, Montady, April 29, 1 988.
Concl usi on
1 . Anna Delso, letter to the author, reproduced in "Preface" to Delso,
Trescientos hombres y yo: Estampa de una revoluci6n. Colecci6n testi
monios 6 (Madrid: fundaci6n Anselmo Lorenzo, 1 998) , p. 3 1 .
2. Martha A. Ackelsberg, "Revolution and Community: Politici zati on, De
politicization, and Perceptions of Change in Civil War Spain," i n Women
Living Change, ed. Susan C. Bourque and Donna R. Divi ne
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1 985), 85- 1 1 5.
3. Comite Nacional, Muj eres Libres, "Como organizar una agrupaci6n
Mujeres Libres" (Barcelona: Mueres Libres, [ 1 938?] ) .
4. Marge Pi ercy, "For Strong Women," in The Moon Is Always Female
(New York: Knopf, 1 980), 57.
5. Martha Ackelsberg, "Mujeres Libres: The Preservation of Memory
Under the Politics of Repression in Spain," Interational Yearbook of
Oral History and Lie Stories, Vol . I (Memor and Totalitarianism) , spe
cial editor Luisa Passerini (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1 992) , pp.
1 25-43.
6. See, for example, essays in Ann Bookman and Sandra Morgen, eds . ,
Women and the Politics ofEmpowerment.
7. Carol Gilligan, In a Diferent Voice ; Sara Ruddick, "Maternal
Thinking," Feminist Studies 6, no. 2 (1980) ; 342-67; and Maternal
Thinking: Toward a Politics ofPeace (Boston: Beacon Press, 1 989) ; Sue
J. M. Freeman, "Women' s Moral Dilemmas: In Pursuit of Integri ty," in
Women Living Change, ed. Bourque and Divine, 2 1 7-54; M. Brinton
Lykes, "Gender and Indivi dualistic vs. Collectivist Bases for Noti ons
about the Self," Joural ofPersonalit 53, no. 2 (June 1 985) : 358-83.
8. Shirley Ardener, "Introduction," t o Perceiving Women (New York: Wil ey,
1 975) ; Susan C. Bourque and Donna R. Divine, "Introducti on: Women
and Social Change" in Women Living Change, 1 -2 1 ; Irene Diamond and
Lee Quinby, "American Feminism and the Language of Control ," in
2Z4 Martha A. Ackel s berg
Feminism and Foucault: Refections on Resistance, ed. Irene Di amond
and Lee Qui nby ( Boston: Northeastern Uni versi ty Pres s , 1 988) ,
1 93-206; Nancy Hartsock, Money, Sex, and Power ( New York:
Longman, 1 983) , especi al l y chap. 1 0; T. Drorah Setel , "Femi ni st
I nsi ghts and the Questi on of Method," i n Feminist Perspectives on
Biblical Scholarship, ed. Adel a Yarbro Coll i ns (Chi co, Ca. : Scholars
Press, 1 985) , 35-42; Mary G. Dietz, "Context Is Al l : Femi ni sm and
Theories of Ci ti zenshi p," Daedalus ( Fal l 1 987) : 1 -24.
9. Martha Ackel sberg and Myrna Brei tbart, "Terrains of Protest: Stri ki ng
Ci ty Women," Our Genertion 1 9. no. I ( Fal l/Winter 1 988) , especi al l y
1 65-75; Ronald Lawson. Stephen E. Barton and Jenna Wei ssman
Josel i t, "From Ki tchen to Storefront: Women i n the Tenant Movement,"
in New Space for Women, ed. Gerda R. Wekerl e, Rebecca Peterson, and
Davi d Morley ( Boul der, Col o. : Westvi ew Press, 1 980) , 255-7 1 ; Paul a
Hyman, "I mmigrant Women and Consumer Protest: The New York Ci ty
Kosher Meat Boycott of 1 902," American lewish History 70 ( Summer
1 980) : 9 1 -1 05 ; Wendy Luttrel l , "The Edi son School Struggl e," i n
Women and the Politics of Empowerment, ed. Bookman and Morgen,
1 36-56, and Sandra Morgen, "It ' s the Whol e Power of the Ci ty agai nst
Us ," i bi d. , 97- 1 1 5 ; Manuel Castel l s, The City and the Grassrots: A
Crss- Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements ( Berkel ey:
Universi ty of Cal i forni a Press, 1 983) .
1 0. Ackel sberg and Breitbart, "Terrains of Protest," 1 72.
I 1 . See, for example, Andrea Dworkin, Right Wng Wmen (New York:
Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1 982) ; Kathleen McCourt, Working
Class Women and Grssroots Politics ( Bl oomington: Indiana Universi ty
Press, 1 977) ; Faye Ginsburg, Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in
an Amencan Community ( Berkel ey: University of California Press,
1 989) .
1 2. Temma Kaplan, "Class Consciousness and Community in Nineteenth
Century Andal usi a," Political Pmver and Social Theor 2 ( 1 98 1 ) : 2 1 -57;
al so Carol Stack, All Our Kin: Strtegies for Survival i n a Black
Community (New York: Harper and Row, 1 974) ; and Shulamit Reinharz,
"Women as Competent Community Builders : The Other Side of the
Coi n," in Social and Psychological Prblems ofWomen: Prevention and
Crisis Intervention, ed. Annette U. Rickel, Meg Gerrard, and Ira Iscoe
(Washington, D. C. : Hemi sphere, 1 984) , 1 9-43 .
1 3. Martin Buber, Paths in Utopia, trans . R. F C. Hull (Boston: Beacon
Press, 1 95 8), 1 40.
1 4. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. H. M. Parshley (New York:
Bantam Books, 1 961 ) . On not viewing women as "political" beings, see
Susan C. Bourque and Jean Grossholtz, "Politics as Unnatural Practice:
Free Women of Soai n
275
Political Science Looks at Women' s Participation," Politics and Society
4, no. 2 ( 1 974) : 225-66; Jean B. Elshtain, "Moral Woman and Immoral
Man: A Consideration of the Public-Private Split and Its Rami fcati ons,"
Politics and Societ 4, no. 4 ( 1 974) : 453-73; and my "Communiti es,
Resi stance, and Women' s Activi sm: Some Implicati ons for a
Democratic Polity," i n Women and the Politics of Empowerment, ed.
Bookman and Morgen, especially 30l .
1 5. See, for example, Bookman and Morgen, eds . , Women and the Politics
of Empowerment, especially the essays by Sacks, Morgen, Costello,
Zavella, and Susser; Mary Fainsod Katzenstein and Carol McClurg
Mueller, eds. , The Women 's Movements ofthe United States and Western
Eurpe: Consciousness, Political Oportunity, and Public Pol icy
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1 987) ; Judith Friedlander,
Blanche Wiesen Cook, Alice Kes sl er-Harri s, and Carrol l Smith
Rosenberg, eds . , Women in Culture and Politics ( Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1 986) ; Patricia Caplan and Janet M. Bujra, eds . ,
Women United, Women Divided: Crss-Cultural Perspectives on Female
Solidarity (London: Tavistock, 1 978).
1 6. Suffrage was granted women in 1 9 1 8 in England, 1 920 i n the United
States, 1 93 1 i n Spain, and 1 944 in France.
1 7. On the IWW see Ardis Cameron, "Bread and Roses Revisited: Women' s
Culture and Working-Class Activism in the Lawrence Strike of 1 9 1 2," i n
Women, Work and Prtest: A Century of u. s. Women 's Labor History,
ed. Ruth Milkman (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1 985) , 42-6 l .
1 8. Genevieve Fraisse, "Natural Law and the Origins of Nineteenth-Century
Feminist Thought in France," in Women in Culture and Politics, ed.
Friedlander et a1 . , 322. See also Joan Landes, Women and the Public
Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1 989) ; Franloise Picq, "' Bourgeois Feminism' in France : A Theory
Developed by Social i st Women before World War I," in Women in Culture
and Politics, ed. Friedlander et aI. , especially 332-35; and Charles
Sowerwine, Sisters or Citizens ? Women and Socialism in Frnce since
1876 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 982), 1-2.
1 9. Barbara Taylor, Eve and the New Jerusalem, xvi .
20. But see also Ruth Smith and Deborah Valenze, "Marginality and Mutu
ality: Liberal Moral Theory and Working-Class Women in Nineteenth
Century England," Signs 1 3, no. 2 (Winter 1 988) : 277-98 ; and Ruth
Smith, "Moral Transcendence and Moral Space i n the Hi storical
Experiences of Women," Joural ofFeminist Studies in Religion 4, no.
2 (Fall 1 988) ; 21 -37.
2 1 . Marilyn J, Boxer, "Socialism Faces Femini sm: The Failure of Synthesi s
i n France, 1 879-1 9 1 4," in Socialist Women: Eurpean Socialist
Feminism in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, ed. Mari l yn
J . Boxer and Jean H. Quataert ( New York: Elsevi er, 1 978) , 75-1 1 1 ; and
Boxer, "When Radi cal and Soci al i st Femi ni sm Were Joi ned: The
Extraordi nary Failure of Madel ei ne Pel eti er," in Eurpean Women on the
Left, ed. J ane Sl aughter and Robert Kern (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood,
1 98 1 ) , 5 1 -73; Cl ai re La Vi gna, "The Marxi st Ambival ence toward
Women: Between Soci al i sm and Femi ni sm in the Ital i an Soci al i st
Party," i n Socialist Women, ed. Boxer and Quataert, 1 46-8 I ; and Beverl y
Tanner Spri nger, "Anna Kul i sci off: Russi an Revol uti oni st, Ital i an Fem
i ni st," i n Eurpean Women on the Left, ed. Sl aughter and Kern, 1 3-27.
22. J as mi ne Ergas , "Convergenci es and Tensi ons between Col l ecti ve
Identi ty and Soci al Ci ti zenshi p Ri ghts : Ital i an Women i n the Seventi es,"
i n Women in Culture and Politics, ed. Friedl ander et aI . , 303. See al so
Ergas, H 1 968-1 979-Femi ni sm and the I tal i an Party System: Women' s
Pol i ti cs i n a Decade of Trmoi l ," Comparative Politics 1 4 (Apri l 1 982) :
253-80; and Ethel Kl ei n, "The Diffusi on of Consci ousness i n the Uni ted
States and Western Europe," i n The Women 's Movements, ed.
Katzenstei n and Muel l er, 4 1 -2.
23. J i l l Li ddi ngton and Jill Norri s, Gie Hand Tied Behind Us: The Rise of
the Woman 's SUfge Movement ( London: Vi rgo, 1 978) .
24. Temma Kapl an, "Female Consci ousness and Coll ective Action";
Darl ene Gay Levy, Harri et Branson Applewhite, and Mary Durham
Johnson, Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1 789-/ 795 (Urbana: University
of Il l i noi s Press, 1 979), especi al l y 3-1 2.
25. Pi ven and Cloward, "The Social Structuring of Political Protest," in Poor
People 's Movements (New York: Pantheon, 1 977) ; and Piven, "Hidden
Protest: The Channeling of Female Innovation and Resi st<ce:' Si
g
ns 4.
no. 4 ( 1 979) : 65 1 ff. See also Herbert Gutman, Work, Culture and Society
in Industrializing America: Essays in American Working- Class and
Social History (New York: Knopf, 1 976) .
26. Ackel sberg and Breitbart, "Terrains of Protest" 1 74.
27. Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, "Disorderly Women: Gender and Labor Mi l itancy
in the Appalachian South," Joural of American Histor ( September
1 986) : 354-82; roundtable discussion by Jacquelyn Hall, Nancy Hewitt,
Ardis Cameron, and Martha Ackel sberg, "Disorderly Women: Gender,
Politics and Theory," Berkshi re Conference of Women Historians,
Wellesley College, June, 1 987; and Amrita Basu, "When Indian Peasant
Women Revolt," manuscript. The cl assic alternative view is E. J.
Hobsbawm' s, Primitive Rebels.
28. "Un acontecimiento hi st6rico," Mujeres Libres, no. 1 1 ( 1 937) .
29. "Paralel i smo," ibi d.
|. SpO| m
277
30. Martha Ackelsberg and Irene Diamond, "Gender and Political Life: New
Directions in Political Science," in Analyzing Gender: A Handbook of
Social Science Research, ed. Hess and Ferree ( Beverly Hill s : Sage
Publi cations, 1 987) , especially 5 1 5-1 8. See also Aa Baron, "Femi ni st
Legal Strategies : The Powers of Di fference," ibid. , 474-503 , and
Cynthia H. Enloe, "Feminists Thinking about War, Militari s m and
Peace," ibid. , 526-47.
3 1 . See especially Ferguson, The Feminist Case against Bureaucrcy, chap.
5; Joan Scott, "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysi s ,"
American Historical Review 9 1 , no. 5 (December 1 986): 1 053-75; and
Scott, Gender and the Politics of Histor (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1 988) .
32. I n addition t o Ruddick and Elshtain, see Isaac Balbus, Marxism and
Domination: A Neo-Hegelian, Feminist, Psychoanalytic Theor of
Sexual, Political and Technological Libertion (Princeton: Princeton
University Pres s , 1 982) . For a criti cal perspective see Di et z,
"Citizenship with a Femini st Face," 1 9-37.
33. Maria C. Lugones and Elizabeth V Spelman, "Have We Got a Theory
for You ! Femini st Theory, Cultural Imperial ism, and the Demand for
' The Woman' s Voice"' ; Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider; Floya Anthias and
Nira Yuval-Davi s, "Contextualizing Feminism-Gender, Ethnic and
Class Divi si ons "; and Yuval-Davis and Anthias , eds . ,
Woman-Nation-State (NY: St. Martin' s, 1 989),
34. I am much indebted to Iris Young' s work, especially "The Ideal of Com
munity and the Politics of Difference," Social Theor and Practice 1 2,
no. 1 ( Spring 1 986) : 1 -26. See al so Elizabeth V Spelman, Inessential
Woman; Maril yn Friedman, "Femi ni sm and Modern Friendshi p:
Dislocating the Community," Ethics 99 (January 1 989) : 275-90; and
Joan Tronto, "Otherness in Moral Theory (or, If We' re So Smart, Why
Are We Raci sts , Sexists, Anti-Semites, Ethnocentri cs, Homophobes.
etc. ?) ," paper prepared f delivery at the annual meeti ng of the
American Political Science Association, Chicago, September 1 987.
35. Lorde, Sister Outsider; Adrienne Rich, "Disloyal t o Civilization: Femi
nism, Racism, Gynephobia," in On Lies, Secrets and Silence, 275-3 1 0,
and "Notes toward a Politics of Location," in Blood, Bread and Poetr:
Selected Prse 1 979-1 985 (New York: Norton, 1 986), 2 1 0-3 1 ; Marilyn
Frye, The Politics of Realit (Trumansburg, N. Y: Crossing Press, 1 983) ;
and Myra Jehlen, "Against Human Wholeness," paper delivered at the
Boston Area Feminist Theory Colloqui um, spring 1 984.
36. For exampl e, Bernice Johnson Reagon, "Coalition Politi cs: Turning the
Century," in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, ed. Barbara
Smith (New York: Kitchen Table, Women of Col or Press, 1 983) , 359.
37. E. E. Schattschnei der, The Semi -Sovereign People ( New York: Hol t,
Ri nehart and Wi nston, 1 960) , 35.
38. Karl Mar x, "On the Jewi sh Questi on" i n Marx, Early Writings, ed. Luci o
Col etti ( New York: Vintage, 1 975) , 2 1 1 -- 1 ; C. B. Macpherson, The
Political Theory of Possessive Indi vidualism ( New York: Oxford
Universi ty Press, 1 962) ; Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz, "Two Faces
of Power," American Political Science Review 56 ( 1 962) : 947-52; I saac
Bal bus, "The Concept of I nterest in Pl ural i st and Marxi an Anal ysi s,"
Politics and Societv I , no. 2 ( 1 97 1 ) : 1 5 1 -77; Lewi s Li ps itz, "The
Gri evances of the Poor" i n Power and Commull it ed. Phi l i p Green and
Sanford Levi nson (New York: Random house, 1 970) , 1 42-72.
39. Carol s Pateman, The Sexual Contrct ( Stanford: Stanford Univers ity
Press, 1 988) .
40. Dol ores Hayden, The Grand Domestic Revolution (Cambri dge: MI T
Press, 1 98 1 ) :
4 1 . John Rawl s, A Theory ofJustice, makes this poi nt cl early, though unsel f
consci ously. See al so Mi chael Wal zer, Spheres ( Justice. For criti ci sm
see Susan Mol l er Oki n, "Justice and Gender," Philosophy and Public
Airs 1 6, no. I ( Wi nter 1 987) : 42-72; and Carol e Pateman, The
Disorder of Women: Democrcy, Feminism and Political Theory
( Stanford: Stanford Universi ty Press, 1 989) , chaps. 6, 8, 9.
42. See, for example, Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb, The Hidden Inju
ries Class (New York: Vi ntage, 1 972) ; Lil l i an Rubin, Worlds ofPain
(New York: Basic Books, 1 976) ; and Carol Stack, All Our Kin.
43 . Azucena Barba, interview, August 1 5 , 1 98 1 .
GLOSSARY
agrupaclOn: Group, affnity group; the name given to local chapters of
Mujeres Libres, and also t o the affnity groups of the FAI
ateneo: Storefront school or cultural center
barrio (barriada) : Urban neighborhood
bracero: Rural daylaborer, also known as jornalero
cacique: Local political boss
cambio de mentalidad: Consciousness change
campesino/a: Peasant, rural land worker; one who lives in a rural area
capacitacion: Empowerment; self-development; self-realization
captacion: Mobilization into a particular party or group
Casal de la Dona: Muj eres Libres' women' s institute in Barcelona
casamientos a Ia Iibertaria: Libertarian- style marages; e. g. , weddings for-
malized by union organizations
compaiero/a: Comrade, member of the libertarian movement; also used to
refer to l over or life-partner
comite local : Local committee; local group of a larger organization
comunismo Iibertario: Libertarian communism; communitarian anarchi sm
Cortes: Constituent Assembly; the Spanish parliament
cortijo: Large farm
enseianza integral : Integral or holistic education; forerunner to rationalist
education
escuela libre: Free school, rationalist school: school run neither by the state
nor by the church
Escuela Moderna: Modem School ; rationalist school founded by Franci sco
Ferrer in Barcelona in 1 901
formaci on social : Political or social consciousness; education for social and
political awareness
279
Generalidad, Generalitat: Autonomous government of Catalonia
huerta: Garden pl ot; usual l y refers to s mal l area cul tivated for home
consumpti on
jornalero: Day-l aborer
j oven/es: Young person/people (someti mes refers to contemporary young per
son, as di stinct from those of the Ci vi l War peri od)
Juventudes: Short for luventudes Li bertari as, the Libertarian youth organi za
ti on
latifundio: Large l anded estate
Iiberatorios (de prostitucion): Centers proposed by Mujeres Li bres to retrai n
prosti tutes for other work and new l ives
Iibertarias/os: Libertari ans; people i dentifed wi th the anarchi st or anarcho-
syndi cal i st movement
mayorazgo: Primogeni ture
mi litante: Acti vi st in the movement
municipio libre: Free commune; basi s for soci al organi zati on i n a commu
nal i st anarchi st system
obrero consciente: Enlightened worker/self-taught teacher i n the early days
of the anarchist movement who carried the message to other workers
pueblo: Village or town; the common people
seccion (de trabajo) : (Work) section, one of the task-oriented groups devel
oped by Mujeres Libres
secretaria: Bureau, department
Secretariado femenino: Women' s Bureau
sueldo unico: Uniform sal ary; equalized salary scale
viejas: Older women (veterans); usually refers to those who were active i n
Mujeres Libres in the 1 930s, as distinct from members of curent groups
I NDEX
Abad, Agueda, 26411.
Abad de Santillan, Diego, 1 30, 242n" 256n.
Ackelsberg, Martha A, 23511 . , 236n" 237-38n" 24211 . ,
249n. , 25611" 26 I n" 2731" 274n" 1 76n,
Acrcil. 1 07, 1 34, 1 59, 1 85, 26911.
Add3ms. Jane, 2471.
Addelson, Kathryn Pyne-Parsons, 238n. , 24211.
"Adelante! " 1 05-1 06, l OS.
Agrarian collectivism. 66-67, 1 04-- 1 09, 1 34, 1 59, 246n. ,
255-56n.
Agrarian reforms, 64, 89
Agrupaci6n de Trabajadoras de Barcelona, 73
AJA (Asociaci6n de J6venes Antifascistas), 1 8 8
de Albornoz, Aurora, 248n.
AlcaLar. Antonio, 2551.
Alfonso XIII, 69, 89
"Alternative schools," 8 1 -86, See also Atcneos Education;
Rationalist Schools
Alvarez Junco, Joe. 260n.
AMA I Asociaci6n de Mujeres Antifascistas), 1 48, 1 78-8 1 ,
1 87, 1 94, 2 1 I , 269n.
Anarchism, 33, 37-4 1 , 42, 53. See also Anarcho-collec
tivism; Anarcho-syndicalism: Spanish anarchism
Anarcho-collectivisr. 62-63, 67, 68. 246-47n.
Anarcho-yndicalism. 2 1 , 22, 24, 27, 33, 36; creation of,
6 1 -62, 1 43-4/1 . ; defnitions, 44, 237n. ; focus on edu
cation, 8 1 -88; groundwork of, 69-70; Mujeres Libre,'
goals identifed with, 1 35; and subordination of women,
38- 39, 58-0, 1 1 5-20; and "the woman question,"
1 26-1 29. See a/s( Spanish anarchism
Anthias, Floya, 236n. , 27711.
Applewhite, Harriet Branson, 27611.
Aranguren, Jose LUIS, 26211.
Arcos. Pura Perez, 31 - 32, 1 1 7, 1 57, 1 1 -92, 25811. , 259n. ,
2641. , 27 1 n.
Ardener, Shirley, 273n.
Ardila, Luis, 246n.
Asociaci6 de l a Dona Jove, 1 88
Asociaci6n de J6venes Antifascist(. Sle AJA
Asociaci6n de Mujeres Antifascistas, See AMA
Asociaci6n Nacional de Mujercs Espanolas, 1 1 8
Ateneos, 54, 83-84, 1 1 9, 1 29, 202; experiences of women
in. 86-88. See also Rationalist schools
Autonomous women's organizations, opposition to,
1 1 9- 20
Avrich, Paul, 250n.
Bachrach, Peter, 27811.
Bakunin, Michael. 46, 56, 67, 99, 2351. , 243n.
Balabanof, Angelica. 266n.
Balbus, Isaac. 277n.
Balcelb, Albert, 24511.
Baldwin, Roger N., 239n.
Baratz, Morton, 278n.
Barba, Azucena Fernandez, 25-26, 57, 69, 81. 87, 1 1 6,
23411., 24711. , 2501. , 258n. , 26811. . 278n.
Barbee Benjamin, 235f.
Baron, Ava, 2771.
Barett, Michelle, 236n.
Barry, Brian, 243n.
Barton, Stephen E. , 27411.
Basauri, Mercedes, 249n.
Basu, Amrita, 276n.
de Beauvoir, Simone, 274n.
Beecher, Jnnathan, 240n.
Be1enky. Mary Fi eld, 263n.
Ben-Imi, Shlomo, 250n.
Benjumea Garda, Miguel, 260n.
Berenguer Guillen, Sara. See Guillen, Sara Berenguer
Bernal, AntonioMiguel. 67, 244n.
Bernaldo Quiros y Perez, Constancio, 246n.
Bernecker, Walther L., 253n.
Bemeri, Camilo, 243n.
Berta, Mary, 258n.
Birth control, 48, 49-50. See also Contraception: Sl.Hality
Bizcanondo, Marta, 24Rn.
Blnc Obrcr i Campewl. See BOC
BOC (Bloc Obrer i Carperol). 1 79
Bolloten, Burett, 2561.
Bookchin, Murray, 2441.
Bookman, Ann, 236n. . 273n.
Borkenau, Franz, 257n.
Borras, Eglantina. 24
Borras, Jacinto, 24
Bosch Marin, Juan, 2461 .. 2551.
Bourque, Susan C, 256/1 . . 273-7411.
Boxer, Marilyn J., 275-76n.
Boyte, Hary C, 242n.
Brcers, 63, 68
Brademas, John, 25Yn.
Brand, 242n.
Breitbart, Myra M., 209. , 237/. , 249n. , 274".
Brenan, Gerald, 244n. , 25 J n.
Brennan. Teresa, 23911.
British Owenites, 3-J4
BroU\, Pierre, 25 1 n. . 256n.
Buber, Martin, 204, 27411.
Bujra, Janet M. , 275n.
Bulkin, Elly, 236n.
Caciques, 6
Cambia de mentalidad. 85-86
28l
282 Martha A. Ackel s berg
(' amcron, Ardi s, 275n. , 2761/ .
ClIl){/citol'/'()n, 1 47- 50, I SS, 1 60. SCC al so Empowerment :
il uj l' fl' s Li hrcs
(' apdl- i l a. Jndn:, :)411.
Carel MarlIne!" Rosa Marfa, 24511.
(':trl an, P'-l tri ci a. 2751 1 .
( 'lIpf( /( 'i(llI, 1 47- -50, SCI' 1I1so MUjL'r,'S I ,i hrcs
Carll i l'l'f, Pepi ta, 1 02 _, 25411.
empcna. Pepi ta, "7, 1 52. 1 70, 1 72, 1 75, I HS, 235/1 . 25 1 11 . ,
25411 . , 25XI 1 . . 2631 1 . . 2f41 1 . . 267n. , 26X"" 27 I n. ; ai d i n
est ahl i shi ng rural col kcti vcs. 1 34; background, 27-2X:
(Ill hq!i nni ng or Spani sh Ci vi l War. 9 1 ; on di lTen:nti ai s
1 11 \agcs. 1 02: Oi l I llak-Icnul equal i ty, 1 1 6 1 7 : par
t i ci pat i on in propaganda t our:, 1 5 3; on \umcn' s
Sccl"cl ari ah ll f HJ L I XX-X9
Carrasqucr, h; l i x . !B. 1 07, 2501 1 . , 2551 1 " 25611 .
(" asd lk il alcrniLia(\ , 1 ()4, 1 7 1
(' a-;II lk l a DOlla Trl'hal tadtlra. 1 1.", 1 5 1 . 1 96
CUS11I;'1I/0S (/ fa lihCrlaria. 1 6X. 1 7 2. 232-:3
Cass, Ana. SJ, 23411 . , 25011
Cassaiks. Enri qll . 92
Ca-(l' l h. MaIl u1 . 27411 .
dc C'a,( rn, Fel i sa, 16XII .
(' al i l an h'dnat i on of Sol iddridad Ohrcra, 73, I I I
Cel llral COl l l mi t t ee or An! i faci st Mi l i L i as or Catal oni a.
1 119. I I I
Ct. ' l l ! ral COlll mi Ltcl' or \orkcr' s COIlLml , Catal nni a. I I I
CFNU ( Coll cl l d e I T"ulia Nova LJ ni ficada) , 9l-! OO
( 'el'<I,\' I l dcfol l "O, 24511 .
Chafe, Wi l l i am, 2JSII .
( '11;1]1 1 n. Charl i e. 1 11
Ch I "l i ly. -X-49, 5( L Set' also Sexual i t y
eh i Il, \lIuo. 250/1 , 25(n.
Chomsky. NO<I ll 2571 1 .
Chri st , Carol p, 23Xn. , 239n.
Cl at":nunt , Teresa. 7 :
C! o\ilrd. Ri chard A . . 209, 24211 . , 27611.
CLlILA ( Uni fi ed Le\'(mi ne Counci l for Agri cul tural
Exporh), 1 06
('\T (Confcdcraci on naci onal del Trabajo), 44, 46, 57, 59
< I I n. 1 4X. 1 77 . '411" 24911 .. 2591. ; C3S3 C'T FAI ,
)2; Catal oni a, Central Commi ttee, 9S, 25411 . ;
Catal uni a. Regi onal Commi ttee, 27-28: clande:tine
operati on of duri ng Primo de Ri vera's di ctatorship, 27,
3 1 . 23411 . ; col l ahoration wi th Largo Caballero govcrn
llllnl, I l l 1 2 : cooperati on with sccciones de fr/win
1 ';: creati on :nd i mportance of atcneos, 83 -R5; early
explri ences of Mujeres Li hres ' activbts i n, 22-24. 26.
28; foundi ng of, 74-76; Goldman on, 99; Grupo cultur
al femeni no, 30, 1 20, 1 23-25, 1 34; homeworkers
i gnored by, 77: InqilUt d' Adaplaci o Profe:i onal de la
D()na. 1 52; at the Li bertarian Movement Congress,
1 92; Mujercs Li bres goals i denti fed wi th FAI and.
I SO; operati on of ncwpapcrs, I 078; patterns of gen
der di flrlnti ati on i n, 2 1 0; resistance to Mujeres Libres,
1 R2 -S8, 1 96; "rcv111 ution of Octoher," 25911. ; role in
i ndu"trial col l ect i \'s. 1 00-2. 25411 . : role in rural col lec
tives, 1 05 - 1 07; size i n 1 936, 62, 89; Terrassa, texti le
workers' uni on, 1 20; warned on dangers of AMA by
Mujeres Librls. 1 79-8 1 ; on women's war of 1 91 8,
7S-79; Zaragoza Congress, l i S
Cohb, Jonathan, 27X11.
Cobos, Maria Luisa, 1 29, 1 3 1 , 260n. , 26 1 11 . , 264n.
Collectives and collecti vi zati on: i ndustrial, t o0-5, 253n . .
25411 . : rural, I 05 -9. 1 34, 1 59_ 2691.
Col l i er. George A . . 2-RII.
Colli ns. Adela Yrhro. 2741.
Colome, Angela, 264n.
Comaposada, Mercedes, 24, 3 1 , 87-88, 1 24, 1 25, 1 33, 1 82,
2501. , 259n. , 2601 .. 26 1 11. , 26211 .. 26311 . , 26911 .. 27(;
address to Peni n.ul ar Committee of FAI. 1 87: child-
hood, 1 2 1 -22; as a founder of Mujerc: Li hrcs. 2223,
1 2X 1 29: on mot herhood. I h2: nt'l'd for spi ri t ual dLvd
opment. 1 60; P()'i l i orl of. 29 - 30; tlachi ng of ""n<i al
format i on" c1 assc:, 1 : 2: on tranrorral i on of ll/jeres
Lihres (journal ) , I :B<"4; on work. 1 56--57
Communi ty, 32 34; creation of i n atcl1:os. H7-XI.; and
empowrment , 200 204
COII)Yl, 1 36, 1 6 1 , 1 79
Cond!. Carmen ("Florcnti na"), 1 63, 2JSlI.
Confederaci6n Nacional del Trahajo. Ste (NT
Consci ousness-rai si ng, 1 25. 1 33, 1 59-6 1 , 202-3. See a/so
Femi ni sm; Mujcrcs Li hrcs
Consel l l: I ' Escol a Nova Uni licada . .ee CENU
"La \. on:lanci a," 76-77
Cont racepti on, 47. 49. 50. ! 67, 1 7 1 . S('(' also Binh ControL
Sexual i t y
Cook, Bl anche Wi e"cn, 2751 l .
Cornel i scn, Chri sti an. 24011.
Cortes, 67
Cortez, Angel i na. 2641l,
Costa. Joaquin. 66. 24611 .. 2)411.
Costa Font. losep, 25411.
Costa Mute, Peow, 25011 .
Cott, Nancy, 2.511 .
Cuudrado, Aurea, 1 60. 1 64, 1 7 ! , 20511 . . '0611.
Cuadrat Xavi er. 244n.
Cuenca. bahella. 26HII.
Cuni gnc, Anna. 26tn.
Dahrendorf, Ralf. 2371 1 .
Decentral i sm. S4
"Decree of Col l ect i vi /al i ons amJ \orker Control "
( Gcncral i tat), I I I
de Jong, Rudolf. 25SII.
Dclso de Miguel , Anna, 1 74. 26311 . 26811 . . 27311.
Di amond, Irene. 236n .. 26 1 11 . . 2631! . 27411 . 27711.
Oraz del Moral . Juan, 246n.
Di etz, Mary G . . 263n. , 274n. 27711 .
Di ference, 33-34, 39-0. 200, 204-1 5 ; cl ass di fference.
66. 1 56, 200, 207. 2 1 7- 2 1 , gender di frence, 3S-36,
40, 41 -42, 50. 5 1 , 65-66, 72-7.. iii , 1 02, 1 01-9, I I b,
1 1 7-20, 1 27-28, 1 32, 1 36, 1 '6. 1 57-58. I bO-6 1 ,
1 94-50. 200, 201 . 205-6. See also Di versity
Di l l , Bonnie Thornton, 23611.
Diversi ty, 34-35, 42-43, 1 8 1 , 1 99, 200, 205-6. See also
li ff . rp!rp
Di vi ne, Donna R., 27:11.
Dol gof, Sam, 2381. , 24311.
Domenech, Juan. 2551. , 27011.
Dona a la Reraguarda, 1 79
DuBoi s. W.E. B. , 23811.
Dworki n. Andrea, 27411.
de Echarri , Maria. 2491.
Eckstei n. Harry, 266n.
Educat i on: chi ldhood, 1 65-66; during Spani sh anarchi st
movement, 80-H9: i n Mujeres Li hres' programs of
capaci taci6n, 1 5 1 -54; tranformation of during Spani sh
Ci vi l War, 98-99
Ei senstei n. Zillah, 235n.
Elfas, Emi l i a, 26911.
Elfas. Juan Puig. 83, 99, 1 1 7
El l i s, Havelock, 48
Elorza, Antoni o, 248n.
EIshtain, Jean B., 27511.
Empowercment, 34-35; and di rect action, 54-55; educa
t i on as, 86-8; l egacy of, 200-205. See al so
Capacitaci(n.
Enloe, Cynthi a H. , 277n.
Ensdiunza integrl. 8 1
Erga', Ya\mi ne, 20R, 276ft.
Escola Profcsional per a la Dona (Escucla de Adaptaci6n
Profesional de l a Mujcr), 1 5 2
Escuder. Matilde, 2561.
Escuda Libre, 85
Escuela Modema, S2-83. See also Modern schuols;
Rationalist schools
Escuela Natura, 3 1 , 83
Esenwcin, George, 63 -64, 69, 244n .. 246n. , 247n.
Estorach, Soledad, 3 1 , 37, 57, 85, 1 1 7, 1 75, 235". , 243n"
250" . . 25 1 n. , 25911., 260n. , 2631. , 264n. , 2651. ; back
ground, 30-3 1 ; on beginning of Spanish Civil War, 92,
98; on direct action, 55; on feminism, 1 24-25; on male
female equality, 1 23-24; on professional training
schools, 153; as representative of Mujeres Libres, 1 84;
OI rural collectives, 1 04, 1 08, 1 34
ESIUdios, 1 1 7, 1 26, 1 3 1 , 237n. , 238n. , 240n. , 241 n" 242n. ,
258n. ; articles on sexuality, 48-50, 5 1 ; issues addressed
in, 92
Etchcbehere, Mika, 1 60. 225n. , 265n.
Evans, Sara M., 2421" 258n.
FAI (Federacion Anarquista Iberica), 24, 1 1 9, 1 34, 1 48,
1 96. 234n. ; collahoration with Largo Caballero govern
ment. I l l ; diffculty i n accommodating women, 2 1 0;
participation in collectivization, 1 04; resistance to
Mujeres Libres, 1 77, J 82-88
Falcon, Lidia, 258n.
Falk, Candace, 24211.
Fanelli, Giuseppi, 67
Federaci6n Barcelona de Soli daridad Obrera, 73
Federacion Iberica de Juventudes Libertarias. See FIJL;
luventudes Libertarias
Federn, Etta, 1 62, 1 68, 262n. , 26511 . , 266n. , 2671. , 26811.
"Feminine uni ty," J 80-8 J
Femi nism, 34-35, 4 1 , 207-208; on communal/collective
networks, 32-33, 201 . 235n. ; and consciousness-rais
ing, 201 -202; criticized by Spani,h anachist" 1 1 8-1 9,
1 23-24; effort to deal with difrences, 2 14-1 5 ; les
sons to be learned from Mujeres Libres, 1 99-200,
2 1 6-1 9; neglect of class component, 2 1 7-1 9; parallels
with Mujeres Libres, 20]-204; and power, domination,
and empowerment issues, 33-34; questions on contem
porary agenda, 204-206; rejected by Mujeres Libres,
22-23, 1 32, 1 48, 1 77; and utopian socialism, 33-34
Ferguson, Kathy K, 238n.
Fernandez, Orobon, 88, 1 2 1
Ferree, Myra Marx, 236n. , 261 n.
Ferrer y Guardia, Francisco, 8 1 -82. 250n.
FUL (Federaci6n Iberica de Juventudes Libertarias), 22,
59, 92, 1 1 6, 1 7 1 , 2 1 2, 234n. ; and Mujeres Libres' rela
lions with, 1 88-9 1 , 1 94-96; participation i n collec
tivizing eforts, 1 04; presence at lihertarian rallies 1 84;
treatment at Libertarian Movement Congress, 1 94. See
also J uventudes Libertarias
"Florentina" (Carmen Conde). 1 63, 239n.
Fontana, Josep, 244n" 24511 . , 246n. , 25 1 n.
Foucault. Michel, 2 1 5
Fourier, Charles, 2401[.
Fraisse, Genevieve, 275n.
Franco, Francisco, 90, 1 1 0. 1 1 2. 1 1 3
Fraser, Ronald, 25 1 n,
Fredericb-, Shirley. 258n.
Free communes (municipios fibres), 44-45, 68
Free love, 47, 50, 1 67, 1 7 1. See also Sexuality
Freeman, Sue J. M., 273n.
Freeman, Susan Tax, 65, 24511,
French Revolution, 206
French socialism, 2 1 9-20
Freud, Sigmund,. 48
Friedlander. Judith, 275n.
Friedman, Marilyn, 27711,
Froidevaux, Michel, 267n.
Frye, Marilyn, 21 5, 277n.
Fusi, Juan Pablo, 244-45n.
Gadant. Monique, 27 1 n.
Gallardo, Mariano, 4 1 , 1 3 1 , 238n. , 241 n. , 24211.
Garcia Ninet, Jose-Ignacio, 247n.
Garcia Oliver, Juan 255n. , 256n. , 272n.
Generalitat (Catalonia), 1 09, I l l , 1 52. 263n.
Gerard, Meg, 2741.
Gerth, Hans H., 237n.
Gilligan, Carol, 1 32, 1 50, 261 11 . , 263n. , 27311.
Gimene7, Marfa, 265n.
Ginsburg. I'aye, 2741.
Golden, Lester, 24911.
283
Goldman, Emma, 52, 99, 1 33, 226, 235n. , 239n. , 2421.,
243n. , 253n., 256n. , 259". , 26I n" 262n. , 267n. , 269n. ;
on CNT and FAT's collaboration with gO\'(rnmlnt,
1 J 1 -1 3: on gender difrences, 2 1 3; on internal eman
cipation of women, 52, 60, 2 . 211. ; at Libertarian
Movement Congress, 1 92; on political <hifs during
Spanish Civil War, 256n. ; on prostitution, 1 70; support
for Mujeres Libre" 57, 1 87-88, 26 1 -62n.
G6mez, Canen, 27 1 n.
G6mez Casas, Juan, 244n. , 259n.
Gonzalez, Virginia, 72
Gonzalez Cal bet, Marfa Teresa, 259n.
Gonzalez, Castro, Jose, 247n.
Gordon. Linda, 2661.
Gomi, Yosef, 23911.
GraeUs, Teresina Torellas, 27, 1 02, 1 43, 2 1 1 , 25411,
Grangel, Pilar, 1 62, 264n. , 26611. , 2671.
Grave, .ean, 82
Green, Philip, 278n.
Grifn, Susan, 237n.
Grossho1tz, Jean, 274n.
Grupo cultural femenino. 3 1 , 1 20, 1 24-26, 1 34
Guarderia. volante.\, 1 26-27
Guillen, Conchita, 27, 1 52, 1 54, 1 74-75. 1 76, 1 %. 263n. ,
268n. , 273n.
Guillen, Jesu" 26, 1 7 1
Guillen. Sara Berengucr, 3 1 , 83, 15 . , 1 68, 1 7 1 , 1 84, 2351. ,
267n. , 268n. ; background. 26-27: on clslImitl/os [ la
fih(rt(ria, 1 68; a Sf A representative, 1 75-76
Gustavo, Soledad, 44, 52, 60, 86, 240n., 242n.
Gutman, Herbert, 276n.
Hall, Jacquelyn Dowi, 209-1 0, 27011 .. 276n.
Harding, Susan Friend, 64, 1 05, 245n. , 255n.
Harrison, Joseph. 244n.
Hartsock, Nancy, 274n.
Hayden, Dolores, 21 R, 278n.
Hennessey, C. A. M., 246n.
Herrera, Pedro, 1 1 3, 257 n,
Hess, Beth B., 23611. , 261 n.
Hewitt, Nancy, 209-1 0, 270n. , 276n.
Hitler, Adolf, 1 1 0, I 1 3
Hohsbawm, E.l. , 246n. , 276n.
Homosexuality, 49-50. See also Sexuality
de Hoyos y Vinent, Antonio, 241 n,
Hull House (Chicago), 247n.
Hyman, Paula, 23511. , 274".
Ibaruri, Dolores, 1 36-7, 262n.
Illiteracy, 66, 80-8 1 , 1 5 1 . See also Education
lise, 265n.
Ilurtcnsis, Di6genes, 241 n.
Individuality, 42, 2 1 9-20
Industrial collectives. See Collectives and collectivization
Industry, in Spain, 65-66, 77. See also Collectives and col,
lectiviz3tion
I nsl i l ut d' idart:Ki 6 Profcsi ona! de l a Dona. 1 52
I nsl i t ut o Je Pucri cul t ura y lalcrnoi ogia
Lliisa Mi chel , 1 ,4
I ntl' rat i onal Worki ngman' s Associ at i on. 67
l sioC, 1 1'<1 , 27411.
I t urhc. L(ll a ( Ki ral i na, Ki ral i m-, Kyral i na) , 24. 47 4X, 74,
1 24. 23411 .. 24011" 24n. , 2:Xn. , 2601 1 . , 26511 . , 26711 .
Jack<ol1. Gahri cl . 250fl . , 25 1 11 , . 25711 .
" J avi an'," 47, 24011 .
JJ Lt. Sec FI JL; J uycnt udcs Li hcrtari a.
Johnson, Mary Durham, 27(.
. or(c 11 , 2.1-11
Joscl i t . Jefln<l \\i "Sl lhll l. 27411
J uvcnt udcs Li hcrtari a . ( JILL) , 2X. 1 1 7, I l l, 1 2'1--.l0, I Xl,
1 9(1, 23411. Sl'' (//so HJL
Kahns. 26011.
Kapl an. Tmm<l, 62. 69, 76, 2.:11 . . 24411 . , 24711 .. 24S1I, .
24911 . , 27411
Kat zenst ei n. Mary Lli nsod. 275". , 27611.
Ker, Rohert. 24S-49n . . 27011.
Kessl er- Harri s, Al i cc, 27)/1 .
Ki ng, Ynl ;(ra, 2.1711 .
Ki ral i na. St'!' I tll rhc, Lol a
Ki ral i nc. SCI' [ ( ruhe. Lol a
Kl ei n, Et hel , 27011 .
Ko] [ ol ltai . Akxandra, XX, 1 6X. '0011.
Krtlpot ki n. Peter, 42. 53. J511. , 23711 . 23YII . . 24211. , 24311.
Kyral i na. Set' I t uhc. Lola
Laccrda k Ml 1Ur;\. Marla. 50-.- 1 . 241 11 .
Lafli t t e, Maria I Condcs<l de Campo Al ange), 24011.
Lamheret , Renee. 24711 .
Lande:, Joan. 27511 .
Lamlhol di ng. in Spai n, 6:-63. 06-67, HY, 90. 9 1 . 92,
1 04-,
Largo Cahal l ero. Franci sco, I I I
Lasl ctt. Peler. 23711 .
LaVigna, Cl ai re. 27611 .
Lawson, Ronald, :74n.
Lanutc, Juan. 50-5 \ , 24 1 11.
Leni n, Vl adi mi r l I yi ch, 88. 2.1711 .
Leonardo, 24 1 11.
Leval , Ga:ton. 2Y:n.
I .evi nsnn. Sanforr. )7XII
Levy. Darlene Gay. 27611.
Lewi s, Diane K. , 236n.
Liano, CUllchi ta. 1 24, 1 75
Liheralorios de prsrifucitJlI. 1 69, 1 72
Lida, Cl ara E . 8 1 , 24611, 24711 .. 250n.
Liddington, Ji l l , 27611.
I -ipsitz, Lewi s, 27811.
Lister. Enrique, I 1 2
Li ttl e, Dougl as. 256n.
Llaurad6. AC . . 241 n.
Longino, Helen E. , 242n.
Lordc, /udre, 2 1 5, 23611 . , 24 1 1. , 27711.
Lorenzo, Ansel mo. 240n.
Lorenzo, Cesar, 248n.
Lugones, MarLa C " 236n. , 2771.
Luttrel l , Wendy, 274n.
Luxemburg, Ro,a, 88
Lykes, M. Brinton, 27311 .
Macpherson, c. B. , 27811.
McCourt, Kathl een, 274n.
McKintosh. Maureen. 236n.
Mainardi. Pat. 244n.
Mal atesta, Errico, 23511 . . 238n. , 239n.
Malefaki s, Edward, 244n. , 25 I n. , 2571.
Malthus. Thomas Herbert, 50
Marai6n. Grcgario. 4 1 , 45 , 50, 23811 . , 240fl. 24 1 fl . , 24211 .
Margal lo, Pepi t a, 26411.
Marri age. llonogamous, )O- ) \ . 57, 1 27, 1 4Y, 1 5 1 . 1 67-69.
1 7 1 -73, 232-33, 255n.
See (l/so Pl ural love: Sexual ity
Martf-I banez, Fel i x, 4H-49, 24 1 1/ .
Martlnez-Al i cf, Juan, 244n.
Marx, Karl . 278n,
Marxism. 56, 67, 202. 209: oi st i ngui shed from anarchi sm.
37; rejected by femi ni st cri t i cs, 34; on suhordi nat i on of
women, 1 7X-7l
Mala. Gonzalo. 2))11 .
"Mat eri al ferni ni :ts." 2 1 X- I Y
MeJ i a, Ri cardo. 40. 57. 5X. 23711 . , 23XII.
Mi chel , Loui se, 1 22
Mi chel s, Robert . 23711 .
Mi l kman, Rut h, 2Ym . . 27511 .
Mi l ler, Marti n A . . 2-11.
Mi l l s, C. Wri ght. 23711.
Mi ner, Val eri e. 24211.
Mi ni stry of Health and Puhl i c Assi stancL" 1 7 1
Mi ntl, Jerome M. , 24511.
Mi rabe, de Val l ejo, Jul i a. 1 7 1 . 26XII.
Mi rabent, Ma,i . 254f1.
"Modern sehoul movement ," X2 , X4. St, a/so Atet1c()'
Educati on; Escucla Modcra; Rational i st schools
Mol i na. Juan Manuel . 24
Montseny, Federi ca, 52, 10, I I I , 1 7 1 , 1 90. 2391l . . 24( h,
24 [ 11 . 24'11 . . 24JIl . . 25411 . , 2561 1 . . 25711 . , 25XJI .. 259'1 . ,
26 1 11 . , 26511 . : cri ti ci sm of femi ni sm. I I X- 1 9; on gender
di fferences. 2 1 3 : on t he 111IlIl ici"i(l lihre. 44-. ; lin
necessity of prepartion. 50; on women' s activi ..m. 1 60
Montseny, Juan. Sl', Ural es. I'cderico
Montuenga, 1 1 8, 25811.
Morales de Gutman. Eduardo. I J 1
Morci l l o GoreL Aurora. 26211.
Morgan, Rohin. 244n.
Morgen, Sandra, 236n. , 273". , 274".
Morley, David, 274n.
Muel ler, Carol McCl urg. 2751.
Mujeres ( PCE journal ), 1 35-6, 1 6 1 , 1 79
Mujeres Libres, 5 1 , 57, 59, 60, 5. 1 04, 1 08, 1 1 4, 1 4:
activists' experiences i n ateneos, 84-88; amhigui ty
about women\ nature, 1 50. 1 57-5R: anarcho-syndical-
programs, 1 47-50, 1 59, 1 60, 1 77-97, 1 9Y-221; on chil d
education, 1 65-66: communi ty ori entation of, 32-33,
200-204, 235n. : consciousness-rai si ng and support oj
women' s activi"r, 1 59-6 1 ; contrihution to nonauthori
tarian social change, 42; and difference, diversity. and
communi ty, 204- 1 6: education programs, l S I -54;
empl oyment and apprenticeship programs, 1 54-59,
1 80: and empowerment (cllpacitaci6n), 34. 1 6 1 , 1 47-
76, 1 99-220: establ ishmerl of ,uarderias \o/anfes.
1 25; founding oj, 32, 38, 1 1 5- 1 37: on gender di tr
ences, 35-.6. 1 49, 2 1 2-1 5 : goab identifed wi th FAI
and CNT, 1 50, 2 1 2-1 3; i nsi stence un separate. and
autonomous status, 1 49, 34-35, 1 9 1 , 1 92-96, 2 1 1 - 1 2;
journal of, 1 28-1 34, 1 78, 260n. , 26 1 ". : legacy of,
2 1 6-1 9; l essons t o teach contemporary femi ni sm.
1 99-200, 2 1 6- I 9; and the l i bertarian movement,
1 82-1 97 : 3t the Li bertarian Movement Congress.
1 9 1 -97: on motherhood, 1 6 1 -65; organi zi ng of,
1 2 1 -25; paral l el s wi th contemporary feminism, 200-5;
and the politics of women's diference, 2 1 1 -1 4; on
prostitution, 1 69-70, 1 72; puhlieations of, 231 : refugee
and social sen' ice programs, 1 73-76: rejection of " fem
inine unity." 1 80-8 1 ; rejection of femi ni sm. 22-24,
1 32, 1 48, 1 77, 207, 235". ; relations wi th other women',
organizations, 1 77-8 1 : on sexuality, 1 67-73, 268n. ,
269n. ; and Spanish liberatarian community, 36; tranfor
mati on afer July 1 936, 1 34-36: unique approach of,
1 60-6 1 ; and "the woman question," 1 26-28, 260n. ; on
women and work, 1 54-59; women involved i n, 22-3 1 ;
and Women' s Secretariats of FI1L, 1 88-9 1 , 1 94-96; on
women' s subordination, 1 49-50, 1 77-78, 2 1 2
Mujeres Libres (journal) , 27, 1 23. 1 60, 1 68, 1 69, 1 74,
264n. ; compared to contemporar women' s j ourals,
1 35-36, 26 I n. ; creation and content of, 1 27-34, 260n. ;
on gender diferences, 2 1 2- 1 3; on motherhood, 1 61 2
Mullaney, Marie Marmo, 270n.
Municipio libre, 4-5, 68
Mussolini, Benito, 1 1 0, 1 1 3
Nahuel, Nita, 267n.
Napoleonic Wars, 64
Nash, Mary, 46-47, 1 78, 1 94, 240n. , 241 n. , 245n. , 25 I n. ,
252n. , 258n. , 265n. , 266n.
National Confederation of Lahor of Spain. See CNT
Negrin, Juan, 26411.
Nelken, Margarita. 72-73, 246n.
Nettlau, Max, 243n .. 246n. , 25711.
Neus, 260n.
NiHo (Poeh y Gascon), 1 62, 242n. , 261 n. , 266n., 267n.
de N6 Galindo. Amada Victoria, 27, 1 52, 1 54, 1 59-60, 1 75,
1 85, 26311 . , 264n. , 265n. , 26811 .. 270n.
Naja Rufz_ Higinio, 243n.
" Nonintervention Treaty," 1 1 0
Norris, Jill, 276n.
Ocana, Igualdad, 83, 1 1 9, 250n. , 259n.
akin, Susan Moller, 278n.
O' Neill, Carlota. 258n.
Orwell, George, 98, 253n. , 25711.
Oved, Yaacov, 239n.
Padreny, Juan, 250n.
Palmer, Phyllis Marynick, 236n.
Parera, Arturo, 250n. , 255n.
Parera, Luzdivina, 255n.
Partido Communista de Espana. See PCE
Par1ido Obrero de Unifcaci6n Marxista, Trotskyist. See
POUM
Partido Socialista Obrera Espana!. See PSOE
Partido Socialist;l Unifcado L Cataluna. See PSUC
Pateman, Carole, 2 1 7, 239n . . 26611 . , 278n.
Pauli" Juan, 77, 163, 1 64, 247-48n.
Payne, Stanley, 25 1 n.
Paz, Idit, 239n.
PCE (Partido Comunista de Espana), 1 1 0, 1 1 2-1 3, 1 35-36,
1 79
Peirat" Jose, 08, 249n. , 25 1 n . . 25311. , 254n. , 27211.
Pellicor, Rafael Farga, 6S
Perez, Luisa, 1 33
Perez, Maria, 265n.
Perez Barn. Alher!. 1 0 1 , 254n.
Perez de la Dehesa, Rafael, 246n.
Perez Dfaz, Victur. 247n.
Pestalozzi, lohann Heinrich, 1 33
Peter. 260n.
Peterson, Rebecca, 274n.
Pieq, Fran,ois, 2751.
Piera, Cristina, 74. 82, 92, 24RI1 .. 2:On. , 25 1 n.
Piercy, Marge. 200, 273n.
Piller, Matilde, 1 1 7, 258n.
Piven, Frances Fox, 209, 242n. , 276n.
Plaskow, Judith, 23811.
Plural love, 5 1 . See also Marriage; Sexuality
Poch y Gascon. Amparo, 5 1 , 1 22, 1 26, 1 33, 1 62-63, 242n. ,
262n. , 266n. , 267n. ; on gender differences, 2 1 3: on sex
uality, 1 23. 1 67
285
Politics, new conception of, 32-33, 2 1 6-20
Pons Prades, Eduardo, 24, 249n. , 253n .. 254n. , 25611.
Popular Front, 90. 1 1 0, 1 36
Portales, Suceso, 20-22, 27, 3 1 , 1 72, 234n. , 268n.
Porter, David, 261 n.
"EI Porvenir," 1 06
POUM (Partido Obrero de Uni fcaci 6n Jarxista,
Trotskyist), 1 1 2 .. 13, 1 6 1 , 1 79
Prat, Dolores, 79, 1 00, 1 01 , 1 03, 24911 . , 254n. , 25511 .
Prat, Jose, 41, 60, 238n. , 239n. , 250n.
Pratt, Minnie Brce, 2361.
Preston, Paul, 25 I n.
Primo de Rivera, Miguel, 79, 89
"Propaganda by the deed," 55, 69
Prostitution, 1 68-70, 1 72
Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph, 47, 57-58, 235n. , 239n. , 243n.
PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrera Espana!), 7 1 -72, 1 79
PSUC (Patido Socialista Unifcado de Catalufa), 1 1 0,
1 36, 1 61 . 1 79
Puente, Isaac, 45-6, 225, 237n. , 23Rn. , 239n . . 2401 ..
243n.
Pujol, Rafael, 25311.
Pyne, Shawn, 238n.
Quataert, Jean H , 275-76n.
Quinby, Lee, 273-74n.
Rational i st schoob, 8 1 -83, 202. See also Atelleo;
Education; Modem school movement
Rawls, John, 243-44n. , 266n. , 278n.
Reagan, Berice Johnson, 2771.
Reclus, Eliseo, 243n.
Rcinharz, Shulamit, 274n.
L Revista Blalca, 4, 85-86, 239n., 240n.
Rich, Adrienne, 2 1 5, 236n. , 277n.
Richards, Vernon, 239n. , 257 n.
Rickel, Annette U. , 274n.
de los Rios, Ferando, 245n.
Robin, Paul, 8 1
Robinson, Richad A. H. 25 1 n.
Rocker, Milly, 99
Rocker, Rudolf, 99, I I I
R6denas, Libertad, 1 24, 1 75, 259n.
Rodrigo, Antonina, 267n.
Rodriguez Garcfa, Vicente (Viroga, VR. '?), 242n.
Romero Maura. Joaqufn, 244n. , 247n.
Rotenstreich, Nathan, 239n.
Rovira, Enriqueta Ferandez, 37, 54, 55, 57, 69, 235n. ,
237n. , 242n., 243n. , 250n. , 25 I n. , 258n. , 26n. ; on ate
neos, 86-87: on beginning of Spanish Civil War, 93-94.
99; childhood, 25-26; on male-kmale equality. I 1 6
Rubin, Lillian, 27811.
Ruddick, Sara, 261 n. , 263n. , 273n.
Rueda, Enric, 78
Runciman, wG. , 237n.
Rural collectives. S( Collectives and collectivization
Saavedra, Ahelardo. 25, 30, 69, 80. 3
Sanchez Saom;l, Lucia, 88, 1 21-23, 1 37 , 1 68, 1 72, 1 75,
1 8 1 , 26I n. , 26311. , 266n. , 267n. , 2681. , 269n., 270n. ,
27 1 n. , 273n. ; on casamientos a La libertaria, 1 68; on
creation of Mujeres Libres (journal). 1 27-33; on gender
diferences. 2 1 3 ; on motherhood, 1 62; on need for spir
itual development, 1 60; on o\idarity work of Mujeres
Libres, 1 76; ,md "the woman question," 1 26-29, 260n.
Scanlon. Geraldine, 248n. , 259n.
Schattschneider, E. E. , 21 7, 278n.
Scott, Joan, 277n.
,ecciones de trhajo, 1 55, 1 58-59
Sennett, Richard, 238n. , 278n.
Setel, T. Drorah. 27411.
286 MO|l mO ^. ^C<e` :Oe|Q
Sexual i t y' MUjCl\-S Li hrcs' at teTt i oll (0, 1 67 - 73; in Spani sh
anarchi 1 tilough! , 46-53, j ()7-6X; use of to di count
femal e act i vi sm. 2 1 0: i n t he work ( If Poch y Gasc{m,
1 22. 1 67-7 1
Shubert. Adri an. 25 1 1 1 . , 2.l/I,
SI A ( SoJ i dari uad I ntcraci oll:d Ant i bsci st a) , 27. [ 7-- 75.
I X4
Si mons, .argarlt A . 23011.
Sl aLlgblr. Jane, 24Xn. , 25 1 11 . , 25X-Sln . . 27611.
Smi t h. Harhnra. 23611 . . 27711 .
Smi th, Li l l i an, 23611 .
Smi t h, Rut h L . ?36n. , 240n.
Smi t h R{)"cnhlrg. Carrol l . 27)11 .
S()ci ai i si l l . 37. 2( )o-H: undcrn:pIT:Cl1tal i () 11 of Wt)\lll'll i ll
pol i t ical I llowmcnh. 200- J I . S'et' al.\ PSOE: Spani sh
soci al i sm: UGT
Sl l l de la Vi da, X3
S"I Y Vi da. 5. X5. 1 1 6
Sol it Perc, 25011
Sol i daridad l ntnnaci onal Anl i ra"ci st a. See SI A
S(/hdaridm! Ohr'1", H5. 1 ()7. I I I . 1 2(, 1 2X, UO. 1 37. I X5
SOlO Carmona. Al varo, 24511.
dl SOll sa, Germi nal . 270n. , 27311.
Suwlrwi Ill. " Charl es, 27511 .
Spai n, Nat i onal Confucrati ilI l \l/" I ,ahor of. Sa CT
Spani sh :tnarchi :m. 32. 40-4 1 . 42. 53. 6 1 -(2. 240fl. ; <lnar-
cho-col i cct i vi sl l l , 62-63. 67. hX, 245 --6n. : anarcho
communal i st tradi t i on i n. 42. :n. 6.". 64-70; commi t
I llent 1 0 di n . . 'I1 act i on. 54- - 56, 6': tolll lll uni ty and c4ual
i t y, 42 4(. 204-5: com[1nl1cnts of soci al vi si on, 52: CUI1-
:ci ou"ll ls ..- rai si ng in, 2(l- -: cOJlsi stcnty or lllLalh and
ends. 53-hO: di ffcrcil l i all'd fr\lT soc i al i sm. 37: 01
di versi ty. 34-35; domi nat i on ami suhordi nati on. 39- I ,
23XI1 . ; emphasi s o n economi c struttun." 43-.4: fotus
Oil educat i on. XO--XX: goal s of. 6H; di ficul t y in accom
modat i ng wOI1lI. 'n, 2 1 0-1 1 : necessi ty of preparati on,
56-60; orani zal i on of. 67-6H: organi zi nf of women
in, 1 20 - 25: popul ar part i ci pation stressed i n forums,
2 1 6-1 7 ; n:gi onal i sm. l(l 1 1 ldi vi :m, and protlst. 62-67:
on :exual i t y all i the subordi nati on of women, 46-52:
and uni oni zati on. 70 79; vi cw') on hi erarchy and
power. 33-34. 17-39. 40-1 . 2381. ; and "the woman
questi on," 1 16-29, 260n. : on women workers. 72;
women' pl ,Hc wi t hi n Iorking-dass organi zati olb. 45.
Ste also Anarcho-syndi cal i "ll
Soani sh anarchi st nrfS": Inc Muierp\' Lihrs (}0!!!"fll l
1 29-34; and "the woman questi on," 1 26-29. See al so
ESludios; So/idaridad Ohrera; Tierru y Lihertad
Spani sh Ci vi l War. 36. 62. 89. 1 34. 1 48: nackgmund.
89-90: educational tranfofTlwti nn i n, 98-9l: fr"t days
of. 91 -93: i ndustri al coll ecti vi nltion, 1 00-4: interna
t i onal context of, 1 1 0. 1 1 3; poli ti cal consolidation anc
counter-revol uti on i n. 1 09- 1 4; rural col l ecti ves, 1 04-9
Spani sh Regi onal Federation, 68, 72
Spani sh :(lCi al j m, on women \'orkers, 70-72. 147n. See
also ISOE: PSUC; UGT
Spel man. El i zahet h Y. . 23611 . . 27711 .
Spontaneous organi zati on, 55-56
Spri nger, Beverly Tanner, 276n.
Slack. Carol . 274n .. 27811.
St al i n. JO\eph. 1 1 0
St arhawk. 3-. 23011.
Starr, El1en Gates. 24711.
St ei n, Louis, 25gn.
Stoddart. Davi d, 23711.
Tarrida del Marmol. Fernando. 23711 . . 23911.
Taylor, Barbara. 33-34. 207. 2351 . . 236" . 24011 . . 275n.
Taylor. Michael. 2431.
Temime. Emi l e. 25 1 11 .. 25611.
de Tena, Josefa. 1 30. 26 1 n.
Tcrmes. Joser. 246fl.
Terradas Sabori t, 19nasi . 245n.
Text i l e i ndustry. 65. 711. 73-79. 1 02-3. 1 58-59: col lec-
t i vi zation of. 99-1 0 1
Thomas. Hugh. 25711.
Thompson. Denni s E. 266n.
Tiano Ferrer, Alejandro. 250n.
Tiempos Nuevos, X5, 1 30, 1 85
Terr " Libertad. 24. R5. 1 26. 1 35-36. 1 59. I 5
Tolstoy. Leo. 82
Tomasi . Ti na, 250n.
Torrcl l cs ( Grac\ b), Tcresi na. 27. 1 02, 1 20, 1 63, 2 1 ! , 25411"
25911 . , 26611.
Torres. J osep, XJ
"Tragi c Week." 74. 76. X I
Trauher, Wal t er. 25411.
Trcni , Hugo. 242".
Trirhergcr. El len Kay, 25811.
1'ron(o. Joan. 2771.
Tun6n de Lara. rnucI . 25 1 11 .
Tuscl l . Javier. 25811.
UGT ( Union General de Tranajadores ) . 77. S9. 1 06. 1 09.
1 52, 1 86: demand t o arm worker:. 4 1 ; "rcv{ ll ut i {) {>!"
Oc(ohcr:' 25411.
Ul l man, Joan Connel l y, 74. 24YIl.
Ul ri ch. Laurel lhatcher. 2351/ ,
" Una de el i as." 26911.
Uni fied Lcv<l nt i ne Counci l for Agri cul t ural Exports. Set'
CLUEA
Uni 6n General de Trahajadore:. S/,(' lJCiT
Lni 6n de Muchacha . , 1 89
Union . and uni oni /ati on. 70-7 1 . 47; cooperati on wi th
Mujcres Li bres ' employment and apprenti ceshi p pro
grams, 1 55. 1 56-)H; i nahi l i ty to acknowl egc women's
di lference, 2 1 0- 1 1 ; and i ndustri al coi l ecti vi rati on,
1 00-1 05, 25311 . . 254n. : organi zi ng of women i n, 70-79,
6 1 -8R, 1 54- 5X, 202, 206-7: pJace in anarchi st society.
43-4. 56-57: practice of c(ls{/fnit'ntos a la Iihertaria.
1 68. 1 72. 232-33; prevai li ng gender ideol ogy. 206-7;
ue uf general strikes, 73-79
Uni versi dad Popular. 98
Ural es. Federico ( Juan Montseny l. 4. 237n. , 238n . 23911 . .
240n.
Utopian Socialisil. 32-34. 47. 63. 207
Val enze. Oeborah M . . 236n .. 240" . 2751.
Vazquez Mariano M . . 92. 1 1 3. 1 87, 25711 .. 26(; and "the
woman questi on:' 1 26-29, 269n. , 27 1 n.
Vidal. Ignacio. 241 11.
Vilanova, Mercedes. 254n.
YR., 242n. See also Rodri gues Garda, vi cente
Walzer. Mi chael . 266n.
Warren. Kay f . . 2%11.
Weber, Max, 237n.
Wekerle, Gerda R. , 27411.
Wexler. Al i ce. 242n. , 257n.
"Woman questi on. The." 1 26-29. 260n.
Woman' s sufrage, 72. 206. 226. 256n., 2751.
Women's war or 1 9 1 8. 77. 202
Woodcock, George, 240n.
World War L 78. 1 56
World War II, 1 1 0
Young, Iris, 277n.
Yuval-Davi s. Ni ra. 236n . 277n.
Zetki n. Clara. 88
MARTHA ACKELSBERG is Professor of Government and Women' s
Studies at Smith College, where she teaches courses on feminist and dem
ocratic theory, urban politics, and social movements. She has published
numerous articles on anarchi sm, feminism, social movements, and Jewi sh
women. Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the
Emancipation of Women was originally published by Indiana University
Press in 1 99 1 ; an expanded Spanish edition (of which thi s is the Engli sh
version) was published by Edi torial Virus in 1 999. She i s currently at work
on Making Democrcy Work: (Re)Conceiving Politics Thrugh the Lens of
Women 's Activism (forthcoming, Routledge), which explores locally
based, community activism in the U. S. in an effort to draw lessons-and
attempt to incorporate knowledge-from those who have been relegated to
the margins of political life in the United States
$2 0.00 l\
i ,

ISBN: 1-902593-96-0
Free Women of Spain
Anarch
i
sm and the Struggle for the
Emanc
i
pat
i
on of Women
Cowards don't make history, and the women of Mujeres Libres were no
cowards. In the midst of the Spanish Revolution, they fought for women's
rights within the left organizations of their time (CNT, FAI, and FIJLI, while
staving off fascism and working towards liberation for all. Concentrating
on education, literacy, health care, and better working conditions, they
mobilized over 20,000 women within the organization Mujeres Libres. This
book contains stories of the heady possibilities of revolution and is filled
with lessons that will resonate with anyone involved in the social
movements of today. It is a call for community, especially amongst
women; and it is a call for equality, not after the revolution - but now.
The voices of Mujeres Libres have survived over time on the pages of
Martha Ackelsberg's inspiring document of their struggle.
"A forthright effort to view women's porticipation in politics in exciting new ways."
Temma Kaplan, American Historical Review
"Martha Ackelsberg's materials are wonderful, and her exploration of the world
of Mujeres Libres is often enghtening and always moving. Theirs is a story of
commitment and creativity, of steadfastness and practicality, of communal
endeavour and the bleak individual fate of defeat, hardship, and exile."
Frances Lannon, Gender and History
, ,,1LI.
52000>

Ackelsberg - Free Women of Spain

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ackelsberg - Free Women of Spain

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Free Women of Spain

Anarchism and th Struggle for the

ertarian movement had a powerful cultural and pol i ti cal presence.

uisitions from the local goverment.

( 1 983) : 573-8 1 ; Martha Ackel sberg, "Personal Identities and Collective

You might also like