Editing Spanish Revolution of 1936 (section)

==== The agrarian communities ====
The trend of [[latifundism]]o in the Spanish countryside led to widespread unrest among the peasantry. The [[confiscation]]s of the 19th century had failed to substantially modify the structure of land ownership and the republic's agrarian reform process had not fulfilled the expectations for change. Thus, as a result of the coup d'état, a revolutionary process began in which the peasants expropriated from the landowners and organized [[Workers' self-management|self-managed]] communities based on collective ownership of the [[means of production]]. This phenomenon has been called "collectivization". The collectivities were created through different means. In regions that the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|nationalists]] had not seized, the municipalities and the peasants themselves initiated collectivization.

Thus was formed a collective labor regime in which the lands of the aristocrats and landowners were expropriated and joined with the lands of other collectives. Animals, tools, and work were all held and done collectively. Periodic assemblies were held to direct what the community was doing, as well as negotiate with other communities and encourage exchange. Most of these collectives were born in response to the lands that were left empty or were seized by committees after the coup d'état.{{sfn|Casanova|1997|pp=200}} The [[Agrarian Reform Institute|IRA]] counted between 1,500 and 2,500 communities throughout Spain.{{sfn|Thomas|1961|p=600}} These collectives came to be territorially organized as was the case in [[Regional Defense Council of Aragon|Aragon]], in [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]] with the unification of the peasant federations,{{sfn|Leval|1975|pp=231–232}} or in Levante with the creation of the [[CLUEA]].{{sfn|Quilis Tauriz|1992|pp=81–85}} Throughout the war they were present in the political and economic approaches of each faction, being in a way another of the ideological battlefields within the republican side.{{sfn|Casanova|1997|pp=200}}

The union or departure from the collective community was free. If a small owner wanted to continue working the land on their own, they could do so as long as they did not hire anyone.{{sfn|Peirats|2011|pp=271–345}} The UGT-organized National Federation of Land Workers (FNTT), which had more than half a million affiliates, was largely in favor of the collectives.{{sfn|Leval|1975|p=226}}

In Barcelona the communities exercised a management role similar to collectives, without employers, as everything was controlled by their own workers. City services such as urban transport were managed by collective communities. In the countryside of Aragon, the Valencian Community and Murcia, the agrarian communities acted as communes. The business role was joined to that of an institution that replaced the local powers of the municipalities in which they were created, in many cases abolishing money and private property (one of the principles of socialist anarchist society). Some of the most significant Aragonese communities were those of Alcañiz, Alcorisa, Barbastro, Calanda, Fraga, Monzón, and Valderrobres. In mid-February 1937, a congress was held in Caspe, the purpose of which was to create a federation of collectives attended by 500 delegates representing 80,000 Aragonese collectivists. Along the Aragon front, the Anarchist-influenced Council of Aragon, chaired by Joaquín Ascaso, had assumed control of the area. Both the Council of Aragon and these communities were not well regarded by the government of the republic; so, on 4 August the Minister of National Defense, Indalecio Prieto, issued orders to the 11th Division of Commander Enrique Líster to be sent on "maneuvers" to Aragon, and dissolving the Council of Aragon on 11 August.

In Aragon, agrarian collectives were formed that were structured by work groups of between five and ten members. To each work group, the community assigned a piece of land for which it was responsible. Each group elected a delegate who represented their views at community meetings. A management committee was responsible for the day-to-day running of the community. This committee was in charge of obtaining materials, carrying out exchanges with other areas, organizing the distribution of production, and the public works that were necessary. Its members were elected in general assemblies in which all the people who made up the community participated.

In many villages and towns money was even abolished and replaced by vouchers signed or stamped by committees. Although some communities had problems with the republican authorities (e.g. the dissolution in Aragon), others, such as those of Castilla, Region of Murcia, and Andalusia, could function with more or less success until 1939, when they were dissolved by Franco's troops.

===== Policy =====

====== Decision making ======
Following libertarian practices, the collectives were governed by structures that can be described as "from the bottom up". That is, all decisions and appointments were made in assembly.{{sfn|Leval|1975|p=255}} In these assemblies all issues concerning the people were discussed. In these same assemblies the progress of the community and the actions to be taken were debated.

======Federalism======
On a broader organizational level, the communities aspired to organize themselves into federations, following the example of Aragon. There were congresses in favor of the creation of federations of collectives, but in no case was a more elaborate body than in Aragon ever constituted. There were other cases of federalism, such as [[CLUEA]], the managing body for citrus exports in the [[Levante, Spain|Levante]].

Among the collectivities there was also exchange, either in the form of barter, with their own paper money or with official currency.

====== Environmentalism ======
The Spanish Revolution undertook several environmental reforms that were possibly the largest in the world at the time. [[Daniel Guérin]] notes that anarchist territories would diversify crops, extend [[irrigation]], initiate [[reforestation]], and start tree nurseries.{{sfn|Guerin|1970|p=134}} Once there was a link discovered between air pollution and tuberculosis, the CNT shut down several metal factories.<ref>{{cite news |first=Iain |last=McKay |title=Objectivity and Right-Libertarian Scholarship |date=2009-01-20 |url=http://anarchism.pageabode.com/anarcho/caplan.html}}</ref>

===== Economy =====
The collectives were formed in the villages as a result of the abandonment, expropriation, or accumulation of land and work tools by the peasants. They were made up of people who wanted to belong and the work to be done was divided among the different members. In places where money was not abolished, the salary became in most cases a family salary. Accordingly, it was set according to the number of family members, increasing according to whether they were a couple or had children.{{sfn|Mintz|2013|p=139}}{{sfn|Bolloten|1991|p=66}}

====== Money ======
The economic policies of the anarchist collectives were primarily operated according to the basic [[communism|communist]] principle of "[[from each according to his ability, to each according to his need]]". One of the most outstanding aspects of the communities was the approach with which they faced the problem of money and the distribution of products. In the villages and towns where money was abolished, different solutions were sought; these ideas varied according to locality and town: vouchers signed or stamped by committees, account books, local coins, ration tables, or individual or family checkbooks.{{sfn|Leval|1975|pp=237–246}} In the cases where money was abolished, it was used to acquire products or tools that the community could not obtain by itself.

{{quotation|In many communities money for internal use was abolished, because, in the opinion of Anarchists, "money and power are diabolical philtres, which turn a man into a wolf, into a rabid enemy, instead of into a brother." "Here in Fraga [a small town in Aragon], you can throw banknotes into the street," ran an article in a Libertarian paper, "and no one will take any notice. Rockefeller, if you were to come to Fraga with your entire bank account you would not be able to buy a cup of coffee. Money, your God and your servant, has been abolished here, and the people are happy." In those Libertarian communities where money was suppressed, wages were paid in coupons, the scale being determined by the size of the family. Locally produced goods, if abundant, such as bread, wine, and olive oil, were distributed freely, while other articles could be obtained by means of coupons at the communal depot. Surplus goods were exchanged with other Anarchist towns and villages, money being used only for transactions with those communities that had not adopted the new system.|Burnett Bolloten{{sfn|Bolloten|1991|p=66}}}}

====== Obstacles ======
The biggest problems that the communities faced were those consequential of the war itself: shortage of raw materials such as fertilizers, seeds, gear, and tools, or the lack of labor due to the mobilization. They also had great problems in their relationship with the state, as the collectives were an expression of power outside the state and also as ideological rivals of the communism that dominated the government. This is how they suffered discrimination in the financing of the IRA, the CLUEA's competition in the Levante,{{sfn|Quilis Tauriz|1992|pp=83–85}} forced unionization in Catalonia,{{sfn|Mintz|2013|p=90}} or their forced dissolution in Aragon.{{sfn|Borrás|1998|pp=71–73}}

===== State response =====
Once the state was restructured at any of its levels, it tried to stop, direct or at least channel any revolutionary organism. Regarding the collectives, the Minister of Agriculture Uribe drew up a decree of agrarian collectivizations that only sought to channel them. With this decree an excessive importance was given to the individual farmer.{{sfn|Mintz|2013|p=117}}