Editing Anarchist communism (section)

=== Spanish Revolution of 1936 ===
{{main|Spanish Revolution of 1936}}
[[File:CNT-AIT-FAI.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|CNT-FAI Anarchists during the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936]]]]
The most extensive application of anarcho-communist ideas happened in the anarchist territories during the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936]].<ref name="Spain 1936">{{cite book |url =http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=1045 |first =Murray |last=Bookchin |author-link=Murray Bookchin |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20211023194646/http://www.revoltlib.com/%3Fid%3D1045 |archive-date =23 October 2021 |title =To Remember Spain: The Anarchist and Syndicalist Revolution of 1936|date =2 February 2017}}</ref>

In Spain, the national anarcho-syndicalist trade union [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT) initially refused to join a popular-front electoral alliance, and abstention by CNT supporters led to a right-wing election victory. In 1936, the CNT changed its policy, and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the former ruling class responded with an attempted [[Spanish coup of July 1936|coup]], which led to the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]] of 1936–1939.<ref>{{cite book |last =Beevor |first =Antony |author-link =Antony Beevor |year =2006 |page =46 |title =The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 |publisher =[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |location =London |isbn =978-0297848325}}</ref> In response to the army rebellion, an [[Anarchism in Spain|anarchist-inspired]] movement of peasants and industrial workers, supported by armed militias, took control of [[Barcelona]] and of large areas of rural Spain, where they [[Collective farming|collectivized]] the land.<ref name='Bolloten 1984, p.54'>{{cite book |last = Bolloten |first =Burnett |author-link =Burnett Bolloten |title =The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution |publisher =[[University of North Carolina Press]] |year =1984 |page =1107 |isbn =978-0-8078-6043-4}}</ref> However, even before the fascist victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the [[Stalinism|Stalinists]], who controlled the distribution of military aid from the [[Soviet Union]] to the Republican cause. The events known as the "Spanish Revolution" was a workers' [[social revolution]] that began during the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of [[Anarchism in Spain|anarchist]] and, more broadly, [[libertarian socialist]] organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to three years, primarily in [[Catalonia]], [[Anarchist Aragon|Aragon]], [[Andalusia]], and parts of [[Levante, Spain|the Levante]]. Much of [[Spain's economy]] was put under worker control; in [[anarchist]] strongholds like Catalonia, the figure was as high as 75%, but lower in areas with heavy [[Communist Party of Spain (main)|Communist Party of Spain]] influence, as the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-allied party actively resisted attempts at [[collectivization]]-enactment. Factories were run through worker committees, and [[Agriculture|agrarian]] areas became collectivized and ran as libertarian [[Commune (intentional community)|communes]].

Anarchist [[Gaston Leval]] estimated that about eight million people participated directly or at least indirectly in the Spanish Revolution,{{Sfn|Dolgoff|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/anarchistcollect0000dolg/page/6/mode/1up 6]}} which historian [[Sam Dolgoff]] claimed was the closest any revolution had come to realizing a free, [[Stateless society|stateless mass society]].{{Sfn|Dolgoff|1974|p=5}} Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives and persecuted both [[Workers' Party of Marxist Unification|dissident Marxists]] and anarchists.<ref>{{cite book |isbn =978-1571815422 |page =29 |title =Sartre Against Stalinism |first =Ian |last =Birchall |year =2004 |publisher =[[Berghahn Books]]}}</ref>