On this day in 1936, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), together more than 3 million members, called a general strike, beginning the workers' revolution during the Spanish Civil War.

The strike was called in response to a nationalist military coup that had taken place on July 17th, and was revolutionary and anti-capitalist in character. During the general strike, civilians acquired weapons by raiding state weapons depots.

On July 24th, the first voluntary militia, known as the Durriti Column, named after libertarian communist Buenaventura Durriti, left Barcelona for the city of Aragon. Other regiments formed, such as the anarchist Iron Column and the CNT-affiliated Red and Black Column.

Over the next three years, revolutionary Republicans began reorganizing society and production on anarchist principles and battled with the Nationalist forces, led by Francisco Franco.

The Republicans were aided and joined by anti-fascists and socialists from all over the world: 3,000 American volunteers joined the fight as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade; the Soviet Union provided the largest amount of foreign aid to the Republic, using their position to try and make the revolution more Bolshevik in character.

The Republicans were defeated in 1939 and Francisco Franco became the fascist ruler of Spain, ruling until his death in 1975. Many Spanish revolutionaries sought political asylum in the United States, producing the paper "Espana Libre" to connect the scattered community of Spanish exiles until Franco's death. Others worked to undermine Franco's government from outside the country.

"Don't you see why I'll continue fighting as long as these social injustices exist?"

  • Buenaventura Durruti

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