Unity as Rivalry: The Spanish Anarcho-syndicalists and Socialists on the Eve of the Civil War
This article examines the development of the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) labour union's stance on its longstanding rival, the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), during the pre-war years of the Second Republic. The article outlines the hostilities tha...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
2012
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| In: |
Politics, religion & ideology
Year: 2012, Volume: 13, Issue: 3, Pages: 267-287 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article examines the development of the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) labour union's stance on its longstanding rival, the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), during the pre-war years of the Second Republic. The article outlines the hostilities that characterized relations between the CNT and the UGT after the founding of the Republic in April 1931. It demonstrates that until the end of 1935 the position on the UGT that prevailed within the CNT was one of arguing that all efforts made by the rest of the Left to build a united front or alliance were merely typical of the manipulative political trickery that many anarcho-syndicalists ascribed to Marxist movements. Examining the sudden change made by the CNT in 1936 to invite the UGT to join it in a revolutionary alliance, the article argues that, although for some sectors of the anarcho-syndicalist movement this represented a genuine attempt to build an alliance with the UGT, for many within the CNT the pro-alliance stance was in fact a method of seeking to compete with it. These sectors of the CNT calculated that by appearing to champion proletarian unity the anarcho-syndicalist movement could simultaneously discredit its socialist rival and increase its support amongst the working classes. |
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| ISSN: | 2156-7697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Politics, religion & ideology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2012.701187 |