"Look, we have to side with the Stalinists to win the civil war." - Spanish government which would lose the civil war

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Meme Curator
"Look, we have to side with the Stalinists to win the civil war." - Spanish government which would lose the civil war
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Meme Curator OP

Explanation: In the Spanish Civil War, a coalition of leftist groups, who had been elected into power in the pre-war republic, had to take up arms against a fascist attempt to wrest power from the republic by force. Initially the coalition cooperated fairly well considered how broad it was - consisting of everything from liberals, to democratic socialists, to trade unionists, to Trotskyists, to anarchists, to Stalinists. However, as the war dragged on, divisions began to show themselves more distinctly, with the Stalinists in particular pushing to purge the anarchists and Trotskyists before the civil war was even decided.

Other than the dubious wisdom of turning on one’s allies before the war is won, there is the issue that the removal of two Stalinist-opposed groups would have left the Stalinists as a plurality in the Republican government. However, as the Republic was dependent on Soviet military equipment (as the nationalists were supplied by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany), and the Soviet Union also held the Spanish Republic’s gold reserves hostage, the decision was eventually made to acquiesce to this purge.

They would go on to lose the civil war to the nationalists, who would rule Spain with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.

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Ahem…

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo has entered the chat.
Federación Anarquista Ibérica has entered the chat.

Ni dios, ni estado, ni patrón!

Too bad they were peer pressured into joining the commies.

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Meme Curator OP

I mean, they were purged by said Stalinists, so I think they definitely belong in ‘pro-democratic factions’ here.

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Comments in TankieJerk@piefed.social

Meme Curator OP

Explanation: In the Spanish Civil War, a coalition of leftist groups, who had been elected into power in the pre-war republic, had to take up arms against a fascist attempt to wrest power from the republic by force. Initially the coalition cooperated fairly well considered how broad it was - consisting of everything from liberals, to democratic socialists, to trade unionists, to Trotskyists, to anarchists, to Stalinists. However, as the war dragged on, divisions began to show themselves more distinctly, with the Stalinists in particular pushing to purge the anarchists and Trotskyists before the civil war was even decided.

Other than the dubious wisdom of turning on one’s allies before the war is won, there is the issue that the removal of two Stalinist-opposed groups would have left the Stalinists as a plurality in the Republican government. However, as the Republic was dependent on Soviet military equipment (as the nationalists were supplied by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany), and the Soviet Union also held the Spanish Republic’s gold reserves hostage, the decision was eventually made to acquiesce to this purge.

They would go on to lose the civil war to the nationalists, who would rule Spain with an iron fist for nearly 40 years.

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@PugJesus hi there. I may have misunderstood but please let me clarify my understanding. A simplistic view of the republic’s options are

1. Go with the pro democratic and/or far left groups, and likely lose all material support from the soviets.

2. Go with the Stalinists and keep the material support of the soviets.

That they chose one option, and lost, does not mean choosing the other option meant they would win. There was, sadly, no anarchist federation waiting in the wings in 1936-37 to supply the republican side with guns and butter.

I think the decision was morally wrong, but I can see their choice as eminently reasonable given the options.

Happy to be wrong though.

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Meme Curator OP edited

I agree entirely that it was a no-win scenario, and that the Spanish Republic was operating with very limited options and without the benefit of hindsight.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, choosing to cater to the Stalinists materially damaging the war effort by purging various enemies of Stalinism who were willing to cooperate against the fascists did not win the war, and may even have lost the war for the Republic.

There’s no guarantee that refusing the Stalinist demands would have won the Republic the war, but in the worst case scenario, the outcome would have been no worse, just with less murdering one’s own leftist allies in the hopes of appeasing authoritarian shitheads.

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@PugJesus very much agreed. No great options but as you say, at least one wasn’t going to lead to purges.

Even if they were to fail, imagine the coops having that many more months to try their anarchism before the end?

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