José Peirats’ The CNT in the Spanish Revolutionis a landmark in the
historiography of the Spanish Civil War. Without it, the role of anarchism in
that conflict could never be reconstructed. It is effectively the ofï¬cial CNT
history of the war, passionate, partisan but, above all, intelligent. Its huge
sweeping canvas covers all areas of the anarchist experience — the
spontaneous militias, the revolutionary collectives, the moral dilemmas
occasioned by the clash of revolutionary ideals and the stark reality of the
war effort against Franco and his German Nazi and Italian Fascist allies.
Originally published in Toulouse in the early 1950s, it was a rarity
anxiously searched for by historians and others who gleefully pillaged its
wealth of documentation. Even its republication in Paris in 1971 by the
exiled Spanish publishing house, Ruedo Ibérico, though welcome, still left
the book in the territory of specialists. For that reason alone, the present
project to publish the entire work in English is to be applauded.
However, there are various other reasons why this new edition is an
obligatory purchase for any serious university library and indeed for all
those interested in the history of both the Spanish Civil War and of
anarchism in the twentieth century. In the ï¬rst place, neither of the previous
editions, despite their immense scale, had detailed indexes. Inevitably that
rendered them difï¬cult to use. Now, this edition is carefully indexed in a
way that converts the work into a usable tool for historians and makes it
much easier for the general reader to dip in with greater purpose and
pleasure. Furthermore, these new volumes are accompanied by superb
introductions and detailed notes supplied by Chris Ealham. The notes are
fascinating, full of erudition lightly worn. Not only do they turn the
volumes into a splendid aid to research, but the astonishing tale of
starvation, prison and exile that lies behind the saga of the book’s
completion is compellingly readable and a minor classic of historical
reconstruction. The Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish
Studies is proud to be associated with this magniï¬cent project.
Professor Paul Preston
London School of Economics
Product Code: THEE19
Author: José Peirats
ISBN: 1873976291
Publisher: Christie Books
