Where has anarchy worked? What was so bad about Franco rule?
Franco's
White Terror killed between 150,000 and 400,000 people. The Red Terror, by contrast, killed at most around 80,000 people so right off the bat that's a whole lot less dead bodies that you can blame on the anarchists.
all the republicans were worried about doing was emptying prisons, legalizing abortion, shooting priests, raping nuns, outlawing marriage, and enabling secession.
I'd like to see some figures on the "emptying prisons" part assuming of course every single person ever locked up in Spain was a genuinely violent, dangerous individual. Considering there were a number of crimes like vagrancy or the suppression of union activity that were largely political in nature that is a far more complex situation than you are making it out to be. Many of the priests executed during the Red Terror were guilty of actively working for Franco making them enemy agents, a status that most people would consider valid targets in wartime. As to the "outlawing marriage, legalizing abortion, and enabling secession" stuff that sounds like snarl words and statements made based on your particular personal views. Outlawing marriage is one that's simply untrue, legalizing abortion is but is only a bad thing if you think women having bodily autonomy is actually bad, and enabling secession ignores that the CNT-FAI wasn't pushing for the breakup of Spain at any point in the war.
They didn't have any clear plans on how to form or keep a functioning society.
Yes they did, said plans were implemented in Aragon and Catalonia. All workplaces and farms were placed under the collective ownership of the people who worked there, production was supervised by larger councils of these workplaces, and the anarchist militias were some of the fiercest and most effective opponents of the fascists. During the course of the war, according to numerous sources like Paul Preston, CNT-controlled regions of Spain produced more war materiel than the rest of Spain
combined, an eloquent testament to the efficiency of their methods of organizing production.
As for the Anarchists wining how would the "state" in this reasonably be operated? Serious compromises would have to be made with alot of people.
Something similar to how the CNT-FAI operated but applied to the whole country. Workplaces, towns, villages, and cities would be run by the people living in them via direct democracy. Regional governance would be handled by councils of delegates from amongst their constituent elements and Spain, at the top level, would be run by some sort of mass assembly representing all of Spain, consisting most likely of directly elected delegates, with an executive committee of sorts elected from amongst the rank and file. Some compromises, like centralized control of the military, would need to be made especially with the looming threat of foreign invasion hanging over their heads but overall the forms the CNT-FAI operated on are ones that cases like MONDRAGON have proven are effective, scalable, highly efficient, and directly accountable to the people.