Besides Anarchist Spain, you can talk about an Anarchist Ukraine, with a POD around the satrt of the Russian Civil war or a bit earlier.
An Examination of Extra-Universal Systems of Government
- Thread starter Ephraim Ben Raphael
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Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
Iberian National Confederation
It is a glorious Mediterranean day as I wait idly on a bench for my contact, listening to some songbirds in a nearby tree. An ambulance, sirens blaring, swerves around the corner and pulls to a stop near the entrance to the East Barcelona District Hospital. According to a nearby plaque the multi-spired building used to be a basilica known as the Sagrada Familia but was converted into a medical centre in 1941, my contact is a physician at the hospital and I agreed to stay around until she could find a chance to speak with me.
It is just past noon when Quima Calders is able to join me on the bench. A well respected figure in Barcelona, she comes closer to being a leader in her community than do most of the other individuals I considered approaching for an interview. She is middle-aged but her steely-grey eyes bespeak no weakness as a result of age or infirmity. Quima greets me in Catalan as she sits down and I answer in the same language.
“And what do you think of our nation?” She asks me once the niceties have been observed. “How do we compare to all those other ones out there in the multiverse?”
I tell her that I’d like to withhold judgment until I’ve heard her own opinion.
“How very…academic of you.” Quima says. “But you must know I like it here, it’s not like most places where the decisions are made by a few powerful men and people succeed or fail based on how much money they have or who their parents are.”
“Take for instance myself.” She says. “I received the same tests every child takes and it was on the basis of my intelligence and potential alone that I was able to attend the university. Not because I had powerful parents or because I paid a bribe to the teachers to attend-” I assume she’s referring to tuition “-but because I had the ability and promise to do it. Only in the Confederación Nacional does true equality of opportunity exist.”
But what about the people who didn’t do as well as she has?
“They still have opportunities.” Quima shrugs “they receive the same basic education as everyone else and if they work hard enough and score well enough some even get accepted into a university. It isn’t their fault they did poorly, but what can you do?”
I ask what inspires such confidence in a system that tries so hard not to be a system?
“My faith in human nature.” She tells me. “Most people are genuinely good and when you make it so the bad ones can’t ruin everything for the rest of us we’re capable of amazing things.”
The Iberian National Confederation grew out of two Spanish anarchist movements, the National Confederation of Workers (CNT) and its child organization, the Federation of Iberian Anarchists (FAI). Both movements were reaching their zenith in terms of support when the Spanish Monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the Second Spanish Republic- a government initially supported by the anarchists as a positive improvement over its predecessor. However things rapidly soured between the Republic and the CNT and FAI when the government responded to strikes and protests by anarchist affiliated trade unions by machine-gunning crowds of protesters.
In response the anarchists grew much more violent in their own actions, the FAI attempted as many as half-a-dozen uprisings including one in Asturias in 1934 that numbered almost 3 million men and women and managed to take control of a large part of the region before being bloodily put down by government forces. The heavy-handed efforts at repression by the Spanish Republic however, had the exact opposite effect from that which was intended. The ranks of the CNT and the FAI swelled rapidly over the next two years, though they remained outnumbered by Socialist and Communist groups the feeling among those who opposed the government was increasingly that the Communists talked about revolution while the Anarchists fought for it.
In 1936 the Socialists and a large percentage of the Anarchists pooled their resources and won a majority in the Spanish parliament- successfully marginalizing the moderate liberals and leaving the right with a clear minority. Unwilling to see an Anarcho-Socialist government in control, the reactionary Spanish military began preparations to overthrow the government. These preparations remained secret until June 23 when General Francisco Franco sent a letter to Prime Minister Casares Quiroga implying that the military was unfaithful. Presumably Franco was hoping to receive a bribe to buy his loyalty, but instead Quiroga ordered his arrest and the arrest of numerous other military leaders and influential figures in the Fascist movement.
Fearing that discovery would mean death for all involved, the plotters launched their rebellion the next day under the leadership of General Emilio Mola. Mola quickly seized control of much of Castille and Leon while army loyalists attempted to take control of the rest of Spain. They failed to take any major cities, partly due to the sudden and hurried nature of the coup attempt and partly because Quiroga’s replacement- Jose Giral- was able to distribute weapons to the citizenry who used numbers to overcome the fascist sympathizers. Spain’s African colonies were also lost by the Republican government but the rebels in Morocco were unable to influence events back in Iberia.
It was then with the threat of fascist uprising distracting the government in Madrid, that the Revolution of 1936 began. CNT militias crushed efforts by the fascists to take control in Catalonia and Aragon and then simply remained in control of the region. Initially this was only seen as being of minor importance by the Republic (which was busy fighting Mola’s forces) since the CNT-FAI leadership was allied with the ruling Popular Front. However, as the Spanish Civil War dragged on and Mola refused to give up, the division between the Communists and the Anarchists deepened. In 1937 the Republic attempted to disarm the Anarchist militias and give their weapons to more reliable forces.
Viewing the Republic now as a greater threat than the weakening fascist rebels the FAI refused to hand over its arms and was soon followed by the CNT in breaking with government. The Republic attempted to restore its control over Catalonia only to fail as it divided its forces between two fronts. The two Anarchist organizations united soon after to form the Confederación Nacional del Iberia- the Iberian National Confederation and set about creating the world’s first truly Anarchist “state”. The Republic agreed to make peace in late 1938 with the INC and reluctantly agreed to an armistice with the fascists a year later in the face of threatened German intervention.
The system existing in the National Confederation is one that while not unique is certainly exceptional in its dedication to the ideal of not possessing a government of any kind or most of the usual paraphernalia of a nation-state. Not only are anarchist principles applied to the methods of administration, but the economy as well is run by a completely decentralized system that goes to great lengths to avoid the amassing of significant wealth by any one individual or even the existence of private property at all.
The INC is divided into one thousand equally populated districts each autonomous from the other. Borders are periodically redrawn once every twenty years, but the total number is fixed. There is no national police or law code, instead each district maintains its own police force and section of the bureaucracy. In some districts the police are a gendarme-like organization with paramilitary qualities, in sixteen of them there are no police at all. The military is slightly more centralized than everything else, it has a headquarters in Tarragona and a democratically elected officer corp with the clear hierarchy run by a triumvirate of “Chief Combat Organizers” (generals) from the Army, Navy, and Air Corp. District laws are passed by public referendum held every six months, any bill that receives more than 20,000 signatures goes on the ballot. There are no elected political leaders because there is no government to elect them too, instead power frequently resides in leaders of the omnipresent unions (such as Quima who leads the East Barcelona District Physicians Union) or regional military commanders.
No coordinated foreign policy exists either, the INC cannot declare war unless attacked, the country has no uniform regulations on immigration or trade although a number of districts have passed such measures.
Private property is all but nonexistent, people can own personal possessions (the exact definition of personal possessions varies from region to region), food provided it is intended for consumption in the near future, and a limited amount of currency. Since the INC issues no form of official currency other than vouchers, this currency is usually either Pesetas from the Third Spanish Republic or Credits from the European Federation. The economy is completely controlled by workers committees (unions) that act in the same role as corporations do in other countries, although all businesses fall under joint-ownership and private capitalism is illegal in all districts. There is also no private ownership of land, neighborhood associations are the norm within cities, while communal farms and ranches exist elsewhere. There are no legal fees or taxes other than tariffs on imported goods (these vary depending on the district), with the military and police being paid mostly in vouchers good for various goods and services. Some districts permit the use only of vouchers or coupons and prohibit money entirely, several of these areas provide basic food stuffs such as bread free of charge to the inhabitants and distribute it via volunteers.
Having heard about the Iberian National Confederation from one of its supporters I now seek out a detractor for the other point of view, Jean-David Morand is a retired French Diplomat who served as Ambassador for France to the Republic of Spain, the People's Republic of Portugal, and the INC at different points in his career.
“It’s a miracle that Catalonia has held together for this long.” Morand tells me from his home in Marseilles. “The military serves as a de facto government, but its inability to raise funds keeps it from exercising any serious authority over the country as a whole. The most powerful individuals are the leaders of the different crime syndicates.”
I ask him if he will elaborate further on the issue of crime.
“You see all the little police forces and different versions of laws make Catalonia a haven for criminal enterprise.” The ex-ambassador explains. “Law Enforcement is practically impossible when there are so many separate jurisdictions and criminals can simply jump from one district to another. The black market is considerably larger than the legal economy and the yearly value of goods smuggled into the country is 50% higher than that of official imports. There’s even a black market currency issued by the Spanish Mob that hold an equivalent exchange rate of 10 American cents on the dollar! And that’s not to mention the flood of illegal immigrants coming over the border….”
Very nice depiction of an anarchist Spain. I am skeptical of a democratically elected officer corps for the military, and the seeming lack of a coherent foreign policy. I agree with Morand; it's a miracle this thing has held together for so long.
wolf_brother
Banned
It seems like the type of system that would lurch forward from one crisis to another buoyed up by the general populace's rejection of all other systems... which, IMHO, is basically what an anarchist 'state' would consist of - so good job EBR!
Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
Thanks.
The only people who vote for officers in the military are the soldiers themselves, and while there is no unified national foriegn policy some of the different districts have their own mini policies. Yeah it is a miracle the country held together, since I myself don't believe that anarchism is a workable government philosophy I was faced with the challenge of describing a system I didn't think could survive, so I just went with these guys being lucky.
Well ideology is the main "glue" that holds the INC together, things might not be perfect but since no one can agree on changing to a better system things stay the way they are.
I'm glad you liked it.
Very nice! I like the nice touch of crime being rampant and mentioning that the Iberians are just very, very lucky.
He tells people about the multiverse? Or is it public knowledge in Iberia?
He tells people about the multiverse? Or is it public knowledge in Iberia?
Goldstein
Banned
Very, very interesting. However, as many other times, I feel the urge to nitpick:
-Why in Hell the Basque Country holds Cantabria, nicknamed for a reason the cradle of Castille?
-Communists outnumbering Anarchists? Excuse me, what? If the POD is in 1936 as it looks, then Communism was pretty much a fringe option before the july coup, and even after that it wasn't strong enough to push anything, while Anarchism was very popular.
Said that, I'm a big fan of this format and I'm subscribed.
-Why in Hell the Basque Country holds Cantabria, nicknamed for a reason the cradle of Castille?
-Communists outnumbering Anarchists? Excuse me, what? If the POD is in 1936 as it looks, then Communism was pretty much a fringe option before the july coup, and even after that it wasn't strong enough to push anything, while Anarchism was very popular.
Said that, I'm a big fan of this format and I'm subscribed.
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Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
Not sure, I have a few ideas we'll see what happens.
Thanks.
It's public knowledge in most universes that have contact with the rest of the multiverse that it exists. A few dictatorships might try to keep the information from spreading, but that fairly rare.
The Basque Republic is the result of a disconnected chunk of northern Spain staying loyal to the Spanish Republic until the end of the war when it decided to go its own way. The Basques were the majority so they got to pick the name of the state while the more Spanish speaking areas had the option of joining the Fascist Kingdom of Spain or the Basque Republic.
Really? Where do you get that from? The Republic of Spain didn't go communist until after World War II ended.
Thank you.
I was reading about the Spanish Civil War last night. It was unusual how each party ended up having their own army and to some extent their own factories, their own social and political policies, and their own police. Its probably too crazy to implement as an actual governing system, but I wonder if there would be a way to implement a multi-party state where the parties actually have proportional direct control of the organs of the state and the economy. "Uh-oh, the Peace and Justice Party lost votes, so we're going to have to turn the Toyota plant union over to the Freequalists."
Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
Hmmm. I don't know about a Spanish state, but maybe a Corporatist Democracy? So all the "parties" would be companies that gain ownership of different provinces/territories/etc. if they can gain enough votes there.
I like the idea, though.
Anyway, I'm working on the next update! Hope to have it finished sometime next week.
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