Militarization — March 1937: Dissolution of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils

The function of the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils was taken over by the War Commissariat, a body described by José Peirats as “…a body of Soviet provenance, an espionage and propaganda agency at the service of the parties which monopolized power.”

Alfonso Miguel, the anarchist militant whose account of the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils has been quoted earlier left a bitter description of the demise of the popular organs to which he had made such a contribution as well as his thoughts on the new line being taken by the CNT leadership:

“Circumstances are in the saddle. Eschewing Byzantine scruples and outmoded prejudices, the Spanish people fell in line with the dialectic of history. The intervention… whether direct or indirect of world capitalism, forced a heroic option upon us: the option of forging an army suited to defense and offense. Naturally enough, as soon as the chaotic activity of the earliest moments ceased and organization of the war was able to proceed in an orderly manner, those organs which had acted as our saviors ought to have faded away so as to leave the new organizational forces room to operate. We entered a higher stage, determined by the greater problem of overcoming an enemy of great (thanks to the help received from abroad) material power. The militias came to an end, being converted into regular units. The Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils automatically ceased to exist. The former were replaced by a new body: the Army. The latter by a new agency basically charged with the same functions: the war commissariat. At every level, the commissars perform, in organizational and legal terms, the functions performed with admirable zeal by the simple, enthusiastic men who were elected by the Corps of Carabineers, Assault Guards, National Republican Guards and small military units… They did so all together in fraternal concert with the representatives drawn from the factory and the field. The people, without discrimination as to functions but united by common class interest, was able to keep morale high and make an immeasurable sacrifice on the fronts…

“…Without that fervently revolutionary unity, forged in the grandiose heat of 19 July could it… unarmed … have withstood an armed, disciplined, well-led enemy? Could the unity and zeal for battle of everyone, militias and armed institutions alike, have been maintained without the moral and organizational bond of the Workers’ and Soldiers’ Committees? We simply have to concede at all time the revolutionary and realistic premise of effecting at each stage the necessary transformations required for victory. Eschewing all prejudice, with a cool head and with intelligent audacity”.

From: De Julio a Julio, Alfonso Miguel, Barcelona, 1937.