So, I went to a HandsOff rally yesterday. Posted about it. A semi-prominent “leftist” account called them, pejoratively, “liberal counterinsurgency”. It reminded me of what little I know about antifa forces in Spain, with infighting between the anarchists & communists. My only knowledge of this comes from Homage to Catalonia, so appreciate any sources that would help.
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It didn’t help, but Orwell (and more recently, Hearts of Iron 4 tbh) overstate how far disunity and internal conflict spiraled out of control during the war itself. The fact that the war continued for nearly two years after the infamous ‘May Days’ in Barcelona that form the centrepiece of Orwell’s political experiences is in itself indicative that this (ugly) bout of infighting didn’t immediately implode the Republican war effort, and reflects the reality that the major Republican groupings did in fact acknowledge that anti-fascist unity was essential. A lot of the more open rancour happens after the Republic lost, and is more along the lines of ‘we might have won if everyone had accepted my/our ideas’ than literal fighting. I get into these dynamics here.
More broadly, you can make a number of arguments as to what “really” decided the war – I give an overview of the major factors here.