Anarchy's Brief Summer

Northern Spain is the only part of Western Europe where anarchism played a significant role in political life of the twentieth century. Enjoying wide-ranging support among both the urban and rural working class, its importance peaked during its brief summerthe civil war between the Republic and General Francos Falangists, during which anarchists even participated in the government of Catalonia. Anarchys Brief Summer brings anarchism to life by focusing on the charismatic leader Buenaventura Durruti (18961936), who became a key figure in the Spanish Civil War after a militant and adventurous youth. The basis of the book is a compilation of texts: personal testimony, interviews with survivors, contemporary documents, memoirs, and academic assessments. They are all linked by Enzenbergers own assessment in a series of glossesa literary form that is somewhere between retelling and reconstructionwith the contradiction between fiction and fact reflecting the political contradictions of the Spanish Revolution. On the trail of forgotten, half-suppressed struggles, Anarchys Brief Summer offers a unique portrait of a revolutionary movement that is largely unknown outside Spain.