The Russian Revolution and Spanish Communists, 1931–5

In: Journal of contemporary history, Volume 52, Issue 4, p. 892-912

Abstract

The article examines connections between Spanish communists and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Focusing on the period beginning with the founding of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, it analyzes how 'revolutionary' Spain not only borrowed from the Soviet experience but also became an emotional core of the international communist project. To examine these exchanges, the article investigates two topics that are often treated separately: the revolutionary 'brotherhood' of Soviet and Spanish writers (focusing on Rafael Alberti and María Teresa León) and the lessons learned by ordinary communists at the Comintern's International Lenin School. It argues that these varied interactions were part of a single, multifaceted phenomenon: the creation of complex revolutionary networks in the years before the Spanish civil war. From this perspective, 'world revolution' can be understood not only as a 'faith' that came from Russia but also as a lived reality shaped by multidirectional – if also Soviet-dominated – institutional and personal exchanges.