MikeDunnAuthor<p>Today in Labor History July 18, 1936: Beginning of Spanish coup and rise of fascist leader, Francisco Franco, and Catalonian uprising against the coup, marking the beginning of the Spanish war against fascism. The anarchosyndicalist union, CNT, went to the democratically-elected Republican Catalan government to request arms, but were denied. So, activists raided the armories and gun shops, as well as arms being stored on ships in harbor. They also seized cars and plated them with armor and built homemade explosives. Rebels in Madrid were defeated early, but anarchists seized control of most of Catalunya and Aragon. And within days, Republican forces had control of nearly all of Catalunya, Aragon, Valencia, Castille-La Mancha, Murcia, Andalucia, Asturias and Cantabria, as well as much of Basque Country. The war lasted over two and a half years, and ended in defeat for the Republicans, with hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides (including roughly 300,000 civilians), as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees. It also led to a fascist dictatorship, with hundreds of thousands more imprisoned, tortured, exiled, and/or murdered, lasting until Franco’s death in 1975.</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/spain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>spain</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antifascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>antifascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antifa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>antifa</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anarchism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>anarchism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>communism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/cnt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cnt</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/catalunya" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>catalunya</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/basque" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>basque</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/republican" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>republican</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/dictatorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>dictatorship</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/civilwar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>civilwar</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/uprising" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>uprising</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/rebellion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>rebellion</span></a></p>