tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post116105960983742996..comments2024-03-21T02:16:25.967-07:00Comments on Freethought Weekly: An Introduction to the Spanish Civil WarDeltahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708796218860983185noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161319820606867322006-10-19T21:50:00.000-07:002006-10-19T21:50:00.000-07:00I'm glad you liked it mookie. I don't recall how ...I'm glad you liked it mookie. I don't recall how much of it is in spanish, but you can download subtitles for it online. There's a program called vobsub that you can download and I believe it automatically embeds the subtitles that you download in your choice of video player.<BR/><BR/>The USSR-backed Communists were a huge problem for the Republic. The book goes into some detail about how their military tactics were almost purely based around propaganda and not on strategy, and may have caused the Republic to lose the war. But the USSR was the only major country that would sell the people weapons, while the nationalists received high-tech support from Germany and Italy, as well as many trucks from Ford, which someone in the Franco government later said were crucial to winning the war.<BR/><BR/>If you liked that movie, you'd probably also like Libertarias. Personally I like Libertarias better, although the subtitles that I could find for it are somewhat out of sync, so it's a little frustrating.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708796218860983185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161283298353299632006-10-19T11:41:00.000-07:002006-10-19T11:41:00.000-07:00I just watched Land and Freedom last night. I coul...I just watched Land and Freedom last night. I couldn't understand the French and Spanish parts very well, but that wasn't a problem. I liked how the movie showed the split between the anarcho forces and the USSR-backed "communist" forces. The town meeting scene was also very interesting. The movie did a good job of making the struggle look real and noble. <BR/><BR/>Thank you for recommending the movie and the book.Mookiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796691428737135749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161272679257322662006-10-19T08:44:00.000-07:002006-10-19T08:44:00.000-07:00Thanks for the comments all. mookie and sh,The an...Thanks for the comments all. <BR/><BR/>mookie and sh,<BR/><BR/>The anarchism in action is what really interested me as well, and it's what made me read about the Spanish Civil War (aka Spanish Revolution) in the first place. I'm currently reading a book called <I>The Anarchist Collectives</I> which should go into more detail on the economic organizing and will focus less on the actual war, in contrast to the other book. I'll let you know what it has to say.<BR/><BR/>tanooki joe,<BR/><BR/>Good point, that may also have something to do with it. Western governments surely wouldn't be offering good educational resources on the Spanish Civil War and risk turning off the Francoist dictatorship and losing them to USSR influence.<BR/><BR/>drunken tune,<BR/><BR/>Thanks bud, I'll try to update more often!Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708796218860983185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161142853568741702006-10-17T20:40:00.000-07:002006-10-17T20:40:00.000-07:00I am not joking when I say that I check your blog ...I am not joking when I say that I check your blog every day, waiting for you to update. Please do so more often! Every post is great.tnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150533469330483877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161131654715554042006-10-17T17:34:00.000-07:002006-10-17T17:34:00.000-07:00Well, church is a big business/scam so it's not a ...Well, church is a big business/scam so it's not a surprise that they would protect their interests by helping right-wing forces. In addition to that, the left is (or at least was at the time) largely secular or openly anti-religious, so that, I am sure, played its role in turning religious leaders against the democratically elected government. <BR/><BR/>Anarchism in action would be an interesting topic to learn more about. I am very skeptical of their successes but it might be because I don't know much about them.<BR/><BR/><I>Could this sort of event happen in the US?</I><BR/><BR/>I sure hope not. And I think it's not the people on the extremes of the political spectrum that matter, not 10% of crazies who would die for Bush and not 10% on the left who would die for ideals. It is what the people in the middle will do. People in power learned many lessons since the end of 19th century. One of the lessons, I believe, was that you have to keep the majority reasonably satisfied and busy with either worthless crap or day-to-day labor, so they would not be persuaded to go to the streets and demand their rights to be respected or their conditions to be improved. This is what the majority of the populations of first-world countries have become: "Give us Survivor, give us McDonalds and you can keep our stinking freedom." So I don't see a whole lot of polarization, I see a lot of people in a very deep sleep. <BR/><BR/>Thank you for another interesting post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161106639086227932006-10-17T10:37:00.000-07:002006-10-17T10:37:00.000-07:00Of course, I think that the Spanish Civil War is l...Of course, I think that the Spanish Civil War is less known also because Franco's victory largely cut off Spain from the rest of Europe for the next 35 years (at least the people were -- the Western governments were of course buddy-buddy with the anti-Communist Francoists). <BR/><BR/>I'll definitely need to check this book out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177833.post-1161104104074664812006-10-17T09:55:00.000-07:002006-10-17T09:55:00.000-07:00I knew about the communes and such, but I didn't k...I knew about the communes and such, but I didn't know they were so successful. Shoots down that idea that such a system would be impossible.<BR/><BR/>It is no surprise that the church would side with the oppressors. Even the oppressors of other nations sought to help the oppressors in Spain.Mookiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796691428737135749noreply@blogger.com