The dominant forces in the workers movement, however—the Socialist Party, Communist Party, centrists, and anarchists—allied themselves with representatives of the liberal bourgeoisie in forming the so-called Popular Front government, which actively sought to block the struggles of working people and eventually led to the defeat of the revolution and victory of the fascists.

Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky explained that a victorious revolution in Spain, led by a revolutionary workers party, would have changed the relationship of class forces internationally, shaking the fascist regimes in Germany and Italy and increasing the prospects for revolution elsewhere. The imperialist slaughter of World War II did not become inevitable with the Nazi rise to power in 1933, but only with the defeat of the Spanish revolution.

Below are excerpts from an article, “The lesson of Spain,” that was published in the September 1936 issue of Socialist Appeal, then the magazine of the left wing of the U.S. Socialist Party, which Trotsky’s co-thinkers had joined earlier that year. Copyright ©1973 by Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission.
 

In Spain, the Socialists and Communists belong to the Popular Front, which already betrayed the revolution once, but which, thanks to the workers and peasants, once again attained victory, and in February created a “republican” government. Six months afterwards, the “republican” army took the field against the people. Thus it became clear that the Popular Front government had maintained the military caste with the people’s money, furnished them with authority, power, and arms, and given them command over young workers and peasants, thereby facilitating the preparations for a crushing attack on the workers and peasants.

More than that, even now, in the midst of civil war, the Popular Front government does everything in its power to make victory doubly difficult. A civil war is waged, as everybody knows, not only with military but also with political weapons. From a purely military point of view, the Spanish revolution is much weaker than its enemy. Its strength lies in its ability to rouse the great masses to action. It can even take the army away from its reactionary officers. To accomplish this, it is only necessary to seriously and courageously advance the program of the socialist revolution.

It is necessary to proclaim that, from now on, the land, factories, and shops will pass from the hands of the capitalists into the hands of the people. It is necessary to move at once toward the realization of this program in those provinces where the workers are in power. The fascist army could not resist the influence of such a program for twenty-four hours; the soldiers would tie their officers hand and foot and turn them over to the nearest headquarters of the workers’ militia. But the bourgeois ministers cannot accept such a program. Curbing the social revolution, they compel the workers and peasants to spill ten times as much of their own blood in the civil war. And to crown everything, these gentlemen expect to disarm the workers again after victory and to force them to respect the sacred laws of private property. Such is the true essence of the policy of the Popular Front. Everything else is pure humbug, phrases, and lies!

The victory of the people means the end of the Popular Front and the beginning of Soviet Spain. The victorious social revolution in Spain will inevitably spread out over the rest of Europe. For the fascist hangmen of Italy and Germany, it will be incomparably more terrible than all the diplomatic pacts and all the military alliances.  
 
 
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