Although it is often overshadowed by examples from major wars and high-profile countries, propaganda from smaller conflicts is sometimes buried, even though its messages and imagery still hold major implications in a broader historical narrative. The conflict between the Republicans and Nationalists in Spain during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 is the conflict which this piece of visual propaganda comes out of. Overshadowed by the Second World War, the Spanish Civil War still has many avenues for analysis of an ideological civil war.
This poster reads “C.N.T. National Committee A.I.T. — Office of Information and Propaganda”. The liberal Republicans who had been loyal to the previous regime are portrayed by the muscular, red-hued man who is preparing to crush the snake – representing the fascist Nationalists – with his large hammer. Created by Spanish artist Manuel Monleón, and distributed by two anarcho-syndicalist groups, the Confederación Nacional Del Trabajo (CNT) and the Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (AIT), this poster sought to both demonize the fascist Nationalists and further their cause to move the Republicans even further to the left in their revolutionary efforts (Southworth). This poster would have been targeted towards workers specifically. The CNT was essentially the Spanish labor union of anarcho-syndicalists, and as a move to take a stand in the war and an attempt to recruit others to join the cause, they released posters like this one to paint the Nationalists as fascists and illustrate the need to destroy them.
The nature of this conflict, reflected by the different groups that claimed a stake in it, illustrates the impact of personified ideology as a way to appeal to the masses. In this case, the CNT and AIT were both political in nature. As anarcho-syndicalist groups, they were one faction that attempted to shift the political focus of the Republicans as they fought the fascist Nationalists (University of South Florida). Obviously painting the character as a large red – revolutionary – man, they put across the point that they want to see the Republicans also shift as a party further left. The AIT was an international organization, meaning that support from them meant that they were gaining support from other movements around the nation in a revolutionary direction. As time went on, the AIT’s membership base began to dwindle, allowing them to provide less support to the Republicans and the CNT which was based in Spain (Southworth). Interestingly enough, the Spanish anarchists had more support than the communists, so as support began to drop, the nature of the revolution also changed (Southworth). Because of these changes, the imagery of this particular poster could have stood for many different movements that are somewhat related as they pertain to a revolution from the left.
As the Nationalists continued their military victories during the war, they also pushed the leftist Spaniards out. At the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War, leftist Spaniards were sought out and persecuted by the Nationalists. Propaganda of this nature was ultimately unsuccessful in banding the workers together to fight with the Republicans in a revolutionary effort, however, it did highlight the alt-left anarchist movements within the Republican faction and shows the importance of the legacies of these groups in both their appeals to the general public, as well as their views on the enemy forces they were fighting.
“Spanish Civil War History Project” at the University of South Florida. Digital Collections. Accessed October 15, 2016. http://digital.lib.usf.edu/spanishcivilwar/all
Southworth, Herbert R. The Visual Front: Posters of the Spanish Civil War from the U.C.S.D.’s Southworth Collection (San Diego: University of California, 1998). http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/visfront/snake2.html