Radicalization from outside : the role of anarchist diaspora in coordinating armed actions in Franco's Spain

Abstract

This chapter examines the cross-national transfer of radical tactics in conflict-generated transnational social movements between diaspora communities and their communities of origin. It does this through a comparison across time of two processes of diffusion of radicalization in the Spanish anarchist movement, which after being defeated in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) found part of its membership going into exile in order to save from the repression organized by Franco’s regime. The processes examined here took place in the late 1940s and the early 1960s. In both cases, the transmitter of diffusion was the diaspora community in France, some of whom coordinated armed actions against Franco’s regime in Spain. The comparison shows some differences and similarities between the two cases. Processes differed in terms of the logic of the armed actions and in the status of the transmitter within the movement: in the 1940s a more instrumental type of violence was coordinated with the support of the official organization in exile while in the 1960s a more expressive kind of violence was organized by a dissident group of exiled youth. On the other hand, in the two cases the roles of transmitter and adopter were both active, and diffusion used network ties, with groups of activists crossing the border in order to collaborate with others in Spain. At the theoretical level, these findings will allow me to discuss to what extent the type of direct, reciprocal diffusion of radicalization may prevail in highly repressive contexts. At the same time the examination of the connection between the dynamics of diffusion and organizational linkages across settings (geographical and national) aims at achieving greater understanding of the processes of radicalization in transnational movements.