The Anarchist Passion

This book is the third in the series of studies in Spanish anthropology. The series set out to show that all methods forged by anthropology for the study of "primitive" societies with undocumented pasts could contribute to the study of "modern" societies with amply documented pasts. The first two books "compromising relations" and "urbane thought", presented the ethnographic results of field work in southern Spain. Both were concerned with social class, a phenomenon typical of "complex", "modern", "literate" societies and little debated in anthropology. This third book turns to history. It applies an anthropological perspective and the findings of ethnography to class conflict in southern Spain, analyzing the role of local communities in Spanish revolutions, the escalating civil violence which culminated in the Civil War of 1936-9, the structural strengths and weaknesses of anarchism as a revolutionary movement.