Essay #86: Henry Brown, ‘Anarchists in Epaulettes’

Anarchist Essays

In this essay, Henry Brown examines the controversial participation of anarchists in the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War (1936-9). Despite the universal association of anarchism with antimilitarism, the Spanish anarchists responded to the demands of antifascist war in a nuanced fashion, creating a distinctive military subculture based on solidarity, comradeship, and clandestine political agitation.

Henry Brown is a PhD candidate at the University of Kent, examining military culture and identity in the Popular Army of the Spanish Republic (1936-9). His most recent publications include ‘The Anarchist in Uniform: The Militarisation of Anarchist Culture during the Spanish Civil War’ and his contribution to the Special Issue ‘Iberian Anarchism in Twentieth-Century History’: ‘“¡Vivan las tribus!”: persecution, resistance and anarchist agency in the Popular Army.’

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