International Communism and the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

International Communism and the Spanish Civil War provides an intimate picture of international communism in the Stalin era. Exploring the transnational exchanges that occurred in Soviet-structured spaces - from clandestine schools for training international revolutionaries in Moscow to the International Brigades in Spain - the book uncovers complex webs of interaction, at once personal and political, that linked international communists to one another and the Soviet Union. The Spanish Civil War, which coincided with the great purges in the Soviet Union, stands at the center of this grassroots history. For many international communists, the war came to define both their life histories and political commitments. In telling their individual stories, the book calls attention to a central paradox of Stalinism - the simultaneous celebration and suspicion of transnational interactions - and illuminates the appeal of a cause that promised solidarity even as it practiced terror.

The Geoeconomics of the Single Market for Financial Services

“…The first set of sanctions, which were agreed upon a few days after Russia's fulsome invasion of Ukraine, was adopted through the Council Regulation of 28 February 2022 (Council of the European Union, 2022; see also Kirschenbaum and Véron, 2022). They consisted of the following components: the removal of selected Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) messaging system so as to disconnect these banks from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally; restrictions concerning the access of certain Russian entities to EU capital markets; prohibition for EU banks to accept deposits exceeding certain amounts by Russian nationals; prohibition for EU central securities depositories to hold accounts of Russian clients; prohibition to sell euro‐denominated securities to Russian clients; and restrictive measures to prevent the Russian central bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermined the impact of the economic sanctions adopted against Russia, de facto, the prohibition of transactions with the Central Bank of Russia and the freezing of all its assets (Walker, 2022).…”

The Anarchist in Uniform: The Militarisation of Anarchist Culture during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

“…56 Despite the Soviet connection, Lisa Kirschenbaum aptly situates Coll within a broader antifascist reverence for the 'larger-than-life masculinity' being depicted which allowed international archetypes to acquire new resonance in the Spanish cultural context. 57 Local anarchists were therefore able to claim Coll as a 'symbol and example', a call for the wider membership to present their masculinity and antifascist credentials through acts of martial courage. 58 Coll constituted a milestone in anarchist heroic representations; not only was military sacrifice revered, but anarchists were instrumentalising a symbol common to the Republican coalition: the antifascist combatant.…”

‘Soldiers of Culture’ and their ‘Little Comrades’: The International Brigades and the Children of Civil War Spain, 1936–1939

“…103 Lisa Kirschenbaum has shown how the Brigades were underpinned by a transnational communist culture centred on key revolutionary anniversaries, shared symbols and respect for workingclass martyrs. 104 The influence of this culture is plain to see in the running of their children's homes, where the staff were often card-carrying Communists. 105 An invasive cult of the Soviet Union existed, with the children looked after in Madrid receiving a letter from some Communist Youth in the Volga Soviet Republic describing their 'beautiful and happy' lives under 'Comrade Stalin'.…”