ABSTRACT
By the end of 1936, a division within the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) on the basis of attitudes to the state could be perceived. On the one hand, many members advocated a defence of the revolution in the rear through a socialised economy and armed populace, and at the front through a war waged by a voluntary, popular militia. The successful reconstitution of the Republican state depended on the governing authorities establishing a monopoly of violence at the front and at the rear. A recognition that the CNT had allowed the direction of the economy to escape its control following the first burst of revolutionary activity in the summer had, by the end of 1936, become general within the libertarian movement. By the end of 1936, any lip service that the CNT's anti-fascist allies in the Socialist, Communist and republican parties had previously made to the revolution had largely been replaced by appeals to 'anti-fascist unity'.
