Yes, I know from a rhetorical perspective they’re a bunch of jerks who do nothing but complain, but is there an actual takedown of their ideological notions? Because just saying they suck without further explanation makes it hard to dismiss them when they pop up. I don’t agree with them, I just want to know why I shouldn’t. Something about statues and logic and being chained in a courtyard with wind and all that. I’m not sure where to put this, sorry.
A key difference in the Italian and Spanish experiences is that the Italians completely failed to prevent the fascists from coming to power, but once the fascist hold weakened during the war and the stupid factional infighting over party leadership and the dogmatic minutiae of the Comintern line was swept away by harsh repression, they got their act together and became the dominant force in anti-fascist partisan resistance.
The Spanish coalition by contrast held together against the initial Francoist onslaught but over time fell apart due to factional infighting (libs vs anarchists vs Trots vs MLs), lack of external support, and an inability to agree on how to properly fight the war. As defeat loomed each faction started violently backstabbing everyone else in attempts to salvage the war effort and they all ended up collapsing and repressed by the dictatorship Franco erected.
