Anarchist Aragon

Anarchist Aragon (July 21, 1936 – 1939) was a period in Aragon's history, within the larger context of the Spanish Revolution, characterised by collective land ownership reform, social redistribution, communalisation of agrarian areas, attempts to eliminate the social influence of the Catholic Church, and worker economic and political management largely without the direction of a state. The period is generally agreed to have started at the Siege of the Alcázar, a highly symbolic Nationalist victory in Toledo in the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War, although anarchist communist thought was widely prevalent in such areas as Andalusia, the Levante, most of Aragon, as well as in Anarchist Catalonia. Mass collectivisation and the broad implementation of libertarian communist ideas occurred very quickly, largely voluntarily.

The previous structure, in which landlords owned most of the land in Aragon, and Aragonese peasants essentially being serfs—with much dependence on the economic security of farming—was rapidly changed into communal ownership with many landlords emigrating to more stable regions or being forced off the land through peasant rebellion. The existence of these communes were met with much opposition, leading to blockades restricting access to required armaments and creating economic isolation (predominantly led by the United States and France), but also through the Nationalists who were heavily supported by Germany, Italy, and Portugal, precipitating their inability to withstand invasion by Nationalist militias.

...
Wikipedia