Taking the Street: Workers’ Youth Organizations and Political Conflict in the Spanish Second Republic

Abstract

This article analyses the role of youth movements and, more specifically, the youth movements affiliated with workers' organizations, in the political conflict that occurred during the Spanish Second Republic (1931-6), in particular in the province of Madrid. The article stresses the growing autonomy of such organizations and the participation of youth in the development of new forms of conflict and organizations. The article also deals with the rapprochement between these youth organizations of the Left. This rapprochement resulted in part from the prevalence of political conflict in the period and it happened, in many cases, as an independent youth initiative, quite separate from the political position of the cognate `adult' political parties.