1940s Spanish Republican Leaders and Anarchist Organizations – Illustrated Ration Sheets
DESCRIPTION
Portraits of revolutionary leaders and powerful anarchist imagery bring the political diversity of Republican Spain into focus.
Five illustrated portraits identify Andreu Nin of the POUM, anarchist commander Cipriano Mera Sanz, socialist politician Julián Besteiro, communist leader Santiago Carrillo, and Republican general José Miaja Menant. Two additional sheets depict the CNT anarcho-syndicalist movement and the M.A.O.C., or Antifascist Workers’ and Peasants’ Militias. The illustrations capture the extraordinary range of ideologies within the Republican coalition, whose factions sometimes fought one another even as they resisted the Nationalist uprising. Nin’s persecution and disappearance in 1937 are particularly emblematic of these internal divisions.
Spanish food rationing began in 1939, following the Civil War, and continued until 1952. Ration coupons were issued by local authorities and relief organizations to regulate the distribution of scarce food supplies. Printed in perforated sheets, each coupon specified a particular food item or quantity and entitled its holder to purchase that allowance at an officially regulated price. Merchants collected or invalidated the coupons when the food was distributed. The surviving coupon designs reference communities and aid programs including Cáceres, Salamanca, Ceuta, Vera (Almería), and La Riba (Tarragona).
The coupon sheets reference Martos, Los Barrios, Potes, Cieza, Alhaurín el Grande, Oviedo, and Mieres; some explicitly date to 1937. Those dates establish the age of the printed coupon designs, not necessarily the production date of every accompanying portrait. This is a distinctive grouping for collectors of Spanish political history, labor movements, and anti-fascist imagery.
CONDITION
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622