This new analysis of the forces of the Spanish Leftist movement during the Civil War of 1936-9 makes two crucial propositions. It claims that the wartime responses and limitations of the movement can be understood only in relationship to its pre-war experiences, world views, organizational structures and the wider cultural context. It also asserts that the most significant influence on the evolution of the Republic between 1936 and 1939 was the war itself. "...[Graham] has reflected on the many complicated issues of the period with more care and incisiveness than anyone before her. This is the mature work of a very sound historian." Canadian Journal of History "This is by some distance the best book I have read in any language on the Spanish Republic during the Civil War. The detailed and thoroughly analytical - narrative of the politics of the Republic outshines anything that has been written before...A very major work by a mature historian writing at the height of her powers". Professor Paul Preston, London School of Economics and Political Scienece "This work undoubtedly will form the basis for many discussions in the years to come" Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies Bulletin This book is a comprehensive 2002 analysis of the Spanish left during the civil war of 1936–9. Dr Helen Graham is Reader in Spanish History, Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published widely in the Spanish Civil War, and co-produced (with Jo Labanyi) the first volume ever published dedicated to Spanish cultural studies in 1995. Her book Socialism and War: The Spanish Socialist Party in Power and Crisis, 1936–1939 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1991.