Following the military uprising in July 1936, anarchist and socialist workers in Catalonia, Aragon, and other regions of Spain carried out a social revolution, collectivizing industries, farms, and services. The collectives, which were organized by the CNT-FAI and other anarchist groups, represented one of the most ambitious experiments in workers' self-management in modern history. The collectivization movement, which lasted until the end of the war, was suppressed by the Communist Party and the Republican government, which prioritized military victory over social revolution.

The anarchist collectives inspired a rich body of anarchist poetry, which celebrated the ideals of workers' self-management and criticized the authoritarian tendencies of the Communist Party. Poets like George Orwell, who wrote about the collectives in 'Homage to Catalonia,' and the Spanish anarchist poet José Peirats, celebrated the experiment in their work. The collectives also became a symbol of the revolutionary potential of the war, inspiring poets around the world.