Antifascistas (Resisting Spain's Far Right)

This is a history of resistance that exposes how fascism adapts and how antifascism survives, learns, and fights back.

In Spain, the “transition” refers to the official passage from Franco’s dictatorship to parliamentary monarchy after 1975. But while democracy was being declared, the far right was regrouping. Old Francoism mutated into vigilante squads, state terror networks, neo-Nazi skinhead gangs, soccer ultras, and eventually new neofascist movements determined to claw their way into public life and state institutions.

A generation of antifascists came of age in the shadow of this violence. Faced with attacks on immigrants, dissidents, and anyone deemed disposable, they organized across neighborhoods, subcultures, and movements, refusing to accept the far right’s return as inevitable.

Drawing on firsthand testimonies, investigative reporting, and political and historical accounts, Ramos traces the antifascist struggle in Spain from the mid-1980s to the present. He documents how diverse individuals and collectives confronted neofascist forces, moving from urgent self-defense to coordinated offensive action. Antifascistas maps the crucial roles played by journalism, music, culture, institutions, and allied social movements, while reckoning honestly with internal debates, strategic failures, and hard-won victories.