anarchists and fascists. Italian anarchists played a key role in the anti-fascist organisation Arditi del Popolo (The People's Daring Ones or AdP), which was strongest in areas with anarchist traditions. They achieved some success in their activism, such as repelling Blackshirts in the anarchist stronghold of Parma in August 1922. AdP saw growth after the Socialist Party signed the pacification pact with the fascists. AdP consisted of militant proletarians, anarchists, communists and even socialists. It numbered twenty-thousand members in 144 sections. The veteran Italian anarchist, Luigi Fabbri, was one of the first critical theorists of fascism, describing it as "the preventive counter-revolution". Italian anarchists Gino Lucetti and Anteo Zamboni narrowly failed an assassination attempt against Benito Mussolini. Italian anarchists formed various partisan groups during World War II. In France, where the far-right leagues came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a united front policy. One tendency was for the creation of a pack with political parties while others objected. In Spain, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour or CNT) initially refused to join a popular front electoral alliance. Abstention by their supporters led to a right-wing election victory. In 1936, the CNT changed its policy and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the former ruling class responded with an attempted coup causing the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). In response to the army rebellion, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and large areas of rural Spain where they collectivised the land. However, even before the fascist victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists, who controlled the distribution of military aid to the Republican cause from the Soviet Union. Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives and persecuted both dissident Marxists and anarchists. In Germany, the Nazis crushed anarchism upon seizing power. Apart from Spain, nowhere else could the anarchist movement provide a solid resistance to various fascist regimes throughout Europe. Spanish Revolution The Spanish Revolution of 1936 was the first and only time that libertarian socialism became an imminent reality. It stood on the ground of a strong anarchist movement in Spain that dated back to the 19th century. Anarchist groups enjoyed broad social support particularly in Barcelona, Aragon, Andalusia, Levante. Anarchism in Spain leaned towards syndicalism and this yielded to the