The communes as the counter-cultural alternative to the family within the Spanish democratic transition (1968-1986): an ontological approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the creation of communes within the last years of Franco’s dictatorship and Spain’s transition to democracy (1968–1986). Specifically, it analyses why some self-considered counter-cultural and young people conceived the communes as an alternative to the family in a general debate about social organization. Responding to an ontological turn in history, the article shows that communes were expected to carry out a personal revolution and open a way to realise a harmonious social relationship by the practical implementation of a set of assumptions about both the world and human nature.