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

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.