Federica Montseny was a Spanish anarchist intellectual and Minister of Health during the social revolution that occurred in Spain parallel to the Civil War. As well as being the first ever female minister in the Spanish government, Montseny issued a decree legalising abortion.
She was, in her own words, the "[d]aughter of a family of old anarchists"; her father had been an anti-authoritarian writer and propagandist, who wrote under the name Federico Urales, so her decision to enter the government was a difficult one to make. Although entering the government was a move encouraged by the anarcho-syndicalist CNT, this collaboration with the government, in order to present a united front to the fascist rebels, was widely questioned during and long after the war was over. For many anarchists, the topic of collaboration -- with Marxistss and governments -- is still a contentious one.
