Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CNT

Image:Bandera CNT-AIT.svg
National Confederation of Labour
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Founded	1910
Members	6,000
Country	Spain
Affiliation	International Workers Association
Key people	Fidel Manrique, secretary general
Office location	Seville, Spain - Location changes with the secretary general
Website	www.cnt.es

The National Confederation of Labour (Spanish: Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association (IWA; Spanish: AIT - Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores). When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT. Throughout its history, it has played a major role in the Spanish labor movement.

Founded in 1910 in Barcelona^[1] from groups brought together by the trade union Solidaridad Obrera, it significantly expanded the role of anarchism in Spain, which can be traced to the creation of the Federación de Trabajadores de la Región Española, the successor organization to the Spanish chapter of the IWA.

Despite several decades when the organization was illegal in Spain, today the CNT continues to participate in the Spanish worker's movement, focusing its efforts on the principles of workers' self-management, federalism, and mutual aid.

Contents 1 Organization and function 1.1 Membership 1.2 Objectives 1.3 Structure 1.3.1 Craft union and general union 1.3.1.1 Union sections 1.3.1.2 Committees and secretaryships 1.3.2 Federations and confederations 1.3.2.1 Local and comarcal federations 1.3.2.2 Regional confederations 1.3.2.3 National or anarcho-syndicalist confederation 1.3.3 Congress of the CNT 1.3.4 Assemblies 1.3.5 Plenary sessions 1.3.6 Parallel Structures 1.3.6.1 Conferences 1.3.6.2 Industry federations 1.3.7 Other organisms 1.3.7.1 Media 1.3.7.2 Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation 1.3.8 Relationship with the AIT 1.4 Voting 1.5 Methods 2 History 2.1 The early years 2.2 Peak of the CNT 2.3 The Second Republic 2.4 The Civil War 2.4.1 1936 2.4.2 1937 2.4.3 1939 2.5 The CNT under the Francoist dictatorship 2.6 During the Transition 2.7 Current status 3 Symbols and culture 4 Noted members 5 References 6 Sources 7 Footnotes 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Organization and function

[edit] Membership

Anyone can join the CNT, with the exception of members of the police, the military or armed groups. It is not necessary to subscribe to any particular ideology to be a member; it is even allowed to belong to both a political party and the union at the same time. However, those who act as officers in political parties cannot also hold office in the union. This is to prevent the CNT from being controlled or manipulated by any political organization.

[edit] Objectives

Part of the Philosophy series on Anarchism

Image:Anarchy-symbol.svg

Schools of thought Agorist • Buddhist • Capitalist Christian • Collectivist Communist • Crypto • Feminist Green • Individualist • Info Insurrectionary • Leftist Lifestylist • Market • Mutualist Nationalist • Pacifist Philosophical Platformist • Post-leftist Primitivist • Rational Social • Syndicalist Utopian • Without adjectives Theory and practice Anarch • Anarchy • Black bloc Communes • Co-operatives Counter-economics • Definitions Direct action • Direct democracy Economics • Especifismo Illegalism • Law • Mutual aid Propaganda of the deed Self-ownership • Social ecology Spontaneous order Squatting • Theorists Workers' self-management Issues Anarcho-capitalism Animal rights • Capitalism Criticisms • Islam Marxism • Nationalism Orthodox Judaism • Religion Violence History Amakasu Incident Anarchist Catalonia Anarchist Exclusion Act Anarchy in Somalia Australian Anarchist Centenary Celebrations Barcelona May Days Escuela Moderna Hague Congress Haymarket Riot High Treason Incident Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam Kate Sharpley Library Kronstadt rebellion Labadie Collection • LIP May 1968 • May Day Paris Commune Spanish Revolution Tragic Week Culture Anarcho-punk • Arts Black anarchism Culture jamming DIY culture • Freeganism Free school • Free store Independent Media Center Infoshop • Jewish anarchism Popular education Really Really Free Market Symbolism By region Africa • Austria • Brazil • Canada China • Cuba • England • France Greece • India • Ireland • Israel Italy • Mexico • Russia • Spain Sweden • Ukraine • USA Lists Books • Communities Fictional characters • Jewish anarchists Musicians • Movements by region Organizations • Periodicals Poets • Anarcho-punk bands Related Anti-anarchism Anti-capitalism Anti-communism Anti-consumerism Anti-corporatism Anti-globalization Antimilitarism • Anti-statism Antiwar • Autarchism Autonomism Labour movement Libertarianism Libertarian socialism Situationist International Anarchism Portal Philosophy Portal · Politics Portal  v • d • e

As a union organization, and in accordance with its bylaws, the aims of the CNT are as follows:^[2]

a) To work to develop a sense of solidarity among workers, helping them understand that this is the only way they will be able to improve their moral and material condition in the current social system, and to prepare the way for their complete emancipation in the future, after control of the means of production and consumption has been attained.

b) To practice mutual aid among the federal collectives, whenever necessary and when requested, during strike periods as well as any other times of need that may arise.

c) To maintain relationships with other like-minded workers' groups, both national and international, for the sharing of information leading to the total emancipation of the working class.

—CNT bylaws

The objectives of the CNT are not limited to the defense of the interests of the working class, but also include the desire for a radical transformation of society through revolutionary syndicalism:^[3]

Anarcho-syndicalism is a school of thought which appeared at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the present one (20th century). Its fundamental characteristics are:

• The intent to unite the working world for the defense of its immediate interests and to obtain improvements in quality of life.
• The creation of a structure with neither ruling class nor executive power.
• The desire for a radical transformation of society, which is to be reached through Social Revolution. Without this transforming purpose, anarcho-syndicalism cannot exist.

Another name for anarcho-syndicalism is revolutionary syndicalism.

—Basic anarcho-syndicalism

To achieve their goal of social revolution the organisation has outlined a social-economic system through the confederal concept of anarchist communism, which consists of a series of general ideas proposed for the organisation of an anarchist society.

Being an organisation that draws inspiration from anarchist ideas, it also identifies with the struggles of different social movements. As such, the CNT defends causes unrelated to labour, such as the dignity of people confined in prisons, environmentalist demands, the fight against gender discrimination, opposition to militarism and squatters' rights.^{[citation needed]}

The CNT is an organisation with an internationalist nature, but it supports communities' right of self-determination and their sovereignty over the state's.

Anarcho-syndicalism is internationalist; it sees the world as a whole in spite of racial, language or cultural differences. In this sense, it opposes the oppression that the states exert over the people. We are against the Spanish state oppressing the Basque people, in favor of the Basque, Catalan, Palestine, Saharan, Tibetan, or Kurdish people being responsible for their own destinies, settling on more or less delimited territories, participating in the richness of the society as a whole, federating as they like, becoming independent from the states; but we would oppose just as strongly the creation of a Basque, Palestinian, Saharan or Kurdish state, with its police, army, currency, government and repressive instrument.

—Basic anarcho-syndicalism

[edit] Structure

The organisational structure of the CNT is based on a direct democracy model.^[4]

[edit] Craft union and general union

The craft unions form the base structure of the CNT. They group together the workers of different crafts within each branch of production. When there are less than twenty five people working in one particular branch, a general union is formed. This can include workers from different crafts and branches of production and requires a minimum of five people for its constitution. If this number cannot be reached either, a confederal group can be created (four or less workers).

The decision-making power of the craft and general unions resides in the assembly. This means that decisions are taken by all of the workers of the union in question via a system of direct democracy and consensus.

[edit] Union sections

Union sections are assemblies of union workers who find themselves working in the same work centre, or business if it is small. The assembly of the union section chooses a delegation for the union section which is usually rotated and which will represent the opinions of the union section in meetings with other entities, although it does not have decision-making powers.

[edit] Committees and secretaryships

The assembly chooses a committee which carries out routine or administrative duties that do not require the discussion of all members, but it does not have decision-making powers. Committees can organise themselves through different departments, for example:

• propaganda, culture and archives
• press and information
• treasury and economic affairs
• legal and pro-prisoners
• union action
• social action
• general secretariat

The number of secretaryships can be variable, sometimes two or more overlapping on a single one if considered necessary. Delegations from the union sections of the branch businesses are also part of the Committee.

[edit] Federations and confederations

The CNT organises itself in an anarchic fashion, from the bottom up, through different levels of confederations, following the Principle of Federation. The reason why this structure has been chosen is explained in Basic anarcho-syndicalism:

It is done so as to avoid homogeneity in committees. In other organizations, lists, candidacies, teams and programs are elected; alliances are made to hold certain positions and from there carry forward the winning political movement. Anarcho-syndicalism holds that its committees should not have programs nor politics. Direct election from the unions guarantees heterogeneity and variety on the committee. Any kind of representation has an executive power layer, but the CNT tries to ensure that this power in more active and informed hands is kept to a minimum.

—Basic anarcho-syndicalism

[edit] Local and comarcal federations

The different craft and general unions of a particular municipality constitute the local federation of unions ¹ that are coordinated by means of a local committee which has the same characteristics and powers as the union committees. The local committee is selected by a local plenary of unions to which the various craft and general unions send delegations with written agreements previously adopted in assembly.

In their turn the unions of neighbouring municipalities can group together into a comarcal federation.

[edit] Regional confederations

A regional confederation is the union of several trade unions within a geographic regional zone. The structure is the same again, a regional committee with a Secretary General and the rest of the Secretariats in a regional plenary of trade unions in which the local federations send delegations with written agreements previously made in the assembly. The regional division of the CNT has undergone changes through time.

Andalusia  Almería Cádiz Córdoba Granada Huelva Jaén Málaga Seville  Aragon - La Rioja  Huesca Teruel Zaragoza La Rioja  Asturias - León  Asturias León  Canary Islands  Las Palmas Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Catalonia - Balearics  Barcelona Gerona Lérida Tarragona Balearics  Central  Ávila Palencia Salamanca Segovia Soria Valladolid Zamora Madrid Ciudad Real Cuenca Guadalajara Toledo

Extremadura  Badajoz Cáceres  Galicia  La Coruña Lugo Orense Pontevedra  Levante  Albacete Alicante Castellón Valencia  Murcia  Murcia

North  Cantabria Burgos Álava Guipúzcoa Biscay Navarre

[edit] National or anarcho-syndicalist confederation

Name	from	until
Luis Fernando Barba	May 1995	December 1995
José Luis Velasco	December 1995	February 1998
Luis Fuentes	December 1998	October 2000
Ana Sigüenza	October 2000	March 2003
Iñaki Gil Uriarte	April 2003	July 2005
Rafael Corrales	July 2005	July 2007
Fidel Manrique	July 2007	present

The regional confederations send representative delegations in the same terms as before to the national plenary assembly, and which constitutes the national confederation, also known as the anarcho-syndical confederation. The national plenary of regional confederations elects a national General Secretary, who moves the CNT headquarters to his/her place of residence. Hence, the CNT has no fixed headquarters location.

The local plenary of the local federation chosen as headquarters gathers to designate the rest of secretarial offices. The General Secretary (chosen by the national plenay) and the rest of the secretaries (chosen by the headquarters' local plenary) form the Permanent Secretariat of the National Committee (SPCN, in Spanish) of the CNT, along with the General Secretariats of each of the regions. As in every committee in the CNT, their attributions are technical or administrative, not being capable of decision-making.

[edit] Congress of the CNT

Direct representatives of the craft and general unions attend the CNT Congress with agreements from previous assemblies, independently from the local and regional levels. Among its duties, the Congress has to decide upon the CNT general line of action, and can appoint new National Committees. Since the foundation of the CNT in 1910 and the initial constitutional congress, nine congresses have taken place.

Congress	Year	Town	Dates
Constitution	1910	Barcelona	October 30th to November 1st
I	1911	Barcelona	September 8th to 11th
II	1919	Madrid	December 10th to 18th
III	1931	Madrid	June 11th to 16th
IV	1936	Zaragoza	May 1st to 10th
V	1979	Madrid	December 8th to 16th
VI	1983	Barcelona	January 12th to 16th
VII	1990	Bilbao	April
VIII	1995	Granada	December 6th to 10th
IX	2002	Perlora, Carreño	November 1st to 3rd

The Congress is convoked by the National Committee a year beforehand when there is an imperative need or there are new situations to assess. The discussion subjects are presented after being confirmed in a national plenary session, and then seven months before the Congress each member union starts its own debate which would end with the presentation of their ideas to the Congress.

[edit] Assemblies

Another method of decision-making is through local and regional plenaries, and congresses, in which branch and general unions take active part sending delegations with previously reached and written agreements. The National Plenary does not follow this rule, as in this case the delegations with the written agreements come from the regional confederations.

[edit] Plenary sessions

The meetings of the various committees (locals, regionals, nationals) are called plenaries. Plenaries can't take decisions, only develop technical and administrative issues.

[edit] Parallel Structures

[edit] Conferences

The conferences are open meetings in which matters are discussed and themes proposed; they serve to take the pulse of general opinion within the organization at any given moment. The discussions are later passed on to the local trade unions for their perusal. Persons representing themselves or another group or trade union may attend, but they cannot pass resolutions.

[edit] Industry federations

Industry federations are organized according to the similarity of production branches, not geographically. All of the CNT unions in a particular branch of production form the national industry federation of that branch, differing from the structure of branch unions organized by local and regional federations and confederations. Industry federations on a regional level exist as well.

Industry federations are empowered to act regarding matters lying within their area of responsibility. They send representatives that can speak, but not vote, at the national and regional confederations.

Some of the industry federations of the CNT are:

• Correos de Asturias (Postal workers of Asturias)
• Enseñanza de Andalucía (Teachers of Andalucía)
• Enseñanza de Castilla y León (Teachers of Castille and Leon)
• Enseñanza de Cataluña (Teachers of Catalonia)
• Estatal de Enseñanza (State teachers)
• Federal de Correos y Telégrafos (Federal postal and telegraph workers)
• Sindicato Federal de Telefónica (Federal union of Telefónica)
• Estatal de Servicios Públicos (State public service workers)
• Estatal Construcción (State construction workers)
• Estatal Artes Gráficas (State graphic artists)

[edit] Other organisms

[edit] Media

The CNT has a journal known as The CNT or CNT Journal operating autonomously. Its directorship and headquarters are chosen in a congress or national plenary. The directorship manages the distribution, print, sales, subscription and articles received for the Journal. The chosen director assists the CNT National Committee's meetings, although he/she has no vote in them. The Secretary General of the CNT is also responsible for writing the Journal's editorial page. This journal is published monthly, under a Creative Commons, copyleft license and it is available in printed and online format.²

All the organisms and trade unions within the CNT may have their own media. Solidaridad Obrera (Workers' Solidarity) is the journal of the Regional Confederation of Labour of Catalonia. It was established in 1907,^[5] being the oldest communication medium of the CNT. Other media are La tira de papel, the Graphic Arts, Media and Shows National Coordinator bulletin; the Cenit, newspaper of the Regional Committee of the Exterior; and BICEL, edited by the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation.

[edit] Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation

One of the priorities of the CNT espoused in the 7th congress (in Granada) was to maintain the historic memory of Spanish anarchism. The Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation for Anarchist Studies, also known as the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation (FAL), are responsible for the majority of these activities.

The FAL works autonomously, and its directorship is elected in a national plenary congress. Some of its duties are:

• Maintenance, cataloging and public display of the historic properties of the CNT.
• Edition of books and other media.
• Preparation of cultural events during CNT or AIT congresses: lectures, debates, conferences, videoforums, book presentations, etc.
• Edition of an internal bulletin called BICEL (acronym in Spanish for Internal Bulletin of Centers of Anarchist Studies).
• Coordination with other similar projects related to the FAL.

[edit] Relationship with the AIT

The International Workers Association (AIT) is a transnational organization which consists of delegations from a number of countries. The national anarcho-syndicalist organizations, each of which operates only in its home country, are known as the sections of the AIT. As such, the CNT is the AIT's Spanish section.

The AIT has an international secretariat elected by the various sections and can be structured by continents through the industry federations' system.

[edit] Voting

Whenever there's need for voting, we must need to know that we are discussing over problems from the power, therefore in the anarcho-syndical we should vote as less as possible and reach agreements via consensus. All of our voting are open and with raised hands. Never a secret.

—Basic Anarcho-syndicalism

Generally in the CNT, voting is avoided, being the consensus the preferred formula for decision-making. While this system is plausible in the base syndicates, on higher steps the voting is harder to avoid completely:

The problem comes when decisions have to be made in local, regional meetings and congresses. Its been explained that CNT's basic structure is the trade union. Well then, there is no just way in which decisions can be made by voting:

• If every trade union has one vote, a single union with 1000 members would have the same "power" as one union with 50 members. Two unions with 25 members (2 votes) can impose its opinion to the one with 1000 (1 vote).
• If voting is based on the number of affiliates, an union with 2000 members would have 2000 votes, and 100 unions with 20 members would have the same "power" as 1 single union. The geographic distribution of 100 is much broader than that of one, and an agreement applies to everyone equally; then a smaller union would have the same responsibility as a big one and much more troubles.
• There is also a problem in the minorities. A union (Union "A") may decide to go to strike with 400 votes "in favor" versus 350 votes "against", and it should defend its strike "vote". Union "B" says no to the strike with 100 "against" and 25 "in favor". Union "C" says yes with unanimous vote of 15 vs 0. There are two unions for the strike and one against; with the system of a vote per union, the result is to strike.

But if we count individual votes, there are 450 votes against and 440 for the strike.

—Basic Anarcho-syndicalism

From	To	Votes[context needed]
1	50	1
51	100	2
101	300	3
301	600	4
601	1,000	5
1,001	1,500	6
1,501	2,500	7
2,500	more	8

In order to minimize this problems, a proportional system based in the number of affiliates of every union in the Anarcho-syndical.

Even so, this system has some failures and may provoke discriminatory situations for the Unions with more affiliates:

This system benefits the minorities, but is still questionable. For example, ten unions with 25 affiliates sum 10 votes; and one with 2500, 10 times more affiliates, has only 7 votes.

—Basic Anarcho-syndicalism

Within the CNT this isn't considered as a main problem, since many agreements tend to get to a consensus after long discussions, but they admit that the system could be improved:

We don't look forward to another system because it's not necessary. Agreements get to be consensus after some discussions that may seem absurd to those new to the Anarcho-syndical, but they are actually very important for the union or regional confederation defending them. But it wouldn't be bad if someone thought about it for awhile.

—Basic Anarcho-syndicalism

[edit] Methods

The CNT is based in three basic principles: autogestion, federalism and mutual aid; and considers that work conflicts must be settled between employers and employees, without the action of intemediaries as State official organisms or professional syndicalists. This is why the union criticizes the syndical elections and works councils, being in favor instead of workers' assemblies, union sections and direct action, also avoiding when possible legal action. The administrative positions in the union are rotatory and unpaid³. Linear salary raises are preferred over those percentage based, because the first ones favor equality of salaries.

Usual syndical measures that the CNT use are banner exhibition in front of the headquarters of the companies that the union has a conflict with, and calls to the consumers for boycotts of their products and Social solidarity⁴ with the troubled workers. During strikes resistance funds are created to economically help strikers and their families.

The CNT is organized around craft unions. This practice was adopted around 1918, in times of great class struggles under the reign of Alfonso XIII:

There were detentions aplenty in both crafts, so the pasta-makers craft, which included four hundred skilled workers, was disabled to act for lack of people. But then the whole food craft solidarizes: the furnacers, confectioners, millers, did the work of their arrested colleagues. And the carpenters, lathe operators, varnishers, the whole wood craft were set to relieve the saboteurs. The cabinet-makers' strike lasted seventeen weeks. Until the employers acceded... It was an overwhelming success. And the solidarity lesson was, rigorously, what impulsed the creation of The One Wood Union - the one that was famous -, and the Food one, comprising all the sector unions.

—Joan Ferrer, in Baltasar Porcel's La revuelta permanente

The CNT does not support violence nor attacks towards people, even if there were some cases of blackmailing during the 1920s.^{[original research?]}

[edit] History

[edit] The early years

The Spanish anarchist movement lacked a stable national organization during its early years. The anarchist Juan Gómez Casas described the evolution of the anarchist organization prior to the creation of the CNT:

After a period of drifting, the Worker's Federation of the Spanish Region disappeared and was replaced by the Anarchist Organization of the Spanish Region... This organization then changed, in 1890, to the Aid and Solidarity Pact, which dissolved itself in 1896 due to repressive legislation against anarchism, splitting into several autonomous workers' societies and entities... Those who still remained from the WFSR founded Worker's Solidarity in 1907, the direct ancestor of the CNT.

—Juan Gómez Casas

At the beginning of the 20th century there was a consensus among anarchists that a new national labor organization was necessary, to bring coherence and strength to the movement. This situation was in the context of the natural progression of the industrial revolution.^[clarify] During the Bourbon restoration, carried out by the traditional and dynastic parties represented by Cánovas del Castillo and Mateo Sagasta, the emergent workers' movement united around the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party as a political force and around the Workers' General Union (UGT in Spanish) for collective bargaining purposes. There were also republican movements with a stronger democratic emphasis, of which part of the new bourgeoisie was supportive.

Thus the CNT was born in 1910 in Barcelona in a congress of the Catalonian trade union Workers' Solidarity with the objective of constituting an opposing relevant force to the then majority trade union, the socialist UGT and "to speed up the economic emancipation of the worker class through the revolutionary expropriation of the bourgeoisie". The CNT started small, counting around 30,000 members through several trade unions and other confederations.

In 1911, coinciding with its first congress, the CNT initiated a general strike which provoked the illegalization of the party until 1941. That same year of 1911, the trade union officially received its name.

In 1916 the CNT changed its strategy respecting the UGT, establishing new relations with that trade union, which allowed the two unions to initiate the general strike of 1917 jointly. At the second congress of the CNT in 1919 they studied the possibility of merging both organizations to unify the Spanish workers' movement. That same congress approved the linking of the CNT to the Third International, but after Ángel Pestaña's visit to the USSR, and on his advice, they moved away from it definitely in 1922.

[edit] Peak of the CNT

From 1918 on, the CNT strengthened due to a crisis in Catalonian industry which caused many workers to become a member of the trade union. The CNT had an outstanding role in the events of the La Canadiense general strike, which paralyzed 70% of the industry in Catalonia in 1919, the year the CNT reached a membership of 700,000.^[6] Around then panic spread among employers, giving rise to the practice of pistolerismo (employing thugs to guard the employers from active syndicalists), causing a spiral of violence which significantly affected the trade union. These pistoleros are credited with killing 21 union leaders in a matter of 48 hours.^[7]

In 1922 the International Workers Association was founded in Berlin, an organization the CNT immediately joined. But, the following year, with the rise of Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, the labor union was outlawed.^[8]

In 1927 with the "moderate" positioning of some cenetistas (CNT members) the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI), an association of anarchist affinity groups, was created in Valencia. The FAI would play an important role during the following years through the so-called trabazón (connection) with the CNT, that is, the presence of FAI elements in the CNT, encouraging the labor union not to move away from its anarchist principles, an influence that continues today.^[9]

[edit] The Second Republic

After the fall of the old regime the CNT offered minimal support to the Second Republic that would decrease progressively during the 1931-1933 period because of the constant confrontations with the republican authorities in the successive sectorial or general strikes. The end of that period was marked by so-called revolutions of January and December, both of which were swiftly suppressed by the government. In those days the main block of the CNT was in Catalonia, but was also gaining importance in other regions, such as Andalusia and Aragon (where it had a higher membership than the UGT).

Tensions between the "radical wing" ("faístas" or FAI members) and the "moderate wing" (non-faístas) were constant and difficult to analyze because of the decentralized and sectorial nature of the organization. Finally, in 1931 a group of moderates published the Manifesto of the Thirty, which would give rise to the treintism (from treinta, thirty in Spanish), and in 1932 Ángel Pestaña would create the Syndicalist Party.

The two years governed by the radical-cedist coalition were marked by mostly clandestine activity by the CNT, being severely repressed by the government. During the socialist initiative in the October Revolution of 1934 (at which point membership in the CNT reached 1.58 million)^[10] the CNT would participate only from the background. However, the CNT's Regional Confederation of Labour of Asturias, León and Palencia would actively participate in the revolution because of its loyalty to the workers' alliances, this time formalized through the UHP in the pact with the UGT and the Asturian Socialist Federation. Thus, in La Felguera and in El Llano district of Gijón there were short periods of anarchist communism put into practice:

In the El Llano barricade they proceeded to regularize life according CNT postulates: socialization of wealth and abolition of authority and capitalism. It was a brief experience full of interest, as the revolutionaries didn't rule the town. [...] A procedure similar to the one in La Felguera was followed. For consumption organization a Supply Committee was created, with street delegates established in the grocery stores who controlled the number of neighbors in each street and produced the distribution of food. This by-street control made it easy to determine the amount of bread and other goods needed. The Supply Committee managed the general control over the available stock, especially flour.

—Manuel Villar, Anarchism in the Asturian Insurrection: The CNT and FAI in October 1934

It is believed that 30,000 people were imprisoned during this period. The successful transportation strike in Zaragoza, followed by a more-than-two-week general strike, was convoked in 1935 jointly with the UGT. However, this collaboration didn't repeat in following actions.

The 1936 elections after the crumbling of Lerroux's government placed the CNT at a complex crossroads. Opinions inside the organization were split among the supporters of abstentionism, those who wanted to allow the workers to choose whether or not to vote, or those directly advocating a vote for the Popular Front. This coalition party had the prisoners' amnesty among their electoral promises, and it is considered that part of the growth of the Front was thanks to the anarchist vote.

The CNT held a congress in Saragossa on May 1, ratifying the position that the union should make no pacts with any political party, despite UGT leader Largo Caballero's attempts to persuade the union to stand in unity with the UGT.^[11]

On June 1, the CNT joined the UGT in declaring a strike of "building workers, mechanics, and lift operators." The accompanying demonstration, participated in by 70,000 workers, members of the Falange attacked the strikers. The strikers responded by looting shops, and the police reacted by attempting to suppress the strike. By the beginning of July, the CNT was still fighting, while the UGT had agreed to arbitration. In retaliation to the attacks by the Falangists, anarchists killed three bodyguards of the Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The government then closed the CNT's centers in Madrid, and arrested David Antona, and Cipriano Mera, two CNT militants.^[12]

[edit] The Civil War

See also: Spanish Revolution

[edit] 1936

In 1936, the CNT was finally legalized, after periods clandestine operation followed by other shorter periods of legalization, until being outlawed at the end of the Civil War. During the war, the union collaborated with other republican groups opposed to the Nationalists. As the war developed, members of the CNT came to form part of the government of the Republic, holding various ministries and high positions within the administration.

In Barcelona, the anarchists came to control the majority of the functions of society, collectivizing a large part of the activity of the city, as George Orwell described:

It was the first time I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle. Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties; almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here and there were being systematically demolished by gangs of workmen. Every shop and café had an inscription saying that it had been collectivised; even the bootblacks had been collectivised and their boxes painted red and black. Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. Nobody said Señor or Don or even Usted; everyone called everyone else Comrade and Thou, and even said Salud! instead of Buenos dias.

—George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, ch. I

In the other side of the divided Aragon, the Republican State was equally powerless. The CNT militias, which occupied Lower Teruel and Huesca, established defense committees that replaced the old city councils. In those zones that had more anarchist presence before the war, collectivization of the land was carried out with great success. These first collectivizations were voluntary and were established from the lands that belonged to the members and those which had been requisitioned to the fugitives and the missing ones. Those property-owners that wanted to keep the possession of the land weren't allowed to hire outside their families, and those lands they couldn't farm passed to community control.

George Orwell mentioned this concerning the nature of the new society that arose in the communities:

I had dropped more or less by chance into the only community of any size in Western Europe where political consciousness and disbelief in capitalism were more normal than their opposites. Up here in Aragón one was among tens of thousands of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class origin, all living at the same level and mingling on terms of equality. In theory it was perfect equality, and even in practice it was not far from it. There is a sense in which it would be true to say that one was experiencing a foretaste of Socialism, by which I mean that the prevailing mental atmosphere was that of Socialism. Many of the normal motives of civilised life — snobbishness, money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc. — had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is amost unthinkable in the money-tainted air of England; there was no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned anyone else as his master.

—George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, ch. VII

Some of the most important communities were those of Alcañiz, Calanda, Alcorisa, Valderrobres, Fraga or Alcampel. Not only were the lands collectivized, but collective labours were also undertaken, like the retirement home in Fraga, the collectivization of some hospitals (like in Barbastro or Binéfar), and the foundation of schools, like the School of Anarchist Militants among others. These institutions would be destroyed by the Nationalist troops during the war.

The Committee held an extraordinary regional plenary session to protect the new rural organization, gathering all the union representatives from the supporting villages and backed by Buenaventura Durruti. Against the CNT National Committee's will, mainly Catalonian, the Regional Council for the Defense of Aragon was created.

Following Largo Caballero’s assumption of the position of Prime Minister of the government, he invited the CNT to join in the coalition of groups making up the national government. The CNT proposed that a National Defense Council should be formed instead, led by Caballero, and containing five members each from the CNT and UGT, and four “liberal republicans”. When this proposal was declined, the CNT decided not to join the government. However, in Catalonia, the CNT joined the Central Committee of the Anti-Fascist Militias, which joined the Generalitat on September 26th. This made, for the first time, three members of the CNT also members of the government.^[13]

In November, Caballero once again asked the CNT to become part of the government. The leadership of the CNT requested the finance and war ministries, as well as three others, but were given four posts, the ministries of health, justice, industry, and commerce. With Federica Montseny taking becoming the Minister of Health, she became the first female minister in Spain. Juan García Oliver, as minister of justice, abolished legal fees, destroyed all criminal files. Shortly afterwards, despite the disapproval of the anarchist ministers, the capital was moved from Madrid to Valencia.^[14]

On December 23 1936, after receiving in Madrid a retinue formed by Joaquín Ascaso, Miguel Chueca and three republican and independent leaders, the government of Largo Caballero, which by then had four anarchists as ministers (García Oliver, Juan López, Federica Montseny and Juan Peiró), approved the formation of the National Defense Committee. It was a revolutionary body which represented anarchists as much as socialists and republicans.

[edit] 1937

Halfway through February 1937 a congress took place in Caspe with the purpose of creating a regional federation of communities. 500 delegates, representing 80,000 collectivists of anarchist Aragon, attended the congress.

At a plenary session of the CNT in March 1937, the national committee asked for a motion of no confidence for the Regional Council's suppression. The resignation threat of the whole Aragonese regional committee thwarted it. The Barcelona May Days and the fall of Largo Caballero's government, followed by Juan Negrín coming into office as the new prime minister, led to the collapse of many of the anarchist victories.

At the beginning of July, the Aragonese organizations of the Popular Front publicly declared their support for (their president) Francisco Ascaso's Council. Four weeks later the 11th Division, under Enrique Líster, entered the region. On August 10 1937, the Republican government, now situated in Valencia dismissed the Regional Council for the Defense of Aragon. Líster's division was prepared for an offensive on the Aragonese front, but they were also useful in subduing the anarchist organization and in dismantling the collective structures created the previous twelve months. Fernando Ascaso and Miguel García Vivancos's roles were also important at that time.

[edit] 1939

In March of 1939, the CNT supported the National Defense Council when it overthrew the government of the Communist Juan Negrín.^[15]

This period also showed a spirit of sexual revolution. The organization Mujeres Libres established an opportunity for prostitutes, offering an alternative to those women who wanted to leave this activity. Women acquired power they had not previously had in Spanish society, fighting at the forefront and doing heavy jobs, things that had been forbidden to them until then. Free love became popular, although some parents' distrust produced the creation of the revolutionary weddings, informal ceremonies where the couples declared their status, and that could be annulled if both parties didn't want to continue their relationship.

[edit] The CNT under the Francoist dictatorship

In 1939 the Law of Political Responsibilities outlawed the CNT^[16] and expropriated its assets.^[17] In those days the organization had a million members and a large infrastructure. But, according to one estimate, roughly 160-180,000 members of the CNT were killed by the Franco government.^[18]

The CNT acted clandestinely inside Spain during the Franco years, as well as conducting activities from exile, and they kept on fighting the regime of Francisco Franco until 1948 through the actions of maquis. From then on, divergent attitudes favoured the progressive weakening of the organization, thus the CNT lost influence among the population.^[19] In 1961 it regained strength, consolidating itself during the 1960s and 1970s thanks to the penetration of anarcho-syndicalist ideology in Catholic antifrancoist workers' organizations such as the Worker Brethren of Catholic Action (HOAC) or Catholic Worker Youth (JOC).

[edit] During the Transition

After Franco's death in November 1975 and the beginning of Spain's transition to democracy, the CNT was the only social movement to refuse to sign the 1977 Moncloa Pact,^[20] an agreement amongst politicians, political parties, and trade unions to plan how to operate the economy during the transition. In 1979, the CNT held its first congress since 1936 as well as several multitudinary meetings, the most remarkable one in Montjuïc. Some of the lines of action that would mark the CNT's activities in work centers would come from this congress's conclusions: no participation in union elections, no acceptance of state subsidies,^[21] no acknowledgment of works councils, and support of union sections.

In this first congress, held in Madrid,^[22] a minority sector in favor of union elections split up calling themselves CNT Valencia Congress (referring to the alternative congress held in this city), and later CGT once they had lost the previous acronym through the courts in April 1989. One year later, a group of CGT members left this union to be able to receive subventions founding Workers' Solidarity (Solidaridad Obrera, SO).^[23]

The CNT had been affected one year before, in 1978 by the Scala Case, an explosion that killed three people in a Barcelonian night club.^[24] CNT members declared that what was sought was to criminalize their organization:⁵

It was evident that the police wasn't looking for anything nor anyone — they already had the culprits — it was just about intimidating the cenetistsa and scaring away from the organization thousands of affiliate workers that, although they identified with the syndical line of the anarcho-syndicalists, they weren't determined to go a long way in their support, let alone to defy such police repression. Things weren't a joke, the news of new arrests created an insecurity atmosphere among great part of the members. On the other hand, the certainty of the implication of the CNT in the attack kept consolidating in the public opinion, which caused serious deterioration in the organization's image, and thus the anarchists'. If we add news of aggressions and assaults by fascist groups, which considerably increased those days, we can more or less picture the situation. Being an anarchist those days turned very unpleasant. The media made it unpopular; the police and ultra-rightwing groups made it dangerous.

—Revista Polémica, The Scala case. A process against anarcho-syndicalism.

After its legalization, a movement began to recover the expropriations of 1939, which would come true through the Law 4/1986 which required the return of the seized properties, and the unions' right to use or yield the real estate. Since then the CNT has been claiming the return of these properties from the State.

During the 1990s, the Economic and Social Council facilities in Madrid were squatted. This organism is in charge of the repatriation of the accumulated union wealth. In 2004 an agreement between the CNT and the District Attorney's Office took place by which the hundred prosecuted by the mentioned occupation were relieved of all charges.

[edit] Current status

The CNT opposes the model of union elections and workplace committees⁶, and is critical of the mainstream Spanish unions, the Workers' General Union and the Workers' Commissions, and of labor reforms⁷, while maintaining a platform of vindication.⁸

In 2005, the government of Spain continued the return of the union endowments seized during and after the Civil War to the UGT and CNT. According to some social groups and media reports, this return was seen to be a show of favoritism to the UGT, because in 1936, the Anarcho-syndicalist trade unions had about as many members as other unions, but the government returned about four million euros to the CNT while the UGT received a much larger amount. The CNT has continued to demand the full return of their seized historical endowment.⁹

July 2006 marked the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution, and in commemoration the CNT and FAI organized commemorative celebrations, with events such as speeches, debates, film screenings, expositions, and musical performances.¹⁰

[edit] Symbols and culture

See also: Anarchist symbolism

The CNT, owing to its interests in the radical transformation of society, has sought to make free knowledge and culture accessible to workers, a task which has been developed through the support of the anarchist academies. The School of Anarchist Militants was an institution which, by means of anarchist pedagogy, sought to ensure that "groups of teenagers could acquire the knowledge and the personal responsibility essential to work in collectives such as those of entertainers and accountants." Through the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation, the CNT manages its cultural heritage, edits books, and organizes conferences and colloquies. Also, some sections of the CNT have supported and promoted Esperanto.

The flag of the CNT is the traditional flag of Anarcho-syndicalism, which joins diagonally the red color of the labour movement and the black color of anarchism, as a negation of nationalism and reaffirmation of internationalism.

The anthem of the CNT is A las barricadas (To The Barricades), composed by the Polish poet Wacław Święcicki in 1883. Święcicki's work, called Warschawjanka, was given Spanish lyrics by Valeriano Orobón Fernández and published with some musical arrangements for mixed choir by Ángel Miret in 1933.

Several postage stamps with CNT motifs were issued during the Spanish Civil War.¹¹ Other surviving artifacts of this period are posters, ^[25]

movie tickets, and other objects related to the companies which were collectivized during the Spanish Revolution of 1936.

George Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War in the militia of the POUM, a revolutionary Marxist party whose militants were allied with the CNT during the revolution and to which Andrés Nin, the former Secretary General of the CNT, belonged. Orwell described in his book Homage to Catalonia the time during which Barcelona rose up with the CNT and anarchism. In the ninth chapter of his book, Orwell commented that "As far as my purely personal preferences went I would have liked to join the Anarchists."

Robert Capa photographed the death of Durruti Column militiaman Federico Borrell García during the Spanish Civil War in the snapshot called "Death of a Loyalist Soldier".^[26] This photograph has become a famous image which shows the calamity of war.^[27]

In 1936, the cinematographic industry was collectivized^[28] and produced short films such as En la brecha (In the Gap, 1937). The CNT has been portrayed in recent Spanish filmmaking by the Vicente Aranda's film Libertarias (1996), which shows a group of militiamen at the Aragon front during the Spanish Civil War.

[edit] Noted members

These are some of the best-known members of the CNT:

Diego Abad de Santillán Francisco Ascaso

Buenaventura Durruti Joan García Oliver

Anselmo Lorenzo Federica Montseny

Valeriano Orobón Fernández Josep Peiró Olives

Juan Peiró Ángel Pestaña

Salvador Seguí Eduardo Barriobero y Herrán

Carles Fontseré

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

[edit] Footnotes

The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

• Note 1: To consult the addresses of the different local headquarters see here.
• Note 2: To consult the online edition of this journal go here.
• Note 3: The syndical methods of the CNT are displayed here.
• Note 4: To know about CNT syndical conflicts and calls to solidatity for the workers see here
• Note 5: Articles about the Scala Case from the CNT point of view can be seen here, here and here.
• Note 6: Reasons for this opposition are exposed here.
• Note 7: What the CNT says about work reforms can be seen here.
• Note 8: To consult the vindicating platform of the CNT go here.
• Note 9: To know the latest declarations of the CNT see this.
• Note 10: The conmemorating journeys program can be checked out here.
• Note 11: To see images of various stamps issued by the CNT go here.

[edit] See also

• Confederación General del Trabajo
• Iberian Anarchist Federation

[edit] External links

• CNT Official Website
• Fundación de Estudios Libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo (FAL)
• Asociation Internationales de los Trabajadores AIT-IWA-IAA
• La Idea - difusion libertaria
• Vivir la Utopía. El anarquismo en España (Living the Utopia. Anarchism in Spain), documentary film by Juan A. Gamero. Arte-TVE, Spain, 1997.

an:CNT ca:CNT da:CNT (fagforening) de:Confederación Nacional del Trabajo es:Confederación Nacional del Trabajo eo:Confederación Nacional del Trabajo eu:Lanaren Konfederazio Nazionala fr:Confédération nationale du travail (Espagne) gl:Confederación Nacional do Traballo it:Confederación Nacional del Trabajo no:Confederación Nacional del Trabajo pt:CNT (sindicato) sv:Confederación Nacional del Trabajo tr:Ulusal Emek Konfederasyonu