Tuesday, September 21, 2010
PERSONAL:
HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:
The seasons change, and the leaves begin to fall. Molly is due to go on vacation soon so the number of posts at this blog will drop during that time. I hope I've provided at least a little information and amusement in the last little while. the squirrels are busy gathering their nuts, and Molly is busy decorating the yard for Halloween. It's a long process preparing for my favourite holiday, and each year the cars drive by, stop and take pictures.
In terms of this blog I'd like to call the readers' attention to three different sections that have been added in the last little while. All of them are under the anarcho-syndicalist rubric, the form of anarchism that I feel closest to and which I consider the most practical. The first is the listing for the KRAS, the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists in Russia. While it must be admitted that KRAS is still only a propaganda group rather than a functioning union it is still significant that they have at least expanded their online presence in the last little while. it is part and parcel of the general expansion of practical anarchism that I have taken such delight in in the last few years.
Speaking of such there is also a new listing for the youth section of the German FAU. The (take a deep breath) Anarhistisch-Syndikalistischer Jugen (Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth) in Germany has been expanding rapidly, and I have added a separate category for them following the FAU listings. While not up to the level of the youth federation of the Swedish SAC (also listed under our Links) the young German comrades seem to be expanding rapidly. I have to admit that it is beyond me why the Swedes and the Germans seem to be so successful while in Spain both the CNT with their FJIL (historical nostalgia ?) and the much larger CGT seem to have their youth sections "stillborn". There is also another Iberian youth federation that, as far as I can tell, is not an extension of one of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist unions, but it is also very small. They have been listed under the Spanish section of our links. As I said, beyond me, and I can definitely see the utility of a youth federation as it addresses concerns different from those of older people. As for here in North America this is obviously a project for the far distant future as "youth" would probably encompass close to 95% of anarchists here.
Perhaps most pleasantly there is now a listing for the Workers' Initiative/(another deep breath) Inicjatywa Pracownicza of Poland. These people are the "non-AIT' anarcho-syndicalist union federation in Poland, and despite my early misconceptions they are (as expected) far more successful in organizing than the AIT affiliated ZSP. Their base of strength is in Poznan, but as the listings point out they have branches in many Polish provinces. These are the people who have a "dual card" arrangement with the British IWW. The latest news that I have heard from their quarter is that their decision to actually run as candidates in the workplace councils has brought the same success (in a smaller way) as it brought to the Spanish CGT and the French CNT (Vignoles). The anarcho-syndicalist project faces some fundamental choices in the modern world...whether to actually collectively bargain, whether to participate in union elections (in both the North American and European sense) and so on. My own opinions are very much in favour of making the necessary compromises because the alternative is shrinking away to an irrelevant sect that will be of no use even if times were to change. I recognize the dangers, but I also recognize the dangers of the sectarian alternative.
Enough of this pontification. May the busy squirrels of Fall not shit on your head.
Molly.
Labels: anarchist youth, anarcho-syndicalism, blogging, CGT, CNT, FAU, KRAS., personal, SAC., Workers' Initiative
Thursday, July 01, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR SPAIN:
METRO STRIKE PARALYZES MADRID:
The workers on the Madrid Metro have called a temporary truce with management for the weekend. This follows on the heels of a strike that had practically 100% participation unlike the largely symbolic "general strike" in early June. The workers are due to meet again on Monday to vote on whether the strike will be resumed. Being as anywhere from half a million to two million commuters depend upon the 7,500 Metro workers for public transit this strike is an actual real challenge to the Spanish government's austerity plans. The strike is basically about a 5% pay cut that was imposed on the workers without consultation as part of this austerity program, but it is even more about the way in which this cut was implimented in that the right wing local government took the Spanish federal government announce of cuts as a signal to attack their own workers. At a general meeting the workers voted to ignore a regulation that would require them to maintain 50% of normal service so the strike became total. Management has threatened retaliation because of this action, and there is talk of trying to have the army run the trains, a fundamentally unsafe idea if there ever was one. Here's a brief story from the PressTV site about the strike.
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Transport strike continues in Madrid
Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:18:13 GMT
Spanish subway workers have continued their walkout for the third consecutive day, forcing the closure of metro stations and prompting traffic jams.
The strike began on Monday with public transportation workers demanding the government to scrap a planned 5 percent pay cut as part of its fiscal austerity measures.
Meanwhile, strike committee spokesman Vicente Rodriguez said on Wednesday that it was still unclear when the strike would end.
"We haven't changed anything. We still have the same sole aim. No Metro worker is to lose so much as a euro," he added.
The ongoing strike is estimated to have affected more than two million travelers a day at a time when the country is approaching its peak holiday season.
In defiance of a government ruling that workers should run 50 percent of the scheduled trains, on Wednesday on-strike personnel refused to return to work.
Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon criticized trade unions for the inconvenience, saying that "they do not have the right to do what they are doing to all the people of Madrid. I think we are in an emergency situation now in Madrid."
Spain is struggling with a budget deficit of 11.2 percent of its gross domestic product. The government has announced it needs to save EUR 15 billion (USD 18 billion) to weather the crisis.
The trade unions are disappointed with the Madrid government plan, saying that public sector workers are the ones who are paying the heavy price of budget cuts.
Transport strike continues in Madrid
Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:18:13 GMT
Spanish subway workers have continued their walkout for the third consecutive day, forcing the closure of metro stations and prompting traffic jams.
The strike began on Monday with public transportation workers demanding the government to scrap a planned 5 percent pay cut as part of its fiscal austerity measures.
Meanwhile, strike committee spokesman Vicente Rodriguez said on Wednesday that it was still unclear when the strike would end.
"We haven't changed anything. We still have the same sole aim. No Metro worker is to lose so much as a euro," he added.
The ongoing strike is estimated to have affected more than two million travelers a day at a time when the country is approaching its peak holiday season.
In defiance of a government ruling that workers should run 50 percent of the scheduled trains, on Wednesday on-strike personnel refused to return to work.
Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon criticized trade unions for the inconvenience, saying that "they do not have the right to do what they are doing to all the people of Madrid. I think we are in an emergency situation now in Madrid."
Spain is struggling with a budget deficit of 11.2 percent of its gross domestic product. The government has announced it needs to save EUR 15 billion (USD 18 billion) to weather the crisis.
The trade unions are disappointed with the Madrid government plan, saying that public sector workers are the ones who are paying the heavy price of budget cuts.
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As has been mentioned before Solidaridad Obrera, the smallest of Spain's three anarchosyndicalist union federations is particularly strong in the Madrid Metro. Here from their website is their statement made before the beginning of the strike. The original in Spanish is at said site.
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METRO MADRID WORKERS ARE DEFENDING A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT
The Madrid Metro workers are going to declare a strike, and moreover they will do so in defense of one of those fundamental established legal rights supported by the whole of the universal declarations of human rights, over which so many of our supposed political representatives cackle as long as nobody exercises them : the right to freedom of association.
For what is at stake in the subway strike is nothing more and nothing less than a constitutional right explicitly recognized in Article 37 of the Constitution: the right to collective bargaining and the binding force of agreements. An ancillary and basic right of any minimally democratic system of industrial relations. The right of workers to negotiate freely with the the bosses about working conditions . And to reach agreements that are binding for both parties. Because what this strike is not about airing a greater or lesser reduction of the wages of a particular group, but the immunity of one of the signatories of a collective agreement for its total failure . The workers and the company reached an agreement last year. Now the company does not comply with it and throws against the workers the whole media herd media accusing them of being "privileged." This is a strange world in which to enjoy a constitutional right is a "privilege." We should ask why there are so few "privileged" in this supposedly "lawful" state.
But we said that the Madrid subway workers are defending a fundamental right, not just their own direct collective bargaining . And that is that our Constitutional Court has consistently ruled to uphold that the right to collective bargaining is part of the substance of another constitutional right one protected in all international declarations of human rights: the right to freedom of association, of Article 28 of the Constitution. And this itself is fundamental. There is, therefore, no right to union freedom if the right to collective bargaining is not respected. For what use would it be if a union that could not negotiate binding agreements with the employer? Without agreements there are no unions, no one to protect and defend the work force in the hostile environment of wild and unbridled capitalism; therefore, any pretense that we live (as our monarchical Magna Carta says) in a "social state with the democratic rule of law "is just talk.
Thus, the Madrid subway workers are defending a fundamental right. In a massive breach of it, besides. In a breach for thousands of workers. But not only that. They are also defending the very essence of any democracy worthy of the name (and for you, reader, it's often often debated whether we deserve it): that the right of the weak are not trampled by the strong, nothing more. To enable workers to defend themselves against exploitation and misery. And the rules that protect them are respected.
For those who have declared war on the welfare state and the European working classes (those bankers and financiers who were rescued with public money last year) also have declared against all the fundamental rights and notions of law and democracy .
It is in defense of all of us , therefore, that workers in Madrid Metro are now going to strike in defense of a fundamental right, and they will tell you this whatever they say from the media in the pay of the employers .
José Luis Carretero
METRO MADRID WORKERS ARE DEFENDING A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT
The Madrid Metro workers are going to declare a strike, and moreover they will do so in defense of one of those fundamental established legal rights supported by the whole of the universal declarations of human rights, over which so many of our supposed political representatives cackle as long as nobody exercises them : the right to freedom of association.
For what is at stake in the subway strike is nothing more and nothing less than a constitutional right explicitly recognized in Article 37 of the Constitution: the right to collective bargaining and the binding force of agreements. An ancillary and basic right of any minimally democratic system of industrial relations. The right of workers to negotiate freely with the the bosses about working conditions . And to reach agreements that are binding for both parties. Because what this strike is not about airing a greater or lesser reduction of the wages of a particular group, but the immunity of one of the signatories of a collective agreement for its total failure . The workers and the company reached an agreement last year. Now the company does not comply with it and throws against the workers the whole media herd media accusing them of being "privileged." This is a strange world in which to enjoy a constitutional right is a "privilege." We should ask why there are so few "privileged" in this supposedly "lawful" state.
But we said that the Madrid subway workers are defending a fundamental right, not just their own direct collective bargaining . And that is that our Constitutional Court has consistently ruled to uphold that the right to collective bargaining is part of the substance of another constitutional right one protected in all international declarations of human rights: the right to freedom of association, of Article 28 of the Constitution. And this itself is fundamental. There is, therefore, no right to union freedom if the right to collective bargaining is not respected. For what use would it be if a union that could not negotiate binding agreements with the employer? Without agreements there are no unions, no one to protect and defend the work force in the hostile environment of wild and unbridled capitalism; therefore, any pretense that we live (as our monarchical Magna Carta says) in a "social state with the democratic rule of law "is just talk.
Thus, the Madrid subway workers are defending a fundamental right. In a massive breach of it, besides. In a breach for thousands of workers. But not only that. They are also defending the very essence of any democracy worthy of the name (and for you, reader, it's often often debated whether we deserve it): that the right of the weak are not trampled by the strong, nothing more. To enable workers to defend themselves against exploitation and misery. And the rules that protect them are respected.
For those who have declared war on the welfare state and the European working classes (those bankers and financiers who were rescued with public money last year) also have declared against all the fundamental rights and notions of law and democracy .
It is in defense of all of us , therefore, that workers in Madrid Metro are now going to strike in defense of a fundamental right, and they will tell you this whatever they say from the media in the pay of the employers .
José Luis Carretero
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As has been mentioned all three of the libertarian union federations in Spain recognize the importance of this strike, as a direct political challenge to the government's austerity plans. Thus, unlike the half hearted "general strike" in June their support is unanimous and enthusiastic. Here's a statement from the CNT Madrid in solidarity with the strike. I personally think that it is not properly politically worded, but more on that later. It should be noted that of the three federations only Solidaridad Obrera has any number of members directly involved in the dispute.
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CNT- workers support the Madrid Metro strike (Local Federation of Unions of Madrid - 01.07.2010 )
Faced with strikes in the Madrid metro , workers affiliated to the Federación Local de Sindicatos de Madrid express our total solidarity with the demands and note that we do not care about the little problems that we can generate to the users of public transport. Especially since we understand that this strike is essential to prepare the way of resistance against anti-labor measures from the Government.
Therefore, we not only offer our support for Metro workers but we encourage the entire working class of Madrid not only to understand and respect it , but to actively support it .
Local Federation of Unions of CNT -Madrid
http://madrid.cnt.es/
CNT- workers support the Madrid Metro strike (Local Federation of Unions of Madrid - 01.07.2010 )
Faced with strikes in the Madrid metro , workers affiliated to the Federación Local de Sindicatos de Madrid express our total solidarity with the demands and note that we do not care about the little problems that we can generate to the users of public transport. Especially since we understand that this strike is essential to prepare the way of resistance against anti-labor measures from the Government.
Therefore, we not only offer our support for Metro workers but we encourage the entire working class of Madrid not only to understand and respect it , but to actively support it .
Local Federation of Unions of CNT -Madrid
http://madrid.cnt.es/
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As I said all three of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist union federations are enthusiastic in their support of the Metro strike. The following article is from the Rojo Y Negro newspaper site of the Spanish CGT, the largest of the federations. It's a call to join a "users' group" support blog for users of the Madrid Metro. The following has also been reprinted in its Spanish original at the Anarkismo site. As has been said this shows the unanimity of the Spanish anarchosyndicalists on the issues raised by this strike. The only "disturbing" thing that I find in the following is that it is presented "as if" it could be interpreted as the sole initiative of the CGT. I say this as a "general supporter" of the way that the CGT has decided to act in Spain today. If I were hazard a guess I would say that Solidaridad Obrera is the main mover behind this initiative. All the same it is more "productive" than showing one's "militancy" by saying that one doesn't care about the inconvenience to commuters (see the CNT statement above). Any strike in the public sector necessarily has to reach out to the public if it is to succeed. Here's the article.
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Join the " Usuari@s solidarity with the Metro strike blog "
In Solidarity with the Madrid Metro Strike has opened a blog to express the support of groups and individuals with the striking subway workers .
Needless to say, this is the first major strike against the crisis , and the factor of radicalism and its significance is that it is the first concrete struggle and confrontation against the rhetoric of crisis. We say deal with all your goddamn crisis; we are not guilty and not going to pay your crisis .
We have therefore opened a blog in solidarity with the strike from which to influence opinion, and provide support materials : http://usuariossolidarios.wordpress.com/ .
It is important that you leave comments of individual and collective support , as the trump card that the politicians are playing is the lack of sympathy for the workers in the Metro and leaving them isolated with the excuse that no one supports them .
If this strike is won it will be a giant step towards having a more eventful autumn , if it is lost it will be another missed opportunity and the cutback politicians will have an easier road -cutting salaries , pensions, the domestic deficit ( health, education , precarious employment ...)
--------------------
We welcome you with a smile
Metro Users in solidarity with the strike of Metro we understand that :
1. The strike At Metro represents all the workers who have been affected by measures taken under the guise of the crisis (lower wages, loss of our rights , raising of the retirement age, precariousness)
2. We feel great solidarity against these measures, which now affect Metro workers and are imposed on us under the pretext of scarcity, when in these recent years there have never failed to be missed billions of euros to rescue the banks , financial institutions and big business.
3. Because Metro workers are embodying the slogan " we will not pay the crisis " with which we identify .
4. That the Metro has been the cornerstone of land prices in the territory of Madrid ( Metro has never existed to sell tickets , but to reclassify land where placing a stop makes a new neighbourhood) and that this has made multimillionaires of developers and construction companies .
5. That as these great benefits were never distributed and accumulated in large bank accounts, excessive assets and tax havens we can now ask that we have the minimal support to save a system that shared wealth across the world.
6. To lower wages in times in which the great fortunes not only do not decay but grow under the guise of the crisis is an insult to intelligence.
7. That subway workers have every right to a general strike that many workers and casual workers look on with envy is an ability to fight that we wish all could bring before the boss and tell him no, that's enough , I will not have lower wages !
8. We encourage everyone precarious workers, domestic workers , workers from all parts of the world that inhabit Madrid and those who have less to worry about how to join and fight with us so that they will not take away what is ours , to cry: We will not pay your crisis!
9. We call for support this strike because it is a strike that defends the rights of workers in the Metro and defends the dignity of all of us.
10. We hope the strength, courage and solidarity shown by subway workers is contagious , if so ... we welcome you with a smile.
Join the " Usuari@s solidarity with the Metro strike blog "
In Solidarity with the Madrid Metro Strike has opened a blog to express the support of groups and individuals with the striking subway workers .
Needless to say, this is the first major strike against the crisis , and the factor of radicalism and its significance is that it is the first concrete struggle and confrontation against the rhetoric of crisis. We say deal with all your goddamn crisis; we are not guilty and not going to pay your crisis .
We have therefore opened a blog in solidarity with the strike from which to influence opinion, and provide support materials : http://usuariossolidarios.wordpress.com/ .
It is important that you leave comments of individual and collective support , as the trump card that the politicians are playing is the lack of sympathy for the workers in the Metro and leaving them isolated with the excuse that no one supports them .
If this strike is won it will be a giant step towards having a more eventful autumn , if it is lost it will be another missed opportunity and the cutback politicians will have an easier road -cutting salaries , pensions, the domestic deficit ( health, education , precarious employment ...)
--------------------
We welcome you with a smile
Metro Users in solidarity with the strike of Metro we understand that :
1. The strike At Metro represents all the workers who have been affected by measures taken under the guise of the crisis (lower wages, loss of our rights , raising of the retirement age, precariousness)
2. We feel great solidarity against these measures, which now affect Metro workers and are imposed on us under the pretext of scarcity, when in these recent years there have never failed to be missed billions of euros to rescue the banks , financial institutions and big business.
3. Because Metro workers are embodying the slogan " we will not pay the crisis " with which we identify .
4. That the Metro has been the cornerstone of land prices in the territory of Madrid ( Metro has never existed to sell tickets , but to reclassify land where placing a stop makes a new neighbourhood) and that this has made multimillionaires of developers and construction companies .
5. That as these great benefits were never distributed and accumulated in large bank accounts, excessive assets and tax havens we can now ask that we have the minimal support to save a system that shared wealth across the world.
6. To lower wages in times in which the great fortunes not only do not decay but grow under the guise of the crisis is an insult to intelligence.
7. That subway workers have every right to a general strike that many workers and casual workers look on with envy is an ability to fight that we wish all could bring before the boss and tell him no, that's enough , I will not have lower wages !
8. We encourage everyone precarious workers, domestic workers , workers from all parts of the world that inhabit Madrid and those who have less to worry about how to join and fight with us so that they will not take away what is ours , to cry: We will not pay your crisis!
9. We call for support this strike because it is a strike that defends the rights of workers in the Metro and defends the dignity of all of us.
10. We hope the strength, courage and solidarity shown by subway workers is contagious , if so ... we welcome you with a smile.
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Let's conclude with opinion (note I'm trying to avoid the leftist buzzword "analysis") from a source that can hardly be accused of sympathy for the anarchist unions in Spain. The Trotskyist 'Axis of Logic' blog actually manages to avoid any mention of the anarchosyndicalist unions in Spain, a considerable feat as they are the only realistic opposition to the socialist and ex(more or less) communist unions that have the adherence of the majority of the Spanish working class. No doubt the 500 trots in Spain constitute a "realistic" way to impose a Leninist dictatorship on the Spaniards. Whatever my opinion of the general ideas of this sort of site that features google translations from the collected "wisdom" of Fidel Castro (an infallible way to distinguish right wing from left wing Trots is to see how much they worship Stalinist dictatorships who murder their own comrades as long as total government ownership of the economy and the inevitable police state are put in place) this site says it all as to the perfidy of both the socialists and the communists (though they would be of another opinion if the communists took power and killed hundreds of thousands of people). So with this reservation as to the goals of the following here is the opinion (leftist "analysis" cough cough) of the Axis of Logic.
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Spain: Striking Metro workers face military intervention and union betrayal
By Paul Mitchell
1 July 2010
The vice-chair of the Popular Party-run Madrid regional government, Ignacio González, has warned that he is “not going to discard the option” of the military taking control of Madrid’s Metro system, which has been brought to a standstill by striking workers and brought chaos to the streets of the capital.
Metro workers walked out on June 28 on a three-day strike, incensed by the Madrid regional government passing an “Urgent Measures Law” that cuts the salary of employees of public companies like Madrid Metro by 5 percent. They voted almost unanimously at a mass meeting to ignore legal minimum service rules, which force workers to maintain 50 percent of normal service, greatly reducing the effectiveness of industrial action.
González called the strike an “an attack on the rights of citizens” and thanked the Socialist Party (PSOE) government’s interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who would have to authorise the use of the army, for “his willingness to cooperate.” The last time the military was used in such circumstances was in 1976 in the dying days of the Franco Fascist dictatorship.
Madrid’s chief transport officer, José Ignacio Echevarria warned that “Metro will not negotiate as long as basic services are not respected, will not negotiate with whoever breaks the law.”
Members of the PSOE government, led by Prime Minister José Rodriguez Zapatero, declared their opposition to the strike. Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho insisted that “the right to strike must be put in relation with the mobility rights of other citizens.”
Economy Minister Elena Salgado demanded adherence to minimum service rules.
The action of the 7,500 Metro workers is a sign of the rising opposition to austerity policies and places them in opposition to the unions—the General Union of Workers (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT), which is traditionally affiliated to the PSOE, and the Workers Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO), which is politically close to Izquierda Unida (United Left), an umbrella group including the Communist Party that is sympathetic to the PSOE.
Leaders of both unions have made it clear they are deeply hostile to any political struggle against the PSOE government. UGT leader Candido Méndez declared, “Social peace is everyone’s asset and responsibility.... We are not going to break it and we don’t want to do so in the future,” whilst CC.OO General Secretary Ignacio Toxo said the aim of the unions “is not to change the government,” but to make it change direction. Similarly, Vicente Rodríguez, the Conductors Union secretary leading the Metro strike committee, said, “The Metro workers never have wanted to mix politics with the trade-union movement.”
To prevent a political struggle against the PSOE, the unions are hell-bent on reining in the Metro workers and preventing them from linking up with other workers such as those participating in Tuesday’s general strike in the Basque region of northern Spain, which shut down steel, car and other manufacturing industries.
The government is doing all it can to boost the authority of the unions. Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega ordered the chair of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, to “exercise her responsibilities” and begin talks with the unions in an attempt to “channel the conflict”. She made an appeal to the trade unions to make sure that minimal services are provided and warned that the government is making contingency plans to guarantee them during the September 29 general strike.
Fernández de la Vega praised the unions for their “constructive attitude during the economic crisis”. They have been involved in secret talks with the government and employers and paved the way for the government to bring in a series of austerity measures including pay cuts aimed at reducing the budget deficit from 11.4 percent to 3 percent of GDP in the next three years.
The unions are emphasising that the Metro strike is not even against the central government’s decision to cut 5 percent of the salaries of civil servants, but against the Madrid government’s unilateral decision to extend it to employees of public companies in the region—i.e., without the agreement of the unions. What they want is for the Madrid government to “sit down with the strike committee to negotiate.”
UGT general secretary on the Metro, Teodoro Piñuelas, insists that the solution lies in “respecting” the collective contract that was only negotiated a year ago. “Now the ball is in the employers’ court. We have demonstrated that we can do what we say,” Piñuelas added.
Union officials persuaded Metro workers at a mass meeting yesterday to resume minimal services today and Friday and call off the strike for the weekend “to give the people of Madrid a rest.” A union official said, “We will respect tomorrow and Friday the minimal services for the citizens, not for the politicians or the management which is not qualified to negotiate. And if we have to blow up [Madrid] again, we will do it.”
One unnamed official declared that if there is no solution by Monday, “we are going to the death and if we have to go to the kill we will go to the kill.” Another stated that “We can again produce a total strike, let them know that you can’t play with the workers” and promised that “this gesture [the end of the all-out strike] will end the moment that a single worker is presented with a disciplinary notice.”
Metro’s directors have warned that striking workers will face disciplinary action or be fired.
The bureaucracy’s demagogy is purely for show, while the media, government and trade unions increase pressure on the Metro workers before a vote on indefinite strike action takes place at the next mass meeting on Monday, July 5, at 10 a.m.
At mass meetings, workers have been regaled with bombastic speeches from trade union bureaucrats demanding “unity” at the same time as they are organising a sellout along the lines of that imposed on Madrid garbage workers a couple of weeks ago. After workers protested a May 26 announcement that Madrid authorities would slash their conditions—including cutting 200 jobs, an unspecified wage cut and modifying work patterns—the UGT and CC.OO called for an indefinite strike starting on June 21. The unions then negotiated a last-minute sellout to avert the strike, which included a wage freeze and postponing the job losses for two years.
Spain: Striking Metro workers face military intervention and union betrayal
By Paul Mitchell
1 July 2010
The vice-chair of the Popular Party-run Madrid regional government, Ignacio González, has warned that he is “not going to discard the option” of the military taking control of Madrid’s Metro system, which has been brought to a standstill by striking workers and brought chaos to the streets of the capital.
Metro workers walked out on June 28 on a three-day strike, incensed by the Madrid regional government passing an “Urgent Measures Law” that cuts the salary of employees of public companies like Madrid Metro by 5 percent. They voted almost unanimously at a mass meeting to ignore legal minimum service rules, which force workers to maintain 50 percent of normal service, greatly reducing the effectiveness of industrial action.
González called the strike an “an attack on the rights of citizens” and thanked the Socialist Party (PSOE) government’s interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who would have to authorise the use of the army, for “his willingness to cooperate.” The last time the military was used in such circumstances was in 1976 in the dying days of the Franco Fascist dictatorship.
Madrid’s chief transport officer, José Ignacio Echevarria warned that “Metro will not negotiate as long as basic services are not respected, will not negotiate with whoever breaks the law.”
Members of the PSOE government, led by Prime Minister José Rodriguez Zapatero, declared their opposition to the strike. Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho insisted that “the right to strike must be put in relation with the mobility rights of other citizens.”
Economy Minister Elena Salgado demanded adherence to minimum service rules.
The action of the 7,500 Metro workers is a sign of the rising opposition to austerity policies and places them in opposition to the unions—the General Union of Workers (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT), which is traditionally affiliated to the PSOE, and the Workers Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO), which is politically close to Izquierda Unida (United Left), an umbrella group including the Communist Party that is sympathetic to the PSOE.
Leaders of both unions have made it clear they are deeply hostile to any political struggle against the PSOE government. UGT leader Candido Méndez declared, “Social peace is everyone’s asset and responsibility.... We are not going to break it and we don’t want to do so in the future,” whilst CC.OO General Secretary Ignacio Toxo said the aim of the unions “is not to change the government,” but to make it change direction. Similarly, Vicente Rodríguez, the Conductors Union secretary leading the Metro strike committee, said, “The Metro workers never have wanted to mix politics with the trade-union movement.”
To prevent a political struggle against the PSOE, the unions are hell-bent on reining in the Metro workers and preventing them from linking up with other workers such as those participating in Tuesday’s general strike in the Basque region of northern Spain, which shut down steel, car and other manufacturing industries.
The government is doing all it can to boost the authority of the unions. Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega ordered the chair of the Madrid regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, to “exercise her responsibilities” and begin talks with the unions in an attempt to “channel the conflict”. She made an appeal to the trade unions to make sure that minimal services are provided and warned that the government is making contingency plans to guarantee them during the September 29 general strike.
Fernández de la Vega praised the unions for their “constructive attitude during the economic crisis”. They have been involved in secret talks with the government and employers and paved the way for the government to bring in a series of austerity measures including pay cuts aimed at reducing the budget deficit from 11.4 percent to 3 percent of GDP in the next three years.
The unions are emphasising that the Metro strike is not even against the central government’s decision to cut 5 percent of the salaries of civil servants, but against the Madrid government’s unilateral decision to extend it to employees of public companies in the region—i.e., without the agreement of the unions. What they want is for the Madrid government to “sit down with the strike committee to negotiate.”
UGT general secretary on the Metro, Teodoro Piñuelas, insists that the solution lies in “respecting” the collective contract that was only negotiated a year ago. “Now the ball is in the employers’ court. We have demonstrated that we can do what we say,” Piñuelas added.
Union officials persuaded Metro workers at a mass meeting yesterday to resume minimal services today and Friday and call off the strike for the weekend “to give the people of Madrid a rest.” A union official said, “We will respect tomorrow and Friday the minimal services for the citizens, not for the politicians or the management which is not qualified to negotiate. And if we have to blow up [Madrid] again, we will do it.”
One unnamed official declared that if there is no solution by Monday, “we are going to the death and if we have to go to the kill we will go to the kill.” Another stated that “We can again produce a total strike, let them know that you can’t play with the workers” and promised that “this gesture [the end of the all-out strike] will end the moment that a single worker is presented with a disciplinary notice.”
Metro’s directors have warned that striking workers will face disciplinary action or be fired.
The bureaucracy’s demagogy is purely for show, while the media, government and trade unions increase pressure on the Metro workers before a vote on indefinite strike action takes place at the next mass meeting on Monday, July 5, at 10 a.m.
At mass meetings, workers have been regaled with bombastic speeches from trade union bureaucrats demanding “unity” at the same time as they are organising a sellout along the lines of that imposed on Madrid garbage workers a couple of weeks ago. After workers protested a May 26 announcement that Madrid authorities would slash their conditions—including cutting 200 jobs, an unspecified wage cut and modifying work patterns—the UGT and CC.OO called for an indefinite strike starting on June 21. The unions then negotiated a last-minute sellout to avert the strike, which included a wage freeze and postponing the job losses for two years.
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MOLLY'S FINAL WORD:
This strike is important because it is the first direct challenge to the austerity programs in Europe (which we will be seeing in the rest of the world and are already seeing in Canada) that actually has economic power behind it. If the strike succeeds then the governments of Europe (or at least of Spain) will be forced to compromise with ordinary people. If it fails then it will be a major setback for ordinary people in Europe in terms of who exactly is to pay for the present crisis. Is such a compromise possible ? Your guess is as good as mine. Greece, Spain, France, Italy...all of the strikes have been symbolic. This is the first real confrontation.
To follow the course of this strike Molly recommends the following Spanish links (unfortunately all in Spanish) :
1) A Las Barricades http://www.alasbarricades,org
2)La Haine http://www.lahaine.org
3)Kaos En La Red http://www.kaosenlared.net
Labels: CGT, CNT, current events, financial crisis, international labour, international politics, labour, Madrid, madrid Metro strike, Solidaridad Obrera, Spain, strike.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
GENERAL STRIKES ROLL ACROSS EUROPE:
Following previous general strikes in Greece and Spain unions in Europe are increasingly reaching for the weapon of the general strike to protest government austerity measures across the continent. Recently workers in France and Italy held one day general strikes, and Greek unions have set a date for yet another such strike as well. Here's news from the Epoch Times of the strike in France last Thursday June 24.
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Millions in France Protest Raising Retirement Age to 62
Workers from both the public and private sectors joined hundreds of organized protest activities, reported AFP.
Bernard Thibault, head of France’s biggest union CGT estimated “about 2 million” protesters turned out. About 1-in-5 civil servants did not go to work, shutting the doors to some schools.
Authorities said 50 percent of train service was interrupted coming in and out of Paris and 15 percent of flights to city airports had to be canceled Thursday morning.
Striking print workers asked national daily newspapers to scrap their Friday editions.
On June 16, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced plans to raise the retirement age to 62 by 2018 as part of a program to save the country US$55 billion.
Unions say the proposal puts an unfair burden on workers. Woerth said Wednesday the reform was “necessary and fair” and the government would stick to its plan. The bill will go before cabinet next month and Parliament is scheduled to vote on it in September.
In 1995, Paris had to drop a savings program after weeks of strikes.
France currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
Millions in France Protest Raising Retirement Age to 62
Workers from both the public and private sectors joined hundreds of organized protest activities, reported AFP.
Bernard Thibault, head of France’s biggest union CGT estimated “about 2 million” protesters turned out. About 1-in-5 civil servants did not go to work, shutting the doors to some schools.
Authorities said 50 percent of train service was interrupted coming in and out of Paris and 15 percent of flights to city airports had to be canceled Thursday morning.
Striking print workers asked national daily newspapers to scrap their Friday editions.
On June 16, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced plans to raise the retirement age to 62 by 2018 as part of a program to save the country US$55 billion.
Unions say the proposal puts an unfair burden on workers. Woerth said Wednesday the reform was “necessary and fair” and the government would stick to its plan. The bill will go before cabinet next month and Parliament is scheduled to vote on it in September.
In 1995, Paris had to drop a savings program after weeks of strikes.
France currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
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On Friday June 25 it was Italy's turn. Here's a report from Deutsche Welle.
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Italians protest Berlusconi's austerity plans
Italian workers walked out in a protest against austerity cuts, disrupting transport services across the country. Italy's largest union organised the day of strike action, with marches in nearly every major city.
Italy's largest union staged a national general strike on Friday in a protest against austerity measures by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. Transport services across the country were disrupted, though support for the strike was not universal.
The left-leaning CGIL union, which has six million members, staged rallies in nearly every major Italian city in a bid to force the government to rethink a 25-billion-euro package of cuts. Berlusconi has defended the package as “absolutely necessary” and hopes it will help save the euro currency.
The austerity measures include a 10 percent budget reduction for ministries, 4.5 billion euros in reduced transfers to regional governments, a partial amnesty on illegal building and a 3-year wage freeze for civil servants.
"No one denies that we need to make cuts, but they must be cuts which are fair and look to the future, rather than just slashing spending," said Susanna Camusso, deputy leader of the CGIL, at a rally in Bologna.
The strike was a key test of strength for Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have reached new lows as unemployment has risen and the euro zone's third largest economy has struggled to emerge from recession.
Loyalties divided
The strike split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions asked their members to stay on the job.
While most private sector CGIL workers went on strike for four hours, public sector members demonstrated their anger by staying off work all day. Bus, subway and rail services were disrupted throughout the country, although support for the strike was patchy and some services continued to run. Airport staff also planned to strike, but flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport appeared to suffer little disruption.
The strikes followed union protests in France and Greece this week against plans for pension reform and budget cuts. Members of the 16-nation euro zone have rushed to approve austerity measures in a bid to restore confidence in the single currency and stop Greece's debt crisis spilling over into other countries.
Thousands marched in Rome on June 12 to protest against the government's austerity measures. Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed, even though part of the package includes pay cuts for parliamentarians.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/Reuters)
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Italians protest Berlusconi's austerity plans
Italian workers walked out in a protest against austerity cuts, disrupting transport services across the country. Italy's largest union organised the day of strike action, with marches in nearly every major city.
Italy's largest union staged a national general strike on Friday in a protest against austerity measures by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. Transport services across the country were disrupted, though support for the strike was not universal.
The left-leaning CGIL union, which has six million members, staged rallies in nearly every major Italian city in a bid to force the government to rethink a 25-billion-euro package of cuts. Berlusconi has defended the package as “absolutely necessary” and hopes it will help save the euro currency.
The austerity measures include a 10 percent budget reduction for ministries, 4.5 billion euros in reduced transfers to regional governments, a partial amnesty on illegal building and a 3-year wage freeze for civil servants.
"No one denies that we need to make cuts, but they must be cuts which are fair and look to the future, rather than just slashing spending," said Susanna Camusso, deputy leader of the CGIL, at a rally in Bologna.
The strike was a key test of strength for Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have reached new lows as unemployment has risen and the euro zone's third largest economy has struggled to emerge from recession.
Loyalties divided
The strike split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions asked their members to stay on the job.
While most private sector CGIL workers went on strike for four hours, public sector members demonstrated their anger by staying off work all day. Bus, subway and rail services were disrupted throughout the country, although support for the strike was patchy and some services continued to run. Airport staff also planned to strike, but flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport appeared to suffer little disruption.
The strikes followed union protests in France and Greece this week against plans for pension reform and budget cuts. Members of the 16-nation euro zone have rushed to approve austerity measures in a bid to restore confidence in the single currency and stop Greece's debt crisis spilling over into other countries.
Thousands marched in Rome on June 12 to protest against the government's austerity measures. Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed, even though part of the package includes pay cuts for parliamentarians.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/Reuters)
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Meanwhile Greece which has seen four general strikes this year is set to repeat its protests on June 29. Here's the story from the Wall Street Journal. This strike is likely to be the most widely observed one of the current batch.
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Greece's Largest Unions Plan Paralyzing Strike For June 29
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's two largest unions, which have about 1.2 million members, have agreed to hold a 24-hour, combined paralyzing strike on June 29 to protest prospective labor and pension reforms.
This confirms what the unions had said to Dow Jones on Wednesday.
The Greek ruling socialist government has said that it has no choice but to impose tough measures that it has agreed to in exchange for the EUR110 billion bailout package provided by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the proposed reforms that unions fear will lead to easier layoffs at a time of high unemployment, rising retirement ages and lower pensions.
Unions see the reforms as a denigration of workers' hard-earned rights and the dismantling of the welfare state, while the socialist government argues it has no other options.
This will be the fifth general strike this year and is likely to again bring the country to its knees as businesses, public services and transportation, among several other sectors, will grind to a halt.
The private sector umbrella union Greek General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, which has 800,000 members, said in a statement that it's taking this action to oppose the prospective bills to liberalize the labor market and to protect pension entitlements that they see as being undermined.
"We need to reject these anti-worker and anti-pension legal initiatives, as well as the government's inflexible and negative stance," the GSEE said in a statement.
The GSEE added that the strike was also being organized to express workers' dissatisfaction that a national collective-bargain wage agreement looks unlikely to be achieved soon due to the intransigence of employer groups.
The second largest union, ADEDY, which has 400,000 members and represents public sector employees, confirmed to Dow Jones that it will also participate in the strike even though a formal decision has not been made yet.
"We have to take to the streets to protect our members from these harsh and unfair changes that are looming," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the public sector umbrella union, told Dow Jones.
"Greece is a test case for these neo-liberal ultra-conservative policies, and if they succeed here, they will be imposed across all of Europe--to even the wealthier Northern European countries--at the expense of workers and for the benefit of big business," Iliopoulos added.
-By Nick Skrekas of Dow Jones
Greece's Largest Unions Plan Paralyzing Strike For June 29
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's two largest unions, which have about 1.2 million members, have agreed to hold a 24-hour, combined paralyzing strike on June 29 to protest prospective labor and pension reforms.
This confirms what the unions had said to Dow Jones on Wednesday.
The Greek ruling socialist government has said that it has no choice but to impose tough measures that it has agreed to in exchange for the EUR110 billion bailout package provided by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the proposed reforms that unions fear will lead to easier layoffs at a time of high unemployment, rising retirement ages and lower pensions.
Unions see the reforms as a denigration of workers' hard-earned rights and the dismantling of the welfare state, while the socialist government argues it has no other options.
This will be the fifth general strike this year and is likely to again bring the country to its knees as businesses, public services and transportation, among several other sectors, will grind to a halt.
The private sector umbrella union Greek General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, which has 800,000 members, said in a statement that it's taking this action to oppose the prospective bills to liberalize the labor market and to protect pension entitlements that they see as being undermined.
"We need to reject these anti-worker and anti-pension legal initiatives, as well as the government's inflexible and negative stance," the GSEE said in a statement.
The GSEE added that the strike was also being organized to express workers' dissatisfaction that a national collective-bargain wage agreement looks unlikely to be achieved soon due to the intransigence of employer groups.
The second largest union, ADEDY, which has 400,000 members and represents public sector employees, confirmed to Dow Jones that it will also participate in the strike even though a formal decision has not been made yet.
"We have to take to the streets to protect our members from these harsh and unfair changes that are looming," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the public sector umbrella union, told Dow Jones.
"Greece is a test case for these neo-liberal ultra-conservative policies, and if they succeed here, they will be imposed across all of Europe--to even the wealthier Northern European countries--at the expense of workers and for the benefit of big business," Iliopoulos added.
-By Nick Skrekas of Dow Jones
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There is also a planned general strike on June 29 in the Basque countries in Spain. This one will likely also be well observed as a previous one on May 21 was a success despite the opposition of Spain's two largest union federations the UGT and the CCOO. In the Basque countries independent local unions outweigh the larger national federations. The anarchosyndicalist CGT has come out in support of this strike, and they have been pressuring the larger unions for some time to not wait until the end of September but to come out with the Basque unions at the end of the month. The CGT has also been calling for some time for a general strike of unlimited duration.
When all is said and done, after all, a one day general strike is of only symbolic value. Sometimes the duration of the supposed general strike is even less than a day (see the article on Italy above). The following article originally published in the English anarchist paper Freedom and reproduced at the Libcom website gives the cautionary warning from the Spanish anarchosyndicalist CNT that only a real general strike with no time limit is an actual way to make governments back down from their austerity "reforms".
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CNT: Make Spain’s general strike indefinite
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jun 23 2010 20:43
As a general strike is mooted to coincide with Europe-wide action, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union is warning that one day outings will not be enough to deter deep public sector cuts
Spain's fifth general strike has been set for September 29th amidst massive public sector cuts and attacks on job security passed by the ruling Socialist Party - and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is calling for it to be made indefinite.
Following a one day public-sector strike earlier this month the union is warning that “gesture strikes” will not be enough to force the government to change course.
In a statement after the June 8th event they said: “The government’s plans to stabilise the economy through reducing the public deficit by 11% have placed the cost of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the disadvantaged.
“It is evident that the proposals are designed to satisfy banks and employers by compromising with the neoliberal designs that prevail in the EU.”
“If there had been earlier mobilisations the government would not have dared to present the measures announced and would have had to cut elsewhere. It would have had to seek income where the money really is – on the bench, through corporate taxes, inheritance, hedge funds etc.
“We believe it is a mistake to continue ‘negotiating’ labour reform, which is simply a concession to employers. The only possiblility for correcting this situation is to fight this economic aggression through social confrontation, to continue and expand protests to all sectors.”
“These great evils can only be treated with great remedies, and such remedies do not include, of course, a 24-hour general strike which, assuming that UGT and CCOO (the two major reformist unions in Spain) dared to actually convene one, would act only as a giant safety valve for employee discontent.
“An indefinite general strike paralysing the country until the government withdraws anti-worker and anti-social actions would by contrast act as a binder for workers to recover their class consciousness and act together, with an eye to the destruction of the capitalist system through social revolution which is the only truly effective medicine against congenital diseases of the system.
Larger TUC-style unions called the public-sector strike on June 8th, which the left claimed got 75% of public sector workers out (state sources put it 16%) and saw tens of thousands of people on the streets in protest. The public sector accounts for around 2.5 million jobs in Spain. However the measure has made little impact on narrowly-passed plans to slash 5% from public sector pay, part of a 15 billion euro package of austerity measures being implemented in the next few years.
Other measures include the uncoupling of pension payments from inflation, an end to tax breaks for new parents and cuts in public investment and development aid of up to 6 billion euros. The Party is also taking the opportunity to “free up the labour market” by making it easier to hire and fire workers, a measure which would be likely to help drive a general strike outside the public sector.
Its actions, taken as Spain is threatened by international markets over its debt ratio, are widely seen as a betrayal of the electoral promises which put the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Jose Zapatero into power in 2004 on the back of widespread discontent with the right, though anarchist groups in the country have pointed to the situation as emblematic of party politicians’ inability to represent working people.
In an editorial for the periodical CNT, the union noted: “Economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and will, unfortunately for humanity, regularly occur as long as the system exists.
“At the end of the day, the problem lies in the balance of power between two social classes with conflicting interests - the bourgeois class, which holds exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution, and the proletarian class, which has no more than their manual and intellectual labour to sell as dearly as possible. The salary of the employee, and therefore the worker himself, is just another cost of production like machinery, electrical power or fuel.
“And when the worker is considered this way, not as a human being but as a cost to be cut without a second thought, you can do with them what you will, without remorse. That is neither more nor less than what capitalists do with us now.
“We can not remain silent before these measures announced by the government, which will result in yet more desecration of labour right to add to a long list of infamies imposed since this pompously-named “democracy” came into existence. Lowering the salaries of officials and freezing or eliminating pensions, among other measures, are not appropriate ways to solve the so-called crisis, and will have the determined opposition of the CNT.”
- Discussion thread on libcom.org
- An edited version of this article first appeared in Freedom anarchist newspaper
CNT: Make Spain’s general strike indefinite
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jun 23 2010 20:43
As a general strike is mooted to coincide with Europe-wide action, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union is warning that one day outings will not be enough to deter deep public sector cuts
Spain's fifth general strike has been set for September 29th amidst massive public sector cuts and attacks on job security passed by the ruling Socialist Party - and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is calling for it to be made indefinite.
Following a one day public-sector strike earlier this month the union is warning that “gesture strikes” will not be enough to force the government to change course.
In a statement after the June 8th event they said: “The government’s plans to stabilise the economy through reducing the public deficit by 11% have placed the cost of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the disadvantaged.
“It is evident that the proposals are designed to satisfy banks and employers by compromising with the neoliberal designs that prevail in the EU.”
“If there had been earlier mobilisations the government would not have dared to present the measures announced and would have had to cut elsewhere. It would have had to seek income where the money really is – on the bench, through corporate taxes, inheritance, hedge funds etc.
“We believe it is a mistake to continue ‘negotiating’ labour reform, which is simply a concession to employers. The only possiblility for correcting this situation is to fight this economic aggression through social confrontation, to continue and expand protests to all sectors.”
“These great evils can only be treated with great remedies, and such remedies do not include, of course, a 24-hour general strike which, assuming that UGT and CCOO (the two major reformist unions in Spain) dared to actually convene one, would act only as a giant safety valve for employee discontent.
“An indefinite general strike paralysing the country until the government withdraws anti-worker and anti-social actions would by contrast act as a binder for workers to recover their class consciousness and act together, with an eye to the destruction of the capitalist system through social revolution which is the only truly effective medicine against congenital diseases of the system.
Larger TUC-style unions called the public-sector strike on June 8th, which the left claimed got 75% of public sector workers out (state sources put it 16%) and saw tens of thousands of people on the streets in protest. The public sector accounts for around 2.5 million jobs in Spain. However the measure has made little impact on narrowly-passed plans to slash 5% from public sector pay, part of a 15 billion euro package of austerity measures being implemented in the next few years.
Other measures include the uncoupling of pension payments from inflation, an end to tax breaks for new parents and cuts in public investment and development aid of up to 6 billion euros. The Party is also taking the opportunity to “free up the labour market” by making it easier to hire and fire workers, a measure which would be likely to help drive a general strike outside the public sector.
Its actions, taken as Spain is threatened by international markets over its debt ratio, are widely seen as a betrayal of the electoral promises which put the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Jose Zapatero into power in 2004 on the back of widespread discontent with the right, though anarchist groups in the country have pointed to the situation as emblematic of party politicians’ inability to represent working people.
In an editorial for the periodical CNT, the union noted: “Economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and will, unfortunately for humanity, regularly occur as long as the system exists.
“At the end of the day, the problem lies in the balance of power between two social classes with conflicting interests - the bourgeois class, which holds exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution, and the proletarian class, which has no more than their manual and intellectual labour to sell as dearly as possible. The salary of the employee, and therefore the worker himself, is just another cost of production like machinery, electrical power or fuel.
“And when the worker is considered this way, not as a human being but as a cost to be cut without a second thought, you can do with them what you will, without remorse. That is neither more nor less than what capitalists do with us now.
“We can not remain silent before these measures announced by the government, which will result in yet more desecration of labour right to add to a long list of infamies imposed since this pompously-named “democracy” came into existence. Lowering the salaries of officials and freezing or eliminating pensions, among other measures, are not appropriate ways to solve the so-called crisis, and will have the determined opposition of the CNT.”
- Discussion thread on libcom.org
- An edited version of this article first appeared in Freedom anarchist newspaper
Labels: CGT, CNT, current events, Europe., financial crisis, France, general strike, Greece, Italy, LibCom, Spain, strike., tactics
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SPAIN:
SPANISH PUBLIC SECTOR GENERAL STRIKE FAILS TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES:
As to the title, well maybe yes and maybe no. The general strike of the public sector in Spain yesterday was essentially "plotted" by the largest unions, the UGT (tied umbilically to the governing Socialist Party of Zapatero) and the CCOO (semi-reformed Stalinists who have forgotten everything about socialism but remember everything about bureaucratic manoeuvre). The general opinion in the mass media is that the public sector one day strike was a "test" to see if the idea of a real general strike would fly. The public workers of Spain face a general 5% cut in their pay in addition to other "austerity measures" such as a freeze in 2011, freezing pensions and an end to the Spanish equivalent of the "child bonus". If this was a test the bird didn't fly. This is in the face of an unemployment rate of 20%, the highest in the Euro zone.
Needless to say estimates of strike participation varies wildly. Union (CCOO and UGT) estimates gave numbers as high as 75% while government statements varied but hovered around the 11% range (see Irish Times, Earth Times ). Now long experience has taught me a method of "estimating" the truth in such contradictory claims, and I hold to it even when I am more in favour of one side than another. Double the low number...11% = 22%. Half the high number 75% = 37.5%. Average the two numbers. The probable participation rate by these numbers was 29.75% ie about a little less than 1/3rd of the public sector workers of Spain. This may overestimate the actual participation or at least the enthusiastic participation of public sector workers (ie those who didn't simply adjourn to home or the bar for the day). In Madrid the official CCOO/UGT rally at the end of the day gathered less than 4,000 participants.
I actually dreaded looking this up from the websites of the Spanish anarchosyndicalist organizations, the larger CGT and the much smaller CNT. Given my experience with North American anarchism, which all too often mirrors the idiocy of North American leftism in general I expected a great amount of flag waving and declarations of "victory" like the Communist and Socialist unions are claiming. I was pleasantly surprised.
Both Spanish anarchosyndicalist organizations were actually quite divided about the advisability of the public sector strike with the CNT actually taking pride of place for mentioning "reality" in their debates prior to the event ie mentioning how little support amongst the general Spanish population such a strike would have (or amongst public employees judging from the real participation). The CGT (and the CNT) have long campaigned for a real general strike encompassing both public and private sectors and a strike that was not just a one day symbolic demonstration. The CNT Andalucia joined with CGT Andalucia in reluctant support of the public sector strike. On the other hand the CNT of Badaloz (western Spain) rejected the idea entirely. Within the CGT there was a similar difference of opinion. This was especially prominent in the aftermath of the strike where the CGT of Zaragoza in Aragon republished the statement of the CNT of Aragon denouncing the CCOO and the UGT. the reason for this was the successful attempt of the UGT to exclude the CGT from the official demonstrations and speeches. In most of Spain the anarchists deliberately separated themselves from the official union demonstrations and presented themselves in separate contingents. probably a very wise idea when you are big enough.
The attitude of the CNT and CGT, despite the internal differences in their organizations, had generally two different "tones", connected no doubt to the different situation of the two organizations. The CGT is an organization of perhaps 100,000 members with the support of up to 2 million people in union elections in Spain. As such it is a "real union" and is more inclined to 'realpolitik' than the CNT which has perhaps 5,000 members and doesn't participate in the union elections. The CNT is more inclined to "denounce" the larger unions while the CGT is more inclined to both "pressure" them and present an alternative viewpoint which they hope will serve them in the future. Both organizations were united in saying that a real general strike was what was needed. They differed in how to get to it.
The point may be less than moot now. The underlying subtext of both the CGT and the CNT was that the CCOO and the UGT wanted no such thing as a real general strike. It would upset their cozy bargaining relationship with the socialist government. My brief browsing of the general public opinion in Spain (unconnected to anarchist opinion) is that this was a realistic estimate. Opinions such as "the unions were half-hearted" or "it was merely a show" come up over and over. The bottom line...the play has been acted out. Whatever the CCOO and the UGT claim they will hesitate to try and call a real general strike in Spain for fear of exposing their weakness even more. The government's plans will be carried out, and the great public shows (like in Greece) will give way to the usual backroom dealing - where the participants are more than slightly friendly with each other.
What this means is that even in Spain where perhaps 5% of the population has a favourable long term opinion of anarchism (contrasted to maybe 0.1% in Greece and 0.00001% in North America) that there is a very long term struggle ahead. There will be no magical "rebellion" to pull the country away from the austerity measures. Interestingly there is a little piece of truth in all this controversy about numbers, and it comes from the CGT who report the turnout for the public service sector strike in Barcelona which varied from a low of 20% to a high of 70% (interestingly enough the percentages were generally higher in the sectors where the CGT was strongest). These numbers seem to correlate with my own estimate of about 1/3rd. See here for the CGtT report. It does my heart good to see that my own comrades have a regard for truth.
Labels: anarchism, CGT, CNT, current events, economic crisis, general strike, international labour, labour, Spain, strike, tactics
Saturday, March 20, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT- SPAIN:
CONFERENCE ON SELF MANAGEMENT:
Self management refers to the libertarian socialist and anarchist idea that workplaces can and should be run democratically by the people working in them without managers of any other bosses. There have been numerous historical experiments using this idea. This coming April the Spanish CNT, along with others will be holding a conference on the history and principles of this idea. The details from the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board follow below.
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ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALISM: SELF-MANAGEMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Within the framework of the CNT-AIT centenary (1910-2010), a series of conferences brought together under the name of “Alternatives to Capitalism: Self-management in the spotlight” will take place in Barcelona (Spain). These conferences will be held throughout April 2010. The contents will be organized in three blocks of lectures: theoretical, historical and a broader one, based in more current experiences.
The theoretical block draws up a program of lectures on how the capitalist system works, focusing on the present moment of economic and social crisis. Anarcho-syndicalist proposals facing the crisis will also be debated. This theoretical perspective is completed with several papers which shall offer a wide vision of economic and social literature on the subject of socialism and libertarian-communism models.
The historical block tries to put forward two strong models that may serve as an alternative to the capitalist system. On the one hand, that of the anarchist collectivization during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), for which lectures will be included to explain how it worked in the different regions where it was implemented (Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Aragon, Castile, Andalusia). On the other hand, explanations will be offered on the Yugoslav co-management model (1950-1990) with the purpose of assessing this experience both in the light of a possible model for the development of impoverished countries and from the limits imposed on socialism by the five-year plan, the market and the One Party State, along with a strictly libertarian vision of the whole process.
With the present block we intend to gain an insight on different organizational experiences that fight against capitalism nowadays from a self management point of view. In this sense, the contribution of the CNT-AIT (labour and socioeconomic aspects) is included, as well as those of other specific anarchist organizations (socio-political aspect), of some models of cooperatives with a radical perspective (labour and socioeconomic management aspect) or of cultural and study centres (cultural aspect). Finally there’s place for initiatives linked to local and municipal fields, such as those of squat social centres and apartments, municipalism or local assemblies (local-political aspect). Finally, from a wider geographical, and in some cases, thematic point of view, live experiences from other places in the world will be debated, such as social movements in Latin America, Chiapas, Brazil (Landless Workers Movement, MST), Argentina (enterprises recovered by their workers), Venezuela and Greece.
More info:
Organizing:
CeNTenary (Barcelone) Comission
Collaborating:
Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo – FAL (http://www.cnt.es/fal)
Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences – ICEA (http://iceautogestion.org/)Fundació d'Estudis Llibertaris i Anarcosindicalistes – FELLA (http://www.nodo50.org/fella) PROGRAM
Friday 9th April. Capitalist system: exploitation, conflict and destruction
-4 p.m. Introduction to the conferences. CNT Barcelona
-4.15 p.m. Where do we stand in the crisis? Miren Etxezarreta. Economist, lecturer at Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) for 35 years and member of the critic economic seminar TAIFA
-5.30 p.m. Capitalism today: crisis or downfall? Some thoughts. Toni Castells. Economist.
-6.45 p.m. Anarcho-syndicalist proposals in the face of the economic crisis. Gaspar Fuster. Economics teacher in Secondary Education and member of the Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences (ICEA).
-8 p.m General debate and conclusions
Saturday 10th April – Morning. Studies on self-management and models on socialism and libertarian communism (I).
-10 a.m. Socialism and libertarian communism in economic thought until 1939. Lluís Rodríguez Algans. Economist and member of the Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences (ICEA).
-11.15 a.m. Self-management, an up-to date debate: participative planning or re-conceptualization of the market. Endika Alabort Amundarain. Economics lecturer at Basque Country University (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea) and member of the Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences (ICEA).
-12.30 p.m. Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences: study and technical support for widespread self-management. Members of the ICEA.
-1.45 p.m. General debate and conclusions
Saturday 10th April – Evening. Studies on self-management and models on socialism and libertarian communism (II).
-4 p.m.The economics of freedom: creating abundant lives for all (in English). Jon Bekken. Member of the editorial collective of Anarcho-syndicalist Review, former general secretary and treasurer of Industrial Workers of the World.
-5.15 p.m. Inclusive Democracy as a political project for a new libertarian synthesis: rationale, proposed social structure and transition (in English). Takis Fotopoulos. Political philosopher and ex-senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of North London (UK) where he taught Political Economy for over twenty years. He has been the editor of the theoretical journal Democracy & Nature, The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy since 1992 and founder of the Inclusive Democracy movement.
-6.30 p.m. Anarchist Planning for Twenty-first Century Economies: A Proposal (in English). Robin Hahnel. Professor Emeritus at American University where he taught Political Economy for thirty-three years, and is currently Visiting Professor of Economics at Portland State University. He is best known as co-creator along with Michael Albert of an economic model known as “participatory economics” which is widely discussed as an alternative to capitalism (PARECON).
-7.45 p.m. General debate and conclusions
Friday 16th April. Anarchist collectivization during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (I)
-4p.m. Historical background and social aspects of the Civil War. Paco Madrid. Historian.
-5.15p.m. Face to face against the state: the 1936 revolution and agrarian collectivism in Catalonia. Marciano Cárdaba. Historian. Researcher in the social, economic and political factors of agrarian collectivization in Catalonia (1936-1939).
-6.30p.m. Collectivist transformations in the industry and services in Catalonia (1936-1939). Toni Castells. Historian.
-7.45p.m. General debate and conclusions
Saturday 17th April – Morning. Anarchist collectivization during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (II)
-10a.m. "Agrarian collectivities in Aragon (1936-1939). Between revolution and reaction." Walther L. Bernecker. Professor of the History of Spain, Portugal, and Latin-America at Friedrich Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany).
-11.15a.m. Coup-d’etat, war and social transformation in Andalusia and Castile (1936-1939). José Luis Gutiérrez Molina. Historian. Researcher in contemporary social history, particularly in Andalusia.
-12.30p.m. Collectivities in the Valencian Community. Ending with the typical topics. Manuel Vicent. Historian and archivist.
-1.45 p.m. General debate and conclusions
Saturday 17th April – Evening. Yugoslavia 1950-1990
-4 p.m. Unequal development as a limit to the self-management process. The Yugoslav case. Ramón Franquesa. Lecturer of World Economy at University of Barcelona (UB). Researcher in management of natural, renewable resources and on Social Economy and non-capitalist economic organization processes
-5.15p.m. The Yugoslav selfmanagement squeezed by the plan, the market and the single party : is the suppression of institutions the solution? (in English). Catherine Samary. Professor and Researcher specialist of the Yugoslav and East European transformations; activist in internationalist networks.
-6.30p.m. Yugoslav Self-Management: An Anarchist perspective (in English). Andrej Grubačić. Historian and anarchist sociologist. Researcher in the subject of anarchism and the history of the Balkans. Member of Industrial Workers of the World.
-7.45p.m. General debate and conclusions
Tuesday 20th April. Organizational models as an alternative to capitalism: anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism.
-4p.m. CNT: syndicalism for social change. Genís Ferrero. Member of the CNT Barcelona.
-5.15p.m. Libertarian organizations: Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), Iberian Federation of Anarchist Youth (FIJA), Federation of Libertarian Students (FEL).
-6.45p.m. Uruguayan Anarchist Federation. Specific anarchism, anarchist direct action: towards the construction of the Popular Power. Mario Remedios. Secretary of Affairs of FAU. Militant of the Germinal Ateneo in the Villa Colón neighbourhood (Montevideo).
-8p.m. General debate and conclusions
Wednesday 21st April. Organizational models as an alternative to capitalism: cooperativism and municipalism.
-4p.m. Solidarity economy: the embryo of a new economy? Jordi García Jané. Cooperativist, professor and writer on subjects related to solidarity economy and social alternatives in general. -5.15p.m. Cooperatives: production, finances and consumption. Mol-Matric, Coop57, and Germinal.
-6.45p.m. Libertarian municipality on the way to self-management. Manel Aisa. Historian.Assembly of the neighbourhood of Sants. Mireia Rosselló.
-8p.m. General debate and conclusions
Thursday 22nd April. Organizational models as an alternative to capitalism: anarchism, culture and social movements.
-4p.m. House squatting and social centres. Jesús Rodríguez. Activist of the squat movement.
-5.15p.m. Libertarian Ateneo. Popular Encyclopaedic Ateneo and Libertarian Ateneo of Sants. Xavier Oller, historian and members.
-6.45p.m. Libertarian Centre of Studies: Foundation for Libertarian and Anarcho-syndicalist Studies (Barcelona), Libertarian Centre of Studies, Federica Montseny (Badalona), Libertarian Centre of Studies, Francesc Sàbat (Terrassa), Foundation Anselmo Lorenzo (Madrid). Members.
-8p.m. General debate and conclusions
Saturday 24th April – Morning. Nowadays experiences (I): Social Movements in Latin America, Chiapas y Brazil.
-10 a.m. Social movements in Latin America: you can’t fight progressivism. Raúl Zibechi. Thinker and activist, professor and researcher in social movements, journalist and international analyst for La Jornada (Mexico) and Brecha (Uruguay).
-11.15 a.m. Indigenous rebellion in Chiapas. Committee of Solidarity with the Zapatist rebellion.
-12.30p.m. Landless Workers Movement from Brazil, the struggle for land, Agrarian Reform, and a fairer society. María Carballo. Anthropologist and member of the MST Support Committee of Barcelona since 1996.
-13.45. General debate and conclusions
Saturday 24th April – Evening. Nowadays experiences (II): Argentina, Venezuela and Greece
-4p.m. From crisis to self-management: origins and perspectives of the recovery of firms in Argentina. Luis Buendía. Economist and pre-doctoral researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), and member of the Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences (ICEA).
-5.15p.m. Imperialism, social reform and popular power in Venezuela. Luis Baños. Libertarian militant active in organizational, education and popular struggle processes in the rural environment and the city. Historian and member of the Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences (ICEA).
-6.30p.m. Tracking down social antagonism and anarchist-antiauthoritarian movement in Greece. Anarchist companions from Greece.
-7.45p.m. General debate and conclusions
-8.15p.m. End of the program. CNT Barcelona
Labels: anarchism, Barcelona, CNT, CNT Centennary, conferences, events, international anarchist movement, self management, Spain
Friday, March 05, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-BARCELONA:
ANARCHA-FEMINIST CONFERENCE:
This March 8 marks International Womens' Day and this year marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT of Spain. It is thus quite appropriate that this weekend will signal the start of a month long anarcha-feminist conference in the heartland of international anarchism, Barcelona. The following is the announcement from the CNT Centennary Commission. The English language version below comes from the Anarkismo website.
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Barcelona: Anarcha-Feminist Conference
Martha Ackelsberg, Ana Sigüenza, Antonia Rodrigo, the Colectivo Juana Julia Guzmán from Colombia, Mujeres Libres... just some of the participants in this festival of feminism and anarchism organized by the CNT in Barcelona in March. [Castellano]
Barcelona: Anarcha-Feminist Conference
Martha Ackelsberg, Ana Sigüenza, Antonia Rodrigo, the Colectivo Juana Julia Guzmán from Colombia, Mujeres Libres... just some of the participants in this festival of feminism and anarchism organized by the CNT in Barcelona in March. [Castellano]
Barcelona: Anarcha-Feminist Conference
This year - 2010 - the CNT celebrates 100 years since it was founded, in a context very different from today's. For this reason, we want to analyze and reflect on the path that this class-struggle union has followed throughout its history and examine its role today. There is no doubt that the people who have been members of the CNT have mostly been women and men with a capacity for critical thought, sometimes well ahead of their time, and there have been times when the CNT has played a vital role, as in the social revolution of 1936. Today we ask ourselves how it sees itself as a union that fights against every form of authority, and especially against something as important as patriarchy which, along with capitalism, inhibits the freedom of many living beings and is destroying the planet.
So, this Feminist Conference arise from the need of various female members of the CNT to visualize the vital role that women play in the anarchist movement, to reflect on the connection between anarchism and feminism, to challenge traditional gender roles, female and male, on which patriarchy are based.
The Conference on Women and Anarchism will be an opportunity to get closer to the realities of female militancy. We intend to analyze, discuss and highlight the participation and organization of women who identify with libertarian principles without giving up their gender identity. We want to see the problems that affect us as women in the various areas where we operate: labour, educational, organizational, health, emotional, etc., and the problems arising from a patriarchal and capitalist society such as ours that affects us and our comrades, male and female alike.
To this end, we will try to deal with the subject on two levels: one level is our own situation as female workers and union activists in a class-struggle, revolutionary and libertarian union, covering the historical perspective and the needs that we see today. The second level is feminist women's participation in the various organizations that seek to contribute to social change. We are interested in highlighting these daily struggles, the projects that result from them, the difficulties that exist and the contradictions that we encounter. We also wish to work on these aspects by collecting multiple experiences from the past and others that are in progress today all over the world.
To try to cover these objectives, we have organized five topics:
1. Women, work and the union
2. A historical reference: the Mujeres Libres
3. Anarcho-feminism: organized women
4. Women in the press and propaganda of The Idea
5. Sexual diversity and anarchism.
Everyone is invited to participate in these reflections on our/your part so that we can try to get closer to achieving our/your utopian society.
Let our thoughts become action.
PROGRAM
PROGRAM
- Saturday 6 March 11.00 a.m.
Women and Anarcho-syndicalism: with Ana Sigüenza (first Secretary General of the CNT) and Laura Vicente (Doctor of Contemporary History at the University of Alicante), author of "Teresa Claramunt. Pionera del feminismo obrerista anarquista".
Venue: Centre Cívic Drassanes - Sala d'Actes. C/Nou de la Rambla 43. ( L-3: Liceu, Drassanes ó Paralel).
- Sunday 7 March 5.00 p.m.
Workshop - Self-managing our health (women-only event - prior registration required: libertariascnt@hotmail.com )
Venue: Casa de la Solidaridad. C/Vistalegre, 15. ( L-2: Sant Antoni)
- Wednesday 10 March 7.00 p.m.
Cine forum: "Adrift (by casual women workers)" Authors: precarias a la deriva.
Venue: Espai Obert. C/Violant d'Hongria 71, 1º. ( L-5: Plaça de Sants i Badal; L-3: Plaça del Centre)
- Friday 12 Marzo 7.00 p.m.
Anarcho-feminist Theory & Practice, with La Katino Anarkista (member of the Red Anarcofeminista de Mujeres and creator of the publication "Alejandra") and Vanessa Ortíz, from the Juana Julia Guzmán collective (Bogota).
Venue: Fundació d'Estudis Llibertaris i Anarcosindicalistes - FELLA. C/Joaquin Costa 34. ( L-3: Catalunya ó L-1 i L-2 Universitat).
- Saturday 13 March 5.00 p.m.
Anarchist women propagandizing The Idea, with María Ángeles García Maroto, anarcho-feminist journalist and writer, member of the Alcoi SOV, and Antonina Rodrigo, writer, author of the book "Amparo Poch y Gascón, médica y anarquista".
Presentation of feminist publications. RAG (Ireland), Herstory (Barcelona), Histeria (Barcelona), Mujeres Preokupando 8 (Barcelona) and others...
Venue: Centre Cívic Pati Llimona. C/Regomir 3. ( L-3: Liceu ó L-4 Jaume I).
- Sunday 14 March 5.00 p.m.
Feminist self-defence workshop. Organized by a Barcelona self-defence group (women-only event - prior registration required: libertariascnt@hotmail.com ).
Venue: Casa de la Solidaridad. C/Vistalegre, 15. ( L-2: Sant Antoni)
- Friday 19 March 7.00 p.m.
Animal liberation, liberation of the land and liberation of women. Natalia, Maria, Isabella and Clara.
Venue: Espai Obert. C/Violant d'Hongria 71, 1º. ( L-5: Plaça de Sants i Badal; L-3: Plaça del Centre)
- Saturday 20 March 5.00 p.m.
Mujeres Libres, yesterday and today, with Martha Ackelsberg, professor of Political Science and Women's & Gender Studies at Smith College, Northampton, MA (USA) and author of "Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women", together with comrades from the Mujeres Libres in Extremadura and Madrid.
Venue: CCCB – Aula 2. C/ Montalegre, 5 ( L-3: Catalunya ó L-1 i L-2 Universitat).
- Friday 26 March 7.00 a.m.
Gender, race and class. Carla.
Venue: Espai Obert. C/Violant d'Hongria 71, 1º. ( L-5: Plaça de Sants i Badal; L-3: Plaça del Centre)
- Saturday 27 March 11.00 a.m.
Sexual Diversity and anarchism: debate organized by D-género, a pro-sexual liberation libertarian collective from Madrid, Karolina, Filipo Brenda and Maricarmen.
Venue: Centre Cívic Barceloneta. C/Conreria 1 – 9. ( L-4: Barceloneta).
* Workshops are for women only. Prior registration is required - write to: libertariascnt@hotmail.com . Dates for the workshops are subject to change, and in this case participants will be advised by email. Further workshops may be organized if the maximum number of participants is exceeded.
Organized by:
Comisión del CeNTenario (Barcelona)
Comisión del CeNTenario (Barcelona)
English translation by FdCA-International Relations Office
Related Link: http://www.cnt.es/centenario
Related Link: http://www.cnt.es/centenario
Labels: anarchafeminism, anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, Barcelona, CNT, CNT Centennary, conferences, events, feminism, public meetings
Monday, February 22, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SPAIN:
CNT CENTENNARY- SOLIDARIDAD OBRERA STATEMENT:
As has been mentioned previously on this blog this year marks the centennary of the foundation of the Confedracion Nacional de Trabajo, the Spanish CNT. The CNT was the most sucessful of all anarchist organizations in history, and its legacy lives on in many anarchosyndicalist groups both within Spain and outside of it. As I mentioned previously I will be presenting various items about this history over the course of the year. The statements on this centennaryof the two larger Spanish anarchosyndicalist organizations, the CGT and the CNT have already been presented here. See here for the statement of the CGT and here for that of the CNT.
There is another, smaller anarchosyndicalist federation in Spain, Solidaridad Obrera. This organization came out of a split from the CGT, and, speaking somewhat simplictically, it may b seen as being "half-way" between the CGt and the CNT. In terms of icdeological affinity it is the Spanish organization that I personally favour the most. I do, however, recognize that it is something of an exercise in futility. For better or worse the CGT represents well over 90% of anarchosyndicalists in Spain today. Solidaridad Obrera is basically confined to the area of Madrid and one Catalan city.
Still, their voice desreves to be heard on this anniversary as they are also one of the heirs of the CNT. Their statement, translated from one of their journals Contramarchas, follows below. This statement takes both the CGT and the CNT to task for their celebrations of the centennary. A cynic might say that this criticism is something of "sour grapes" as SO doesn't have the numbers to do what the larger federations can do. On the other hand they make very good points about the need for unity amongst the anarchosyndicalists of Spain in presenting the ideals today. How far this unity can go when there is at least one real tactical difference ie whether to participate in workplace elections or not is questionable. This is something real and much more important than the nitpicking matters of "theory" ie opinion that usually divide leftist groups. Still, there is a great "continent" of opportunity for cooperation amongst the groups that is away from this question, and SO is right in that such cooperation should be encouraged as much as possible. The same perhaps applies to other anarchist groups with different agendas elsewhere in the world, though there the differences may be much more profound.
In any case here is their statement on the Centennary.
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2010 CENTENARY OF THE C.N.T.
Between the end of the nineteenth and the start of the early twentieth century, the ideal of worker’s social emancipation permeated large sections of the working class, not precisely like it occurs today. In recent years we have been celebrating anniversaries that we believe are very important (and that we are now very far from being able to repeat) with the intention of disseminating them amongst the workers . Without going much further we have just commemorated in our magazine Solidarity No 15 (Autumn 2009), the 75th anniversary of the Asturian Revolution and the centennary of the Tragic Week, two milestones in terms of the working class confrontation with tyrants (the Second Republic and Alfonso XIII, respectively), without leaders or hierarchies, which put the system in check and which it bloodily suppressed by using the army against the people on both occasions. They filled the jails of all those who bothered them, especially labour militants, and in the case of the Tragic Week forged a shoddy setup to “legally” assassinate Ferrer Y Guardia and permanently close the Modern School, for the greater joy of the Church, which as happens at present, dominates education to conveniently indoctrinate new generations.
Despite all that persecution and repression, Solidaridad Obrera (a union created by socialists and anarchists in Barcelona in 1907 and since then involved in establishing itself in Catalonia) convened its third congress, calling, at the same time, for participation from all the local organizations in the rest of Spain. That Congress decided to build a new state-wide organization to "hasten the economic emancipation of the working class through the revolutionary expropriation of the bourgeoisie ...". Thus was born the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, the anarchist union that would bring together the most militant and revolutionary parts of the labour movement and realize the greatest feats of the workers’ struggle up to 1939: The strike of 1911, underground activity, the revolutionary strike of 1917 with the UGT, The Canadiense strike in 1919, the consequent 8 hours day, the strike against the war in Morocco in 1923, underground activity, the rent strike in 1930, the occupation of the Duro Felguera in 1931, the insurgent uprisings of 1932 and 33 (Casas Viejas), the Zaragoza strike in 1934, the Asturian Revolution (UHP) in 1934, the construction strike in Madrid in 1936, the collectivisation of industry, services and agriculture ... It had to be ended by means of death, horror and blood as the fascists, military and church, led by the Criminalísimo Franco (the biggest murderer of workers in history ) ended this trajectory.
This centennial is claimed both by the current CNT, and by the CGT (which in its manifesto "100 years of anarcho-syndicalism" openly declares itself as anarchist). Both organizations prepare, each for its side and not without some polemics (If anarchosyndicalism is 140 years old and not 100, then we must ask when did the CGT begin?), concerts, conferences, lectures, debates and exhibitions for this celebration. In our opinion, an unnecessary waste of money for mere self-aggrandizement and to keep on sowing discord between the two organizations.
In Solidaridad Obrera on the occasion of this anniversary, we have given our members José Peirats’ trilogy "The CNT in the Spanish Revolution "(2nd Ed 1988), a great work that recounts the accomplishments of our companions in that first part of the twentieth century. We would like it if the centenary was a cause of contact between the anarcho-syndicalist organizations and workers in general, and was used to disseminate the principles, the realized struggle and the news of workers’ self-organization that is currently outside the institutionalized unions. In this sense we set forth proposals that will promote unity and disseminate its results. While we must say that we start from a situation unfavourable for the unitary proposals to succeed, as each organization seeks more the reaffirmation of their own different postulates than the road to anarchosyndicalist unification, so necessary so that the working class can stand up the fierce attacks that we're suffering.
Labels: anarchism, anarchist history, anarchosyndicalism, CGT, CNT, CNT Centennary, international anarchist movement, Solidaridad Obrera, Spain
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SPAIN:
100 YEARS OF ANARCHOSYNDICALISM:
As was stated previously on this blog this year marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Spanish Confederación Nacional de Trabajo, the CNT. Today anarchosyndicalism in Spain is divided, but all the heirs of the CNT claim its rich heritage. Previously I translated and published the statement of the CGT on this anniversary. Today it is the turn of the eponymous CNT, and their statement on this event. The original Spanish can be found at the CNT website.
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CNT, 100 years of anarcho-syndicalism (1910-2010):
On November 1, 1910, in Barcelona's Círculo de Bellas Artes, the CNT (National Confederation of Labor) was constituted. This organization, heir to the Spanish region to the Spanish of the 1st International (1870), was born from within the labor movement itself as the first independent trade union in this country.
Assuming the international slogan "the emancipation of the workers will be the work of the workers themselves, or it will not be", the CNT made itself the repository of that popular rebellion which, like a subterranean stream, opposed power over the length of time, to emerge triumphant at specific times, from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom to the French Revolution, the origin of the unique historical processes in which humanity obviously advanced along the path of freedom, justice, equality, dignity and progress.
Upon the simple agreement to create a labor organization independent from the political, religious and economic powers as a prerequisite for improving the living conditions of the workers through to the end of exploitation, the CNT began its anarchosyndicalist activity. In a few years it brought together most of the labor movement with significant social and economic advances that are now an invaluable legacy for today's society.
The work day of eight hours, the work week of thirty-six hours, the elimination of child labour, equality of women and incorporation into the daily lives of values such as solidarity, federalism, ecology, feminism, free love, anti-militarism, atheism ... so in vogue today, are part of that legacy that reached its zenith in the Social Revolution of 1936, when the utopia-libertarian communism- transformed everyone's daily life in all the liberated territories.
The reaction of international capitalism enabled Franco's fascist army to turn that revolutionary dream into a nightmare of hundreds of thousands of people persecuted, murdered and disappeared after the victorious coup in 1939. But not one of the culprits – all known, some active politicians -of that regime of terror, one of the most murderous in history, was even publicly reproved, thanks to the shameful impunity pact with Franco, which the national democratic left y (PSOE, PCE, UGT and CCOO) sealed in its surrender agreement with capital, known as "Spanish Transition" (1977).
Nevertheless, the people continued to defend, often with their lives, the simple principles of anarcho-syndicalism: independence, autonomy, federalism, self-management, assemblies, solidarity and direct action, ie self-organization, to reject any interference by political parties or other institutions, economic, religious, etc., in labor affairs. Strikes, demonstrations, repression and torture were the daily chronicle of the dictatorship (1939-1976), until their disappearance when the labor movement thrillingly came back to rebuild their beloved CNT (1977).
We live in new years of incessant labor conquest. The days of Montjuic, or San Sebastian de los Reyes, marked the powerful rebirth of the confederation in the 1970s. The progress of the labor movement, again self-organized by the CNT, through examples like the strike struggles of gas stations in 1978, prompted the reaction of capitalism, this time supported by the democratic state and its institutional apparatus (governments, parties, judges, trade union bureaucracies , ...).
The successful union of the CNT was suppressed by the police (Case Scala, 1978) and, with the silence and propaganda campaigns of defamation in the media, this has generated disastrous consequences for the labor movement in this country. The weakening of the anarcho-syndicalist presence in the labor movement made possible the loss of rights acquired after a long and bitter union struggles, by deregulation and labor precariousness implanted with the worst of the corruptions plaguing the country: Union Corruption. An officially silent corruption, which corrupts the union movement in general in the eyes of workers, but mainly it stars institutional unions –the CCOO and the UGT, whose unionist "yuppies" acquire grants and amounts in the millions from governments and businesses as payment to their treason, for accepting whatever measures are taken in defence of capital accumulation and rising profits (EREs, labour reforms, lay offs, etc ...)
Despite all that, thousands of workers now follow the genuine labor organization which we call the CNT, keeping it exclusively their own, making it the only living example of class unionism, capable of dealing with oppression and social control, ecological destruction and overexploitation of the world economy, all aspects inherent to capitalism.
2010 has for us a special connotation: it marks a century of existence of the CNT. It is the centenary of a people and the invaluable struggle of thousands of people, over the last hundred years has provided us with a shining blueprint, to be followed by the world’s working class, by their own culture, self-organizing capacity, radical struggles, popular spread and revolutionary achievements in order to build an anti-authoritarian society based on solidarity.
These ideals form the noble cause to which we invite you here and now.
Labels: anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, anniversaries, Centenario CNT, CNT, international anarchist movement, international labour, labour, Spain
