I meant to post this sooner, but here is a communiqué from those groups from the Spanish CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) that wish to remain part of the International Workers Association (Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores – IWA-AIT), an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist groups. I have previously posted material on the split of one faction of the CNT, the Italian USI and the German FAU from the IWA-AIT. This communiqué is from the April 13 – 16, 2017 “Congress of Restructuring” in Villalonga, Spain, where various CNT groups disaffected from the CNT “leadership” responsible for the split from the IWA gathered to reconstitute the CNT as an affiliate of the IWA committed to the principles of international anarcho-syndicalism.
Communique of the CNT-AIT Congress to all workers and fighters
To All Anarchosyndicalists and Sympathizers
From various unions of the CNT-AIT that left what is now called the “CNT”, together with others that remain in it but with a critical stance, as well as with many others that were expelled or purged for having denounced the irregularities committed, we have met in Villalonga from the 13-16 of April [2017] in the Congress of Restructuring the anarchosyndicalist organization. We would like to publicly communicate the reasons and the resolutions of our Congress and make a call to unite in our organization in order to strengthen and give potential to revolutionary, anti-authoritarian and emancipatory anarchosyndicalism.
Motivations: In the last few years, what now calls itself “CNT” has been suffering an ideological derivation in all senses. This has included a series of scandalous situations in which some things are decided in the absence of assemblies, there has been a rupture of Confederal pact and federalism, a lack of solidarity, the inexistence of transparency [1], executive decisions of the Committees, the buying of votes, falsification of agreements, committees that veto the unions or their proposals without putting them on the agenda, centralism and even physical aggression.
This derivation has produced a weakness in the CNT that anybody can see: the need to have paid positions because of an absence of militants, the inability to publish the CNT newspaper, the decrease in the number of unions federated… Above all, it has provoked the serious fact that it was expelled from the IWA [International Workers Association], our International which established anarchosyndicalism in the world, because of the numerous irregularities committed by its Spanish section, the “CNT”, among others not paying dues [2], as established in the statutes, but also trying to organize a parallel international, only because it could not impose its agreements in the Congresses of the IWA [3].
The Congress of Restructuring: We met in order to give structure to the numerous anarchosyndicalist unions that exist in the geographical areas, to affirm anarchosyndicalism and the values that have inspired it, especially direct action, against parliamentarianism and bourgeois representationism that are being injected into supposedly revolutionary organizations, including the “CNT”.
We have taken the following agreements:
– We have adopted new statutes which are free of provisions which have supported or can support authoritarian practices, vertical structures and executive committees. In exchange, we are fostering consensus among the unions, more means for the local organizations and more autonomy against the committees, which will be reduced to authentic organs limited to coordination.
– Affiliation to the IWA, with the CNT-AIT being its Section in Spain, putting an end to the irregular situation that has been promoted by the Committee of the “CNT”, and contributing to the promotion of internationalism which is so necessary for the opposition of a globalized capitalist world, a question that characterizes the real anarchosyndicalism and not this colonialism of a negative and irrational “CNT”.
– We consider ourselves the continuation of the CNT created in 1910, the anarchosyndicalist and historic one.
– We call on all the anarchosyndicalists in the geographic areas to retake and [rejuvenate] anarchosyndicalism and to put it in the place that it should be: as a libertarian and emancipatory reference for the working class in the whole world.
From Villalonga, libertarian greetings, in solidarity and internationalist, to all the people, groups and organizations that aspire for freedom.
Endnotes
1. Such an absence of transparency, for example, encouraged the theft of around 20,000 euros from the CNT treasury by the General Secretary based in Valladolid.
2. For example: The union responsible for the CNT newspaper is no longer nominated by the unions and decided in Plenaries, but by the Confederal Committee, since the XI Congress in Zaragoza. (Translator’s explanation: The CNT’s reformist and executive wing have caused the situation in which the paper has not been published in years, due to the fact that they are trying to keep control of the publication and infuse it with their politics.)
3. A paradox since some unions that were expelled from the CNT were for dues arrears. While the CNT failed to pay dues to the IWA, it paid for a legal office of cronies whose cost were higher than the dues to the IWA. This office also absorbs all the resources destined to help repressed workers and prisoners that are from or collaborate with the CNT.
4. This decision was made by the Committees of the CNT without any agreement of the unions or the Congress. Leaving the IWA was not proposed in the XI Congress of the “CNT”.
Robert Graham
