Internationalism and anarcho-syndicalism

[Steve]

I've been sent this leaflet and thought it might be of interest.

INTERNATIONALISM AND ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM

Today’s struggles, perhaps more than those previously, warrant and demand an international dimension that is difficult to escape. For those of us on the anti-authoritarian left - anarchists, libertarian socialists and anarcho-syndicalists - international contacts and our very internationalism have been important and continue to be so. It is important that in our daily relationships with one another as well as in our relationships with other organisations we foster libertarian values based on opposition to collaboration with coercive structures, such as the state and prisons, and with all forms of authority.

Currently, the anarcho-syndicalist movement has its international— the International Workers’ Association (IWA) or AIT in French and Spanish. There are many organisations outside of the IWA, for reasons of political or other differences. One of those organisations that is outside of the anarcho-syndicalist International is the Spanish CGT.

The CGT grew out of a split in the historical anarcho-syndicalist Spanish CNT-IWA, principally over the question of whether to stand for workplace committees or not. These committees are elected by workers but are not accountable to the membership and neither, ultimately, are those elected. The CGT reflects a disparate set of values and members - it claims, or some sectors of it claim, to be anarcho-syndicalist, but many of its unions are full of political party members; it stands for election in prisons, hardly a libertarian practice; it has or has had police unions (such as the Mossos d’Esquadra in Barcelona) and has recently in Seville been forced to reinstate a female worker (it has paid employees) it sacked.

When we address international matters, complex though they are, we cannot forget that the CGT constantly masquerades as the ‘real’ CNT, even though it has failed to usurp its name, is often distanced from anything approaching anarchist practice and has caused a huge amount of confusion in libertarian quarters. This confusion is what it aims for but having employees, standing for election in prisons and participating in what are little more than workplace parliaments cannot be justified from an anarcho-syndicalist perspective.

Manchester Solidarity Federation - IWA
P0 Box 29, SW PDO, MI5 5HW

[bryan]

Declaring what can and cannot be 'justified' in anarcho-syndicalist terms seems to be a speciality of the Solidarity Federation. They feel so strongly their grasp on what is right and what is wrong, that they have seen fit to expel the 'father of anarcho-syndicalism' in the North: a former National Secretary of their former organisation - the Direct Action movement - and a well known militant activist in Burnley, Any organisation which would do such a thing would seem to have a slate short were it not for the fact that I understand in the 1980s, under the then name Direct Action Movement - this body tried to expel someone they hadn't then recruited or rather was not a member of the organisation at that time. When they found they couldn't expel someone who wasn't then a member, they resolved that if such a person should ever apply for membership he would be denied entry.

What a lovely organisation, and what happened to the rule of natural justice? Fortunately none of this matters very much in the sense that people are not bombarding it with membership applications.

If an organisation has a rum track record when dealing with members locally and regionally, how can we trust it when it pontificates on matters international and national? Some would see the factory committees in Spain as something like shop stewards' committees in the UK, and a natural progression into a modern era. I've had a high regard for the CNT since before I went to live and work in Spain in the early 1960s, and that's why I've retained contact with the country over the decades.

The problem for the Sol Fed is that the CNT is now mainly a network of affinity groups, rather than a serious trade union movement. More like an anarchist network than a genuine labour movement.

The anarcho-syndicalist CGT on the other hand has the right to represent over 1 million workers. It organises exhibitions for Durruti, backs campaigns to clear the names of anarchists executed in the Franco period, organises strikes, supports protests in favour of protection of the passengers on public transport and involves itself in the community as well as industry. It is a labour movement which is growing and has renovated the rural village of Ruestra in Aragon.

The problem for some of the left wing layabouts in England and elsewhere, is that the Spanish people have not performed revolutionary circus tricks for them to watch on TV from the comfort of their own homes. It seems that some folk will never forgive them for that.