CNT

Point 2: Organic Rules

1. national committee secretaries: definition or not of new secretaries

After the celebration of a confederal conference, this designates to the general secretary and to the locality of residence, that which by means of its unions it designates the secretaries that assure the management of the same. the secretaries are:

secretary of organisation, archives and vice-secretary
secretary of propaganda and culture
secretary of press and communication
secretary of treasury and economic matters
secretary of law and prisoner support
secretary of union and social action
secretary of patrimony
secretary of external relations

In addition of these secretaries of management, they form pary of the national committee(Nat Com), the general secretaries of the different Regional committess (reg comms). such in the regional comittee, as in the national committee, will be funcioning the following secretaries:

general secretary (Gen Sec): Represents the CNT, as much publicly as legally. co-ordinates the work in equipo of the different secretaries. It covers the deficiencies of any secretary, assists the voting in its charge, to informative title, independently of that could be delegated by its union. edits the editorial of the CNT.

secretary of organisation, archives and vice-secretary
assumes the functions of the Gen Sec when it finds itself incapacitated, or in any other circumstances. Hand the daily ups and downs of the unions and organic directions. Collaborates ? with the different secretaries of the Perm Sec. Is in charge of the internal relations of the confederation, of the material infrastructure of the votings, moderates the plenaries of the Committee and will be responsible for the corresponding ?. Has the responsibility of all that relationed with the calling of votings, ?, organic ? and documentary archives.

secretary of propaganda and culture
organises the formation of the confederal militancy. For the formation, organises talks, study days, courses.. And, in ? contact with the regional secretaries of propaganda and culture and treasurer, elaborates documents of formation. It relates strictly with the affinity individuals and cultural groups, free radio, ateneos.. in its ambit of competence. organises the public ? of the CNT.. meetings, talks, ...) and represents before the FAL. Is responsible for oral and written propaganda that the Perm Sec edits (publishes?)

Secretary of Press and Communication
maintains with the confederal press, in principle, and with the ?, in general, strict contacts. At local and district levels, is encharged of co-ordination of its distribution. Sends agreements, manifestos or position ? of the Organisation to the means of communication: press, agencies, radio, tv. ? of the unions ? information of the same ? f the confederal press.

secretary of treasurer and economic matters
its functions are ? in two:
1. Study: realises economic study accounts, and in strict relation with the secretary of propaganda and culture, documentary accounts being necessary for the better information, formation and union action of the unions. Is responsible for the bank accounts and ? with the Gen Sec of the same.

2. Financing: Bears in mind the control and distribution of confederal seal and both expenses inside of its ambit of competency. Organises the means ? in order to ? funds for the Organisation.

secretary of law and prisoner support:
realises a double function

1. study: will realise studies ? being necessary in its ambit of competency (labour and criminal legislation, etc) In relation with the secretary of propaganda and culture, will elaborate documents of formation.

2. assistance: co-ordinates the legal assistance (labour and criminal) for its members. maintains relations and co-ordination with the regional prisoner support committees, co-ordinating and distrbuting specfic economic ? that may be made to the same.

secretary of union and social action
co-ordinates the union and labour action, union sections, industrial conflicts, federations of industry, etc, in order to have punctual and real information in all that concerns industrial matters. Brings statistics to the union sections that exist.

co-ordinates social action of the CNT in the following matters: campaigns against unemployment, anti-militarism, ecology, womens struggle, repression, etc. Will work co-ordinately? with the secretary of propaganda and culture for the formation of the affiliates in union and social matters.

secretary of patrimony
? the facts and information on historical patrimony. is in charge of the relations with the administration for its devolution. will keep an inventory and take care of such historical patrimony as the actual?, and study the necessitys of the unions in matters of patrimony (locals acquired, ?, rented, etc). Co-ordinates the Patrimony Commission composed of the patrimony secretaries of the Reg Comms.

Secretary of External relations.
establishes and maintains the relations with the affinity organisations and with other organisations. These relations will be able to be also established in international scope. ? will establish relations between the CNT and the IWA.

2. Confederal Duee. Definition of the ?, System of Actualisation

3. Law and Prisoner Support

4. Congresses, Plenums and Plenaries (Functioning)

UNION ASSEMBLIES. They are the meetings of the members of the union. They will be convened by the Union Committee, the agenda having been circulated in the call. The agreements taken in union general assembly will be binding if they are not contradictory with the confederal agreements.
It will be ? the nomination of ? of disscussion, composed by a moderator, secretary of acts and secretary of words. Once convened organically, the assembly, and the members attend and make agreements, they will not be able to impugn the voting of the assemblies of the unions, nor admit votes by proxy. They will elect the delegates that go to attend the local, district, provincial, regional plenums and congresses.

PLENUMS. They are meetings of local, district, provincial, regional and national scope duly convened by their respective committees that must attend in order to inform about any question that they will be required. The agenda will be eleborated by these, recognising the ? of the unions or regional confederations. There will be circulated in the agendy the union or region that proposes the point and how annexed, its arguments on the same.

In the point of Various Points, they will not be able to adopt any agreement. The plenums will be direct representations of the unions chosed for this purpose. Its function is to make any type of agreement in its different scopes, always and whenever, they are not contrary to those in the bodies of higher scope. Such agreements will be binding.

LOCAL, DISTRICT AND PROVINCIAL PLENUMS will be convened by the respective committee or by petition of a union, but always through its respective committee.

REGIONAL PLENUMS equally, but the petition must be realised by a third of the unions, always through its respective committee.

NATIONAL PLENUM OF REGIONS are the highest decision making body of the CNT between congresses, formed by the delegations of all the regional confederations. They must be held bi-annually at a minimum. Its agreements can not contradict those of congresses.

LOCAL, DISTRICT and PROVINCIAL PLENARIES are meetings of the corresponding Permanent Secretariats of the local, district and provincial federation of unions respectively. Their functioning, character and functions are equivalent to those of National Plenaries, with local, district and provincial scope respectively, or those that agreed in the plenums of its scope, not being contradictory to the general agreements of the organisation.

REGIONAL PLENARIES are meetings of the Permanent Secretariat of the Regoinal Committees with the secretaries of the Local Federations, or the Miscellaneous Trade Union in areas where it only exists, or of the district federations where it exists. Its functioning, character and functions are equivalent to those of the national plenaries, with regional scope, or those that the corresponding regional plenum determines, such that it is not contradictory to the agreements of the organisation in its ?

NATIONAL PLENARIES will be the meetings of the National Committee. They are meetings of work and its mission will consiste in seeking the best operation in the accomplishment of this agreements emanating of plenums and congresses, ? to co-ordinate the functioning of the Confederation. If at any time, in urgent circumstances, ? that to take agreements, it will proceed immediately to pass them to the unions for its ?, such agreements not being valid without this requirement.

At the Plenaries of the National committee, will attend:

The General Secretary, with voice and vote
The rest of the Permanent Secretariat secretaries, with voice, but without vote
All the Regional Secretaries, with voice and vote
All the National Secretaries of the Local Federations?, with voice but without vote

At request of the National Committee:

The Director of the “CNT” with voice, but without vote
The President of the FAL, with voice but without vote
The Director of the Confederal Editorial, with voice but without vote

The National Committee will ordinarily meet, at least, once every 2 months, and will meet extraordinarily when the Permanent Secretariat or at least 2 regional confederations think necessary.

They will realise the Permanent Secretariat, in base to an agenda will be elaborated by the Permanent Secretariat, previously consulting the regional committees, being obliged to include the points raised by the regions. The call with the agenda will be in power of the ? Plenaries with, at lease, 10 days of, except urgent situations in which case it will be able to convene by telephone.

CONFERENCES are meetings of members, unions and union sections that are not able to make agreements or that only serve to debate and ? opinions. The conclusions of the conferences are passed to the unions, as information. Anyone can attend these in their own name, or in that of the union or union section. They will be convened by the corresponding Committee, upon petition of a union, Local, District or Regional Federation.

CONFEDERAL CONGRESS

Regular votings that the organisation must celebrate. It is the highest decision making body of the CNT. Attended by delegates, mandated by the unions. Its periodicy must not be more than 4 years, being all the organisation, through the unions, that establish the opportune moment for its celebration. They are called by the National Committee with a year in advance of the date of its celebration, convened that it must be ratified in a National Plenum of the Regions. If this said calling is approved, in it will be established the provisional agenda of the congress, once ? the opinion of the unions in the respect. In order to facilitate the unions, the sending of the ? themes of discussion in the Congress, the ? of admission of the same will finalise 7 months before the start of the Congress. The final agenda will be approved in a National Plenum of Regionals in a ? of one month to ? from the date of its admission, at the end to permit its publication in the confederal press.

Extraordinary congresses, of ? character, will not have ? of such periodicy.

5. Organic Representation, Election of Committees and Representatives of the Same.

Union Committee: The secretary and the treasurer of the union, will be elected in general assembly of the union, the rest of the Committee will be formed with a delegate of each Professional Section of the Union.

Local Federation Committee: The Secretaryand the Treasurer will be elected directly in a Plenum of the Unions, by proposals of the unions. The rest of the Permanent Secretary will be composed with a delegate of each Union of the Local Federatin.

District and Provincial Committee: Will proceed the same way as the Local Federation.

Regional Committee: The General Secretary and the local of residence will be elected directly in a Plenum of Unions, by proposal of the same. The rest of the companeros of the Permanent Secretary will be elected in the same way as that of the Local Federation of the locality of residency of this Regional Committee. The General Secretary will be ? in a Regional Plenum of Unions.

6. On the nomination of the General Secretary and periods of management (election and representation)

a. The GEneral SEcretary of the National Comittee of the CNT and the place of residency of the national comittee will be elected in Congress or the National Plenum of Regionals. The secretaies of the Permanent SEcretary, with the exception of the General SEcretary, willbe in a plenum of the local federation or District in which it has the residency of the National Comittee.

b. all the comitees or councils will be mechanisms of management and co-ordination, by which they cannot make agreements in which > of technical matters.

c. all the charges of representation are recallable at any time. By petition of any regional will be included in the agenda a point on the continuation or not in the management of the permanent secretary divided by secretary.

d. all the charges of representation and management will have a duration of 2 years, having to be re-elected for a year more consecutive as maximum. At the end of those 2 years of management, it will be included in the next National Plenary of Regions of mechanical manner the election of the new secretary. For election of secretary and seat, such at regional level as national level, the unions will remit with before the relation of its members that will be disposed to accept charges of management, having to be such companeros necessarily by their unions.

e. the charges of representation will not be paid in any case.

f. the members of the comittees will not be able to make proposals in them, meeting of the organisation, with the exception of meetings of their union or when they meet in organic votings in representation of their union or regional.

g. the companeros of the meeting will not represent in their union, with out the council of the organisation.

h. all the committess must be ratified in votings following to their re-election.

CNT 8th Congress 1995

Point 8: Union and Labour Strategy

8.1 Union Action in the workplace

The Union action that the CNT develops in the workplace, emanates from its essence, principles and tactics, and is realised through the Single Union of Industry and its respective sections.

The union action in the workplaces or centres of work must involve, in the first place, the power and enrichment of the union section, bearing in mind that there needs to exist a permanent relation between this goal and the union.

The union action will need to develop itself along the following lines:

1.The vehiculization?? of mutual aid and human solidarity that makes possible the effective defence of affiliated workers in the face of the agressions and injustices of the bosses.

2.The permanent advisory at all workers on the inherent rights to the condition of work and to the dignity that as such we must characterise.

3.Before a generalised conflict, be it union or social, be it particular or general, the Union Sections in close bond with its Union, mobilises all its common resources towards the complete solution of the posed conflict showing to the rest of the paid workers the advantage of our union.

4.The formation of the workers in the spirit of association and in the anarcho-syndicalist idea that informs our organisation.

5.The (paulatino apprendizaje) of the workers in technical aspects of the productive process in which they are immersed (involved?), the object of which they can take charge of the production in a given moment. All this and the action of defence makes its necessary the following economic activities of the workplace.

Methods of Action

For the achievement of the immediate aims previously expressed, and when that it seen necessary, the CNT will have to adopt our traditional tactic of direct action, that in the industrial camp has a name – Boycott of Production. Said boycott, that, according to the degree of application, will require the joint aid of the different confederal bodies, it will be able to be applied in the different stages of productive processes. Each one of these stages will have the following forms:

a.In the acquisition of primary materials, through the paralysation of the acquisition of these materials, be it through the joint help of the workers of other branches of production, or either by the effective action of the Union in conflict.

b.In the elaboration of the products, by means of traditional methods of boycott in this stage of production: stop work, strike and sabotage. Now then, given the distortions that these terms have made the reformist centres for its improper use, we consider necessary to make the following precisions (observations?, clarifications?)

In the first place, the strike, intended as total paralysation of the productive process, it must not submit to any fixed period nor develop in any legal setting, given that it must end when it has achieved the raised demands, or in its defeat, it has reached the limits of its strength. On the other hand, to develop the strikes in a legal setting, it can reduce its effectiveness and facilitate the integration and neutralisation of the same by the System.

In the second place, strikes of solidarity are the most effective forms against Capital and the State, the same time they foster mutual aid between workers.

Lastly, the CNT will promote whatever other forms of protest for just causes of the working class as it can: shut-ins, occupations, demonstrations, etc, which complements the methods of pressure already cited.

The utilization of whichever of these methods of pressure or struggle will have to be in accordance with the decision making bodies of the CNT, in order that it can be assumed, de and helped by the Confederation.

The Union Elections

The union elections were an invention of the employers and the UCD government of the time at the end of the 1970s, to regulate the reawakened labor movement. After the death of Franco and the collapse of his vertical [government-dominated] unions, the country was shaken by a series of strikes and mass protests in which the protagonists were primarily, the people themselves, and in order to cope with this situation unionism was institutionalized.

The largest unions, the UGT and CCOO and the rest, with the exception of the CNT, accepted a system of bargaining by means of a new invention: the enterprise committee. The enterprise committee is chosen by means of a secret ballot between candidates representing the unions. As soon as the enterprise committee is chosen, the employer discusses agreements only with it. The union elections are held, more or less, every three to four years. After the elections, the government announces the results. Only those unions which exceed 10% of the votes are given representation to sit and discuss and negotiate with the government.

The elections are always won by UGT-CCOO, who number approximately 200,000 members. Other unions like Basque Workers Solidarity (ELA-STV), the USO, the Galician inter-union, or unions of sanitary professions, etc. obtain smaller results (between 7,000 and 3,000).

The government evaluates these vote figures in order in order to give economic subsidies and to professionalize the unionists who work in its facilities. Also the employer by means of collective bargaining, subsidizes the enterprise committees and occasionally sits some of its members on its board of directors. It is necessary to make clear that the CNT does not accept subsidies, neither from the State nor the employer, since these are the organizations which must be combatted, and the CNT does not want to lose its independence to confront them.

The acceptance of a system of privileges, subsidies, and union institutionalization, has after more than a decade led to the practical disappearance of the idea of the union as a social transformer, because:

d)The union elections remove the power of decision from the people. In the workplace only the committee makes decisions during its mandate.

e)The union elections always give victory to the most reactionary candidates, who always win in an individual and secret vote.

f)The persons elected to the committee have a fixed term and are not subject to any discipline. They represent you although you don't want them, they negotiate in your name without your permission, they don't call assemblies if they don't want them, they limit what you can discuss or agree on with the employer, etc.

g)In consequence, all negotiations are in the hands of the committee.

The CNT rejects the principle of authority, and therefore, representatives with unchecked power. If the CNT were to enter into the system of union elections, executive delegates, paid functionaries and government subsidies, it would reproduce exactly that which it is trying to abolish.

Relation of the CNT with the Assemblies. Representation in the workplace

The CNT will promote the factory and branch assemblies in base to take decisions that directly and exclusively affect that workplace or branch for a major strength in action against the boss, and for its demands.

The presence of the CNT in the Assemblies will be as such Union or Union Section, and like this will give its alternatives. Never will the Organisation be diiluted in these assemblies, under no demand or agreement, as that the unions that decided in CNT are its affiliates.

The CNT will accept the agreements of the Assemblies in full and when they do not affect its principles, tactics and aims: in this case, it will respect the agreements, however in case of discrepancy of demands it will not assume them nor will it defend them, nevertheless it will intend to demonstrate the equivovation that it supposes to bring to in the practice, in order to go educating to the workers in its principles as Revolutionary Organisation.

The affiliates of the CNT, in principle, will only be represented by its proper delegates of the CNT, except in free assembly of all workers in a place of work, this they decide in its council to defend some agreements that, not being contrary to the tactics and aims of the CNT, they request the direct election of some delegates, that way same direct, of the Assembly, that mandated by the same to fulfil the specific mandate or at request of the proper Assembly.

5th Congress of the CNT
Held in Madrid, 8-16 December 1979

The Principles of Anarcho-Syndicalism

The anarcho-syndicalist union is based on three fundamental principles: Self-Management, Federalism and Mutual Aid.

Self-management means self-government. The anarcho-syndicalist union desires that individuals, workplaces, villages, cities and all other entities, manage their own affairs, without the interference of any authority.

Federalism presupposes autonomy, and is the bond which joins in free union all groups, as much economic as social. Federalism is the basic principle that prevails within the structure of the CNT, which is nothing but a confederation of sovereign organizations, not subject to a central power.

Mutual Aid is seen as a better system of development, in contrast to the competition which exists in the capitalist system. Mutual Aid sees the world as a whole, in spite of different races, languages and cultures.

In consequence, anarcho-syndicalism is anti- authoritarian, anti-capitalist, anti-militarist, anti- centralist, anti-theocratic, anti-nationalist... Or if you prefer, libertarian, communists, pacifist, secular, internationalist...

Direct Action: The Tactics of Anarcho-Syndicalism

The word tactic signifies action taken in the terrain of specific situations. Direct action presupposes action without intermediaries, the direct solution of problems by the interested parties. Direct Action is a rejection at the same time of the activities of parliaments, magistrates, [bureaucratic] committees, governments, etc. in the affairs of the people.

Example:

- You decide one month to go on strike requesting improvements in the terms of employment and to stop implementation of management's production plan. The same strike with the same strike call can be carried forth by means of Direct Action, made in an assembly of all the workers and their delegates elected from the different departments of the workplace; or by Mediated Action, in which the strike is called by the [official] enterprise committee, which negotiates without informing nor asking the opinion of the assembly, and with the intervention of the [government] labor authorities who can dictate a settlement.

- You have been fired. Direct Action means that your problem is taken up as the problem of the anarcho-syndicalist union and by your fellow workers, who spread the word, exert pressure, job actions, sabotage, etc. in order to get your reinstatement. Mediated Action goes directly to a lawyer and awaits the action of a magistrate.

The only type of action approved by the anarcho-syndicalist union, is the tactic of Direct Action, in all its congresses since 1910.

Nevertheless, and to be frank, it is necessary to consider the times and our [meager] forces. We have to resort at times to a type of mediated action by way of our legal offices and the labor magistrates.

We always prefer to solve our problems without resort to lawyers, who tend to put our sovereignty into the hands of the judicial system, prolonging processes which could be more quickly resolved without it, and spending a great deal of money to maintain an expensive, parasitical, pernicious and useless legal system.

But there are times in which for lack of a resolution, or support from the people... there remains no other remedy than to resort to a lawyer, or else do nothing. For this reason on occasion it has been proposed to accept into the accords of congresses, the use of direct action preferably, but mediated action when other remedies don't exist. It has not been done, because as long as Direct Action is held to be the only tactic acceptable to anarcho-syndicalist militants, we will maintain a commitment to it, and every time that we act contrary to Direct Action, we are aware that we are breaking an accord. If we admit a type of tactics against our structure and we swallow the indigestible, it is possible that when we have enough strength and enough people to carry out our point of view without supporting legal norms, we will not be able to see it and will routinely appeal to the tribunals.

Direct Action is always quicker, cheaper and more effective than recourse to mediation. It has the disadvantage of requiring more energy and courage to carry out.

The final goal of anarcho-syndicalism

NOT TRANSLATED:-

?...Después de este congreso no será ya pan lo que reclamaremos. Desde hoy reclamaremos justicia, reclamaremos equidad. Luchamos desventajosamente, pero afirmo que tenemos el derecho a la vida y para conquistar este derecho, sólo nos queda el recurso legal y supremo de rebelarnos. Debemos prepararnos para cruentas luchas. El mundo burgués se hunde por sí solo. No hará falta que empujemos mucho para derribar el puntal carcomido que lo sostiene. El principio de autoridad está tan relajado...? (El delegado del gobierno y las fuerzas de represión intentan suspender el mitin y ocasiona un buen conflicto) ?...No pretendo dar lugar a que la autoridad cometa una torpeza; pero

From this congress it will not only be bread that we will demand. From today we will demand justice, we will demand equality. We struggle ?, but firm in we hold the right to livelihood and in order to achieve this right, only ? us legal recourse and ? of . We have to prepare for struggle ?. The bourgeois world ? for this alone. It will not lack that we ? much in order to ? the ? that sustains it. The principle of authority is so ? (The delegate of the government and the forces of repression intend to suspend the meeting and it causes a great conflict) I don’t pretend to give struggle to which the authority ? a ;

tengo el deber y el derecho de manifestar que el principio de autoridad está podrido hasta la misma médula. Es preciso que nos demos cuenta del momento actual. Cuando el mundo burgués se derrumbe, cuando toda esta escoria social injusta e inhumana se hunda para siempre, se hará necesario patentizar ante el mundo que ha sido aplastada por el peso de sus propias faltas. No somos nada, somos esclavos; cuando hombres y cuando ancianos exprimidos por el privilegio y la desigualdad, durante toda nuestra vida de miserias y sufrimientos, llevamos, hasta que bajamos a la tumba, el estigma de esta sociedad inicua y cruel. Se hace necesario pues, camaradas, que el día de la liquidación de las injusticias, el pueblo derrumbe los restos del régimen decrépito aventando las cenizas para que jamás pueda reconstruirse. ? (Angel Pestaña, en el mitin de clausura del congreso de 1918, en Barcelona).

But I have the ? and the right to demonstrate that the principle of authority is able? since the same ?. It is precisely that we ? account of the actual moment. When the bourgoeis world ?, when all this ? social injustice and inhumanity ? always, it will be necessary to ? before the world that it had been ? by the ? ot its very faults. We are not nothing, we are ?, when mean and when ? ? by privilege and inequality, during all our life of misery and suffering, we ?, since which we ? to the ?, the stigma of this society ? and cruel. It becomes necessary then, comrades, that the day of the liquidation of injustice, the people ? the ? of the ? so that ? it can reconstruct (Angel Pestana, in the meeting of ? of the congress of 1918 in Barcelona)

Anarcho-syndicalism wants to transform society. It wants to abolish the capitalist system and the state. It believes that no one has the right to impose their will on others in order to rob and exploit their labor, and to maintain this system supported by an apparatus of organized violence and terror which is the state and its police system. There exists a large quantity of literature dedicated to a critique of the capitalist system, and we are not going to dwell much on this theme.

In order to arrive at this transformation, the anarcho-syndicalist union affirms that there exists no other means than the Social Revolution, an abrupt change by which the authoritarian structures are demolished. It is the end of a process and the beginning of something new. The revolution occurs when the people collectively see it as necessary, when the moral, ethical, philosophical and economic basis of the system is seen as bankrupt. It is not a predictable phenomenon, nor realized by a minority, but you prepare for it, then there comes a moment when it is possible, something breaks loose, and it happens. The role of the anarcho-syndicalist union is to build upon the contradictions of the system, to make clear to the people the falsehood, the deception, the exploitation committed by a ruling minority, and to be present during the revolutionary process to incite it if possible, and to avoid on the side of the revolution the self-seeking benefit of minorities, vanguards, parties, etc., and on the other, when the counter-revolution comes, that the people lose as little as possible of what they gained. The revolution must abolish property, the state, governments, police, the army, universities, churches, banks, industries, the competitive and individualist mentality... and establish new structures and forms of life.

The revolution is thought, liberty and desire in action. People who have lived through revolutionary times describe them as a festival of lights, sounds and joy. It is not a bath of blood and violence such as they show on television. The people stop in the street and talk, this happens always and is very important. They talk about everything, they talk with people of other languages and they understand them because they want to communicate with you. They talk about things that nobody before had ever said and that now comes out naturally, without effort. They accomplish things which days before would have been inconceivable... Whoever has seen such moments on any occasion will never forget them.

The Italian raised his head and said quickly:
- Italiano?
I answered in my bad Spanish:
- No, ingles. Y tu?
As we went out, he stepped across the room and gripped my hand very hard. Queer, the affection you can feel for a stranger! It was as though his spirit and mind had momentarily succeeded in bridging the gulf of language and tradition and meeting in utter intimacy…

So far as one could judge, the people were contented and hopeful. Above all, there was a belief in the revolution and in the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom. Human beings were trying to behave as human beings, and not as cogs in the capitalist machine. In the barber’ shops were Anarchist notices (the barbers were mostly Anarchists) solemnly explaining that barbers were no longer slaves. In the streets were coloured posters appealing to prostitutes to stop being prostitutes. To anyone from the hard-boiled, sneering civilisation of the English-speaking races there was something rather pathetic in the literalness with which these idealistic Spaniards took the hackneyed phrases of revolution. (George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, 1937)

The revolutionary act is an act of the people. It is realized by the existing people with all their defects. There has been a debate over the centuries whether the revolution could be brought about through normal beings, who are more or less as forceful, authoritarian, violent as is this sick society, or by people who are better formed and who carry within them the form of future behavior and have been changed by education and other methods. In general, although there are as many opinions in the anarcho-union as there are persons, the CNT holds the opinion that the revolution will be realized by the people as they are today, and that the way to form persons in liberty and responsibility is first to have a social transformation. That is to say that it is first necessary to change the social structure and the people will change afterward. It likewise happens that the revolution purifies people, at least until the time in which the counter-revolution comes, and the longer the revolution lasts, the better they become.

In spite of this idea, the anarcho-syndicalist union makes an effort to turn the union into a school of the people, transmitting through it by means of constant debate with other schools of thought, and foreshadowing the future society by creating here and now, a structure similar to that which we hope to substitute to authoritarian society, a new moral and ethical way of life.

The capitalist state has taken on the responsibility over the decades, with the valued aid of the establishment unions and political parties, of inculcating us with the idea that revolution doesn't bring anything more than disasters, and that in our developed western civilizations, democracy is the only viable invention. The CNT is certain that the social revolution is the only worthwhile, sincere and realistic future for the human species, that the revolution is not the bloodbath depicted in films and history books. The revolution must be treated as a process that is gestating now, that will arrive, as it always arrives, and we should be prepared to meet it without fear, and add fuel to the blaze. Whether it will be provoked by a strike, by a military coup, by a crash in the stock market, by the refusal to pay taxes, by a capitalist war, by factory occupations, by an invasion of immigrants, is something that we can't know. That which is certain is that a large CNT, merged with the people, will be the revolution's best guarantee of triumph, and that what has happened in previous attempts, in which the state has reasserted itself and the same conditions in a different guise, does not happen again.

The structure that society will take once the revolution is carried out, is that which the confederation calls, Communismo Libertario [Libertarian Communism], an economic system in which each person will take from society what they need, and will give in exchange what they are able.

The CNT and the Spanish people had the opportunity of developing the most profound and beautiful revolution in human history, during the period of social war from 1936 to 1939. They put into practice the ideas which have been expressed above, and demonstrated that a free life and equality doesn't depend on anything more than free will. For capitalism it was necessary to wage a war of extermination, in order to destroy Utopia for the moment.

The Confederal Press

It is traditional that all the bodies of the anarcho-syndicalist union have to create their proper publications in which they express our particular way of seeing things. At national level the organ of the CNT is the “CNT”. It cannot be said that those who invented the name were very original, however we have become used to it. The “CNT” functions autonomously. In a congress or national plenary of regionals it is elected direction and a locality of residence, that will be in charge of all the relations with the same: Distribution, subscriptions, sale, printing, reception of articles, etc. The CNT is always open to debate and the expression of counterposed opinions and is fed by colaborations of the unions, of sympathetic persons, groups, etc. Its editorial is edited by the general secretary of the CNT. The editors of the CNT attend the meetings of the National Committee, with voice by without vote, and can be required to publish information for the different confederations.

The oldest confederal press is Solidaridad Obrera, organ of the Catalonian Regional CNT, founded in 1907.

The Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation

The FAL is the cultural foundation of the CNT. To it they go to end up its historical materials and archives. It is in charge now of the editing of books and cultural activities. The functioning of the FAL is autonomous, and its president is also elected at the National Plenary of Regionals or Congress. It receives the name of Anselmo Lorenzo because he was one of the first to introduce the IWA in Spain.

Affiliation

Anyone can voluntarily belong to the anarcho-syndicalist union, with the exception of police, soldiers and members of security forces. No ideological qualification is necessary to be in the CNT. This is because the CNT is anarcho-syndicalist, that is, it is an organization in which decisions are made in assembly, from the base. It is an autonomous, federalist structure independent of political parties, of government agencies, of professional bureaucracies, etc. The anarcho-syndicalist union only requires a respect for its rules, and from this point of view people of different opinions, tendencies and ideologies can live together within it. Ecologists, pacifists, members of political parties ... can be part of the CNT. There will always be different opinions, priorities and points of view about concrete problems. What everyone has in common within the anarcho-syndicalist union is its unique way of functioning, its anti-authoritarian structure.

Revolutionary syndicalism defends itself against the maneuvers which would convert the union into a tool of the political parties, or profit-making enterprise for some individuals, or a platform for leaders, or a personality cult, or a rigid ideological structure. Because of this the CNT usually repels hierarchical or authoritarian personalities. The CNT is an open structure, but its members have to know where it stands and for what.

Relation of Your Union with Other Local Unions of the CNT: The Local Federation

In the case in which different unions of the CNT, (construction, metalworking, food services, public services, etc.), exist within the same city, these join together in what is called a Local Federation (F.L.) which coordinates itself by means of a committee. This committee has the same duties as the union committee and the same attributes. The local committee therefore is an organism of relations, administration and development of agreements which have been mandated to it. In no case is it an executive group.

How is the Local Committee Chosen?

The local committee is chosen in a Local Plenary of Unions, a meeting of the different local unions (Miscellaneous Trades, Health, Construction...) with mandated delegations, limited to written instructions taken previously in their respective assemblies. This assembly of delegations nominates a general secretary and treasurer. The rest of the responsibilities: press, education, archives, legal, etc. are covered by a person from each union branch.

The Local Plenary of Unions makes decisions within local limits. For this it is necessary that the unions hold their respective assemblies and come to agreements beforehand. The Local Plenary is convoked by petition of a union to the local committee.

What happens if there is only one Miscellanous Trades Union in a locality? The union in question can gather with other nearby localities and form a district federation, with the same attributes as a local federation.

Means of Relation and Coordination Between Local Federations: The Regional Confederation

When various unions of a particular geographic entity establish relations, they form a Regional Confederation of Labor. For example, the Regional Confederation of Labor of Andalucia-Canarias. The geographical limits can be modified by the will of the unions, and regions can be merged (this requires the agreement of both regions), just as they can divide themselves (if desired by 75% of the unions).

The unions of the Regional Confederation make decisions in common by means of the Regional Plenary of Unions. The delegations of the different regional unions carry the direct responses of agreements taken by writing at their own assemblies. The Regional Plenary of Unions is responsible for deciding all the questions within its respective geographical limits. To provide coordinative activities, the plenary nominates a person who represents the regional confederation, who acts as general secretary of a regional committee. At the same time a locality is elected to be to be regional headquarters. The rest of the secretaries of the regional committee, (treasury, legal, prisoner-defense...) are elected in a plenary meeting of local unions where headquarters is located, and each union names a person to carry out the duties. It is a little complicated, but perhaps an example would clarify things:

The Miscellanous Trades unions of Cadiz, Sevilla, Grenada, Cordiba, Jaen and fifty more from different localities, meet in the Regional Plenary Meeting and name Juana Perez, from the MTU of Cadiz, as regional secretary for the Regional Confederation of Labor of Andalucia Canarias, and designate the Local Federation in Cadiz as headquarters. The Local Fedration of Cadiz is composed of unions in Metal, Construction, Graphic Arts, Miscellanous Trades, Public Service, Chemicals and Retirees.

These unions meet in Local Plenary Meeting and elect the rest of the secretaries proposing a person from each one of these.

Together these secretaries (General, organization, legal, information, archives, etc.) form what is called the Permanent Secretariat, which together with the local secretaries of the region, form the Regional Committee.

The Regional Committee is an organ of coordination, management, and administration. It can not make decisions nor agreements. It can only work on the tasks it has been assigned. It can be recalled at any moment, by a plenary of the total region which could question the continuation of the committee. It would have a maximum duration of three consecutive years and is always followed by a new elected one, it would have to be approved by a regional plenary afterwards. The members of the committees can not make proposals to the plenarys and assemblies. It must be made clear that the sovereignty of the Regional Confederations always rests with the industrial unions.

The functions of the Regional Committee are the same as in the other committees, except for the greater geographical area that it encompasses.

Relations Between Different Regional Confederations: The National Confederation

The different regional confederations which operate within the borders of power dominated by the Spanish state, form the National Confederation of Labor [CNT]. The regional confederations reach agreements in the National Plenary of Regions, which delegations attend with agreements written in their respective Regional Plenary of Unions. The National Plenary of Regions has the capacity to make agreements within its geographical limits and to name a national general secretary and a local federation to be the headquarters of the National Committee.

For example: The confederations of Gallega, Murciana, Astur-leonesa, etc., meeting in a national plenary of regions elects Belinda Fernandez of the Metalworkers of Barcelona, as general secretary of the CNT. The headquarters of the National Committee is relocated to the Local Federation of unions in Barcelona, which is composed of 32 unions, and which meets in a local plenary to elect the rest of the secretaries. These people, Belinda Fernandez and the others elected from Barcelona, form the Permanent Secretariat of the National Committee of the National Confederation of Labor. The rest of the National Committee consists of the general secretaries from each region. The functions of this committee are the same as those previously explained for other committees and are bound by the same limitations.

Why are Committees Elected this Way?

It is done this way to avoid homogeneous committees. Other organizations elect slates of candidates, factions and programs, build coalitions to win office and from there gradually promote the politics of the winning side. According to anarcho-syndicalism, however, committees should have neither programs nor politics. The direct election on the part of the unions guarantees the heterogeneity and diversity of the committee. Any type of representation involves some executive power, but the CNT minimizes the power in the hands of the more active and informed individuals.

How Do the Unions of the CNT Make Decisions?

By means of the CNT Congress. To the congress come the direct representatives of the unions independently of the region or local to which they belong, with written agreements from their own previous assemblies. The congress decides over the general activity of the CNT to avoid different regional confederations acting against each other. The congress can also choose a new national committee and decide on as many matters that seem relevant to the unions. From its foundation in 1910, the anarcho-union has celebrated seven congresses, the last three since the death of Franco.

The congress is convoked by the National Committee when there exists sufficient necessity, when new or contradictory situations have arisen which require a response. Then it is convoked a year ahead of time, the convocation is ratified by a National Plenary of Regions, the themes for discussion are presented and a debate commences within the unions some seven months before the opening date. The congresses of the CNT are always very tempestuous. Usually the first sessions deal with technical matters, how to vote, how the discussions will proceed, which delegations will be accepted, the reading of greetings. It is also traditional that the members repeat and defend their agreements to the point of congestion, which leads to a passionate atmosphere.

Para presidir la primera sesión resulta elegida (la federación local de) San Feliu de Guíxols, (Cataluña). Formada la mesa de discusión, el presidente hace uso de la palabra. Presidente. Recuerdo que en el congreso del 31 también presidí la primera sesión. En aquel congreso las sesiones transcurrieron en un ambiente cargado de pasión. Faltó control y las primeras sesiones fueron anodinas. Conviene que en éste no ocurra lo mismo.
Ferroviarios Madrid Norte. Pregunta si es posible que las federaciones locales, que son delegaciones indirectas, puedan presidir y ser secretarios del congreso.
Presidente. Le aclara que él representa a todos los sindicatos de su localidad porque se convocó la asamblea general y en ella se discutieron los puntos del orden del día, por lo que es una delegación directa.
Vidrio de Sevilla. Entiende que no se puede tener delegación sin serlo del sindicato a que se pertenece, por lo cual las locales son representaciones indirectas, y las delegaciones deben serlo directas.
Presidente. Aclara su situación remarcando que fueron los sindicatos los que así lo decidieron al discutir conjuntamente el orden del día.
Torrevieja. El delegado debe representar a su asamblea y no a otros sindicatos.
Hospitalet de llobregat: Démonos cuenta de la anómala discusión que mantenemos y ante ello precisa que recordemos los acuerdos del anterior congreso...
Ferroviarios Madrid Norte. La pregunta era saber si las delegaciones que vienen con carácter informativo pueden presidir. El entiende que no.
Construcción de Valencia. Debe procederse al nombramiento de la comisión revisora de credenciales...
Presidente. Será mejor zanjar el debate ahora. Recuerda a los delegados que el congreso empieza igual que el del 31 y si se pretende que prevalezca el propio criterio, q Cómo puede la mesa encaminar los debates?
Ferroviarios de Madrid Norte: Insiste en que son informativas y no pueden presidir.
El secretario de palabras interviene para rogar que no se aglomeren al pedir palabras porque es imposible entenderse. Luego dice que es delegación directa... (Actas del Congreso de Zaragoza de 1936).

This was the ? of the historic congress at Saragossa in 1936. The president, who represents the local federation of unions of San Felix de Guixols, asked ? in the debates, and the first intervention is for to question the proper president, for representation of a local federation and not his union. The extract of the previous ? is an example of ? in which delegates only ? ? of the ?. Other congress ? was of the AIT in Saragossa, in April 1872.

...Lleno absolutamente el teatro de Novedades; lleno aún el paseo por los que no cabían en el teatro; cuando Morago declaró abierto el congreso y se presentó Colandrea (jefe de orden público de Zaragoza), con su ayudante (Braulio Bello, inspector de orden público), a suspender el acto, fue un momento solemne. Los delegados en el escenario, permanecieron sentados y tranquilos.
Los funcionarios gubernativos, con una corrección rayana en la timidez, dieron sus nombres ante la petición del presidente, expuesta con dignísima superioridad.
El público anhelante y silencioso, dispuesto a ser actor en cuanto se iniciase la tragedia, escuchó el diálogo entre presidente y polizonte.
Tomás y yo estábamos cerca de la puerta, y vimos que en momento que entró la autoridad al escenario, el clamor y el movimiento de la multitud, consecuencia natural del suceso, fue interpretado por un hombre que se hallaba a nuestro lado como un intento de fuga del público. De un salto, aquel hombre, que parecía un coloso rural, en mangas de camisa, remangado, y enseñando unos brazos de musculatura hercúlea, dijo describiendo una línea delante de sí con un enorme garrote... ??Recontra! ?Al que pase por aquí! ?Le rompo la cabeza!?
Por fortuna no hubo necesidad de probar la seriedad de la amenaza. Todos permanecieron en sus puestos y cuando la sonora y bien timbrada voz de Morago, gritó: ??Viva la Internacional!? Resonó un atronador... ??Viva!? (Anselmo Lorenzo. El Proletariado Militante.)

Anselmo Lorenzo. The Militant Proletariat

Summary

Up to now we have seen decision making of the CNT that is centred basically in the Union Assembly.

Other decision making bodies with direct representation by means of delegations of the unions are the Plenaries. Local and regional plenums and congresses, the delegations of the different regional confederations attend, in accordance with agreements made previously and in writing in a Regional Plenary of Unions.

The basic structure of anarcho-syndicalism: the Industrial union

This can seem to you the most boring part in the text, and it is that which relates how the anarcho-syndicalist union functions. We ask your patience. The structure and form of taking of decisions of anarcho-syndicalism is original, it does not use anybody anymore and is intended in order to limit to the maximum the appearance of bureaucracy and leadership. If you learn how the CNT functions, nobody will be able to manipulate you nor ever direct you within it.

The CNT is a union, a confederation of industrial union branches. An industrial union is a group of people who work in the same branch of production, to defend their interests. The unions of the CNT are industrial unions, contrary to what are called trade unions. Trade unions, for example, divide health workers into the nurses' union, the medical technicians' union, doctors' union, etc. In contrast the CNT health workers form the Union of Public Health, without distinction to professional categories. This structure was adopted at the Sans Congress in 1918. It was agreed on because it was seen as the most practical in struggles with capital.

"En el terreno táctico, a fines de 1917 se nos presentó una huelga de fideeros y otra de ebanistas (sindicatos de oficio), que se alargó hasta el 18. La burguesía de ambos ramos (alimentación y madera), se entestó en no ceder en nada, y los obreros en ganarlo todo. El gobernador de momento quiere mediar y fracasa. Y pongamos que pasan 10 semanas. Los patronos comienzan a intranquilizarse, aceptan la mediación del gobernador y el nombramiento de una comisión mixta para llegar a un acuerdo.

In the tactical terrain, up until 1917 it was presented to us a strike of ? and another of ebanistas (industrial unions), that had ? until the 18th. The bourgeoisie of both industries (? And ?), ? in ? in nothing, and the workers in ? to ? all. The government of the day wanted to ? and to ?. And we put that they pass 10 weeks. The bosses commenced to ?, accepted the ? of the government and ? a mixed commision in order to come to an agreement.

Pero los fideeros se niegan a cualquier trato. Desean triunfar por la Acción Directa, cara a cara con los burgueses, y dicen que la autoridad es allí un elemento extraño que sobra. Y el gobernador monta en cólera; detienen a una tanda de huelguistas. Lo que a su vez desata una terrible tanda de sabotajes. Los carretones que hacían el reparto de fideos y macarrones eran asaltados por un pelotón de huelguistas, que los volcaban y bailaban encima de la pasta un chotis, o echaban ácido fénico.

But the ? ? any?. They desired to ? by Direct Action, ? with the bourgeoisie, and said that the authority is there an foreign element that ?. And the government ? ?, detained? A ? of strikers. That which in its time ? a terrible ? of sabotage. The ? that had made the ? of ? and ? were ? by a ? of strikers, ???

Cualquiera se la comía después. Y penetraban en las tiendas del ramo, rompían los cristales e inutilizaban toda la mercancía con ácido. La burguesía del fideo se alarmó poderosamente.
Los ebanistas hacían lo mismo, partiendo muebles y lunas con enorme ruido.

Whatever? ?. And they ? in the ? of industry, ? the ? and ? all the ? with acid. The bourgeoisie of ? were ? ?.

Arrecian las detenciones en ambos ramos, de manera que el de los fideeros, que englobaría a cuatrocientos oficiales, quedó imposibilitado para actuar por falta de gente. Pero entonces todo el ramo de alimentación se solidariza: los horneros, pasteleros, molineros, cubren las bajas de sus compañeros detenidos. Y los carpinteros, torneros, barnizadores, el ramo de la madera en pleno se vuelcan a relevar a los saboteadores. La huelga de los ebanistas duró diecisiete semanas.

? the ? in both industries, of ? that it of the ?, which was ? 400 officials, remained impossible in order to act without the people. But then all of the industrry of ? ?: ?, ?, ? ? of their detained companeros. And the carpenters, ?, ?, the industry of ? in ? . The strike of the ? lasted 17 weeks.

Hasta que los patronos aflojaron...Fue un triunfo arrollador. Y la lección de solidaridad fue, en rigor, la que impulsó la creación del Sindicato Unico de la Madera -el que fue famoso <, y el de la Alimentación, apiñando a todos los sindicatos sectoriales" (Joan Ferrer, La Revuelta Permanente).

Since ? the bosses. It was a ? triumph?. And the lesson of solidarity was, in ?, ? the impulse the creation of the Industrial Union of ? – which was famous “Ram de la Fusta”, and ? of the ?, ? of all the union sections.” (Joan Ferrer, The Permanent Revolt)

The Industrial Union and the basic structure of the anarcho-syndicalist union.

Everything in the CNT revolves around the union. An industrial union in health, for example, is formed by the people who work in health within the same city, who meet as a local union. There they discuss the problems of their industry. Likewise industrial unions are formed for metallurgy, construction, wood-working, food processing, etc. If there are not enough people (at least 25) to form an industrial union, as it often happens, they form a Miscellanous Trades Union (“Sindicato de Oficios Varios (SOV)”) with a minimum of five people. As the MTU grows and a group of people in a distinct industry becomes sufficient, it reorganizes into industrial unions. For example, an MTU of 300 members could have 30 in construction, 50 in metallurgy, 200 in public services, and 20 in other industries. They could, if they desired, form three industrial unions (construction, metallurgy, and public services) and leave the MTU with only 20 members.

How does the Industrial Union function?

The union decides its issues by means of the Union Assembly. The assembly is its highest decision-making body, attended directly by members. It is not mediated by outside committees, delegations, etc.

The majority of other union organizations - at least they claim its that way - base their decisions on the assembly. But there is a great difference with respect to anarcho-syndicalism. The assembly is considered to be the supreme means for decision-making, but they hold the assembly only once a year, for example. Immediately there are written the rules for the creation of other structures, union council, committee meeting, executive board or whatever, which decides between assemblies, with all executive power passing in practice to these structures.

In the anarcho-syndicalist union, in the industrial union, it is the assembly which always decides. There exists no board, no committee, delegates' council, no director, no executive… which can decide between assemblies. Later the major functions of the CNT committees will be explained. Other names by which the industrial union are called are "one union," or "one industrial union."

Each time an assembly is held it is important that someone makes a record of what is said there. The record reflects the opinions of those persons taking part, the debates, the agreements that are made and who agrees to carry them out. In order to write and to maintain records we write our history.

La sumisión, el trabajo forzado, el hambre, son el lote de la clase obrera. Por ello el infierno asalariado es un infierno lúgubre: la gran mayoría de los seres humanos vegetan allí, privados de bienestar y libertad. Y en ese infierno, pese a la decoración democrática y su máscara, florecen a montones miseria y dolor. El sindicato traza sin equívoco posible la demarcación entre asalariades y amos. Gracias a él, la sociedad aparece tal como es:
Por un lado los trabajadores, los robados.
Por otro, los explotadores, los ladrones.
Emile Pouget. ?Qué es el sindicato?)

Submission, forced labour, hunger are the lot of the working class. By this the paid hell is a mournful hell: the great majority of human beings vegetate there, deprived of well being and liberty. And in this hell, in spite of democratic decoration and its mask, they flourish ? misery and pain. The union follows without ? ? the demarcation between wage-earners and (unknown). Thanks to it, society appears such that it is:
On the one hand, the workers, the robbed .
One the other hand, the exploiters, the thieves
Emile Pouget. What is the union?)

Functions of the anarcho-syndicalist unions

The unions exists physically by means of the local, that is the point of meeting of the people of the branch.

When a proletarian thinks about his bad luck, he does not doubt it, he goes to the union local.(Emile Pouget)

The unions of the CNT concern themselves with all subjects related to the defense of its members, and for this they provide themselves with all available means, human, technical, economic, and legal. They plan actions to be taken against employers, make studies of working conditions, file grievances over health and job security problems, and seek all information possible concerning the operation of the enterprise (supplies, suppliers, profits, subsidiary companies, contracts, labor policy, conversion plans...). This is important on the one hand to not be taken by surprise by capitalist plans, and on the other, for the eventual arrival of the day in which we take over the enterprise. They have the capacity to conduct strikes, to assist in dealings with the authorities, and to negotiate on behalf of the members. They prepare training courses, study days, and conferences. They provide for legal defense of workers and imprisoned members. The union is the school of the people. In it we must come to see in the injuries of others as injuries to ourselves, to develop through conversations, thought and debate, to become multi-talented, to learn to take initiative... Depending on the number and activities of the people in the union, the union will be well or poorly equipped.

The “Know yourself” of Socrates, is completed in the union with the maxim “Act for your yourself” (Emile Pouget, The union: school of desire)

Constitution of the Union Branch

25 people form a union of this type. If there does not exist sufficient numbers, 5 can constitute a Miscellanous Trades Union, which fits all the branches.

Human and technical means

The first thing members of an anarcho-syndicalist union must do is to evaluate the forces that they have, and to continue to plan activities that can be carried to completion. By achieving the possible we can approach the impossible. This is important because inactivity or failure always leads to demoralization. There are also technical means available, such as telephones, FAX, photocopiers, word-processors, computers and printers, a hall for meetings and archives, including a moving record for our people of the glorious epoch, when everything was done by hand and the backs of old mules. Certainly to achieve all the former, requires development.

What gets membership, which is most important, is that everyone seeks the means to make the union grow. What is absolutely certain, is that the anarcho-syndicalist union only grows where there are problems and conflicts, and it is the role of union militants to discover them and provoke them.

For a century activism was very strong. The people wanted to be unionized in spite of repression. That was when there was a period of union growth, and the desire for social transformation was widespread. Today this no longer exists, having been replaced by a narrow individualism, cynicism, and consumerism instigated by the capitalists. We must understand that our message in this society is not widely shared - for the moment - and that a large part of our initiatives are met with indifference. We must not lose spirit.

Legal advisors to the CNT

The CNT does not have legal advisors in order to be run by lawyers. There are sufficient members who have some experience in labor law, or have studied it. In case of doubt, the CNT consults lawyers with whom it has contact. It is necessary to be informed of the laws as they exist, by means of official provincial bulletins, of the assembly of the corresponding region or state, and of all the information over the enterprises to which they apply.

In this world of hostile and unjust laws, we have to defend our rights and the better we know them, the better we can defend them. The better we know the laws, the less the necessity for legal representation. But the least legal intervention will come with the greater strength of the union.

We would like to make it clear that the purpose of all labor law is to benefit capitalism in general, to defend its privileges and to permit its robbery without risk, preventing the direct confrontation between labor and capitalism. The State makes the rules of the game which always benefit the employers, so that the legal system:

- Is expensive. To function within it requires the payment of high fees. To get lawyers to open their mouths never costs less than a thousand dollars. Much more to take a case, or handle legal documents, without which no magistrate needs to deal with it.
- Uses language which is difficult to comprehend by ordinary people. It is made this way to augment the ignorance of the people, since to know a thing is to understand it, to indicate a power to control it, and this is not in the interest of a legal caste which wants to impose its will without question.
- Is slow. It prolongs the processes which could be solved rapidly by means of direct negotiations.
- Considers the conflicting sides to be children, incapable of solving their own problems.
- Is very complex. It requires a great deal of skill to maneuver within it. Many of its statutes are contradictory, with traps and no real clarity or rationality to it.

To rely on lawsuits is a course which always favors the employer, such that even when the judge sides with labor, and assesses damages against the capitalists, the only thing which has been done is to give us what is already ours, and what triumphs is the idea that in spite of the faults of a system which is slow, bureaucratic, expensive, pernicious, domineering, corrupt and incomprehensible, we have to give it power over us.

To know the laws makes it possible to demand their implementation, which succeeds on many occasions. But in addition it is necessary to know when to break the laws, to employ common sense and to plan to follow the path which is the most short, simple and economical to do something.

To use lawsuits, however, violates our form of existence, which rejects the institutions of the State. Nothing is possible to achieve through magistrates which could not be done with concrete actions. According to our principles, the only tactic useful for its militants is Direct Action. Lawyers to the CNT manage, therefore, those limited cases in which there are not enough forces to reach the goal by Direct Action. The lawyers function within the contradictions in which anarcho-syndicalism is forced to operate.

What is the union committee?

The union assembly chooses people to keep open local union halls, maintain relations with other unions, handle correspondence, collect dues, issue the union journals, handle literature orders... Simple tasks which in general the union assembly delegates to achieve its goals. These people form what is called the union committee, which is divided among the following secretaries for:

Organization, responsible for internal union relations, membership lists...

Education, culture and archives, editor of educational materials, organizer of the library...

Press and information, responsible for media relations.

Treasury and financial matters, collecting dues.

Law and prisoner support, to gather official bulletins, information on laws, contracts, to inform the union of labor law problems, dispense funds in cases of detention, imprisonment, to deal with lawyers...

Union organizing. To help develop plans for action in workplaces, unionized or not.

Social activism. The same as above but dealing with non-union questions: ecology, anti-militarism...

And the General Secretary, representing the confederation.

All of them form the union committee, together with delegates from specific union sections within industry where the union is active. This is in theory, because if the union desires a smaller committee, it might drop some secretaries (press and education, for example). And if it wants, it could invent another secretary, thus increasing the committee. But what is really important is:

The members of the union committee, and by extension, of all the committees of the CNT, are not able to receive any salary for their militancy.

All the committees are mechanisms for management and coordination, with no power to make policy. The only decision-making bodies are the union assemblies. If in the case of dire emergency or necessity they have to decide something, they would have to account for it to the assembly, which would decide if their action was correct or not.

All mandates are revokable at anytime. The assembly is free to demand the resignation of the officers if it wishes. The duration of a term is two years, with possible re-election for one more year as maximum. It is required that officers be rotated.

The committee, as a body, can not make proposals to the union assembly.

All the members of the committee have to be confirmed at the next assembly after their election. All officers are always at the disposal of the assembly.

Members of political parties may not hold office in the confederation.

In all assemblies the committees have to account for the activities of the secretaries.

The committees of the CNT do not express their individual opinions. When they open their mouths, they do it in the name of the entire organization and its agreements.

These limitations guarantee that every officer acts without self-interest. It is a barrier to avoid the growth of a bureaucracy, and to limit to the maximum possible the development of leaders, dictators and authority in the heart of the union.

The committee of the CNT must be a mechanism of facilitation, administration and coordination, not a power group. The restriction against members of political parties to serve on union committees, was adopted in the 1930s as a means of defending the unions against control by the Communist Party. No restriction was made against authoritarian communists belonging to the confederation as workers. But these people belong to parties which aspire to become vanguards and guides of the workers, and one of their tactics is to infiltrate independent organizations in order to control them. For this reason it is necessary to limit their aspirations to have power.

What is anarcho-syndicalism?

Anarcho-syndicalism is a current of thought and principles which appeared at the end of the 19th century. It has these fundamental characteristics:

-The goal of organizing the world's workers for the defense of their immediate interests, and to obtain improvements in their quality of life. To form unions to achieve this.
-The creation of a structure in which there are neither leaders nor executive power.
-The desire for the radical transformation of society, a transformation to be brought about by the means of a Social Revolution. Without this goal of transformation, anarcho-syndicalism does not exist.

Another name for anarcho-syndicalism is revolutionary syndicalism.

How is it different from other unions and social movements?

Anarcho-syndicalism has the conviction that the causes of social inequality and injustice, are based on power, on the principle of authority, which puts a minority in charge, disposing of the wealth produced by society and maintaining its privileges by means of violence, and the obedient majority, has no more than what it needs to survive and must suffer the violence of the minority. Consequently, anarcho-syndicalism, in order to eliminate injustice opposes the principle of authority, decision-making by the elites, and the ultimate representation of power: the State.

Contrary to the hierarchical organization and authority of the State/Capital, and its repressive apparatus, anarcho-syndicalism poses its Anti-Organization. This involves a process, in which decisions are made at the base, in which the people participate, in which there is no leadership (or it is very limited), there is no repression, and there exists full liberty and equality in the exchange of ideas, opinions, and initiatives. Anarcho-syndicalist organization resembles that of the State/Capital as little as possible. It is thus an anti-organization when compared to the authoritarian model existing nowadays: Authority

Already for the swordsman, reward or religion, many were the leaders [jefaturas?] that had heard the call, however few were to achieve the transition towards the state. Before obeying the orders of work and paying taxes, the people of the commune had intended to flee to the lands of no-one or unexplored territories. Others resisted and intended to struggle against the militia. Most of the leaders that had intended to impose on a common class agrarican quotas, taxes, personal employment benefits and other forms of coercive redistribution, had changed to more equal forms or they were totally destroyed. Why had some triumphed whilst others failed? The first states had evolved from leaders, but not all leaders were able to evolve towards converting in states. In order that it would give them the transition they had to give two conditions: the population not only had to be numerous (between 10,000 to 30,000 people), but also had to be circumscribed, that is, to be confronted with a lack of land to which the people that did not want to support recruitment, taxes or orders could flee. (Marvin Harris: Leaders, ringleaders and [unknown])

Chapter 1

José Luis García Rúa

Chapter 2

It All Started Like This:

Quote from Anselmo Lorenzo, El Proletariado Militante (The Militant Proletariat, 1868).

Chapter 3

Introduction.

Much time has passed since 1868. The speeches of Fanelli will not impress anyone nowadays, accustomed as we are to special effects movies. The times and the ways have changed, however the essence of exploitation is the same.

Nowadays, equality that yesterday (same as yesterday), we continue resisting, continue undermining the State and Capital, and we prepare to provoke the arrival of better times. The profound injustices and crimes of capitalism, that condemns the majority of humanity to a unhealthy, malnourished, sick and exploited life... they do not predict better? have have the dictatorships of the oligarchies called communists?.

This pamphlet is intended for the companeros and companeras that bring up, for persons that do not know us and that more than once wonder what they can do. It seeks to give them a basic explanation on what Spanish anarcho-syndicalism is, in its stage of actual development, how it functions, how it struggles, how it is structured, what ends it persues and definitively, however we follow equally digging our heels as our people of the last century, now that they say to us that we live in a best of possible worlds. Those that want a more erudite work have at their disposal abundant bibliography.

We have intended to do it in a language, plain, pleasant and simple, in order that anyone can understand it.

We want to show that anarcho-syndicalism is not something boring, of the past, without a life form and dynamism of action, profoundly original and innovative in its (unknown – planteamientos – demands?). Its proposal is not the institutionalisation or the functioning at the margins of State-Capital. Its alternative, the transformation of society. This is a book on basic anarcho-syndicalism, not a manual of style, neither a set of fixed rules. We want to speak of creativity, of love, of happiness, of liberty, of tolerance... not of regulations. Each situation requires an alert and new attitude in order to be overcome. Only we offer you the resume of a century and a quarter of anti-authoritarian experience, of struggle against power, of transformed hope.

We expect that persons of every type take into consideration our proposals. The old, the mean, the archaic represent capital and the state. The new world is in the anarcho-syndicalist union.

SEVILLE 1994.