A New Rupture in Spanish Anarcho-syndicalism

Because of the International’s federalism: one organization = one vote, they felt that the Spanish section was at a disadvantage. In their eyes, the CNT, which paid a membership fee for several thousand members, should have had more weight and power than sections with only a few dozen members. Without a mandate from its unions, the Confederal Committee of the Spanish CNT stopped paying its dues to the IWA (even though every member, by paying his or her dues to the organization, pays a share to the International) and took the initiative of creating another international on its own terms with sections sympathetic to it, such as the German FAU and the Italian USI, as well as a few other organizations.

At the time, the Spanish promoters of the future CIT were convinced that they could wipe out the IWA simply by ceasing to contribute financially to it. Their calculation was as follows: in photocopies alone, the IWA secretariat spent at least €1,000 a year; the Spanish CNT would deprive it of some €30,000; if to this were added the withdrawal of the FAU and USI, the International would be deprived of 90% of its contributors. Thus, with no sources of funding for its propaganda and activities “will turn the IWA into a purely testimonial and completely inoperative organization”². By the way, that was already what they were accusing it of.

This tyranny of numbers is a constant among CNT-CIT promoters. In Spain, they had already excluded unions from their own organization that didn’t “commune” with them. One of the criteria for these purges was group size. For example, two Andalusian unions were expelled for organizing joint actions with other CNT unions that had previously been excluded. In fact, four unions had committed this “fault”, but only the two smallest were expelled. Getting rid of malcontents: yes, but without losing too many contributors.

From December 2nd to 4th 2016, the twenty-sixth congress of the IWA was held in Warsaw. On this occasion, the congressmen decided to disaffiliate the Spanish, German and Italian sections (CNT, FAU and USI) due to non-compliance with the statutes and refusal to pay their dues. In its final declaration, the IWA congress also noted that it had received declarations of support from Spain from some forty local unions (members or former members of the CNT), and that several members of these unions had attended the congress as observers.

At that time, two meetings took place in Spain. The first in November 2016 and the second in April 2017. This was a “CNT-AIT restructuring congress” carried out in two stages, bringing together unions that had left the CNT, others that had been expelled from it and still others that were still part of it, albeit with a critical point of view.

Participants in these sessions denounced scandalous situations: a breakdown in federalism; a lack of solidarity; a absence of transparency – in connection with a theft of 20,000 euros committed by a national secretary – but also authoritarianism on the part of committees and even assaults. The delegates noted that this drift had weakened the organization. The absence of militants justified the remuneration of permanent staff. In their sights was a law firm (also called technico-confederal) set up by the leaders – in place of the occasional recourse to lawyers – which was absorbing the bulk of resources: not only the sums that should have been paid to the IWA, but also the share of “pro- presos” dues due to imprisoned comrades paid by the CNT.