(Note from the IWA General Secretary: The author of this article is a member of one of the unions being sued by the CIT organization in Spain. A few changes/notes were made to the English version of article for the purpose of clarity by the IWA General Secretary.)
Since the Congress of Cordoba in 2010, a faction of the CNT-AIT (now in CIT) began laying the groundwork to gradually abandon its anarcho-syndicalist principles. This was, and still is, an open secret. None of us who, from within the CNT (AIT), have been following its developments have missed its drift towards reformism, masked by an old discourse in our Movement, aiming to make the CNT a more modern organization in line with the times. This is a tired and worn-out narrative.
Since that Congress, many from within have conspired to dismantle the ideology of the CNT, and with this goal in mind, they have worked through the following Congresses to strip the CNT of those unions which did not agree with their manoeuvers. To accomplish this, they didn't hesitate to do use whatever means they could. To secure more votes, they even create phantom unions, purchasing more membership fees than they had members. When these actions were denounced, and it was later proven that the denouncers were right, those who raised the alarm were expelled. [1] A confederal technical committee was established, which has been used to redirect part of the Direct Action of the unions toward this committee, which, moreover, has salaried members (some of whom justify themselves by claiming they are self-employed), and they are now demanding its expansion, which will lead to more paid positions. [2]
At the Zaragoza Congress in 2015, they managed to dissolve many of the Various Trades Unions by increasing, by two hundred percent, the number of members required to be classified as a Various Trades Union, thereby eliminating part of the CNT-AIT's structure across the Iberian Peninsula.[3] During that Congress, the unions declared that the AIT was the international wing of the CNT-AIT up until then and that it needed to be refounded. [4] (This refoundation was deemed necessary because the AIT had refused to allow the Spanish CNT to impose the criteria it wanted, in order to gain more votes than the other sections, with the clear objective of imposing its decisions.[5]) Since the International did not allow these criteria to be imposed, after the aforementioned Zaragoza Congress, in collaboration with some organizations from other countries, they started meetings, organically unaligned with the CNT, [6] that eventually led to the creation of a new international organization, the International Confederation of Labor (CIT).
In the diluted version of anarcho-syndicalism within the CNT-CIT, opinions have surfaced that it is a feminist organization, claiming that there must be gender parity in the committees, as if it were a vertical and authoritarian organization. Nothing could be further from the truth, because in a CNT assembly, everyone should be equal in their capacity to be elected to a management position, which is solely a management role. However, lately, what is happening is that the committees decide which union information gets forwarded and what doesn't. The committees give their opinions on matters, and if a union responds with a clarification, it is the committee that decides whether that union's opinion sees the light of day or not. [7]
All of these things, along with expulsions of regional federations to later re-admit the unions that suit them — as seen in the Regional of Levante and the Central Region — have caused some unions to leave the CNT-CIT, tired of enduring so much internal rot. However, it’s also true that many unions and comrades remain, holding on to see if it’s possible to reverse the situation.
In many respects, the unions in the CNT-CIT have no say, as the committees are making decisions and taking actions that the unions have neither discussed nor agreed upon. I am referring to the complaints the CNT-CIT is filing against the unions and comrades of the CNT-AIT, in a clear attempt to extract money and prison sentences from comrades. It is an absolute disgrace. Some unions have asked for explanations, but the committees have responded with silence, in the manner of a central committee of a communist party.
It’s clear that those who want to dismantle anarcho-syndicalism are trying to create an organization that fits their own design, one that is entirely amorphous, stripped of anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist content. They want to form unions with large memberships but little participation, eventually becoming just another union in the system, feeding off it. This is the ultimate goal they have set for themselves.
Today, the two factions that conspired in Cordoba to destroy the CNT are now at odds, and what we are witnessing is shameful. They are not hesitating to use any means necessary to bring each other down.
Despite all the outrages that these reformists are committing within the CNT-CIT to distort and destroy our anarcho-syndicalist and anarchist ideology, they will not succeed. They, who believe only in comfortable positions and adapting to the capitalist system to secure their small role and a meager reward, are destined to end up, as Bakunin told Marx’s communists, in the garbage heap of history, as indeed happened. Therefore, today, as always, DESPITE EVERYTHING, CNT AND ADHERENT TO THE AIT.
by Libertad García Montilla
(Notes added by General Secretary of the IWA for clarity and context.)
1. These scandals related to buying votes originating in Andalucia. They involved mostly the Local Federation of Seville, which had interestingly been declared a "non-organic" organization by the CNT's VII Congress. The Transport Union of this Local Federation in particular was found to have paid for more membership than it actually had, thus buying more votes in the Regional organization. A commission of the Regional Organization found this to be true. There was also vote buying in the fake Seville cleaner's union, which didn't actually exist.
The leadership of these unions also diverted money from the CNT to create other structures so that they could partticipate in union elections, something against the CNT-AIT principles. Despite the fact that people were expelled from CNT-AIT for the aforementioned, they mysteriously managed to return, supported by the union of Cordoba in regional meeting. On the other hand, the union of Cadiz which had exposed these anti-statutory action, which broke CNT-AIT principles, was expelled. They were later violently attacked and also had their offices raided and library stolen by leaders of the reformist faction that is now in CNT-CIT.
(https://www.derechos.org/nizkor/espana/doc/indignados168.html)
[2] Previously, members of the CNT-AIT learned labor law in order to defend themselves against repression and the boss's abuses. Now a staff of professional lawyers claim they are "not employed" by CNT-AIT but rather make most or all of their money by billing CNT-AIT for services. One of these people, the partner of the former Secretary of CNT (the one who embezzled), was seen as an example of nepotism inside the organization. Some critics have noted that whereas in the past, money was collected to help political prisoners and those repressed for their activity, most of this money is now sidetracked to the lawyers.
[3] Such a decision effectively would put up a barrier to the growth of the organization in localities which did not have big populations.
[4] The IWA is not the "international" extension of any of its member Sections, despite the fact that some people had this warped vision.
[5] Proposals to impose proportional voting on the idea (originating from unions who were buying votes and their supporters) were sent to the XXIV and XXV Congresses of the IWA in 2009 and 2013 and were rejected.
[6] These meetings were not organically approved by the CNT membership. Decisions about these plans to form a new international were made by executives of the CNT and only later submitted for some posterior "approval".
In the Spanish version of the article, there is a mistake because they met with some organizations that were still affiliated to the IWA. The Spanish version claimed they were disaffiliated, but the disaffiliation only occured later.
[7] This lack of transparency caused problems in the CNT and also concerned not passing on information or only selectively distributing information from the IWA.