Bureaucrats Mandeuvre Tu Head Off Mass Movement

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As the scale of working class resistance to the Moncloa Pact, Spain's equivalent of the 'Social Contract' steadily grows, the bureaucratic leaders of the mass workers organisations face serious problems. Every demand put forward by the workers-to defend and improve living standards, defend all jobs, and ensure full freedom of workers' organisations to organise without legal interference-brings them into conflict with the Francoist regime. Yet the labour bureaucrats have staked everything on the preservation of this regime and on a perspective of simply "pressuring" it for minimal reforms within the framework of capitalism.

For this reason the bureaucrats have been forced to adopt a method of heading off the mass movement which while identical in content, is different in form from the brazenly strikebreaking stand adopted by their British counterparts. The major leaflet on the giant 200,000 strong march against the Moncloa Pact shows this clearly. There is no reference in the leaflet to the coltaboration between leaders of mass workers parties and the "big capitalists" verbally attacked in the first paragraph. The Moncloa deal is not even mentioned. There is no call for action against the Pact, except the talk of the "possible holding of a one-day general strike"'-a policy restricted to And in the call for "support for small and medium factories against the interests of Big Capital" the road is being opened up for a class collaborationist "democratic" alliance with small But the pressure of the mass movement is reflected in the advanced nature spelled out by these reformist leaders-demands amounting to a sliding scale workers control, and steps towards work sharing on full pay. 1903, when in the main their working class electorate rejected this.

Only Belfast escaped the debacle, because there the candidates were carefully chosen and under the tight discipline of the Belfast Labour Party which in turn was controlled by the Belfast Trades Council.

Independent

The Irish Parliamentary Party in an attempt to deflate the pressure for an independent workers' party permitted one or two of their nationalist MPs to be chosen from labour ranks.

They would then regularly address the annual congresses of the Irish TUC and advise that body to maintain its reformist outlook, to avoid the perils of socialism, and to support the IPP.

This sentiment did not go unchallenged, because as well as the pro IPP position there was a body that believed that the unions should stay out of politics altogether while the Belfast delegates urged affiliation to the British labour movement.

Affiliate

At first the Congress took a pro IPP line while at the same time supporting the Belfast proposal that all Irish trade unions should affiliate with the British Labour Representation Committee.

Only in Belfast was this proposal acted upon, by William Walker contesting the Nationalist leader John Redmond James Larkin North Belfast constituenc three consecutive years 1! to 1907.

Insistent

He didn't win, though he polled well. As Belfast's urgings upon the need for the Congress to establish political machinery grew more insistant so too did the nationalist supporters inside the Congress vigourously deny the need for such a party.

They also conjured up the fear that Home Rule would be less likely to be conceded if such parties were formed.

This argument was undermined by the Liberal leader Asquith in 1909 when he included Home Rule in his A far more important development that year was the formation of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.

Socialism

It was the first successful attempt on a large scale to organise the unskilled workers.

The craft unions succeeded in keeping it out of the Congress until 1911, but its strength, organised and led resisted for long.

When it entered it quickly took over and transformed the Congress, by its explicit commitment to socialism, its belief in Irish unions for Ireland and aggresive its advocacy of political action. one of protest and pressure.

scale capitalists.

Fought for and developed by a principled leadership, such demands could provide the basis for a massive political step forward by Spanish workers.

On this page we reprint (below) the main leaflet of November 5, as well as (abover another leaflet which briefly and sharply attacked its central thrust.

To the whole working class and people of Viscaya:

We, the workers of Euskadi and of the whole of Spain, are living through decisive moments during which the economic situation gets worse day by day, and in the face of which the big capitalists and the government, instead of solving the grave problems, are making them worse.

Unemployment continues to rise precipitately as do consumer prices; and an attempt is being made to impose a wage freeze on us.

Big capital

We see that Big Capital is trying to keep going only those businesses which are profitable to them and abandon those which, having exploited to their maximum, are no longer of any interest to them.

These measures are only designed to see that the burden of saving the country from this crisis falis on the backs of the workers.

Pursuing the defence of our interests against this plan, we are opposed both to the closing of factories and to the measures taken by factories in a state of economic crisis which are placing the workers of Viscaya in particular, in dramatic situation.

Demands To combat the measures they are trying to impose on us, we demand:

An emergency economic plan which quarantees a reduction in the rate of inflation and includes the progressive creation of new * Support for small and medium factories against the privileged interests of Big Capital, since they account for 80.5% of the work force in the whole country. in the whole country.

Against the crisis measures; not a single redundancy!

For unemployment insurance to hundreds of unemployed workers during unemployment.

Workers management all firms in crisis, to avoid types of fraud.

A ban on overtime * A 40 hour week. 35 hours for firms in crisis without loss of pay.

* Pensions on full wage the age of 60, 58 for firms crisis. * Wage increases by at least the increase in the cost ot living index, which should be under the control of the trade the demands wages under * Unrestricted trade union freedom and suppression of the law which permits uncontrolled sacking.

We workers are aware of the difficulties in implementing our programme.

Basic support

But we are also aware that we represent the basic support of the country and are the major force in it.

Guided by these considerations we must resolutely confront this position which, though today it more directly affects firms in crisis, is something , which affects the whole of the working class-since it is Big Capital and its government which is entirely responsible for the situation.

Coordinate

So as a beginning to the building of active solidarity for a series os actions to dae actions in the zones of the city, designed to co-ordinate workers of the firms in crisis and alert public

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VROKORRA y LABORAL