Spain
Puerto Real in flames-Industrial action at shipyards in Spain, February & March 2004
This is a series of on the spot action reports, from the strike in the Puerto Real (Cadiz) shipyards in early 2004, Which erupted into fierce fighting with the police and spread to other industries with wide spread support and involvement of the local community.
IZAR - Spanish shipyards
Report - February 18th 2004
Those who defend their rights: they do not make violence- Interview with a member of the union branch of CNT in the Shipyard of Seville
This an interview with a CNT member working in the shipyard of Seville in March 2004. At a time when there was an attempt to close many of the shipyards in Spain, which met fierce resistance from the workers and thier local communities.
- P: Can you tell us who you are?
- R: I am a worker of the auxiliary industry of the shipyard of Seville, although to talk about it as an auxiliary industry doesn’t seem right to me when we are responsible for 80% of ship production. I am also a member of the CNT union branch in the shipyard. In this interview I am expressing my own opinion, I am not acting as a spokesman.
CNT in conflict with Ryanair at Zaragoza
A brief statement from the CNT, Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union, about a conflict with Ryanair.
The CNT declares a Conflict at Ryanair-Zaragoza
TUE, 24/02/2009 - 15:59 – CNT-AIT
After fruitless contacts with the company, begun by the Union Section of the CNT in Ryanair, in order to solve the problems of the workers in the fastest and calmest form possible, this Section declares itself in conflict with Ryanair-Zaragoza, supported by the SOV of the CNT in Saragossa.
General strikes around the world
As French unions isolate a general strike by workers in Guadeloupe, workers in Chad have set next Monday for their general strike while the leader of the Spanish UGT hints at one (or stalls for time?) in Spain.
French unions isolate Guadeloupe general strike
Towards a Fresh Revolution - Friends of Durruti
Highly influential pamphlet of anarcho-syndicalist CNT militants during the Spanish Civil War who opposed the co-option of their organisation in the Republican government.
Roca radiators strike, 1976-7
Background information and two strike bulletins put out by the assembly of strikers at the Roca radiator manufacturing plant in Gava, Spain in 1976-7.
ROCA IN GAVA
Roca Radiators Ltd is situated in Gava, some 35 km south west of Barcelona. Founded at the beginning of the century by the Roca family it now employs some 4,500 workers and is listed as the 65th largest company is Spain. Some 20% of the share capital was owned by American Standard but these shares were sold as soon as the strike began.
Reflections on the shoe industry strike and assembly movement in Alicante, 1977
Highly informative and detailed article about a wildcat strike of shoe workers run by workers' assemblies which the state attacked, and which unions and political groups attempted to divert to their own ends.
FROM THE TIME WHEN REVOLUTIONARIES WERE CORRECT
Workers for Proletarian Autonomy and Social Revolution
REFLECTIONS ON AND LESSONS OF THE STRIKE IN THE SHOE INDUSTRY (22nd AUGUST UNTIL 3rd SEPTEMBER 1977) AND ON THE ASSEMBLY MOVEMENT IN THE PROVINCE OF ALICANTE
Notes of a militarised Spanish Renfe rail worker, 1976
The very interesting personal account of a rail worker in post-Franco Spain when the railways were militarised following a strike in 1976.
RENFE: THE TESTIMONY OF A MILITARISED WORKER...
Renfe, through its rail services, spreads throughout the Spanish State, and is the company which employs most workers (72,000). Every Spaniard knows this and also knows that these workers have the job of ensuring a regular service to the country, crucial to its well-being and development.
Wildcat Spain encounters democracy, 1976-1978
A fascinating set of documents from and about the workers assembly movement which swept Spain as strike spread following the death of dictator General Franco.
A MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN VITORIA
By: Los Incontrolados
HOW FRANCOISM BECAME DEMOCRATIC
'When legality is sufficient to save society then, by all means deploy legality; when it's not enough then dictatorship'
(Donoso Cortes, in a speech, 4th January 1849)
Comrades,
1951: Barcelona general strike
A brief description of social conditions in post-Civil War Spain followed by an account of the Barcelona general strike of 1951. The events in Barcelona led to strikes across the country and signalled the potential for a return to working class combativity in Spain after over a decade of rule under the Franco regime.
The situation of the Spanish working class at the turn of 1950 was a desperate one. Franco's regime had ruled over the country for the last eleven years, and severe conditions fuelled by austerity measures imposed on workers after the end of the Civil War were becoming rapidly worse.
