El POUM surgió, el 29 de septiembre de 1935, tras largas discusiones en el seno de las dos organizaciones [la Izquierda Comunista de España (ICE) y el Bloque Obrero y Campesino (BOC)] que lo formaron, con una triple finalidad: llevar hasta el fin la estrategia de la Alianza Obrera, impulsar la unificación de la CNT, la UGT y los sindicatos autónomos en una sola central sindical y reunir a todos los marxistas revolucionarios en un solo partido. Estos objetivos, largamente pensados y madurados, obedecían a un proyecto sin equívocos: colocar al proletariado español en condiciones de coronar el proceso político iniciado en 1930-1931 con la caída de la monarquía con la victoria de la revolución socialista, único medio, tras el fracaso de la II República, de transformar radicalmente la sociedad española, superando la impotencia de la burguesía para realizar las tareas que la historia imponía desde hacía luengos años [sic].
Etiqueta: Unión General de Trabajadores
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Aub: la revolución social. Muere Apel·les Mestres entre «llamps i trons»
No hay luz eléctrica en Barcelona. Ni luna. Sólo tiros e iglesias ardiendo. La gente por la calle va de un incendio a otro. Intentaron salir los bomberos, pero el pueblo cortó las mangas. Se consumen las iglesias, pero no la Catedral, ni el monasterio de Pedralbes. Lo gótico no se quema, es el único orden que le impone al pueblo. Barcelona a oscuras pero con bastantes iglesias para poder andar por la ciudad, con el trágala de las caballerías muertas y los tiros de los fascistas confortablemente instalados tras su balcón, asesinando a mansalva. Un millón de habitantes sin más luz que gigantescas antorchas. Todos los templos se parecen ahora a la Sagrada Familia, y Barcelona huele a chamusquina. Largos ramos, pobladísimas lenguas de chispas por lo negro, negro de la noche; y los humos contra las estrellas. La gente callada, de una estación a otra, con su sentido trágico de la vida de los bolsillos, esperando un milagro; dándose cuenta de que nace un mundo nuevo, que puede morir en cierne, como otras tantas veces en este mismo lecho; pero todos husmean el parto; y, barruntándolo, nadie dice nada: óyese sólo el crepitar del fuego. El fuego hacia los cielos y la ciudad negra con heridos por los portales y asesinos por los tejados. Se ven las panzas del humo a la luz de las llamas, no las espaldas, ni la altura.
Rafael Serrador, apoyado en una farola, mira cómo se abrasa la iglesia del Carmen. No se le alcanza, en su nueva vida, por qué destruyen e incendian, por qué no lo guardan para sí. Le duelen las llamas. Ya ha preguntado a veinte por qué queman, y todos se han alzado de hombros. Sin embargo, algo les mueve.
Pegado a una de las puertas divisa un viejo al que cree recordar; mirando cómo sacan las imágenes y hacen una gran falla; síguele con la vista, no le suelta y se le acerca.
– Por qué queman?
El vejete le mira y le dice confidencialmente:
–Chist! Hay que empezar siempre por el coro. Siempre.
–Por qué?
Ahí está el meollo! –y mirándole fijo a los ojos–: Si no, son capaces de volverse a sentar allí.
El hombre se lleva a Serrador Ramblas arriba:
–Ven. Le hace subir a la terraza del edificio de Las Noticias.
Desde allí se descubren diez o doce incendios.
–¿Ves tú, pequeño? De cuando en cuando hay que quitarse las chinches de encima y desinfectar el ambiente. Yo he sido mozo en la escuela de Ferrer, ¿sabes? ¡Aquel sí que era un hombre! Ya sabían lo que se hacían cuando lo fusilaron. Esta va a ser tan sonada como aquélla. ¿Crees que queman por quemar? ¡Pues no! Se mata lo que se odia. Se quema por purificar y salvar la vida: para ahuyentar los malos espíritus y rehabilitar la tierra. En el mundo hay dos cosas puras y hermosas: el fuego y el desnudo. ¿El arte? Historias y engañabobos. ¡Dímelo a mí! Fabrico vírgenes del siglo XVI. Los burgueses, los comunistas, creen que quemamos por destruir, que robamos para enriquecernos. Aquí cuando un niño es malo le dicen: eres peor que un ravachol. ¡Asquerosos! Lo de Ravachol es por un tranvía de Valencia, que descarrilaba con frecuencia y mató a unos cuantos. No viene a cuento. Quemamos para salvar y hacer tabla rasa; y cuando ha hecho falta robar es que hacía falta para vivir. Ya sé que no sé quién eres, pero me es igual.
El viejo estaba completamente ido y mirando la ciudad, lloraba. «¡Ferrer santo! –musitaba– ¡Ferrer santo!» De pronto se volvió rápido hacia Serrador y le dijo tajante:
–¡Porque si no las queman, volverán!
–¿Quiénes?
–Curas y diablos.Rafael bajó otra vez hacia el puerto. Anduvo hasta la «Buena Sombra», convertida en cuartel del asalto a Atarazanas. Reinaba un barullo tremendo. Se sentó en un rincón al lado de un librero de viejo y de un vendedor de biblias protestantes.
–Mira –decía el más viejo–; la cosa no puede ser más sencilla. Aquí estamos los que no creemos en Dios y enfrente están los que creen. Y nada más. Huelgan otras explicaciones. Cuando deje de haber curas dejará de haber ricos.
–Mira, Ambrosio –dijo Serrador–, más bien creería lo contrario.
–¡Tú qué sabes, mocoso! Aquí la nada, y ellos con Dios. ¡Imponente! (Era su bordón.) ¡Imponente! Claro está que lo grande es que, para los que husmeamos la verdad, pelea la nada contra la nada, pero eso se queda para los escogidos.
–Sí –dijo el vendedor de biblias–, hace siglos que nos quieren romper la crisma en nombre de Dios.
–¡Y lo que te rondaré, morena!
–Yo –dijo Serrador– creo que aquéllos creen en lo que tienen, y que son ustedes los que creen en Dios.
–¡Imponente, mocoso, imponente! ¿Me vas a querer dar lecciones a mí? Nosotros creemos en el hombre.
–Es lo mismo –dijo condescendiente Rafael.
–¿Cómo que es lo mismo? Aquéllos creen en Dios porque le tienen miedo al hombre, y Dios es buen comodín.
Rafael le pregunta al propagandista protestante:
–¿Cómo vendes biblias siendo ateo?
–Si creyese en Dios, las regalaría. A mí no me engaña ni Dios –le responde guiñando un ojo y descubriendo una encías sin más diente que un incisivo amarillo y gris oscuro, mitad por mitad.
–Yo tengo publicado un libro –encadena el librero–, donde demuestro que todas las calamidades nacen en la creencia en Dios. Con más de doscientas citas y prólogo del conde de Tolstoi.
–¿Te lo mandó él?
–¡Lo recorté yo!El café concierto puede apenas con su oscuridad a pesar de las dos o tres docenas de bujías repartidas en mesas, mostrador y escenario. El camino de la bodega estaba libre y el bombo desfondado con una vela en el parche.
Alrededor de una mesa discutían varios hombres de la FAI.
–La ciudad es nuestra de arriba abajo.
–¿Y la Esquerra?
–¿Qué es la Esquerra sin nosotros? Ya se vio hace dos años.
–¿Y los de la UGT?
–Eso es otro cantar. Pero no nos vengan con monsergas, ellos no son nadie aquí, ¡nadie! Aquí mandamos nosotros. Y en Zaragoza, y en Sevilla. Y en Valencia, si me apuras. Referente a Madrid y Bilbao, ya hablaremos.
–¿Tú crees que vamos a tomar directamente el poder?
–Ya resolverá el comité. Yo creo que no. Esta no es «nuestra» revolución: es la de las derechas. Ellas lo han querido, ¡allá ellas! Pero por eso mismo no podemos perder las apariencias republicanas. Nos ha llegado la hora de salvaguardar las esencias liberales y democráticas. «Allons, enfants de la Patrie…»
–¡No fastidies!
–Sí, hijo: ¡y viva la Constitución!
–¿Qué se sabe de Zaragoza?
–Nada. Yo siempre dije que el secretario de la Federación…
–Parece que allí empiezan a fusilar gente.
–Vosotros diréis lo que queráis, pero si no es por la guardia civil y los de asalto, ¡ya quisiera yo ver dónde estaríamos a estas horas!
–¿Y la tropa sin nosotros?
–Eso es harina de otro costal. Pero vamos a ver lo que hace la Confederación en Zaragoza y Sevilla.
–Dependerá un tanto de los gobernadores.
–¡Che, callarse! –dijo un valenciano en la oscuridad–. Hemos luchado todos por la revolución, y ahí fuera todavía quedan cuarteles que tomar.
–Sí, bueno. Hoy la Guardia Civil ha estado con nosotros, pero ¿y mañana? Lo que hay que hacer es disolverla. Y en seguida.
En otro local, el del PSUC, Vidiella y Comorera abonaban en el mismo sentido.
–Hay que formar Comités de Obreros y Campesinos.Companys, después de consultar con unos y otros, formaba el Comité Central de Milicias.
–¡Se hunde la legalidad republicana! –clamaba por los gloriosos patios de la Generalidad un importante burócrata, de la Lliga–: ¡Eso es crear el poder revolucionario por decreto!
–¿Y quién se lo ha buscado, monín? –le contestaba un ordenanza.Siguen subiendo hacia los cielos oscuros las abullonadas columnas de color rojuelo, salpicadas de pavesas brillantes.
Rafael Serrador vaga por las calles tropezando con las gentes y sintiendo los lazos que le unen con los hombres, y como cogido en una red de la cual él fuese una de las mallas, una de las hebras de la noche. Por la plaza del Pino pasea un hombre completamente desnudo, gritando:
–¡Viva el Sr. Kneipp! ¡Viva el Sr. Kneipp!
Un mundo salido de sí, un mundo sin madre. Apoyado en un canalón, Rafael Serrador piensa en el agua, un agua bárbara, ímpetu bronco, raudo, tenaz, incontenible: como el de un toro de fuego, un arco iris de fuego, por encima de la ciudad vencedora. -
La CNT incauta el vapor soviético Ziryanin y se sorprende al no encontrar armas; estética anarquista
Suddenly the excitement and enthusiasm of July 19 raced through the tertulias with the news, ‘We are not alone! Help has come!’
Collectivized factory whistles all over the town shrilled a half-holiday. Thousands of anarchists flooded the Ramblas and the port in disorderly masses, carrying their factories’ somber black or rojinegra banners. The F.A.I.’s Free Women (Mujeres Libres) went down the Ramblas eight abreast, breaking all anarchist tradition by singing and shouting in their excitement. Usually anarchist parades achieved their effect by massing silent thousands of black-clad workers in an austere, serious or threatening manner. They dislike the gay color and sound demonstrations of the ‘carnival revolutionists’ (as they called the communists).
The Stalinist Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (P.S.U.C.) sent just such a colorful delegation to greet the Ziryanin. The revolutionary Patrols of Control cordoned off the pier and did not let the P.S.U.C on the ship. Instead, the F.A.I. cadres searched it for arms. They found a cargo of beans and chocolate. The disgusted anarchists hauled down the hammer and sickle and ran up the libertarian rojinegra. Food was not what the antifascists needed in October, 1936.
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Los funerales de Durruti; la organización agrícola e industrial.
Durruti’s funeral was this afternoon. The attendance at the parade and in the streets was massive. The whole city was out. The CNT ordered that all shops, bars, etc, should be closed during the ceremony. Most people organised by the CNT and the FAI were present at the gathering. Particularly interesting was the troop of control patrols (Checas) in their black uniforms. They turned out in their hundreds.
I learned the truth about Durruti’s death from Nin, whom I met afterwards in a POUM bar. This is the way it was. On returning to the front Durruti ran into a group of milicianos coming away from the front. He asked them to go back. There was fight and he was shot by one of them. The public is unclear about the real story, and assumes that Durruti was killed by a Fascist bullet during an ambush. Durruti’s end is not inconceivable, according to reports of his general behaviour. POUM comrades told me how he was once most unfair and despotic in his dealings with a POUM column, and it was mooted at the time that certain people wanted to kill him. Durruti was very capable militarily, but he often seemed too undisciplined and despotic.
On Sunday afternoon: Housewarming at a POUM Pioneer House. Like many others this house was confiscated by the POUM. It was originally a bourgeois country house. The pioneers — youth between the ages of 10 and 12 — made a very lively impression.
After that a housewarming at a POUM library in a part of town called Gracia. The library is in a house which was taken over from a Marquis who had fled. The Committee of POUM Youth is there, as is comrade [Walter Schwarz]’s office (International Left). Most of the library’s collection comes from bourgeois houses in Barcelona, whose property was confiscated. It also contains Comrade [Ewald König] book collection. The inaugural speech was made in Catalan by a POUM member — a teacher. It stressed the class and Marxist orientation of the library and the class nature of all culture. Comrade König works in the library.
In total, about 200 000 workers are supposed to have been called up into the army by now. It is estimated that in the rest of Spain the number is around 150 000. In any case, it is a smaller number than in Catalonia alone. These estimates are from comrades and are not official.
Factories with more than 50 workers have been expropriated (incautado), while those with less than 50 have been put under workers’ control. Some of the smaller factories which produce munitions can be, and have been, taken over. Along with the confiscation of the factories goes the confiscation of factory capital. There is now a centralised distribution of raw materials, fuel, etc, in Catalonia, organised by the Economic Council. Foreign owners of factories have been promised compensation, but this is of only formal significance as no guarantees have been made as to how or when compensation will occur.
In the evening I had a conversation on the state of Catalan agriculture with Comrade Sarda, who is supposed to be one of the POUM’s best agricultural experts. About 80 per cent of the land is suitable for modern mechanical farming methods. About 20 per cent of the land cannot be worked mechanically, due to its situation on mountain sides, hilltops, etc. Modern methods are also possible in the olive plantations, which are very important in Catalonia, and also in vineyards. Cultivating olives needs careful attention and plenty of fertiliser, otherwise they yield a small crop. Grain production is also very important here. Agricultural conditions vary a great deal in the different parts of Catalonia. In the area around Barcelona vegetables and fruit are intensively cultivated.The peasants in this area exported vast amounts, mainly to Britain, and were economically quite well off. Large estates predominated in Lérida province, which is now decisively under POUM influence. The other parts of Catalonia are mostly made up of small freeholders and tenant farmers. There are two types of tenant. First, there are the rabassaires. They provide all the equipment themselves and pay one third of the crop to the owners. The owners generally have nothing to do with the enterprise and, living on their rent collecting, tend to spend their time in cafés. The second category of tenant is just like the métayers in France. The owner provides all the equipment, including half the seed. The tenant then gives half the yield to the owner. The rabassaire tenants tend to be long-term, between 20 and 30 years, while the métayers are short-term and can expect to be left high and dry at any moment.
The revolution immediately gave these tenants the right to all of the crop which they produced. The big farms were expropriated and are now largely collectively farmed, and the rural workers are helped by representatives of the workers’ organisations from the towns.
Most of the tenant farmers and small peasants have formed unions, sometimes several in one place (CNT, UGT, rabassaires, Anarchists, etc). It is now decreed that every locality should only have one union which all peasants and rural workers should join. Such a union might be thought of as an agricultural cooperative. For the rural workers it is similar to a trade union. The union takes care of the communal sale of agricultural products, the communal buying of goods for the village cooperative shop, and the common use of agricultural equipment, oil-presses, wine making, etc. However, the cultivation of the land tends to take place individually.
There have been some problems in Catalonia, due to the fact that, under the leadership of the lower organs of the CNT, collectivisation of the land has been carried out more radically than the farmers themselves wanted. The farmers do not agree with many of the orders which have been issued. The leading bodies of the CNT have made statements against these excesses by the lower levels of the leadership, but they do not seem to be wholly capable of eradicating them everywhere. According to the opinions of some experts, these excesses must be stopped if the revolution in Catalonia is to survive, and ways and means are being devised to deal with the situation.
On the question of distribution of food, things look quite different from what I expected on the basis of a report I got recently from someone returning from Barcelona. In general there is no sign of a lack of food, either in the rear areas or at the front. The province of Catalonia grows masses of vegetables, fruit oil, grain, etc. The restaurants and the food shops have plenty of these goods. In general the workers’ standard of living has risen since 19 July. Wages are up by 13 per cent. They are paid in full even for short-time work. The milicianos at the front get 10 pesetas a day, and their families in the rear are also taken care of.
There is a certain shortage of potatoes, but this is not very significant. More important is the shortage of fresh meat which has arisen, because the regions from which most of the meat comes to Catalonia have been occupied by the Fascists. There is a lot of fish. There is some shortage of charcoal, the normal cooking fuel of Catalonia. The houses themselves tend not to be heated, as the climate makes this unnecessary. Here and there milk is in short supply. I have been told that many people eat in the restaurants because they get meat supplies. The soldiers at the front get priority when it comes to the distribution of meat. According to those who have just come from there, nourishment at the front is said to be very good. The cost of food is much, much lower than in France. In the party club a good meal can be had for between two and 2.5 pesetas. Wine costs between 40 and 50 cents a litre. There are queues in front of butchers and the shops selling cooked beans and peas.
In answer to the question as to why there were relatively few turncoats at the front, it was explained to me that this is prevented, above all, by the terror which the Fascists use against the relatives of those fighting at the front. In spite of this there are still many desertions from the Fascist lines. At the front itself oral propaganda is generally shouted between the trenches. The Fascists claim that it is they who will carry out Socialist policies. Fascist aeroplanes drop propaganda leaflets. I have been told of some cases of the Fascists dropping Le Populaire, apparently to prove to the milicianos that the French Popular Front Government has left them in the lurch. It is estimated that the Fascists have shot about 200 000 workers.
Following 19 July all the churches in Barcelona were set on fire. It is usually only the interior which is burnt out. We were told that these acts of arson fitted in well with the mood of the people. Many priests are fighting stubbornly, arms in hand, on Franco’s side. According to the milicianos, the military strength of the Falangists in Catalonia is thought to be very considerable. They are quite often large farmers who have fled, village profiteers, etc, and caciques, who fight all the more bitterly, because their whole existence depends on the outcome of the war.
Comrade König, who was in charge of the German bulletin, has now been relieved of this function. The move was prompted by the Trotskyists, and some material about the Moscow Trials was used.[The reference here is to the first of the Moscow Trials] Comrade Walter Schwarz is the POUM’s official coordinator of international links. In addition to that he has been elected organisational leader of the important district of Gracia. To be politically effective within the POUM it is essential to be able to speak Spanish and at least understand Catalan. Comrade Schwarz’s good position within the organisation has something to do with the fact that he has been an active member of the POUM for four years and was active at the front, and has thus won the confidence of many POUM members and other people there.The leaders of the Catalan troops are very quickly trained in people’s military schools. To enter one you must get recommended by a workers’ organisation. The entire course lasts four months. It is mostly concerned with training military leaders for the infantry. A smaller department trains those for the artillery. At the end of every four month period exams are held. Those who do a one month course are sent to the front as group leaders, after two months as non-commissioned officers, after three months as sergeants, and after four months as teniente or second lieutenants. The training is both theoretical and practical. It involves the elements of military tactics. The proletarian composition of these military schools is ensured by the way candidates are selected. But the number of bourgeois officers at their disposal is very small anyway, and is certainly not enough to form a bourgeois officer corps. The creation of proletarian military leaders is because of the situation after the revolt of 19 July in Catalonia.
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Federico Durán Jordá explica su aplicación en el frente de la técnica soviética de transfusión de sangre guardada; la cuestión de sangre cadaverica
VISITA A UN HOSPITAL
El compañero F. Durán Jordá, médico del Hospital de sangre núm. 18, nos habla de la aplicación de la idea del profesor soviético Judine. Por primera vez en Europa — nos dice — se ha hecho un experimento de transfusión de sangre, guardada, con éxito.
Una labor de gran importancia científica y militar es esta que viene realizando el Hospital de sangre núm. 18, del P. S. U. y de la U. G. T. El «Servicio de transfusión de sangre en el frente», de este Hospital, constituye una admirable prueba de las grandes posibilidades del progreso, de las maravillosas realizaciones que son capaces de llevar a cabo las instituciones creadas al calor del pueblo trabajador.
Y aun nos hemos de enorgullecer más en el caso concreto a que nos referimos, porque la idea inicial de estas innovaciones en la operación de transfusión de sangre es debida al genio de un gran sabio del proletariado, el profesor Judine, orgullo de la ciencia soviética.
El hecho es que se ha posibilitado el efectuar la transfusión de sangre en el frente de batalla, en el mismo terreno en que caen heridos los combatientes, sin que precise un donador inmediato. Generalmente, los heridos pasaban mucho tiempo antes de que se les pudiese trasladar a un hospital, donde, en forma simultánea, era inyectada al herido la sangre que se iba extrayendo de la persona donante. Asi se podía dar el caso de que muchos heridos se murieran por el agotamiento causado por la hemorragia, antes de que se hubiera podido llegar en su auxilio.
[…]
Se nos explica que, en la U. R. S. S., el profesor Judine ha podido conservar la sangre extraída de cadáveres, en perfecto estado de vivencia hasta más de doce días. Este mismo procedimiento es el que se realiza aquí, con la sola diferencia de que la sangre se toma de individuos vivos…
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El POUM rebautiza a calles, un mítin, Lérida después de la revolución
Monday, 1 December 1936: Some of the streets with saints’ names were renamed after POUM people who have fallen. Arquer gave a little speech at each street. There was a procession with music, flags, etc. The widows of the fallen men were there dressed in mourning.
Finally a public meeting in a large theatre. Nin, Arquer and [Wilebaldo Alonso Solano] spoke, as did McGovern from the ILP, and a man from the SAP. Nin replied to the attacks on La Batalla and the POUM by the Soviet consul Antonov-Ovseyenko to the sound of mighty applause from the auditorium. The meeting was very lively.
In the afternoon a trip to Lérida in the POUM car with Walter Schwarz and Sarda. Drove past Montserrat. The countryside round Barcelona has been turned into gardens for market gardening and fruit orchards. Arrived at Lérida at about 8pm. We ate in a huge old nunnery which had been taken over by the town council as a canteen for milicianos and deserters from the Fascists. The catering had been well organised and there was plenty of food, potatoes, fresh meat, wine, etc.
Later on we went to a POUM bar. It is in the former club building of the Rightist party, very nicely decorated and in the centre of town. Downstairs is a café where milicianos and party comrades have lively discussions. The POUM dominates the town and province of Lérida. It has predominantly textile industries. Several burnt out churches. There is a lot of bustle on the streets. Lots of movement to and from the front. The party secretary is a young man in his early 30s.
There were two regiments in the town made up mainly of farmers’ sons from the surrounding area. The officers had been preparing an uprising in Lérida, but waited for the result of the battle for Barcelona before they came out. After the defeat in Barcelona they did not dare to crack down. Two hundred officers and leading lights of the right were shot, and the soldiers were demobbed. Initially only workers were sent to the front. Now, soldiers, too, are called up.
We were quartered in the Palace Hotel. It is clean and in good condition. Breakfast — one peseta. The POUM is in control of the UGT, which is dominant in Lérida. The CNT is weak in Lérida.
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La CNT pierde el control sobre sus miembros, que se pelean con la UGT
[Cita de Lois Cusick (1979). The anarchist millenium, memories of the Spanish revolution, 1936-37. Unpublished.]
Wednesday morning the general strike continued. The workers stayed at the barricades and ignored Casa C.N.T.’s orders [to abandon the strike and leave the barricades]. The city’s life was suspended in a will conflict between the anarchist masses and their leadership … The communists tried to take advantage of their truce with Casa C.N.T. to put the city’s bus system back to work. They used U.G.T. members the anarchists had always said were scabs from a big strike years ago. The sight of their red and black pointed trams run by communist scabs started the fighting all over. Barricades went up across the tracks, and the trams stopped running.