Goals and Means by Jason Garner

Author:Jason Garner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AK Press
Published: 2016-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

8. Anarchist Organisation and Syndicalist Overreaction

In 1927, after years of delay, confusion, and debate, the Spanish anarchists finally created an independent anarchist organisation, albeit this organisation, the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI), was a joint venture with their Portuguese comrades. The origins of the FAI lay in attempts by the syndicalist organisations of the two countries, the CNT and the Portuguese Confederação Geral do Trabalho (CGTP), to create an Iberian Syndicalist Confederation.1 When this project failed, due to the ban on the Spanish confederation, anarchists from the two countries began moves towards the creation of a peninsula-wide anarchist federation, a process which culminated in the creation of the FAI. Although they played a leading role in the preparations prior to the foundation of the federation, the influence of the Portuguese in the FAI was limited. The FAI was effectively a Spanish anarchist organisation.

The goal of the federation was to unite all the diverse factions of the anarchist movement together in one organisation. Although the FAI was not therefore solely concerned with the labour movement, it soon became clear that, initially at least, the supporters of the MOA were one of the main forces behind the new organisation. The inaugural conference of the FAI in 1927 supported the principles of the MOA, but, realising that the CNT could not be forced to accept the MOA against its will, it adopted a more gradual approach instead. The FAI’s tactic for ensuring that a close relationship was maintained between anarchism and syndicalism was the trabazón (literally ‘close or organic link’). This link would be achieved by the formation of a series of joint councils in areas of mutual interest to both the FAI and the CNT, thus guaranteeing that close relations between anarchism and syndicalism in the country were maintained. Although unstated, it was clearly hoped that joint action in one area might eventually spill over into another and the CNT would slowly adopt the principles of the MOA. Although the translation of ‘trabazón’ into English is the same as the ‘organic link’ proposed by the Comintern (see chapter 4), this similarity can be misleading. The CNT was not to be forced to accept the trabazón. During a further attempt to reorganise the CNT, launched at the beginning of 1928, the confederation gave qualified acceptance to the trabazón in areas of mutual interest by agreeing to the creation of joint councils for revolutionary action and prisoners’ aid, whilst at the same time stressing its independence in all union matters. As with previous attempts, the relaunch failed following the arrest of leading militants at the end of the year. Meanwhile, an attempt to create a form of international trabazón between an anarchist International and the IWMA was rejected at an international anarchist congress and the IWMA’s third congress, both held in May 1928.

The close cooperation of the FAI with the CNT during 1928 inevitably brought a reaction from the syndicalists. Disturbed by the close relations between the CNT and the FAI, as well as the

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