Anarchism and Workers' Self-Management in Revolutionary Spain. Frank Mintz
reduction in fares.64
Catalan Railways: Operated at a profit, and high salaries were paid to the managers.
Northern Rail: An under-manager earned a minimum of 41,000 pesetas a year, and a porter 5.5 pesetas a day (about 1,650 per annum). According to a number of sources, an industrial worker was earning 10 to 12 pesetas a day (3,000 to 3,200 per annum).
Given this situation, it made sense to amalgamate all three lines, especially in wartime. This was achieved within a few days; the timetables were overhauled, rolling stock centralised and wages amended according to the principle of fairness, etc.
The article, “The future structures of the railways”,65 refers to electrification of Spanish railways, something that became a reality many decades later.
Transportation services in Barcelona presented a similar picture: they were centralized,66 wages were standardised,67 hours were cut so as to provide work for the unemployed,68 pensions were paid to retired employees,69 a range of initiatives overhauled and reconciled time-tables, shift arrangements, spare parts, and a number of other practices that had been in place for years. And the workers made all of these improvements within days because they knew their trade, and could identify what problems needed resolution.
Energy sources: Initially, gasoline was distributed free of charge, and it was only after mid-August that it was priced, and rationing introduced.70 It seems extravagant that unification of the railways should have been pursued while gasoline was free. One plausible explanation is that this might have been the result of different capabilities among trade unionists.
The water, gas and electricity companies were taken over by their trade unions towards the end of July.71
Communications: The Telefónica, a subsidiary of the US Bell company, was controlled by the CNT-UGT, which was to become a political issue in May 1937.
Commerce: Large stores, like El Siglo and El Águila, were impounded.72 Barbershops and hairdressers were collectivised in mid-August.73
Provisions: The Damm brewery with its 610 employees, overhauled its payroll by cutting high wages and doling out a 70-pesetas pension instead of the previous 35-pesetas one.74
A workers’ committee proceeded to re-open a pasta factory, which had closed down after it had gone bust.75
The nerve centre of Barcelona’s food supply, as well as its greatest achievement, was the Borne market in the city centre.
Public Entertainment: Almost right after the failure of the attempted coup, there was a gathering together of musicians, actors, stage hands, etc., who decided to join the CNT. They launched an Entertainments Union and solved the problems of unemployment (500—of 1,500—musicians were unemployed), favouritism and wages. The Argentinean anarchist writer Rodolfo González Pacheco staged a number of plays, and numerous documentary films on the war and self-management were shot.76
After this short flurry of activity, there was a tremendous slowing down due to the contrary activity of the CNT-FAI leadership and the failure to take over the banks. The question of whether or not self-management was a spontaneous phenomenon has been left open. Chronology offers us one way to determine the answer since, if self-management began at around the same time in many firms, we may infer that the order came from above and the application was at the grassroots level; whereas, if things were less coordinated, the inference is that in each factory or workshop there was debate, delay and hesitancy until a final decision was reached.
This chronology falls into two distinct phases. The first, a period when there was no lawful authority, lasting until 8 August 1936, which saw the Generalitat government taking control of firms, and thus underpinning the activities of the rank and file committees.
Company Take-overs:
19 July Trams, Furnishings77
20 July Torras Company, Girona Company, Ribera Metals & Silver, Hispano-Suiza, Maquinaria Terreste y Maritima, Vulcano Company,78 Northern Rail, the El Siglo store
21 July MZA
22 July Metro
23 July Public Entertainments
24 July Catalan Railways79
25 July The Transatlántica Company,80 Water Services81
27 July Xalmet Company82
28–31 July Light & Power,83 Sanitation84
1 August García García Industrial Foundries85
2 August Pompeia Bookstore86
3 August Gabernet Advertising87
5 August Spanish General Bookstore Co.88 Escampa-Unión Publishers89
7 August Publicitas,90 Field Steel Erectors91
This makes a total of twenty-six firms: nine involved in metalworking, six in transport and eleven in the service sector, covering a wide range of activities and spread over a lengthy period of time. At the García García Company, the owner offered his firm to the workforce.
As for the second, later period, one might have expected that there would have been a surge in take-overs. Instead, the take-overs continued but usually at a slower rate.
Metalworking and Automobile industry:92 Between 11 August and 31 August, eleven firms were taken over through the imposition of an audit committee: six by the CNT and one by the UGT, plus three joint CNT-UGT take-overs and one of indeterminate complexion. In September, there were twenty-three cases of take-over: eight by the CNT, eight joint CNT-UGT operations, and seven of indeterminate complexion. Among this total of thirty-four cases, we find fourteen CNT committees, one UGT committee, eleven CNT-UGT committees and eight of indeterminate persuasion. In nine instances, the cited motive was the absence of the employer (six CNT committees and three UGT committees). In eight instances, the employer voluntarily ‘gifted’ his firm to his workforce (two CNT committees and six committees of no particular political persuasion).
In several instances, firms shared the same street but did not follow the same pattern. Thus there were Nos. 6, 172 and 295 in the Calle Pedro IV; there was a CNT take-over on 27 July; on 1 September there was a joint CNT-UGT take-over; and on 15 September there was a take-over of indeterminate hue. Something of the sort happened with Nos. 419, 533, 574 and 674 in the Calle de Corts. On 28 August we find a CNT take-over, a UGT take-over in late August, a CNT-UGT take-over on 10 September and another joint take-over on 28 September.
The Clothing Industry: Undated records, fifteen take overs; we have three of CNT provenance, eleven on behalf of the CNT-UGT and one on behalf of the CNT-UGT plus another organisation. In August there were eleven cases, starting on 12 August: five from the CNT, three from the CNT-UGT, one from the CNT plus another body and two of undetermined provenance. In September there were nineteen instances: two emanating from the CNT, and seventeen from the CNT-UGT. Thus, out of forty-five take-overs, there were thirty-one joint CNT-UGT committees and ten CNT committees.
In three instances the employers gifted their firms or entered into a partnership. As with the other industries, we find different arrangements on the same street: on the Ronda de San Pedro there were five CNT-UGT cases in August—on 20 September and on 8 and 13 October. On the Calle Trafalgar, Nos. 6, 15, 36 and 80 were involved: there was one CNT committee, three CNT-UGT committees involved in take-overs on 31 August and 7, 9 and 14 September.
Printing Trades and Paper-mills: In August, starting on the 13th, there were twenty-nine instances: twenty-one CNT, seven CNT-UGT and one CNT-UGT-POUM. In September, there were thirty-nine take-overs, most of them during the first fortnight, and thirty-two were UGT and seven CNT-UGT. So, out of sixty-eight instances, the UGT was in the ascendancy on fifty-three committees, as against fourteen CNT-UGT committees and one for the CNT and POUM.
The UGT’s ascendancy had no impact on the features set out earlier. As far as the employers went, there was one who was made ‘technical director’. There were also variations between firms in single locations. On the Ronda Universidad, there were two cases of take-over on 21 August, one on 26 August, one on 1 September—all four emanating from the UGT—and, on 22