INTERNATIONAL LABOUR
OFFICE
GENEVA

Studies and Reports
Series A
No. i

September

25th, i()2(>.

The Agreement between
the Spanish Workers' Organisations.

We publish below a memorandum on the agreement which has just
been concluded between the Spanish Central Trade-Union Organisations.
The facts which are set forth therein appear to be of a nature to interest
all students of industrial problems.

The two central organisations of Spanish workers, the
General Union of Workers (Union General de Trabajadores)
with its headquarters at Madrid, and the National Confederation of Labour (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) with its
executive committee at Barcelona, which up till now have
been bitterly opposed, have just concluded an agreement with
a view to coordinating their activities. The journal El
Socialista, the official organ of the Spanish Socialist Party,
announced this fact in the following terms on the 3rd September last :—
« Representatives of the National Confederation of Labour and of the
General Union of Workers, at a meeting held in the Peoples' Assembly Hall
at ¡Madrid, have concluded a provisional agreement uniting all the elements
of the two organisations with a view to resisting the reactionary and repressive policy pursued for some time past in Spain by politicians • and employers.
The conditions and circumstances of this agreement between all the
organised forces of the workers in the country will be explained in a Manifesto which will be addressed to-morrow to the working class and to public
opinion. »

This Manifesto, published by El Socialista on the 4th September and addressed to all Spanish workers and to public
opinion, is signed by MM. Largo Caballero, Nunès Thomas,
Manuel Cordero, Luis Fernandez, Juan de los Toyos and
Lucios Martine/ for the General Union of Workers, and by

IL0-SR/A1
ENGL
COP. 3

A

MM. Salvador Segui, Salvador Quemados and Evello Boal for
the National Confederation of Labour.
The social problem, declares this Manifesto, has entered
upon a particularly acute phase as a result of the appearance
on the scene of the employers' organisations. These organisations dictate to the Government, which bows to all their
demands. iL is they who have asked for the many measures
which have been taken by the Government against the trade
unions ; it is they who provoked the resignation from the
Government of Señor Sanchez de Toca ' ; and it is they, again,
who have caused Señor Bergamin to leave the Government.
In view of these facts, unity became absolutely necessary.
. AVe must ¡ait an end to our discissions and our disputes. Henceforward quarrels between oruamsed -.Yorkers must cease throughout Spain.
One common intensi should absorb all others the necessity ol' consolidatili« the forces of the proletariat and of meeting the forces arrayed against
us by our common enemy, capitalism, assisted by us servants.

The problem of the fusion of the organisation will be examined carefully, the Manifesto continues, but meanwhile they
must unite for action. It is for this reason that the General
Union of Workers and the National Confederation of Labour
have concluded an agreement with a view to opposing the
capitalist reaction.
In conclusion, the workers' organisations call for the support of all the workers, as well as that oU all those who are
unwilling to allow the Government to remain under the yoke
of employers' organisations, in order to secure respect for the
law and the re-establishment of constitutional guarantees.
The agreement thus established between the two central
workers' organisations of Spain will certainly have a powerful
icpercussion on the social policy of Spain.
Hitherto all attempts at agreement between the General
Union of Workers and the National Confederation of Labourhad failed. The two organisations followed opposing principles and had adopted different tactics. Agreement between
them seemed particularly difficult.
In view of the close cooperation of the General Union oí
Workers with the Socialist Party, the former may be considered as representing in Spain ihe principles of the constructive socialism of Karl Marx and Jean Jaurès. As to the National Confederation of Labour, it is under the influence of the
ideas of Bakunin, and more directly under those of Kropotkin,
propagated at Barcelona by his disciple Anselmo Lorenzo, in
his work El Proletariado Militante.
As regards tactics, the General Union of Workers employed
the mean* recognised by the law—propaganda, strikes, etc.,
' The Cabinet of Señor Sanchez de Toca was replaced by the Dato
( abinet, which, vas recently reconstructed in connect ita; with the rcsiunaiion of Señor Bergamin. Minister of the Interior.

whilst the National Confederation of Labour advocated more
radical methods.
In spite of these differences, many militant leaders of the
two organisations desired a « rapprochement », and even, if
possible, an amalgamation of the two organisations.
It was with a view to arriving at such an understanding
that at its last Congress, the General Union of Workers
adopted the following resolution :—
1° « The fourteenth Congress of the General Union of Workers declares
that it is essential to secure the fusion into a single organisation of
all the workers" organisations which recognise the principle of the
class struggle and are prepared to employ every means which circumstances may render necessary for realising their aspirations
more easily and more quickly.
2° Considering that the propitious events which have recently taken
place in the world, especially in Europe, have had the effect of
making the ideas of the Spanish proletariat in regard to the problem
set before it as an exploited class, clearer and more uniform, the
Fourteenth Congress of the General Union declares that there should
be no divergencies as regards the theoretical basis of the workers*
organisation, as is evident from the declaration of principles adopted
by the present Congress.
3° As regards tactics and methods of conducting the struggle, the
Fourteenth Congress of the General Union of Workers declares that
tactics should be sufficiently elastic to make them acceptable without difficulty to all the workers" organisations. Methods of conducting the struggle should not constitute a difficulty for the Congress,
inasmuch as the General Union of Workers has always accepted, and
still accepts, the methods which tend to secure the triumph of the
workers.
4° With a view t o realising our desires, the Fourteenth Congress of t h e
General Union of Workers resolves to appoint a Commission on
which the Confederation and the Union shall each be represented by
its Committee and by two representatives elected by each of the
trades here indicated: textile industry, agricultural workers, miners,
transport workers, building trade workers, metal workers, food
production workers, printing and publishing workers.
This Commission shall be instructed to carry out the work which
may be deemed necessary with a view to arriving at an understanding
in regard to principles, tactics and procedure between the two organisations, and with a view to preparing thereafter a draft constitution
for discussion by the sections of each organisation.
Any amendment which may be proposed shall be addressed to the
central organisations, which shall present them to the Commission
appointed for the preparation of the basis of understanding or amalgamation.
So soon as they are in possession of the draft of the joint
constitution and of the amendments proposed by the sections,
the national organisations may convene a Congress for the purpose
of separately examining the said constitution and amendments.
If the amendments do not essentially affect the draft, and the
national committees accordingly consider that it is not necessary to
convene the above-mentioned Congress, the mixed Commission which
prepared the first draft shall be instructed to prepare the final draft.
The said Commission shall continue to direct the new organisation until such time as it shall be regularly constituted and it
shall be possible to convene a Congress which shall finally appoint
the Executive Committee or Council.

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4 -

After Lhe Congress of the General Union of Workers, negotiations were entered into between the two organisations. Notwithstanding the concessions made by the General Union of
Workers and the strong desire for union shown by its resolution as a whole, these negotiations did not appear to be destined to lead to any result.
On the 31st July the executive committee of the General
Union of Workers communicated to the executive committee
of Lhe National Confederation of Labour the text of the resolution passed at its Congress, and proposed the appointment
of a joint committee to consider the conditions of an amalgamation of the two organisations.
The committee of the National Confederation of Labour
replied on the 6th August, with great caution, that it was
unable to give a precise answer without first consulting the
delegates of the organisation which it represented.
On the 13th AugusL, however, the committee of the General
Union of Workers wrote again to Barcelona, expressing the
hope that its proposal had been taken into consideration.
The committee of the National Confederation of Labour
replied to this communication on the 26th August in a letter in
which, with apologies for its candour, iL accused the committee of the General Union of acting in bad faith. It contended that the step taken by the latter might be considered
as a manoeuvre intended to give the working classes the impression that the committee of the General Union of Workers
desired amalgamation, whilst the committee of the National
Confederation of Labour opposed it. The Barcelona committee added that there was a contradiction in the resolution
of the General Union of Workers :
« You have voted for amalgamation, » it said, i and at the same time
yon have decided to remain affiliated to the Amsterdam Internationa!,
although you know that we have joined the Moscow International, a circumstance which makes an attempt at co-operation almost useless. >•

In spite, however, of these criticisms, the executive committee of the National Confederation of Labour declared itself
ready to nominate a Commission of three members to enter
into negotiations wilh another Commission of three members
appointed by the committee of the General Union of Workers,
with a view to convening a congress of the two organisations
for the purpose of considering the question of amalgamation.
The committee of the National Confederation of Labour
imposed only one condition : the members of this joint commission must not be members of Parliament or departmental
or municipal councillors, and, generally speaking, they must
not be persons exercising public functions obliging them to
collaborate with the capitalist regime.

In agreeing to consider the conditions of its amalgamation
with the General Union of W o r k e r s , the National Confederation of Labour, which had joined the Third International, was
apparently not acting in conformity with the policy of the
latter as expounded by the Second Moscow Conference in the
preamble of the resolution fixing the 21 conditions of admission to the Communist International, and in the conditions
themselves. « T h e Communist I n t e r n a t i o n a l » , says this p r e a m ble, « is in danger of being submerged by undecided and moderate elements which are not yet finally divorced from the
theories of the Second International 1 . »
Consequently, « t h e parties which desire to belong to the
Communist International are called upon to recognise the complete break with reformism and with the policy oí the Centre,
and to popularise this b r e a k in the widest possible circles >,in
conformity with the 7th condition of admission'-'. And, to
demonstrate the danger which this condition is intended to
avoid, the preamble quotes the case of the Hungarian Soviet
Republic : «No communist can forget the lessons .of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The amalgamation of the Hungarian
communists with t h e so-called Socialist Democrats of the left
cost the Hungarian proletariat very dear. »
In moving towards an amalgamation with the General
Union of "Workers, the majority of whose m e m b e r s are still
partisans, if not of the reformist policy, at least of what the
Third International calls « the policy of the Centre », the National Confederation of Labour was moving precisely towards
one of those « contaminations » denounced by the Moscow
Congress.
But, while departing from the directions of t h e Communist
International as regards the r u p t u r e with « reformist » or
« Centralist » organisations, the executive committee of the
National Confederation of Labour intended, nevertheless, to
make its agreement with the General Union of W o r k e r s conditional on the acceptance by the latter of two of the conditions fixed by the second Congress of the Third International.
T h e committee of the National Confederation of Labour,
in the first place, reproached the General Union of W o r k e r s
with the maintenance of its adhesion to the International Federation of T r a d e Unions of Amsterdam. T h e National Confederation was bound, as an adherent of the Third International,
to oppose this, in virtue of the tenth condition of the Moscow
1

Text adopted by the Moscow Confess on the (ith August. 1920.

- See also the sixth of the nine conditions imposed on the French Socialist
Party : The present majority of the French Socialist Party shall break
completely with reformism and rid its ranks of those elements which are
unwilliiifi" to follow the new revolutionary ;i;;tli, • [Ilmu'wiir. 9th September, 192')).

— 6 —

Congress '. In the next place, it exacted, as a necessary conditio;: precedent to any negotiation, the subordination of the
parliamentary elements, also prescribed by the conditions of
the Communist International -'.
These two demands of the Barcelona committee, especially the first, were of a kind to put an end to every attempt
at an understanding.
The International Federation of Trade Unions of Amsterdam enjoyed great popularity among the members of the
General Union of Workers of Spain, as is proved by the resolution to adhere to it, which was adopted at the last Congress
of this Organisation by 110,902 votes to 17,919, with 3,920
abstentions 3 . Even those who favoured immediate adhesion
to the third International did not dare to propose to the Congress the abandonment of the Trade Union International *.
In these circumstances it was to be feared that the question
of the International would constitute an insurmountable obstacle to amalgamation or even to a mere provisional agreement.
Moreover, the restriction introduced by the committee of
the National Confederation of Labour in the choice of the
members of the Joint Commission appeared impossible of
acceptance by such an organisation as the General Union of
Workers, the principal leaders of which are deputies to the
Cortes or members of Provincial or Municipal Councils.
A new factor, or at least a factor the importance of which
has recently increased, changed the nature of the problem,
and smoothed the difficulties which stood in the way of agreement between the Spanish Workers' Organisations.

1
« It shall be the duty of every party belonging to the Communist International to carry on a persistent struggle against the Amsterdam International of Yellow Trade Unions. It must propagate as energetically as possible
among the workers organised in Trade Unions the necessity for a complete
break with the Yellow International of Amsterdam. It must support by all
means the new-born International Union of Red Trade Unions affiliated to
the Communist International. »
2
11th condition. See also the 5th of the conditions imposed on the
French Socialist Party. (Humanité, 9th September, 1920.)
3
4

EI Socialista, 3rd July and 3rd September, 1920.

The authors of the proposed resolutions for adhesion had sought t o
harmonise adhesion to the Third International, which they considered 't the
most effective weapon for the social revolution of the world » with « the
duty of discipline and still more of loyalty », which obliged the General
Union of Workers to take no step towards effective entry into the Third
International without previously raising the question at the National
Federation of Trade Unions with a view to obtaining the assimilation of the
latter to the Moscow International in such a manner, that it would become
its most powerful auxiliary in the work of the future revolution. (El Socialista.
üth July, 1920.)

— 7 —

For some time past the policy pursued by the Spanish
Government had been attacked in labour quarters as distinctly reactionary. The Governement was accused of having
taken advantage of the suspension of the constitutional guarantees, which had continued since March 1919, to take illegal and oppressive measures. The last Ministerial crisis aggravated this situation \
In effect, this crisis had as a consequence the resignation
of Señor Bergamin, who was generally looked ujpon as a man
of liberal ideas, and who, as Minister of the Interior, had
opposed the inaction of the Government in the matter of social
reforms. In the next place, the employers were actively organising
to deal with the action of the trade unions. Señor Graupera,
President of the Spanish Employers' Federation, was making a propaganda tour in the north of Spain for the purpose
of recruiting adherents among the, many wealthy manufacturers of that part of the country. :1
In view of these facts, the necessity of coordinating their
activities appeared more urgent than ever to the labour organisations. Only by their combined efforts would they be able
to struggle effectively against the employers' organisation and
against the policy of the Government, which the; accused of
being entirely determined by the interests of the employers.
This unity of action must be brought about as soon as
possible, in order to prevent the organised employers depriving the workers of their gains. It was desirable, therefore, to
act without waiting for the result of the negotiations regarding
the amalgamation of the organisations.
This was the attitude adopted by Señor Largo Caballero,
the Secretary-General of the General Union of Workers, in
an article published in El Socialista on the 2nd September.
Señor Largo Caballero declared in this article that the
moment had arrived for abandoning discussion and adopting
a practical solution. And, in the present circumstances, he
1
Señor Dato handed in the resignation of the Cabinet on the 30th
August. The King expressed his continued confidence in him, and the
Cabinet was reorganised, Señor Bergamin, the resigning Minister of the
Interior, being replaced by Count de Bugallal.
2
Señor Bergamin declared, a few days after leaving the Ministry,
that social problems must be solved in a spirit of justice and equity,
without having recourse to exceptional methods. I t is impossible, he said,
to govern in accordance with out-of-date methods, and to let the time go
by without adopting laws favourable to the proletariat. Señor Bergamin
further declared t h a t he had in view several schemes relating to social
legislation, but that he had never submitted them to the Council of Ministers, because he knew t h a t they would have been rejected. (El Socialista,
31st August, 1920.)
3
El Socialista, 31st August, 1920. Señor
celona declared himself well satisfied with
of the north of Spain. He hoped that the
employers of Spain would soon be a reality.

Graupera, on returning to Barhis reception by the employers
effective combination of all the
(A.B.C., 11th September, 1920.)

—8—
íaiü, Lhe i cully practical thing is «to íollow the example of
our English comrades who, without abandoning their special
point of view as regards the taciics to be adopted for overthrowing the bourgeois regime, have reached an agreement
with a view to action at a given moment for the purpose of
attaining a specific end, viz., the avoidance of war with Russia.
The specific end for us is to drive .reaction out of its trenches.
But this must be done rapidly, and the only solution at the
present moment is to ,create a Council of Action, and to
transfer to iL all the functions and powers of the National
Committee as regards combined movements and movements
of the workers as a whole, for, if we do not realise the
urgency of the matter and proceed accordingly, events will
take the workers' organisations by surprise and find them
absolutely unprepared. »
Señor Largo Caballero succeeded in obtaining the assent of
the other members of the Executive Committee of the General
Union of Workers to his views, and it was these views which
inspired the proposal made officially to the National Confederation of Labour.

In a letter dated the 3rd September — that is to say, the
day on which the agreement was concluded — the committee
of the General Union of Workers made the proposal to the
representatives of the National Confederation of Labour, a
proposal which no doubt formed the basis of the agreement.
In this letter, after assurances of good faith and while formally refusing to aclcept the conditions suggested for the
appointment of its representatives, the Committee of the
General Union of Workers emphasised the urgency which
existed for taking immediate measures for the defence of the
workers' cause against Governmental repression, and for this
purpose proposed the adoption of the following resolutions :
1. Appointment of a Council of Action composed of nine
members, three representatives of the National Confederation of Labour, three representatives of the Socialist Party, and three representatives of the General
Union of Workers. The decisions of this Committee to
be binding on the three organisations.
2. So long as this provisional union continues, the ihres
organisations above-mentioned shall mutually respect
each other, and shall refrain from every kind of attack
on one another, either in the press or elsewhere. They
shall also mutually respect the righi of each to belong
to the international organisation which it may think
proper.

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3. This Union shall be dissolved whenever the representatives of any of the organisations shall make a written
declaration to that effect.
The representatives of the two trade union organisations
immediately met, and on the same day they concluded the
agreement which was announced by the declaration and
manifesto quoted above.

What are the conditions of the agreement concluded between the Spanish Workers' Organisations ? How will their
co-operation be established ?
It is impossible to reply with certainty to the first question,
as the Council of Action has published no document other
than the declaration of the 3rd September and the manifesto
of ihe 4th. We may, however, find in the declarations of the
Spanish Trade Union and Socialist leaders, sufficiently clear
indications of the general nature of the agreement and of the
task in view of which it has been entered into.
Señor Salvator Quemades, one of the representatives of
the National Confederation of Labour who concluded the
agreement with the General Union of Workers, has published
in the newspaper España Nueva an article which gives some
indication of the .extent of this co-operation.
The title of the article « Absorption is a Bourgeoise Stupidity » indicates in advance the position adopted by the
author. Señor Salvador Quemades thinks that the union of
the two workers' organisations need not imply the abandonment of their particular tendencies and tactics :—
« I have no hesitation in affirming here, he says, that it is
« useful that these two tendencies should exist, and that our resti ponsibility to public opinion demands t h a t there should be in our
« midst a Government Party or party of direction, whichever you
« prefer to call it, and a party of criticism, or opposition ; but the
« two parties must belong to the family of labour, must belong to
« the same household, and must be constituted with the same aim. »
« The check on ideas and actions which will result from the dif« ferent manner of regarding certain problems is the best guarantee
« of the work which we are going to accomplish. If we amalgamate,
« which is what I heartily desire, these two tendencies will still be
«visible, and will be the source of all our activities.»'

Here, again, one may note the very clear opposition which
exists between the policy imposed upon its adherents by the
Third International and the tactics which seem to prevail at
present among the trade union leaders of Barcelona. The
Moscow International preaches an uncompromising opposition io all other tendencies for the purpose of converting
' Quoted by El Socialista, (ith September 192Ü.

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10

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the Trade Unions to Communism '. The Spanish Trade
Union Leader demands, on the other hand, that the tendencies
respectively represented by the General Union Workers and
the National Confederation of Labour should both be respected. He even sees in this double tendency the source of all
the activities of the workers' coalition.
The attitude of the representative of the National Confederation of Labour coincides, moreover, in this matter with that
of the General Secretary of the General Union of Workers.
Señor Largo Caballero has, in fact, declared himself opposed
to the fusion of the Workers' Organisations.
«To seek to effect a union in this way, he has said,, is to
« prolong the division for an indefinite time, to feed the yellow
«tendency, and to provoke a fratricidal struggle.» 2

The meaning of the agreement concluded between the
Spanish Workers' Organisations thus appears to be clearly
defined.
The Spanish movement, like many other Trade Union activities in recent weeks, is the expression of the strong desire for
union which characterises the action of the working classes of
the West.
In the opinion of Señor Fabra Ribas, the editor of El Socialista, this desire for union is due not only to the need felt by
the Spanish working class >to defend their economic interests ; but to their conviction that it is their duty to undertake the defence of the public liberties suppressed by the
Government for a year and a half without protest on the
part of the bourgeois parties.
« The public liberties, the defence of which particularly
engages the radical or democratic bourgeois parties of every
other country », says Señor Fabra Ribas, « have no other
defenders in Spain than the Workers' Organisations ».
Señor Fabra Ribas concludes, therefore, that the organised
working class in Spain must play the part which is played in
other countries by the Liberal and Republican parties. « It
is for this reason, he says, that the National Confederation
of Labour and the General Union of Workers have thought it
their duty to conclude an agreement for the purpose of
demanding what in any other country the bourgeoisie would
1
Ninth condition of adhesion t o the Communist International : « Every
party which desires to belong to the Communist International must, systematically and with perseverance, carry on a communistic activity within
the Trade Unions, Workers' Councils and Works Councils, Co-öperative
Societies and other organisations of masses of workers. I t is necessary to
organise within these organisations
Communist nuclei which, by
constant and persistent labour, will win the Trade Unions, etc., for the
cause of Communism. I n the course of their daily work the nuclei are
called upon to unmask everywhere the treason of Socialist patriots and
the irresolution of the Centre. The Communist nuclei must be entirely
subordinated to the party as a whole.»
2

El Socialista, 2nd September, 1920.

— 11 have demanded from its Government, even at the risk of
finding itself obliged to undertake an armed struggle against
it... The working class has, therefore, good reason for deciding
to watch over its own destiny and the destiny, of the nation in
general \ »
1
« The Mission of the Proletariat », Article published in El Socialista
of the 10th September, 1920.