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The Collectives in Aragon
by Gaston Leval
Gaston Leval: Social Reconstruction in Spain (London 1938);
quoted in Vernon Richards: Lessons of the Spanish Revolution (London 1983)
The mechanism of the formation of the Aragonese collectives has been
generally the same. After having overcome the local authorities when
they were fascist, or having replaced them by Anti-fascist or
Revolutionary committees when they were not, an assembly was summoned
of all the inhabitants of the locality to decide on their line of
action.
One of the first steps was to gather in the crop not only in the
fields of the small landowners who still remained, but, what was even
more important, also on the estates of the large landowners all of
whom were conservatives and rural `caciques' or chiefs. Groups were
organized to reap and thresh the wheat which belonged to these large
landowners. Collective work began spontaneously. Then, as this wheat
could not be given to anyone in particular without being unfair to
all, it was put under the control of a local committee, for the use of
all the inhabitants, either for consumption or for the purpose of
exchange for manufactured goods, such as clothes, boots, etc., {\it
for those who were most in need.}
It was necessary, afterwards, to work the lands of the large
landowners. They were generally the most extensive and fertile in
the region. The question was again raised before the village
assembly. It was then that the `collectivity' if not already
definitely constituted---often this had been done at the first
meeting---was definitely established.
A delegate for agriculture and stock breeding was nominated (or one
for each of these activities when breeding was extensively carried
on), one delegate each for local distribution, exchanges, public
works, hygiene and education and revolutionary defense. Sometimes
there were more; on other occasions less.
Workers' groups were then formed. These groups generally were
divided into the number of zones into which the municipal territory
had been divided, so as more easily to include all kinds of work.
Each group of workers names its delegates. The delegates meet every
two days or every week with the councillor of agriculture and stock
breeding, so as to co-ordinate all the different activities.
In this new organization, small property has almost completely
disappeared. In Aragon 75 per cent of small proprietors have
voluntarily adhered to the new order of things. {\it Those who
refused have been respected.} It is untrue to say that those who
took part in the collectives were forced to do so. One cannot stress
this point too strongly in face of the calumnies which have been
directed against the collectives on this point. It is so far from
the truth that the agrarian collectivity has brought into force,
everywhere, a special account for small proprietors and has printed
consumers tickets especially for them, so as to ensure for them the
industrial products they require, in the same way as they do for the
`collectivists.'
In this transformation of property, one must put special stress on
the practical sense and psychological finesse of the organizers who
in almost all the villages have conceded or given to each family a
bit of ground on which each peasant cultivates for his own use, the
vegetables which he prefers in the way he prefers. Their individual
initiative can thereby be developed and satisfied.
Collective work has made it possible to achieve in agriculture as
well as in industry, a rationalization which was impossible under the
regime of small land ownership and even under that of big landed
properties....
On the other hand, better quality seeds are used. This was rendered
possible by being able to buy up large stocks, which the small
peasant could not afford to do in the past. Potato seeds come from
Ireland and selected wheat seeds only are used. Chemical fertilizers
have also been used. As modern machinery properly used---tractors
and modern plows were obtained by exchange or bought directly from
abroad---permits the soil to be more deeply worked, these seeds have
produced a yield per acre far superior to that which would have been
obtained under the conditions which existed during previous years.
These new methods have also made it possible to increase the acreage
sown. In Aragon my research on the spot permits me to affirm that
generally speaking {\it the increase in wheat crop has reached an
average of 30 per cent.} An increase in yield, though in a smaller
proportion, has been obtained for other cereals, potatoes, sugar
beet, lucerne, etc.
In these agricultural regions the economic condition of the peasants
has generally improved. It has only suffered a setback in those
localities which had specialized in production for export, and which
were consequently unable to place their products and obtain
foodstuffs in exchange. This happened in certain regions in Levante
whose produce consisted almost entirely of oranges. But this state
of affairs lasted only a few months.
This latter fact is of utmost importance. It is the first time in
modern society that the anarchist principle `to each according to his
needs' has been practiced. It has been applied in two ways; without
money in many villages in Aragon and by a local money in others, and
in the greater part of collectives established in other regions. The
{\it family wage} is paid with this money and it varies according to
the number of members in each family. A household in which the man
and his wife both work because they have no children receives, for
the sake of argument, say 5 pesetas a day. Another household in
which only the man works, as his wife has to care for two, three or
four children, receives six, seven or eight pesetas respectively. It
is the `needs' and not only the `production' taken in the strictly
economic sense which controls the wage scale or that of the
distribution of products where wages do not exist.
This principle of justice is continually extended. It does away with
charity and begging and the special budgets for the indigent. There
are no more destitutes. Those who work do so for others in the same
way as others will work to help them and their children later on.
But this mutual aid extends beyond the village. Before the fascist
invaders destroyed the Aragon collectives, the cantonal federations
did all in their power to counteract the injustices of nature by
obtaining for the less favored villages the machinery, mules, seed,
etc....which were to help them increase the yield of their land.
These implements were obtained through the intermediary of the
Federation, which undertook the delivery of the produce of twenty,
thirty, forty or even fifty localities and asked in their name, from
the industrial and stock-breeding centers, for the products which
they required.