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from Libertarian Labor Review #13
Winter 1994, pages 16-17
European Alternative Unions Meet
by Mike Hargis
The following report is based on Jacques Toubles' article,
"Recontre europeene des syndicats alternatifs," published in
January in Le Monde Libertaire.
A "Meeting of European Alternative Trade Unions" was held in
Barcelona, Spain, Nov. 29 through Dec. 1, 1991, sponsored by the
Spanish General Confederation of Workers (CGT). Attending the
three day conference were delegations from union confederations
such as the Swedish Workers Central (SAC) and the Romande
Confederation of Labor; autonomous workers' groups such as the
Italian base committees (Cobas) and an Irish anarcho-syndicalist
group; local trade unions or federations affiliated with
"official" union centers, for example a delegation of railway
workers from the French Confederation of Democratic Unions (CFDT)
and the Proof Readers Union of the French General Confederation
of Workers (CGT); some organizations formed by fellow workers
excluded from the main confederations such as the SUD Postal
Federation; and, finally, a delegation from the Moscow section of
the Russian Confederation of Anarcho-syndicalists (KAS) and some
militants from the Russian Solidarity trade union.
The New European Order
In discussing the developing political/economic landscape in
Europe, the Spanish CGT delegates noted that the new order being
constructed in the various Ministerial cabinets, in Brussels, and
in the board rooms of the multi-national corporations will
undoubtedly mean an increase in inequality and poverty within
nations and in different regions of the continent, as well as
reduction of trade union rights and restrictions on the right to
strike. It was estimated that two million people would be added
to the fifteen million already unemployed. In addition, there are
at least six million workers toiling under temporary or part-time
work contracts, and fifty million people living in poverty. The
drive towards the privatization of public services is going
ahead, and will most likely result in a further increase in part-
time and temporary contract labor. Underneath all of this is
developing a parallel society made up of 20 million immigrants.
The Swedish delegation made special note of the changing
division of labor being constructed and the greater
stratification of the labor force that this will engender. They
see the working class being sub-divided into three groupings: 1)
a highly skilled stratum of technical workers with secure
employment organized within corporatist trade unions whose only
function will be to protect their status; 2) a less skilled and
more precariously employed group; and 3) a totally marginalized
group without skills and without employment. Such a development
would make achieving political and economic unity among the three
groups very difficult, which would be to the advantage of the
capitalists an the State.
Rank and File Action
The fellow workers from the Italian Cobas discussed the
growing importance of the base committees, which are primarily
found in the public services but are also present in the metal
industry. In the past few years the committees have proven their
ability to successfully mobilize workers within local branches of
industry and even within entire industries both on a regional and
on a national level, thus making them a force to be reckoned
with. Thanks to this type of organization (the base committee) a
number of trades--teachers, rail workers--have been able to
successfully resist employers' plans to reduce their standard of
living and working. On the railroads, for example, Italy is the
only nation in Western Europe where the practice of operating
locomotives with two crew members is still in force, thanks
largely to the efforts of the base committees in mobilizing
resistance to the attempts to introduce one-person operation.
This hard struggle has twice resulted in the conscription of the
entire rail workforce by the government, something that hadn't
been seen since the fascist era.
From the Ex-USSR
Of particular interest at the conference was the report of
the Russian delegates of the KAS. The KAS comrade acknowledged
that the organization was going through a difficult period with a
number of fellow workers leaving the organization. These
defections can be explained by the fact that when the KAS was
formed there were no other libertarian groupings in the USSR and
some joined the group without really understanding what the KAS
was all about. When the organization defined itself, in its
congress, as an organization made up of anarcho-syndicalists and
anarchists engaged within the workers movement, those who
disagreed drew the proper conclusion and withdrew from the
organization, not without first accusing the KAS of being
bureaucrats, etc.
Still, in spite of the reduced numbers, KAS' activity has
increased. KAS members are active in several independent unions,
such as the Workers' Union of Baikalsk, the unions of Zaporojie,
the Workers' Union of Lithuania, the strike committee of Samara,
the Solidarity Unions of the Ukraine and the strike committee of
Minsk. KAS groups publish some 20 periodicals and, in cooperation
with the left social-democrats in Moscow, operate an information
agency called KAS-KOR.
The KAS has adopted a policy of maintaining contact with
diverse groups who accept the idea of unionism and collective
property. Many of these groups are in the official Confederation
of Labor, although little by little these groups are leaving the
officials as many strike committees are transforming themselves
into unions.
KAS has also set for itself the objective of promoting
throughout the country the tradition and symbols of anarchism,
like turning the birthplace of Bakunin into a museum or re-
editing the works of Kropotkin. Moscow KAS is also working to
unite the seven anarchist organizations in Moscow into a local
federation and KAS groups in the Ukraine are part of that
region's anarchist federation.
Asked to paint a broad picture of the "left" in the ex-USSR,
the KAS delegate noted that there are a number of socialist
parties ranging from left social-democrats to trotskyites to die-
hard stalinists and the remnants of the CPSU. Also active are a
number of committees for a labor party, supported by some
independent unions, some trot groups, and some old
nomenklaturists. A few anarcho-syndicalists are also supporting
these committees.
The Moscow KAS, however, when approached for support by the
local Committee, refuted their arguments and refused to
participate in the initiative. The KAS comrade felt that it was
necessary to state this position for the record, to counter the
false impression being promoted by the trot press that KAS
supports the formation of such a labor party.
International Solidarity
All in all, the militants who took part in the gathering
felt that the conference was a positive thing and hope to make it
an annual event. The changes being brought about in a "unified"
Europe will be challenging to the autonomous labor movements.
International Solidarity is the only possible, effective
response.