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 September a joint CNT-UGT take-over.
Whilst there was a glaring absence of directives, the reference to employers ‘voluntarily gifting’ their firms remains suspect. Fear and opportunism must have played a large part. However, special mention must be made of the stance adopted by the Federació de patrons perruquers i barbers de Barcelona i Pobles limítrofes (Barcelona and Outskirts Wig-makers’ and Barber Employers’ Federation), which made contact with the CNT’s barbershop employees’ union on 9 August to discuss collectivization. On 11 August there was an extra-ordinary meeting of that employers’ Federation:
Following a short debate and clarification of a number of related points, a vote was taken and the contents of said document were unanimously and unreservedly endorsed by acclamation on every count. At the same time it was resolved that once collectivisation came into force the aforesaid employers’ associations would automatically be disbanded, their members becoming, ipso facto, members of the Barcelona and Outskirts Barbers’ Sindicato Único, enjoying all of the rights and obligation pertaining thereto.
On 14 September, collectivisation of that industry was formally enacted into law, with the employers’ assets and those of their Accident Fund transferring to the collective.
From the preceding list of events, we may deduce that, alongside the UGT,93 the CNT seized the nerve centers of the Barcelona economy, as borne out by the decisions taken by the Regional Committee. So what was the political impact?
Let us take a look at statements emanating from the UGT, the CNT94 and from the Generalitat. Companys was asked by the News Chronicle:
Just supposing that the Catalan people were to champion anarcho-syndicalism. Would the Government of Catalonia go along with that?
That is not how I see things. The democratic bourgeoisie, free of any interest in finance capitalism, has no right to override the will of the people. Should that happen, the bourgeoisie would be obliged to go along with it.95
As for the CNT, on Sunday 9 August 1936, there was a huge anarchist rally held in Barcelona, involving Vázquez, Montseny and García Oliver, at which the official line of the anarchist ‘notables’ was made public.
Given the abandonment of many of the industries vital for the economic reconstruction of the revolution we are compelled to go further than we had intended. Let us take on the responsibility, discarded without any thought of extracting the least advantage from it.96
To put this another way: Gentlemen of the bourgeoisie, if there is libertarian communism, it is the doing of the rank and file, but we, the leadership of the CNT, are doing our damnedest to apply the brakes to it.
On the international scene, we face the threat of foreign intervention […] Let us offer them no excuse, however […] When the consuls came calling upon us, we swiftly marked out foreign-owned firms so as to preclude anyone’s tampering with them. And when such has been the desire, we have even posted our own sentries to ensure respect for such foreign interests.97
In other
