Franco's police in March this year was the signal for the most recent of the nation-wide mobilisations of the working class which have shaken the Spanish dictatorship in recent y ears.
After three decades of fascism and military dictatorship, under a regime built on the bones of the Spanish Revolution, the working class is moving into new revolutionary struggles. Since the messive actions against the Burgos trials in 1970 which saved the lives of the Basque nationalists convicted by a military tribunal for political activities, the regime has been unable to quell solidarity actions by workers. Most prominent of these have been the SEAT cur factory strike in Barcelona in October 1971, the shipyard workers strike in El Ferrol early last year (in which two workers were killed by police), and the local general strike in Vigo in Septembcr.
RECENT STRIKES The recent strikes of March and April in response to the murder of Manuel Fernandez shared many of the same caracteristios of these struggics: solidarity in the face of repression (spreading rapiily to other cities); advances in organisation and woricers democracy (strike committees, workers" commisstons ano smaent comabtrecs coccoag representatives to local councis in the Barcelons areal; sell-delence pickets on the demonstrations.
The CP meanwhile has tribd to contain the upsurge of the past Tew years within the framework of the Pact for Liberty,' a programine for alliance with the so-called "progressive' sections of the bourgooisie lor the restoration of bourgeois democracy. The Stalinista have attempled to chanoel the activity of the working class into the formation of an 'opposition' within the State trade union appanilus, But struggles have constantly goue beyond this framc work, tevive the Workers' Commissions in the factories (generally led by the CP) as independent organs of the working class, It was through such struggles within the Workers" Commisions that the strikes at El Ferrol and Vigo developed.
NEW VANGUARD To the fore of the new revolutionary vanguard which has grown up during these years are the Lig Comunista Revolucionaria (LCR, sympathising section of the Fourth International) and ETA VI. The LCR. founded two years ago, has played a major part in the campaign against the state unions; ETA VI is the revolutionary wig which has emerged trom the nationalist movement of the Basque country whose militants were the defenders at Burgos, ETA VI seas the road to national seif-determination ci the Basques in the struggle for the socialist revolution throughout Spain. On 14 May this year, an important step was taken in the struggle to build the revolutionary party in Spain, whena joint declaration on the tasks of revolutionaries was issued by ETA VI and the LCR. The following is an extract from the conclusion of the resolution: 6 The mobilisations against the murder of Manuel Fernandez have demonstrated the breadth of the new mass vanguard in the factories and the Workers' Commissions (CO). The main weakaesses are now the present natue of the CO aod their lack of implantation in the factories, which makes them a barrier to the growth of the vanguard and to its further radicalisation. Its current growth, and increasing ability to initiate mass actions poing beyond the class colaboration policy of the Spanish CP, are not matched by a conscious desire to struggle for a lotmula for proletarian power, as opposed to the project of class colaboration embodied in the CP's 'Pact for Liberty.' But such strugeles as do tnke pince, and die experience of self-organisation they criticism of the "Pact for Liberty" and the strengthening of various extreme-lelt currents, make it increasingly posible to overcome these weaknesses and bring a growing section. of the new vanguard to join a serious revolufionar y alternative.
In response to the repreasive policy of the dictatorship and the economic plans of the bour geoisie as a whole, the mass movement must be unified und organised, and a political vanguard developed to lead it towards the overthrow of the dictatorship.
Within the CO, und groupings of important sections of the workers' vanguard, the morement must be educated in the need to struggle for the most urgent united demanda and for self-orgunisation of the class by means of assemblies and elected committees. In the face of Franco's crumbling 'legalicy", the morement must pay no respect to the capitalist policy of collective contracts and not Barcelona, nulilanas protect a demonstration with Molotov cocktails with the boses: only workers" assemblies will decide, only struggle pays!
The examples of Burgos, SEAT, El Ferrol, Vigo and above all Sau Adrian have showo that the forming of co-ordinating committees and of bodies representing all the sectors in strugele (CO, elecied committees, faculty and other student committees, workers" parties, etc.) is necessary to unify and centralise mass action. The ground must be laid for a workers" united front to overthrow the dictatorship Down with the police state!
Workers' Commissions must lead the struggle to orgunise solidurity und self-defence of struggles!
Free Camacho and his comrades! End the repression against the Basque nationalists! Down with the bloody dietatorship! Long live the international solidarity of the working class!