Libertarian Communism

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LIBERTARIANCOMMUNISM

ISSAC PUENTE

MONTY MILLER PRESS

Sydney


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INTRODUCTION

Issac Puente was one of the very fe w members of thenon-labouring classes to wield any influence within the prewa r CN T of Spain. According to Jose Peirats, in Anarchistsin the Spanish Revolution, he was a 'Basque doctor and socialist, propagandist for libertarian com munism. He collaboratedon th e syndical is t and anarchist press ' However, there isnothing in this pamphlet, th e f irst edition of which appearedin 1932, to suggest he was committed to anything bu t anarchism.

Libertarian communism is not a blueprint for a future society. It is, rather, a set of principles to be applied by th eworking class, and all others who are prepared to work along-side them, for taking over and running the economic baseof society so as to refashion i t in accordance with socialjustice. While i t is collective in spirit and method, libertariancommunism gives th e fullest poss ibl e scope to individual needsand aspirations. I t is no utopian scheme, though i t is th emeans by which to reach the utopia of anarchy.

In December 1933, Puente, Cipr iano Mera and Durruti cons-t i tuted th e committee that organ ised th e uprising in Aragon.A comrade who took part, Miguel Foz, has described eventssuccinctly:

'Comrades carried out their task of burning th e propertyarchives, th e church and mun icipal records, etc... A publicannouncement abolished thenceforth the circulation of money We lived for five days under libertarian communism, relying

on th e loyalty of the village and th e apprehensiveness ofth e enemy. Some of our opponents came before the unionsto ask, in full assembly, for explanations of th e meaningof libertarian communism, and some of them came over spon-taneiously.'

The Aragon rising was put down with considerable ferocityby the authorities. Puente was among those arrested andtortured by the police. After five months he and the othermain organisers were finally released thanks to enormouspopular pressure; th e legal case against th e mass of the insurg-ents had collapsed following a daring raid on th e prosecution

offices carried out from within th e prison.

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Puente's pamphlet was widely read. It inspired th e historicplatform formulated by the CNT at its May 1936 congressat Saragossa. This city had been the centre of the December1933 rising. It was on the basis of t;his platform that thelibertarian workers of Spain, in their struggle against fascismthat began only weeks later, pushed social liberation to unprecedented heights. Unfortunately, Puente was one of the f irs tvictims of th e fascists, being cauaht behind their lines andshot in July 1936.

Between the reformist labour movements of most of theworld today, with their reactionary leaders (and their authoritarian middle class would be leaders), and -the kind of revolutionary unions described by Puente, the differences ar e manyand vast. Yet if all the fullt ime officials, all the union

contracts, all the gl i t tering pension funds and all the restof th e apparatus of mirage and blackmail with which thewage slave of today is kept chained physically and mentallyto th e t readmill- if all this were to vanish overnight, theworkers would no t wake up the next morning suddenly defenceless before the merci less greed of th e employers. On thecontrary, they would be organised still in their places ofwork, but with the difference now that they would be ableto unite as never before, concious at last of their real interests.

As their struggle became more and more confident andcoordinated, turning inevitably towards the abolition of theirown slavery, ie of capitalism and th e state, the organisational p r i n c i ~ sadopted would inevitably be those describedhere by th e humanitarian healer and libertarian militantIssac Puente.M.H.

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Libertarian communism

The National Confederation of Labour (CNT) is, so to speak,the channel for all the revolutionary strivings that the workingclass makes towards the realisation of one specific goal : theinstallation of Libertarian Communism . This is a system ofhuman co-existence that attempts to find a-way to solvethe economic problem without using the state or politics, inaccordance with the well- :mown formula: From each

acc o rding t o his / her abilities, to each according to her/hisnee ds.The f re ~ d o mmovement of the working class progresses

through suff ering the 'bitter lessons of experience. Fromeac h setback it emerges rejuvenated and with fresh vigour. I tis a fo rc e in tHe making , the moulder of the future. I t bearswithin itself a se ed o f so cial perfectability, and it bespeaksth e p rese n ce o f a s triving that comes from deep within thehuman being , a striving because of WHich it cannot perishe ve n wer e it t o lose its way anotner nundred times.

The wo rkers ' movement has come through barbaricrepr essions. For a long time it allowed itself to be seducedby the f alse voices of reformism and by the siren songs ofpolitics , which lead only to the emancipation of leaders andredeemers, who from being brothers turn abruptly intoenemies .

The workers have been the target of too much preaching.Some have told them they need calm, others that they needculture, others training. According to the notions of thosewho would be their shepherds, the workers have never beenmature enough to libera te themselves. I f the situation is tocontinue, preparations will go on for all eternity: the onlyway the workers can shrug off the ignorance and culturaldepnvation that the capitalist regime and the state assignthem to is by means of revolution. Every partial freedommust cost just as much effort as total emancipation, if it isto be won collectively and not just by individuals.

I f we look for ways of doing this without attacking the

system, no resolution of the social problem is possible. I t islike Columbus's egg. I f we keep on and on trying to balance

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the egg on one end, we will only waste a lo t of time. Wemust resolve to flatten one of the ends by knocking it onthe table, tmd so attack the actual shape of the egg itself.

The National Confederation of Labour acts as interpreter tothe workers' freedom movement , warning of reformist flanneland giving the blind alley of politics a wide birth . I t hasfound a straight road, that of dorect action, which leadsdirectly to the installation of libertarian communism, the onlypath to freedom . There is no point in building up a powerfulmovement iliat will win the admiration both of its membersand of outsiders, unless it achieves its goal of liberation. Thisis no vague ideal to cherish : it is a battlefront . The ideal is inthe form of anarchism, which supplies the guidance and themotivating force .

. Libertarian Communism is a society organised without thestate and without private ownership . And there is no needto invent anything or conjure up some new organisation forthe purpose , The centres about which life in the future willbe organised are already with us in the society of today: thefree union and the free municipality .

The union: in i t combine spontaneiously the workers fromfactories and all places of collective exploitation .

And the free municipali ty : an assembly with roots stretchingback into the past where, again in spontaneity, inhabitants ofvillage and hamlet combine together , and which points theway to the solution of problems in social life in the countryside. (By "village" the author means a rural settlement o f upto several thousand inhabitants . - Ed.)

Both kinds of organisation, run on federal and democraticprinciples, will be soveriegn in their decision-making, withoutbeing beholden to any higher body, their only obligation being

to federate one with another as dictated by the economicrequirement for liaison and communications bodies organisedin industrial federations.

The union and th e free municipality will assume thecollective or common ownership of everything which isunder private ownership at present and will regulate production and consumption (i n a word, the economy) in each locality .

The very bringing together of the two terms (communismand libertarian) is indicative in itself of the fusion of two ideas:one of them is collectivist, tending to bring about harmony inthe whole through the contributions and co-operation of

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individuals, without undermining their independence in anyway; while the other is individualist, seeking to reassure theindividual that his independence will be respected.

Since by himself he can achieve nothing, the factory worker,railway worker or labourer needs to join forces with hiscolleagues, both to carry out his work and to protect hisinterests as an individual. In contrast, the artisan and thefarm worker can live independantly and can even be selfsufficient, as a result of which the spirit of individualism isdeeply ingrained in them. Thus , the union meets the needfor a collectivist organisation, while the free municipality isbetter suited to the individualistic feelings of the peasant.

Po vertyis

the symptom and slavery the disease.I f

we wentonly by appearances, we would all agree that poverty ought tobe singled out as the worst feature of present-day society. Theworst affliction, however, is slavery , which obliges man toli e down under poverty and prevents him from rebelling againstit. The greatest of evils is not capital, which exploits thewo rker, e nriching itself at his expense , but rather the statewhi ch keeps the worker naked and undefl!nd ,!d , maintaininghim in subje c tion by armed force and by imprisonment.

E very ill that we deplore in society today (and it would be .out of place to list them all here) is rooted in th e institutionof power, that is, in the state and the institution of privateownership, accumulation of which produces capital. Manis at the mercy of these tw o social afflictions which escapehis c ontrol : they make him petty, stingy and lacking solidaritywhen he is rich and cruelly insensitive to human sufferingwhen he wields power. Poverty degrades, but wealth perverts.Obedience consigns man to a state of prostration, whilethe authority deforms his sensibilities . Nothing has ever

been the cause of greater tears or bloodshed than capital, withits fathomless appetite for profit. The whole of history iscrammed with the crimes and tortures carried out byauthority.

Accumulation of wealth, like accumulation of power bythe few, can only be achieved at the cost of depriving others.To destroy poverty, and likewise to end slavery, theaccumulation of property and of power must be resisted, sothat no one takes more than s/he needs and no one isallowed to boss all the others.

Two fundamental drives. By ou r 'very nature and because

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of the way we live, people have two strivings that cannot besuppressed: to bread, which is everything we need to meetour economic needs (such as food, clothing, housing,education, medical assistance and means of communication),and to freedom, or control over our own actions . Externalpressures of themselves do not hold any repugnance for us,since we bow to those exerted by nature herself. What doesrepel and revolt us is that such pressure should be arbitrarypressure, a whim of others. We do not mind a restriction ifwe believe it to be just, and provided that it is left up to us tobe th e judge of that. We do reject it, however, with all th eforce we can muster, if it is something imposed upon uswitholit our having a say in the matter.

So lively and intense if this feeling for freedom (thisambition to be our own masters) that there is an old folktale in which a nobleman forsakes the board, lodging andwarmth of an inn and takes to th e open road; he does thisso as t o cunserve his freedom, fo r th e price of his keep andcomfort in th e inn was to conform to its barrack-likediscipline.

Libertarian communism must make it possible to satisfyeconomic need as well as respecting this wish to be free. Out

of love for freedom, we reject any monastic or barrack-stylecommunism, the communism of ant-heap and beehive, andthe shepherd-and-flock type communism of Russia.

Prejudices: To anyone reading this in a prejudiced way,with their hackles up, all this must seem nonsensical. Letus examine the prejudices involved so that we help those whosuffer from them to overcome the.

Prejudice number one The belief that the crisis is merelytemporary.

Capital and state are two age-old institutions; they are in aworldwide crisis that is progressive and incurable. These aretwo organisms which, like everything in th e natural world,bear within their own decomposing sevles the seeds of thoseorganisms which are to take their place. In the world ofnature there is no creation and no destruction - onlytransformation in everything. Capital is drowning in it s ownfilth. Unemployment is constantly on the increase becauseconsumption cannot match the rate at which production is

expanded by machinery. The unemployed are the troops of


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revolution. Hunger makes a coward of the isolated individualbut when that hunger is generally felt it becomes a source ofrage and audacity. Subversive ideas are growing up among theworking class and they are making headway. The state, too, issuffocating amid its own machinations of strength. It findsitself compelled to set up ever more repressive forces andgreater bureaucracy, heaping the dead weight of parasitismon to the taxes stolen from the taxpayers. One buttresses abuilding because it is threatening to collapse. The individualconsciousness which grows more acute with each passingmoment is openly at odds with the limits set by the state.The imminence of collapse has induced the state to reverse

its historical evolution towards more democratic forms, inorder to don the cloak of fascism in Italy and dictatorshipelsewhere, including dictatorship of the working class inRussia. What has set the growing demands of the workingclass against the old institution of capital are make-or-breakcrises; the state, that old, old institution, now confronts thelibertarian aspirations of the people. They will overwholm it.

I t is futile to cling to the old systems and to tr y to findpalliatives or reforms, or to paper over the cracks, even shouldthe palliatives be as seductive as Henry George's "single tax",for they come too late to breathe new life into a decrepitorganism. Instead, the thought must be of what it is that isstriving to be born, that seeks to replace what has to disappear,of those seminal forces trying to fmd a place in the life ofsociety.

Prejudice number two The supposition that h"ertariancommunism is a productof ignorance.

Because libertarian communism is championed by folk whoare reputed to be uneducated and uncultivated, peoplewho have no university diplomas, it is supposed that it, is asimplistic solution that fails to take account of the complexitie!of life and the problems inherent in change on so vast a scale.

Collectively, the workers know more about sociology thanthe intellectuals; they are much more farsighted when itcomes to solutions. Thus when we take the problem of theexcessive numbers of professional people about, the only

solution which occurs or suggests it self to , say, doctors orlawyers, is to restrict entry to the faculties, which is to say,

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'The vacancies have been filled. There is no room for anyoneelse.' In so saying they consign the emergent generationswho are making for the lecture halls in increasing numbers

to other careers or else to stormy protests. And that solutionis an absurd, a simplistic, a harmful one - hardly fitting forpeople w1\.o pride themselves on their superiority over others.

The workers, on the other hand, in accordance withtheir (buff etting in) the sociology books, dare to putforward a solution which is not confined to a single class,nor to a single generation of one class, but one that appliesto all classes in society. A solution that qualifiedsociologists have already broached at scientific andphilosophical level and one that today can hold its ownagainst any theoretical solution to the social question, on thebasis of ensuring bread and cul ture for all people.

I f it is the 'ignorant' who enunciate that solution, it isprecisely because for al l their reputed learning, the intellectualsknow nothing about it. And if the workers adopt it as theirbanner, the reason is that collectively the working class hasa much more precise vision of the future and a greater breadthof spirit than all the intellectual classes put together.

Prejudice number three The intellectual aristocracy .This is the attitude that the people are not equipped to

live a life of freedom and consequently are in need ofsupervision. Intellectuals seek to enjoy the same aristocraticprivilege over the people as the nobility has had unti l now.They aspire to be the leaders and instructors of the people.

All that glitters is not gold. Nor is the intellectualstanding of all whose fate iit is to be deprived of educationto be disdained. Many intellectuals fail to rise above the

common herd, even on the wings afforded them by theirdiplomas. And, conversely, lots of working class peopleare the equals of the intellectuals in terms of talent .

University training for a profession in no way impliessuperiority, since such training is not won through opencompetition but rather under the protection of economicprivilege.

What we call common sense, a quick grasp of things,intuitive ability, initiative and originality are not things thatcan be bought or sold in the universities. They may befound in illiterates and in intellectuals in equal measure.

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For all its ferocious ignorance. an uncultivated mentalityis preferable to minds that have been poisoned by privilegeand eroded by the routine grind of learning.

Cultured they may be, but our intellectuals are nonethelessuncultivated in their sense of dignity, a sense that sometimesshines far brighter in folk who are supposed to be uncultured.

A clean job does not imply superiority any more than beingin a profession does and it is simplistic and puerile to pretendthat people in that sort of employment should direct andinstruct those who are not.

Prejudice number four The claim that we feel only contemptfor art,

scienceor

culture.Our position is that we cannot understand why it is thatfor these three activities to shine they have to rest uponpoverty or human slavery. In our view they ought to beincompatible with such unnecessary evils. If, in order toshine , they needed the contrast with ugliness, with ignoranceand with lack of culture, then we would declare here and nowthat we want none of them, and we would have no qualmsabout uttering a heresy by saying so.

Art, science or culture cannot be bought with money ortaken by power. On the contrary, if they have any value,they repudiate all subjection and defy subordination . Theyare born of artistic dedication , of talent, the drive to enquireand a taste for perfection as such. They are not conjured upby any Maecenas or Caesars . They flourish anywhere inspontaneous fashion and what they require is that noobstacle stands in their path . They are the fruits of whatis human and it is naive to believe that anything is addedto them by setting up, governmentally , any patents officeor prizes for culture .

When the worker asks for bread and presses for justice andtries to emancipate herself, only to be met with the charge thatshe is going to destroy art, science or culture, it is only naturalthat she should be an iconoclast and cast down with oneswipe that untouchable idol that is used to fix her in herslavery and in her poverty. And who said that art, scienceor culture would be in any way diminished by the adventof well-being and the enjoyment of freedom?

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Prejudice number five That we are not equipped to builda new life.

The new economic order needs technical assistance, suchas exists between the specialist and the unskilled labourer.Just as today even the revolutionary forces co-operate inproduction, so tomorrow everyone will have to. That is, th enew life is not to be judged by th e abilities that exist now insociety as a whole. I t is not love of th e bourgeoisie that inducesth e technician to work, but economic necessity. Tomorrow,what will induce everyone to co-operate in production willalso be economic necessity, bu t an economic necessitythat will be felt by all wh o are able-bodied citizens. We do

not trust only in those wh o work out of devotion or virtue.So we need not dazzle the world with our talents, norour extraordinary gifts, which would be every whit as phoneyas the gifts of politicians. We do not offer to redeem anyone.We do advocate a regime where it will not be necessary forpeople to be slaves in order to get them to produce nor willt here be an y call for poverty to make them succom b to thegreed of capital. Where it will not be caprice or private andindividual expediency that govern or direct, but where all ofus will contribute to the harmony of the whole, each withtheir labour, in proportion to their strengths and theirtalents.

Prejudice number six The belief in the need for a socialarchitect.

This belief, that society needs a power to maintain order,or that a mass will dissolve in chaos unless there is a policeforce to prevent it, is a prejudice, that has been fostered bypolitics. What holds human societies together is notcompulsion by th e powers that be, nor the intelligentforsight of those in government, who always falselyimagine themselves to be possessed of this quality. Whatholds societies together is the instinct of sociability and theneed for mutual aid. Furthermore, societies tend to assumeevermore perfect forms not because their leaders so choose,

but because there is a spontaneous tendency towardsimprovement among those who compose them, an inborn

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aspiration of this kind in any group of human beings.By the same wrongheaded idea we credit the growth and

development of a child to the care of the parent as if growthand maturity were due to some external cause. But growthand development are ever present in any child withoutanyone needing to induce them. The important thing is thatno one 3hould impede or obstruct them.

The child is taught and educated in the same fashion:by natural inclination. The teacher may take the credit forthe child's gift of being able to assimilate and be formed, butthe fact of the matter is that the child learns and is educatedeven without anyone to direct him, or her, provided that no

obstacles are placed in his or her way. And in rationalpedagogics (That is, "child centred e d u c a t i o n ' ~- Ed.), theprimary role of teachers is to immerse themselves in thebiologically humble task of clearing the path and removingthe obstacles that stand in the way of the child's inclinationto assimilate information and to form itself. Self-educatedpeople provides ample evidence that the teacher is not anindispensable partner in the process of learning.

We might say the same about medicine. The doctor canclaim the credit for curing a patient and the public at largemay believe them. But what is really responsible for the cureis the spontaneous tendency of the body to restore its ownbalance, and the body's own defence mechanisms. The doctorbest does the job when, again with biological humility, theymerely remove the obstacles and impediments that standin the way of the restorative defences. And on not a fewoccasions the patient has recovered in spite of the doctor.

For human societies to organise, and to perfect thatorganisation, there is no need for anyone to instigate. I t isenough that no one obstructs or hinders. Again, it isnaive to want to improve on the human and to seek toreplace natural human tendencies with the contrivances ofpower or the waving of the conductors baton. Withbiological humility we anarchists ask that these organisingtendencies and instincts be given free rein.

Prejudice number seven: Placing knowledge before experience.This is like wanting dexterity to precede training: skill to

precede apprenticeship: practical experience to precede attemptsor calluses to come before hard work.

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We are asked from the outset to come up with a flawlesssystem, to guarantee that things will work this way and notthat, without mishap or error. I f learning to live had to bedone this way, then our apprenticeship would never end.Nor would the child ever learn to walk, nor the youngster toride a bicycle. On the contrary, in real life things happen theother way around. Once begins by making a decision to workand through that work one learns. The doctor begins topractise while not yet master of this art, which is acquiredthrough confrontation, error, and many failures. Without priortraining in domestic economy, a housekeeper can keep her/hisfamily's heads above water through good management of an

inadequate wage. One becomes a specialist by emergingfrom dullness litt le by little.Living in libertarian communism will be like learning to

I ive. Its weak points and its failings will be shown up whenit is introduced. I f we were politicians we would paint aparadise brimful of perfections. Being human and beingaware what human nature can be like, we trust that peoplewill learn to walk the only way it is possible for them tolearn: by walking.

Prejudice number eight: Politicians as intermediaries.The worst of all prejudices is the belief that an ideal can be

brought into being through the intercession of a few, eveh

though those few may not wish to be known as politicians.Politicians content themselves with placing an inscription onthe outward face of a regime and penning the new guidelinesin the constitutional documents. Thus, it has been possibleto pass off the Russian system as communism; and it has beenpossible to present Spain as a Workers' Republic where thenumber of workers of all classes is eleven million (Out o f apopulation o f 24 millions. - Ed.) I f it were up to thepoliticians to bring libertarian communism into being we

would have to make do with a regime which would in noway qualify as either communist o r libertarian.

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As against th e juggling and swindling of political action,we advocate direct action which is nothing other than theimmediate realisation of the idea in mind, the making of ita tangible, real fact and not some abstract written fiction orremote promise. I t is the implementation by the whole itselfof an agreement made by the whole, without putting itselfin th e hands of messiahs and without putting any trust in anyintermediary .

The more we have recourse to the use of direct action andsteer clear of intermediaries, the more likely will be therealisation of libertarian communism.

The economic organisation of societyLibertarian communism is based on the economic organisationof society, economic interest being the only common bondsought between individuals in that it is the only bond onwhich all are agreed. The social organisation of libertariancommunism has no aim other than to bring into commonownership everything that goes to make up the wealth ofsociety, namely, the means and tools of production and theproducts themselves and also to make i t a commonobligation that each contribute to that productionaccording to their energies and their talents and then tosee to it that the products are distributed among everyone in

accordance with individual needs.Anything that does not qualify as an economic function

or an economic activity falls outside the competence of theorganisation and beyond its control. And, consequently, isopen to private initiative and individual activity.

The contrast between organisation based on politics, whichis a feature common to all regimes based on the state, andorganisation based on economics, in a regime which shunsth e state, could not be more radical nor more thorough. So

as to bring that contrast out fully we have set out thefollowing comparative scheme.

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POLITICAL ORGANiSATION

1 Treats the people as a juvenile, incapable oforganising or governing itself without supervision.

2 All powers reside in the state: in the economy,

in education, in administration of justice, in the.interpretation of law, in th e creation of wealth andin th e organisation of all functions.

3 The state is sovereign, all force (army, police,courts, jails)being centred in it s grasp. The peopleare undefended, unarmed - which does not stopthem being dubbed "sovereign" in the democracies.

4 People are grouped according to their political,religious or social beliefs, which is to say to aminimum degree insofar as these are th e issues uponwhich people differ and vary most.

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The state, which is a tiny minority, claims tohave a greater acumen, ability and wisdom than

the various social groupings. "One head knowsbetter than all the rest put together."

In laying down a fixed norm for all time (itsconstitution or code) the state deforms the futureand mutilates life, which is many-sided and constantlychanging .

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UNION ORGANISATION

1 Regards each professional collectivity as fit toto organise its own affairs. Regards supervisionas unnecessary and the state as redundant .

2 Initiative passes to the professional organisa t ions.Control of education to the teachers . Control ofhealth services to workers in those services . Controlof communica tions to technicians and workersmeeting in assembly, while control of productionbelongs to the Federation of Unions .

3 Power returns to whence it came in that eachgroup will give i t to its members ; and it no longe rbeing accumulated, each individual will have theirshare and the assembly will have whatevereveryone grants it.

4 People are brought together by commonoccupation and by common needs in the union ,and , so far as the free municipality is concerned,by locality and shared interests . This way, thingsin common are maximised.

5 With its own professio . the assembly comprisesthe maximum acumen, ability and wisdom.

Everyone together knows better than a singleperson, however learned.

6 Under union organisation the guidelines to befollowed will be reviewed continual ly in thelight of circumstances.

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POLITICAL ORGANISATION

7 The state abrogates everything to itself. Thepeople have nothing to do, except to pay up, beobedient, produce and kow-tow to the supremewill of the person in control. The state says:"Give me power and I will make you happy ."

8 Society is divided into two antagonistic castes :those who issue orders, and those who obey.

9 Only fictional, paper rights are granted: freedom ,sovereignty, autonomy etc . in order to feed thesacred flame of political illusion.

10 The progress and evolution of society leads thestate through despotic and absolutist formstowards its collapse. Fascism is a belated solution,as is socialism. The state disguises and concealsits privileges only to end up losing them little bylit tle as individual and class consciousnessdevelops.

11 Where organisation is politically based, hierarchybecomes accentuated towards the apex. Abovethe people one has the town council: above that,the county council: higher still, the governor andeven further up, the government.

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UNION ORGANISATION

In the absence of the intermediaries andredeemers each individual has to see to their ownaffairs and get used to managing without gobetweens, thereby ridding themsleves of a habitacquired through a century after century ofpolitical education.

8 Every citizen refuses to be just a producer andnothing more. Administrative posts will betemporary, with no exemption from productivelabour. Such posts would be constantly dependentupon the decisions reached by th e Assemblies.

9 The basic freedom, which is economic freedom,is put into practice. Democracy, that is, government of the people by th e people, will be a reality.

Federalism will be real, with recognition givento the utmost autonomy and independence ofmunicipality and every productive entity.

10 The evolution of professional collectivities leadsthem to ever greater perfection an d growth. Theyhave moved on from defending the selfisheconomic interests of the individual to trainingthat will equip them to accept responsibility fortheir role in society.

J 1 Where organisation has an economic basis,hierarchy works from the bottom upwards. Thedecisions of a committee may be over-ruled by aplenum; a plenum's decisions by the assembly an dand the assembly's decisions may be over-ruledby the people.

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Wealth and labourThere are two things to be shared out among the population ofa nation: the wealth, or produce for the consumption of theentire populace, and the labour required to produce it. Thatwould be a fair, equitable solution. And a rational one, too.Bu t in capitalist society the wealth goes to one sector, asector which does not labour, while the work is heapedupon another whose needs, in matters of consumption, are notmet. That is, we have a situation precisely the reverse of whatone finds in nature, which always supplies more sustenanceand more blood to th e member or organ which does th e work.

The wealth is estimated to stand at an annual yield of some25,000 million pesatas annually (1935). Were it distributedproperly it would mean that Spain's entire population, some24 million inhabitants, would be comfortably off, with alittle over 1,000 pesatas each per annum. Thus, a family offive would have an annual income o f 5,000 pesetas - asituation which would leave everyone in comparative comfort,economically speaking.

But since, under the capitalist system, capital is expectedto yield interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, and

authority has to be matched by income, so that someindividuals have an income of some millions of pesetas a year,there have to be whole families whose income is less than halfof the sum sue to each individual as their share.

The issue of pt;setas and how to share them out wouldnot arise under a libertarian communist set-up. Only productswould be dealt with and these would no longer be changeableinto pesetas, could not be accumulated, and would be sharedout among everyone in proportion to their needs.

The other thing needing to be shared out is the work. Andhere again one can see the same unfair and rebellion-makinginequality today. In order for some to spend their liveslazing around, others have to sweat eight hours of the day, ifnot ten or fourteen.

Now since some seven million workers are engaged inproducing the wealth and this means they have to work anaverage of eight hours a day, if th e fourteen million ablebodied citizens were to work it would mean a mere fourhours' work each day by each person.

This is th e clear and simple object lesson which can be

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deduced from a good and fair distribution. This is the utopiathat the anarchist wishes to bring about.

The economic potential of our countryAs one might expect, the introduction of libertariancommunism in our country, alone of the nations of Europe,will bring with it the hostility of the capitalist nations.Using the defence of its subjects' interests as its pretext,bourgeois imperialism will attempt to intervene by force ofarms to crush our system at its birth. Armed intervention onthe part of one single or several isolated powers would meanthe unleashing of a world war. So as to avert the threat ofsocial revolution in their own countries, the capitalist nationswould prefer the underhand ploy of financing a mercenaryarmy as they did in Russia, which would reply upon whateverredoubts .of reaction may survive.

The memory of similar struggles and kindred situationsin ou r people's history gives us confidence in the battlefor our independence, and the topographical conditionssupplied by our land. I f the people do make the most of theresources of our countryside, and thereby arrive at a more

comfortable standard of living, then they will be in thestaunchest defender of libertarian communism.Another threat is the danger of a blockade of our coast

by the warships of the capitalist nations as a result of whichwe would be forced to rely on our own resources alone.Given the length of our coastline such a blockade would beeasily evaded. But the possibility remains, so we have to posethis q u ~ s t i o nin advance.

Do we produce enough ourselves to be in a position tomanage completely without imports.

Let us see. Present figures will not be wholly applicableto the future situation, fir they bear not so much on ourimport needs as on what is profitable to import, not always thesame thing. Thus coal, for instance, could be mined from theabundant seams in our own subsoil, yet we import itfrom England because compared with out own, English coalis competitively priced. And this year Argentinian wheat wasimported even though there was no need for this, since therewas wheat aplenty in Andalusia.

Statistics show that we are self-sufficient where agriculturalproduce is concerned: we export large quantities of olive

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oil, oranges, rice, vegetables, potatoes, almonds, wines andfruits. W.e are self-sufficient in cereals, regardless of the factthat we import maize. And we have mor than enough metal

to meet our needs.But we are dependent upon imports for petroleum andits by products (gasoline, heavy oils, lubricants, etc.), forrubber, cotton and wood-pulp. Given that it is crucial totransportation, the lack of petroleum might prove a serioushandicap to the furtherance of our economy. Consequently,in the event of a blockade bieng imposed, it would be vitalthat we pour all our energies into sinking new wells in searchof petr oleum, which have yet to be located, though it isbelieved to be present. Petroleum may be obtained bydistilling soft coal and lignite, both of which we have inadundance in this country . This indu stry already exists andwould have to be intensified so as to meet our needs. Wecould eke out our gasoline supply by mixing it with 30% to50% of alcohol, a mixture which gives excellent results inall motors. The alcohol supply would be inexhaustible, fori t may be obtained from rice, wheat, potatoes, molasses,grapes, wood, etc .

As for rubber, it would have to be produced synthetically,as its being done in Germany already.

Cotton is already harvested in our country, especially inAndalusia, with huge success and, judging by its steAdy risein output it will soon be enough to meet our requirementsas a nation. I t might be planted instead of vines and olives,two products whose yields are surplus to our needs.

The timber industry could be expanded to meet our needsin that line, with a corresponding intensificiation of ourreafforestation programme.

The eucalyptus and the timber pine are th e best sourcesof wood-pulp.But aise from production as it stands at present there are

grounds for optimism when one remembers the potentialSpain has for production. It is what one might consider a coucountry yet to be colonised, a country which has not evenbrought forth a tenth part of its total resources.

We have incalculable supplies of electricity, in which weare second only to Switzerland. And the building of reservoirsand irrigation canals is virtually virgin territory. We do noteven cultivate one half of our arable land, estimated at 50

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million hectacres. Ou r arable land needs to be improved: ourcultivation must be intensified and farm machinery must beintroduced throughout. A system whereby everyone workstogether would allow production to be increased once thefarm machinery, that at present is available only to thehiers of the wealthy landowner, is made available to all theholdings in a municipality.

Matching production to consuption is something thathas yet to be attempted. We have more than enough land.But apart from land we have more human energy than weneed, which means production potential.

Far from being a problem for the libertarian communistsystem, the surplus of human energy will, instead, be th eguarantee of its success. I f there is a surplus of workers itfollows logically that this means that less work is demandedof us and we have two courses open to us. Either we cutthe working day or we increase production.

The surplus labour power means it may be possible forus to reduce the individual's working day, meet the increasein work (construction of reservoirs and canals, reafforestat-ion work, increased cultivation, an increase in metal productionand exploitation of hydro-electric power and the step up

production in a given industry.Thanks to the organisation of shift work it will be easierto make the best use of staff to increase production from afactory or to double its daily production figures withoutincreasing the amount of machinery. The present employeesalready looked upon as skilful will be split into two shifts, oneworking after the other with each shift taking on so manyapprentices.

In this manner even in the most inadequate industries

production can be doubled without any need to give athought to th e establishment of new factories and withoutany need to improve or increase machinery.

Consequently, it can be shown that our country can beself-sufficient and thereby withstand the rigours of severalyears of blockade. Once we are beset by real necessity, thenthe solutions which we, no specialists, have been able toimprovise in an impromptu way, will be improved upon, asadversity stimulates our creative urges and ingenuity.

One cannot leave everything to improvisation but neithercan its help in critical circumstances be dismissed out of hand,

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for it is precisely at such times that we are at our mostresourceful.

Implementa tionLibertarian communism is based on organisations that alreadyexist, thanks to which economic life in the cities and villagescan be carried on in the light of the particular needs of eachlocality. Those organisms are the union and the freeminicipality .

The union brings individuals together, grouping themaccording to the nature of their work or daily contact throughthe same. First, it groups the workers of a factory, workshopor firm together, this being the smallest cell enjoyingautonomy with regard to whatever concerns it alone. Alongwith kindred cells, these make up a section within theindustrial or departmental union. There is a general tradesunion to cope with those workers who have not sufficientnumbers to constitute a union of their own. The localunions federate with one another, forming the local federat-ion, composed of the committee elected by the unions, of theplenum of all the committees, and of the general assemblythat, in the last analysis, holds supreme sovereignty.

The free municipalityis

the assembly of the workers ina very small locality , village or hamlet, enjoying sovereignpowers with regard to all local issues. As an institution withancient origins it can, despite dilution by politicalinstitutions, recover its ancient sovereignty and take charge ofthe organisation of local life.

The national economy is the result of the coordination ofthe various localities that go to make up the nation. Wheneach locality has its economy in good order and welladministered, the whole has to be a harmonious arrangementand the nation perfectly at peace with itself. The thing isnot that perfection should be superimposed from on high,but that it should flourish at grassroots level, so that it isa spontaneous growth and not a forced bloom. Just asagreement between individuals can be reached through contactbetween them, harmony between the localities will beachieved in similar fashion; through the circumstantial,periodic contacts in plenums and congresses and the lasting,ongoing contact set up by the industrial federations whose

special brief this will be.

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In the cityIn the city, the part of the free municipality is played bylocal federation. In large centres of population such greatorganisations may exist in each district. Ultimate sovereigntyin the local federation of industrial unions lies with thegent-ral assembly of all local producers.

Their mission is to order the economic life of theirlocality, but especially production and distribution, in thelight of the requirements of their own locality and, likewise,the demands of other localities.

In time of revolution, the unions will take collectivepossession of factories, workshops and workrooms; of

lodgings, buildings an d lands; of public services an dmaterials and raw materials and faw materials kept in storage.The producers' unions will organise distr ibution, making

use of co-operatives or shop and market premises.A producer's pass-book, issued by the appropriate union,

will be indispensable if anyone wishes to enjoy all theirrights; in addition to the detaild information concerningconsumption such as, for instance, size of family, thenumber od ays and hours worked will also be noted in thesepass-books. The only persons exempted from this requirement will be children, the aged an d the infirm.

The producer's pass-book confers a right to all these things:

To consume, in accordance either with rationing or withtheir needs, all products distributed in that locality.

2 To possess, one o n e ~ suse, a suitable home, necessaryfurniture, a chicken run on the ougkirts, or an allotment,or a garden should the collective so decide.

3 To use pu blio services.

4 To take part in the voting on th e decisions made in one'sfactory, workshop firm, one's section, union and localfederation.

The local federation will attend to the needs of its localityand see to it that the particular industry is developed that it

is best suited to, or which the nation has the most urgentneed of.

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In the General assembly, work will be allocated to thevarious unions, who will further allocate to their sections,just as th e sections will towworkplaces with the constant aim

of averting unemployment, of increasing the daily outputof a shift of workers in an industry, or of cutting by theamount required the length of the working day .

All pursuits that are not purely economic should be leftopen to the private initiatives of individuals or groups.

Each union should try to engage in activities that bringbenefits to all, especially those activities concerned withprotecting the health of the producer and making workmore agreeable.

The general economic orderEconomic pressures compel the individual to co-operate in theeconomic life of the locality. These same economic pressuresought to be felt by th e collectives, obliging them to co-operatein the economic life of the nation . But to accomplish thisneeds no central council or supreme committee, which carrythe seeds of authoritarianism and are the focal points 'ofdictatorship, as well as being nests of bureaucracy . We saidthat we have no need of an architect or any ordaining authorityauthority beyond the mutual agreement betw een localities .As soon as each and every locality (city, village, or hamlet)has placed its internal life in order, the organisation of thenation will be complete. And there is something else wemight add concerning the localities. Once all it s individualmembers are assured that their needs will be met, then th eeconomic life of the municipality or of the federation willalso be perfected.

In biology, for an organism to achieve its proper

physiology and mormality, each of its cells has to fulfilit s function and that requires just one thing : that the bloodsupply and nervous relationship be assured. We might saythe same about a nation. The nation's life is assured andnormal when each locality plays its part and the blood supplywhich brings i t what it lacks and carries away what hampersit has been assured (or, to put it another way, transport isassured) and when localities are in contact with each otherand communicating their mutual needs and potentials.

And this is where the national industrial federations cameinto play, being just the bodies for the elaboration of

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collectivised services that need to be governed by a nation-widescheme, wuch as communications (posts , telephones, telegraphs) and transport (railways, ships, highways, and

aircraft).Above th e local organisation, there should be no superstructure aside from those local organisations whose specialfunction cannot be performed locally. The sole interpretersof the national will are the congresses and where circumstances demand they shall, temporarily, exercise suchsovereignty as may be vested in them by the plebiscitedecisions of the assem blies.

Aside from the national federations of transport andcommunications there may be regional or county federations, such as hydrogrphical, forestry or electricityfederations.

The national federations will hold as common propertythe roads, railroads, buildings, equipment, machinery andworkshops. They will freely offer their services to thelocalities or to the individuals who co-operate with theirparticular effort in the national economy; offering theirproducts or their surplus output; striving to produce, as faras possible, more than the needs of the national demand; and

making their personal contribution to such labours as thoseservices may have need of .

The mission of the national federations of communications and transport is to bring the localities into touchwith one another, building up transport services betweenproducing regions and consuming ones; giving priority toperishables which have to be consumed quickly, goods suchas fish, milk, fruit and meat.

Upon the right organisation of transport hinge reliable

supplies to areas of need an d the non-congestion of areaswhere surplus es are produced.No single brain nor any bureau of brains can see to this

organisation. Individuals reach understanding throughmeeting one another and localities do the same by keepingin touch with one another. A guide or handbook, showing theproduce in which each area specialises, will simplify theprocurement of supplies, indicating just what may berequested of a given area and just what it has to offer.

Let necessity force individuals to combine their effortsin contributing to the economic life of their locality. And

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let necessity likewise force collectives to regulate theiractivities through nationwide interchange; and let thecirculatory system (transport) and the nervous system(communications) play their part in the establishment ofliaisOns between the localities.

Neither the running of the economy nor the freedom ofthe individual require further complications.

ConclusionLibertarian communism is an open channel through whichsociety may organise freely and of its own accord, and throughwhich the evolution of society may follow its course withoutartificial deviations.

I t is the most rational of all solutions to the economicquestion in that it corresponds to an equitable sharing out ofproduction and labour required to achieve a solution. No onemust shirk this necessity to join in the co-operative effortof production, for it is nature itself which imposes this harshlaw of labour upon us in climates where our nourishmentdoes not grow spontaneously.

Economic compulsion is the bond of society. But it is, andmust be, the only compulsion which the whole should

exercise over the individual. All other activities -cultural , artistic, and socientific - should remain beyondthe control of the collective and stay in the hands of thosegroups keen upon pursuing and encourltiing them.

Just as the obligatory working day (i.e. th e working dayactually necessary given existing technology - Ed.) would not,exhaust th e individual's capacity for work - there will,alongside controlled production, be other, free, spontaneousproduction - a production inspired by keenness andenthusiasm, a production which will be its own s a t i s f a c t i o n ~itsown reward. In this production will be sown and willgerminate the seeds of another society, th e new societyexalted and propagated by anarchism, and, so far as it meetsthe needs of society, the economic ~ u p e r v i s i o nof individualsby organisations will have been made redundant.

A thousand objections will be raised, most of them sodevoid of sense as not to merit refutation. One objectionthat is often repeated is laziness. Now laziness is the naturalproduct of a particularly favourable climate, fo r it is therethat nature justifies laziness, making the individual indolent.

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We recongise the right to be lazy provided that those whoseek to exercise that right agree to ge t along without help

from others.We

live in a society where the lazy person,the incompetent and the antisocial being are types whoprosper and enjoy plenty, power and honours. I f suchpersons agree to renounce all this, there is no obstacle totheir remaining, as exhibits in museums or galleries, just asfossilised animals are placed on display today.Isaac Puen te

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Rebel Worker GroupoAnarcho-syndicalism is a libertarian workers' movement based

on th e class struggle against th e double yoke of Capital &th e State. I t aims to unite all workers in economic combativeorganisations (revolutionary syndicalist unions) with th e conscious goal of th e reorganisation of social l ife on th e basisof l ibertarian communism.

o Anarcho-syndical ist organisations have a twofold function.Firstly, the revolutionary struggle for economic and socialimprovement within existing capitalist society, and secondlythe workers' self-education towards complete self-managementof production and distribution through th e social isation ofall wealth.

oAnarcho-syndicalism stands completely opposed to all economicand social monopoly. I t does not seek th e conquest of politicalpower, but rather th e total aboli t ion of all state functionsin th e l ife of society. Hence i t rejects all parliamentaryactivity and other collaboration with legislative bodies. Itstands for fighting organisations in the workplace and communi ty, independent of, and opposed to all political Parties andTrade Union bureaucracies.

oAnarcho-syndicalism has as it s only means of struggle DirectAction in all its forms- occupations, strikes, boycotts, sabotage, th e General Strike, etc. To ensure th e full participationof all in both th e current struggle and th e future self-management of society, i t opposes centralism in it s organisations.I t organises on th e basis of libertarian Federalism. That isfrom th e bottom up without any hierarchy and with full freedom of ini t iat ive fo r local and regional groups. All co-ordinating bodies of th e workers Federation consist of recallabledelegates with a mandate of action determined by local

workers assembl ies.

o Anarcho-syndicalism rejects all arbitrari ly created politicaland national frontiers. Standing against Nationalism and allNation-states, i t raises the banner of revolut ionary Internationalism, both in spirit and in concrete global action and mutualaid.

o Anarcho-syndicalism opposes racism,a"nd al l attitudes and institutions thatequality and th e right of al l peopletheir own lives and the ir environment.

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sex ism, mi li tarismstand in th e way of

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REBEL WORKER PAMPHLET #5

LIBERTARIAN COMMUNISMIsaac Puente

First published by the CN T in spanishas a widely distributed pamphlet in 1932,with many subsequent editions.The f irs t english translation appeared in'The Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review' #6,Orkney 1982.

This Edition published 1985 byMONTY MILLER PRESSP.O. Box 92 Broadway,Sydney 2007, Australia.

- BLACK CAT PRINTERS -


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