A WorkersSolidarity112 November/December 2009 Twenty-Five Years of Irish Anarchist News There is Another Way Anarchists Find Huge Hoard of Wealth The rich remain rich and the rest of us are supposed to keep them that way. That’s why we get pay cuts, health cuts, education cuts, job cuts. It’s not as if dipping into the pockets of PAYE workers is the only way to foot bills. A mere 5% of the Irish population own 40% of the wealth. And a tiny 1% own most of it (34%). What pinko fan- tasist came up with these figures, asks the cynic. Well, it was that well-known radical outfit, the Bank of Ireland (in its Wealth of the Nation report). This small number of super-wealthy people own assets (that the Revenue Commissioners know of) worth €100bil- lion. 1,500 of them, the ones that didn’t take tax-exile status, declared incomes over €2.3 million last year. And then there’s the gas and oil fields of capitalism are going by the rules of our workplaces for a national strike off the west coast valued at €420 bil- capitalism – the working class supply that will shut down every job – public lion and rising. Any chance of look- the wealth, and the ruling class supply sector and private sector alike. ing again at the incredibly generous endless reasons why this arrangement Our strength lies in the fact that we terms given to the oil companies by is the only possible one. crooked Minister Ray Burke back in do the work. Without us there are 1987? Seemingly not. Marching will not be enough to stop no busses or trains, no deliveries to the government and IBEC. It was a shops, no teaching in schools, no When Brian Lenihan said there is good start by showing that the stom- production, no services, nothing. We no pot of gold to be had from the ach for a fight to preserve working have a great power in our hands if we wealthy, he was telling a quite deliber- people’s living standards is there. To stand together. The time has gone ate lie. The only thing that is lacking truly show that we mean business beyond protest, now we need to use is the political will to make the rich and to build a campaign to force the our muscle in defence of ourselves, pay for their own crisis. And no wealthy to pay for the crisis, we need our families, the retired and people surprise there, the supporters to begin by winning the argument in on social welfare. Inside: Strike Action | Anti-Facism | Anarchist News & Analysis WorkersSolidarity 112 links to resource extraction multinationals and the web of connections that can be drawn between media figures, the Gardai Review: and Fianna Fail. This is useful stuff. Other columns cover the origin of the quot- Someday ed figures, questions of security of supply, safety concerns, and the possibility of a Independent better deal being made. Useful quotes are interspersed along with the text – one from “Someday Independent” is a 4 page Green Party member, Trevor Sargent, high- leaflet produced by Dublin Shell to lights their cynical about-turn from a previ- Sea. The design/layout and graphical ously strident and principled opposition to work is of a very high standard and the Gas Giveaway. compares favourably to high cost, pro- fessionally produced brochures. The A former director of Statoil, Mike Cunning- overall colour scheme and design is a ham, gives a very illuminating quote: “No pleasing blue “wave” design which is country in the world gives as favourable easy on the eye and appropriate to the terms to the oil companies as Ireland”. Com- subject material without drawing too ing from a former oil company director, this much attention to itself. is quite something to consider!

The leaflet employs a satirical headline On the last page, a brief summary of the which emulates the tabloid style - put history of campaign to date is presented, something controversial and attention- excellent tactic which brings the figure which is especially useful in showing the grabbing on the front cover to catch the down to earth and shows the practical length of the struggle, the breadth of in- reader’s attention. But in this case, the value of the Corrib Gas field reserves to dividuals and organisations involved, and headline “Ireland Strikes it rich, all cuts to the current economic predicament. the frightening levels of abuse (both ver- be scrapped”, has a deeper purpose, which bal and physical) dealt out by the Gardai is to make the very salient point that the A side box on the 2nd page summarises and Shell security forces to those resist- huge wealth contained in the Corrib Gas the background to the gas giveaway ing this project. Field would be sufficient to solve our eco- originating with Ray Burke and Bertie Ah- nomic woes many times over. ern 20 years ago and the new terms and The final page also gives over a side column conditions they introduced for oil and to a checklist of actions which the reader A sidebar along the bottom of the front gas exploration and exploitation. can take to help the campaign and contact page brings the difficult to grasp figure details for Shell to Sea Dublin. It’s a solid way of 420 billion euro into perspective by Columns are split up in a logical way so that to end a very effective leaflet which should showing some examples of what such each covers a different area of concern – be distributed as widely as possible. money could provide, for example: “300 one column deals with the news and me- times the annual pension levy”. This is an dia personalities involved, detailing their Cian Lynch

Libertarian Networks Shell to Sea Campaign to move Shell’s gas pipeline Contacts Indymedia Ireland offshore from Co. Mayo. Alternative user-generated Irish news. http://www.shelltosea.com Anarchist Organisations http://www.indymedia.ie Hands Off the People of Iran Workers Solidarity Movement Seomra Spraoi Anti-imperialist network for solidarity with PO Box 1528, Dublin 8. Dublin Social Centre Iranian trade unionists & the women’s www.wsm.ie 10 Belvedere Court, Dublin 1. rights movement. [email protected] http://www.seomraspraoi.org http:// www.hopoi.org [email protected] | [email protected] Galway Social Space Choice Ireland Organise! 24 Middle Street, Galway. Abortion rights action group PO Box 505, Belfast, BT12 6BQ http://www.galwayspace.org [email protected] [email protected] http:// www.choiceireland.org

Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Campaigning Groups Alliance for Choice (NI) Group (RAG) http://allianceforchoiceni.org Free Education for Everyone PO BOX 10785, Dublin 1. Campaign to stop the reintroduction of http://ragdublin.blogspot.com/ Residents Against Racism college fees and to promote the right to Opposing racism and deportations. free education for all. 24 hour helpline: 087 666 2060 [email protected] http://free-education.info/ WorkersSolidarity 112 Francisco Ferrer Murdered By the State ‘Teach people how to think, not what to think.’ A hundred years ago this year, a huge campaign arose around the world to save the life of Francisco Ferrer. A Cat- alonian by birth, Ferrer was an active anarchist and well known across Eu- rope and the Americas for his radical views on education. Ferrer’s enemies were not for turning though and the campaigns failed. He was shot to death by firing squad on October 13th 1909.

Born to Catholic parents outside Barce- lona, Ferrer became involved at a young age in anti-royalist activities in . He fled to Paris to escape the Spanish au- thorities and there became involved with and the great love of his life: education and learning.

Ferrer held the view that people were born free with inquiring, independent minds. He believed that children had a thirst for knowledge and that the role of thought that these practices were the use these new methods of teaching and education was to develop and encour- opposite of what teaching and learning he commissioned and published school age this fundamental quality. At the time should be about. He opposed the idea of books that looked at the world in a differ- in Spain, the Catholic Church had a stran- exams and believed that inquiry, discus- ent way to the way the ruling class of that glehold on education. For many there sion and egalitarian practice between day wanted. was no other means to learn other than teachers and students were central to In those years in Spain the anarchist to go to a school run by Catholic priests how teaching should be organised. movement was growing stronger by the – sound familiar? Yet what happened If Ferrer had confined himself to writing year. Their activities were met by repres- to children in these schools? Ferrer wit- books about education, he might well sion and Ferrer himself was arrested on nessed Catholic nuns and priests filling not have become such a thorn in the au- numerous occasions for his involvement. children’s heads with superstitions and thorities’ side. But that was not his style. In 1909 though, the authorities finally nonsensical ideas about ‘miracles’ and Returning to in the early 1900s saw their chance and took it. A general the ‘afterlife’. To Ferrer, this practice by the he organised the first of his ‘Escuela Mod- strike in Barcelona turned into a bloody Church served the interest of the status erna’ (Modern School) schools in Barcelona. uprising that later became known as The quo. He abhorred the idea that irratio- These schools were non-religious, co-edu- Tragic Week. Military law was imposed nal ideas (or ideas that made no sense) cational and democratic. Today many of the and Ferrer was arrested. He was quickly should be forced on children and those ideas at its core are accepted as being not charged with treason and found guilty seeking knowledge. only correct but central to what education even though no evidence was produced. should be about. Concepts such as build- OFF BY HEART ing ‘self-esteem’ and ‘respecting children as Oddly Ferrer’s execution drew a huge amount of attention to what he had been For many people at the time, the solu- individuals’ are now regarded as standard fighting for. Across Spain and around the tion to this problem was to involve the ideas around which good learning practice world many schools were founded which State in education. But Ferrer didn’t agree can take place. set about following in the example of his with that idea either. He argued that the first Modern School. Moreover, in time, his State also had a political agenda when A NEW WAY views became a beacon of light for educa- it came to education. It was similar to Ferrer’s new schools in Barcelona sur- tionalists and teachers of many persuasions what the Church desired in that the State vived in the teeth of repression for only who wanted to break forever with the idea too wanted to make people docile and a small number of years. But he had al- that schools and teaching should be used regimented. As an example of what he ready sowed the seeds of a new way of to indoctrinate and control children. meant, Ferrer pointed to the State’s ob- doing things. At the same time he also session with exams and teaching by the started a school for teachers that would method of ‘learning off by heart’. Ferrer Kevin Doyle WorkersSolidarity 112 of working It’s Time to people. As SIPTU’s Brendan Hayes pointed out when he refused to sign the Tax- ation Commission report, “people earning more than €200,000 would Strike Back not have to pay any Working people hit the more tax”. streets in huge numbers on November 6th. The pro- This is a class conflict. tests showed, once again, There is an employers’ of- that there is a willingness fensive to reduce wages to resist the government’s and public spending. It is attacks on living standards. not about everyone tak- Most observers put the to- ing a hit, it’s about the tal number who walked out minority who own a huge of work to take part in the amount of Ireland’s wealth eight protests at around preserving and adding to 100,000. their holdings.

When 120,000 marched on Employers unilaterally February 21st the Irish Con- impose new contracts, gress of Trade Unions fol- pay cuts are imposed in lowed this up with their plan profitable firms like- Ma for a on March rine Terminals and Boots, 30th, only to cancel it in re- pension schemes are turn for the promise of new changed to no longer “social partnership” talks. guarantee a set payment and jobs are outsourced The prospect of new “social to low pay firms. partnership” talks has been suggested again. Congress Instead of buying in to leaders want little more than the fiction that the boss- to be ‘consulted’ and nego- es’ interest is somehow a tiated with. They want to “national interest” we can start asking questions moderate the government’s With many senior union officials on wages like, why can hospitals and schools have strategy but accept the “need” for income many times higher that their members it is their funds cut but €54b be quickly found cuts. certainly true that they have no personal to bail out a handful of mega-rich prop- motivation when it comes to resisting pay Statements from ICTU general secretary erty developers and investors? cuts. INTO’s John Carr gets €171,313 a year, David Begg and SIPTU president Jack IMPACT’s Peter McLoone €171,000, ASTI’s O’Connor say they want the cuts to be Why are people like Tony O’Reilly, Marga- John White €144,000, David Begg €137,400 implemented more gradually. Begg has ret Heffernan or Denis O’Brien not being and Jack O’Connor €124,000. said public spending cuts should be relieved of a chunk of their wealth when workers have to give up a chunk of our spread over the next eight years up to However, while it would be easy to blame pay? Why are PAYE workers, who have ab- 2017 instead of the Government’s target this small but very influential group of over- solutely no control over economic deci- of 2013 “to minimise the effect the cuts paid people, it ignores the reality that the sions, expected to foot the bill? have on workers”. They have agreed with majority of union members voted for the the government’s argument that workers ‘partnership’ deals. The agreement may be The alternative to pinning our hopes on should bail out the rich, they just want it dead but the concept of a common inter- done over a longer time. David Begg getting a great deal over tea est between boss and employee still hangs and sandwiches in the Taoiseach’s office over us like the ghost of yesterday. Some public sector union leaders have is strong, combative unions. And that means shop stewards and activists who made it known they are prepared to sup- There is no alternative to income cuts if want to fight back getting together inside port cuts in services, allowances, working we continue to “embrace the spirit of part- our unions to convince our colleagues to conditions and even extending the work- nership”. If the bosses and government back an alternative based on letting the ing week as long as there are no more are our “partners” then it makes sense rich “share the pain”. cuts in basic pay. This has led to a feel- to go along with their priorities. That ing among many union activists that the means bailing out the rich at the expense leaders have “sold out”. Alan MacSimóin Find out more. Check out www.wsm.ie

Informacje i artykuly w jezku polskim dostepne na stronie www.wsm.ie/polska WorkersSolidarity 112 Thinking About Anarchism: Workers Have the Power In the WSM we’re often asked why we the world’s wealth, which means that they action to improve our wages or working con- spend so much time talking about the own the farms and the factories that produce ditions, we realise that we are stronger when working class. Even the title of our paper, all of the necessities of life. The rest of us have we stand together, and we cut into the prof- Workers Solidarity, seems a bit odd to to work for them - and this, not the clothes we its of our bosses. And the more successes some - why are we talking so much about wear or the books we read, is what makes us we have in campaigns like this, the more we workers? Isn’t anarchism for everybody? working class. (Obviously, the working class realise that we don’t have to stop there, with And aren’t we all middle class now? includes the unemployed, and the partners small gains and reforms, but that we’re able and children of workers). to fundamentally change society so that it Questions like these are based on a misun- serves all of our interests. derstanding of what class actually means. Be- At the heart of the capitalist system is profit, ing working class doesn’t mean being poor, the difference between what we get paid for And that’s our ultimate goal - not to improve working down a mine, or keeping pigeons, our work, and what our work is worth. In ev- the position of the working class, or even any more than going to college or working in ery profitable business, by definition, workers put the working class in charge, but to abol- an office makes you middle class. The work- are being paid less than their work is worth. ish the property system that creates classes. ing class is, basically, everyone who has to What’s left over is your boss’s profit, money When every workplace is run by the people work for a living, and the ruling class is the that they’ve earned from your work. And this who work there and production is for need people that we work for. The middle class is a is why the system continues - for all those alone then there can be no profit, and so no small group somewhere in between the two - that are exploited by capitalism, and suffer working class or ruling class. That’s the basis not rich enough to live off the work of others, because of it, the rich and powerful continue of an anarchist society, a society where ev- but still not entirely dependent on their own to benefit from it. eryone is truly equal, and so everyone can be wages. truly free. If the recession is hitting everyone, who The working class are those with the most is buying the Goldvish mobile phone? The working class is important because of the to gain from the abolition of capitalism, and This diamond-encrusted mobile costs a society we live in today. Capitalism is based on we’re also the ones with the power to change cool €1 million. See www.goldvish.com. an unequal distribution of wealth and power. society, because capitalism depends on our Ray Cunningham And you can write the cheque with a lim- A small minority of people control most of continuing to support it. Whenever we take ited edition Montblanc fountain pen for $25,000 (€17,072). Nearly one in five rented homes across Fascists Get the Boot the 26 counties inspected last year did In October, Anti-Fascist Action success- In response, anti-fascists from various groups not meet minimum legal standards, ac- fully prevented a large European neo-nazi mobilised and leafleted the area a number cording to the Department of the Envi- gig from going ahead in Kerry. Dozens of times - talking to local shop workers and ronment. 2,854 of the 14,880 rental prop- of Slovakian, Polish and Czech neo-nazis teenagers who congregate in the vicinity. erties checked were found to be below were planning to spend a long weekend in minimum standards. Yet there were only Ireland to celebrate the birthday of a lead- As a direct result, the boneheads have stopped eight prosecutions of landlords. ing fascist living in Dublin who’s originally hanging out in Temple Bar and harassing pass- from Prague. AFA managed to stop the gig ers-by. We have also built new relationships Pupils at St John’s Girls National School in Car- from taking place and even had the plea- with local shops that have pledged their sup- rigaline, Co Cork have been asked to provide sure of bumping into a few of the Blood & port to further anti-fascist work. their own toilet paper because of cutbacks. Honour fascists in Dublin. WSM members will continue oppose the Green Party leader John Gormley went www.wsm.ie/story/841 A couple of months earlier, a small self-styled growth of fascist groups in our cities and to a conference on climate change in the neo-nazi skinhead gang was behind a num- communities. To read about the WSM’s policy Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye. If he had trav- ber of racist assaults in the Temple Bar area. on resisting fascism, please log onto: J. Carax elled from Holyhead by bus and train, the journey would have cost £15 each way. But John sent for a limousine from London and left the taxpayer with a bill for €2,200. This is the same Gormley who criticised the sala- ries paid to top RTE stars, describing them as being “completely out of touch with the Anarchism & the WSM reality of ordinary people’s lives.” We carried out an anti-Lisbon campaign involving the distribution of 15,000 cop- The Central Statistics Office says that aver- ies of a special edition of Workers Solidar- age pay increased in the first quarter of this ity and putting up posters advocating a year. A look at how that figure is arrived at no-vote. Our activity was designed to be- tells an interesting story. In the manufactur- gin a discussion about the sort of Ireland ing sector, office workers saw their hourly and Europe people would like to live in, pay fall by -2.3% and production workers and was centred on the needs of working saw theirs fall by -0.8%. However, manag- people. The vote may have been lost but ers got a 6.5% increase. In addition, their several thousand people got to hear about annual bonuses were 2.5 times that of the the anarchist alternative. bonuses they received in 2006. Our members have been active in support- Coca Cola announced a profit of $2.04 bil- ing the MTL dockers during their prolonged lion in the second quarter of this year, up strike in Dublin, where several community 43% from last year. In Ireland their drivers marches and an occupation of the freight de- were told to take pay cuts of up to 40% or pot were staged. As we go to print talks are be transferred to another transport firm still taking place about the details of a return on similarly reduced wages. to work, but the company has been defeated in its attempt to break the union. The gap between wealthiest 10% and the Attendees at the recent meeting on South Africa in Cork rest of the USA is worse than at any time We were also on the streets, with 15,000 oth- on record. Two thirds of all income gains ers, in the national march against cuts in the from 2002-7 went to the top 1%. The Wal- community sector on Sep. 30th in Dublin and against racist gangs, supported a picket of tinued with one in Navan in early November. ton family, owners of Wal-Mart, is worth mobilised for the ICTU regional protests on the BBC offices there in protest at the neo- WSM members also met with probably the more than the bottom 100 million Ameri- Nov. 6th. Our message was that ‘marching is nazi British National Party being given a tele- planet’s best-known anarchist, Noam Chom- cans combined. not enough – a national strike is needed’. vision platform. sky, who visited Belfast and Dublin at the end of October. WSM members have been involved, with We held well-attended public meetings in others, in the new Social Solidarity Network Cork and Dublin with a guest speaker from The WSM held a successful national confer- of workers, unemployed, students and com- the Zabalaza Anarchist-Communist Front, ence on October 31st, where we discussed munities who want to resist cutbacks in pay a South African anarchist organisation. You the future policies and strategies of the or- and services. can find out more about Zabalaza at www. ganisation as we head into what might be a International Anarchist website zabalaza.net. period of heightened social struggle. If you with news & discussion from Members in Belfast, who earlier this year were are interested in joining us in this struggle, all five continents. involved in defending Roma immigrants Our series of public meetings about the eco- then get in touch! nomic crisis and the anarchist alternative con- WorkersSolidarity Social Solidarity 112 Network formed The government has inflicted growing sistance to educational cutbacks and unem- Much attention was given to building for hardship upon workers and communi- ployment) so that a network of resistance can the ICTU national demonstration on No- ties across the country, spreading the successfully be built. vember 6th, as it was seen as an important ethos that we should all commit to shar- We had our first meeting on the 3rd of Oc- way to show the government that Irish ing the pain. This has been perpetuated tober in the Seomra Spraoi social centre. It people won’t just lie down and accept cuts by mainstream media, as “sharing the was a positive day that saw around 40 peo- to vital social services and as an indication pain” has been portrayed, as the only ple coming together. It involved the shar- of the mood for a fight back. way out of this crisis. ing of experiences, much discussion about With this in mind, the SSN leafleted the The Social Solidarity Network (SSN), however, the crisis and potential ways of resisting its march in Dublin and held another meeting believes otherwise, and wishes to provide effects, film screenings, dinner and an eve- in its aftermath to plan future actions. This people and communities with an open fo- ning social event. network is still in its early stages and its suc- rum that can serve to resist these attacks and This was followed by a second meeting on cess will depend on getting large numbers to share and spread information among indi- the 19th of October, which focussed on con- of people involved. If you are interested in viduals and groups affected. The SSN aims to tinuing previous discussion and furthering knowing more about the SSN and/or get- make links between different struggles (from the growth and potential of the network. ting involved, please contact: socialsolidari- workplace and community organising to re- [email protected] Review of Black Flame This is an excellent work. It is wide ranging, both in Haywood and James Connolly can be included in the terms of subjects covered and geography. The lat- broad anarchist tradition. They were Marxists! By no ter makes a welcome break from most accounts of stretch of the imagination can they be considered anarchism, which are sadly all-too Eurocentric. The anarchists. is an anarchist tactic, and like former sees anarchist analysis expanded from the other tactics can be utilised by non-anarchists. usual subjects of political authority and economic class into gender and imperialism (and national lib- My major criticism is their relegation of Proudhon to eration struggles). It covers such perennial issues being a forerunner of anarchism. It is strange to read as anarchist organisation (including ‘Platformism’), that Proudhon was not an anarchist and that “the an- the Spanish Revolution and a host of others. archists took [from him] the notion of the self-man- agement of the means of production, the idea of free Black Flame gets almost everything right. It concen- federation, a hatred of capitalism and landlordism, trates on the mainstream of anarchism, class struggle and a deep distrust of the state”! (p. 84) So, except for anarchism (collectivist, communist and syndicalist an- anti-statism, anti-capitalism, anti-landlordism, fed- archism, in other words). It is comprehensive, discuss- eralism, communes, self-management, the vision of ing all important issues, people and movements. a revolution from below, the name “anarchist”, what has Proudhon done for us? The authors are right in showing the anarchist roots of syndicalism and exposing the Leninist myth that It rightly rejects the “dictionary definition” of anar- anarchism and syndicalism are fundamentally differ- chism – as if a rich socio-economic theory and so- ent. They debunk the notion that Sorel was the creator cial movement can be summed up in such a way! As or main theoretician of syndicalism. They place anar- Black Flame stresses, anarchism needs to be defined chism where it should be: as part of the wider social- in terms of its ideas and history, not by whoever calls ist movement, its libertarian wing. It is right to say that themselves an “anarchist” or has been so-labelled. anarchism is “a product of the capitalist world and the working class it created” (p. 96) and that thinkers and Black Flame is a wonderful book which every anar- activists alike “defined anarchism as an anti-capitalist chist will enjoy reading. It is well researched, well ar- ideology and a form of socialism.” (p. 46) gued and should be read by every one interested in anarchism. I have two somewhat minor quibbles about it. The first, minor criticism is the claim that , Big Bill €23.00 / £20.00 (including postage) from WSM Books, P.O. Box 1528, Dublin 8. A Veteran Anarchist Speaks of Revolution, War and Bad Coffee… During his recent visit to Dublin, Workers food. And weapons too. We were all arrested by the fascists. Those Solidarity took the opportunity, over “bad who admitted to have volunteered were The revolution is crazy, disorganised. But coffee”, to chat to 93 year old Roma Mar- taken away and it looked as if there’d be quickly enough it gets organised… It was quez Santo about some of his experiences mass executions. However, we were put a good time to be in Barcelona, we the of the Spanish revolution. In 1936 Roma on trial and were lucky: a fascist officer people were in charge! was a metal worker and a member of both we’d captured had no complaint to make the UGT trade union and the POUM, an What was the journey like to the front? against us. There was nobody to make anti-Stalinist communist party. false allegations about our conduct and We’d be going through the villages and they decided to give us 20 years. What was it like on the first day of the people would call to us ‘stop, we want revolution (after the generals’ attempt- to come too!’ Many did but more had to This was in 1939? ed coup d’état)? stay to take over the land and secure the Yes. But there must have been too many of harvest. This was organised by commit- It was chaotic! For a while no one knew what us and it was reduced to 6 years. I was ac- tees in each village and the harvest was was happening or what was going to hap- tually in for 3 years, 9 months and 14 days organised and sent back to the cities and pen. The streets were full of workers with before they released me… towns where the factories were now held every type of weapon, the factories and bar- by workers’ committees who’d always What then? rios (neighbourhoods) were quickly secured been there in the background, waiting for Yes. We had cousins in the US who sent mon- but we had to take the main barracks where I went back to Catalyuna but of course I something like this to happen. ey back and we lived on that for many years. an anarchist comrade Francisco Ascaso was couldn’t get work. The whole place had killed. The army surrendered there and else- We were finally issued with 81mm mortars changed, before the war workers had Finally Roma, what continues to inspire you? where, especially where the Guardia Civil and stayed on the front until the govern- been reasonably well off; afterwards… it The economic troubles in the world today (Spanish paramilitary police force) came out ment started to arrest the leaders of the was a poor time. show us that capitalism is still here; it has on the side of the people. POUM in Barcelona, then I became an an- As a former political prisoner you not been defeated. It is hard to defeat archist and a member of the CNT militia. But there were factories to be organised and weren’t given a ration card? capitalism, but we’ve got to try. food to be got from the countryside. This was What happened to you at the end of the war? organised very quickly as committees were already set up and ready to deal with such a situation. After a day or two, there was lots of