BOYCOTT THE ELECTIONS
The dictatorship is calling for "trade-union" elections. If needs them very badly. In order to impose them and make sure they take place it has not hesitated to repress every appearance of struggle or to arrest dozens of militants. The fundamental objective of the state of exception in Euzkadi (Basque country) is the aftempt to "normalize" the struggles. But in spite of everything, the dictatorship does not feel sure of itself. If fears that the combativity the masses have been exhibiting will result in the CNS (the fascist "trade union) being totally bypassed. The dictatorship of capital is afraid of losing this instrument, which is so vital in liquidating workers struggles and blocking all demands. For the workers and all toilers committed to and organized in struggle, fighting the CNS and organizing a boycott of this electoral farce means: * In the immediate sense, extending and deepening the counteroffensive of the masses, which is asserting itse If ever more clearly. Such an initiative would give a strong impetus to winning many demands and would prevent the government from shifting the burden of the capitalist-generated crisis onto the backs of the workers. *At the some time, a mortal blow would be deal! the CNS, a basic pillar of the dictatorship. Thus, one of the greatest obstacles blocking the way toward the revolutionary general strike and the overthrow of the dictatorship would be eliminated. * This would prepare conditions such that after the overthrow of the dictatorship and in a context of political and trade-union freedoms, we could set up a powerful workers trade union. All this is possible; the latest struggles at Motor Iberica, in construction, and among the teachers and the resistance of Tubauta, Miniwatt, etc. are expressions of this possibility. All the experiments in independent action and in forms of democratic self-organization that are now emerging and all initiatives in the direction of boycott must be supported and defended in solidority with the workers struggles. In this way it will become possible to organize the general day of struggle that the mass movement it16 self has placed on the agenda and that all of us tried to organize during the struggles of January and February. It will be possible to centralize the workers and people's response to the maneuvers of the dictatorship and to the repression and all the attacks that go along with it. That is the real meaning of a massive boycott of the elections! Such a boycott would represent an important step toward the general strike. We call: *For the organization in the factories and work places of massive assemblies in which the objectives and methods of the struggle are decided; for the election, as the sole representative of the workers, of recallable committees to direct and coordinate the struggle in accordance with the decisions of the assembly; for the organization of coordination among these committees, the workers commissions, and the united bodies representing other layers wherever such committees do not exist. In these assemblies a balance-sheet should be drawn of the role played by enlaces y jurados (the CNS delegates) during recent struggles. The conclusion can only be unanimous throughout the whole workers movement: The assemblies will decide on the immediate resignation of all honest delegates. Let honest militants organize the struggle in the framework of the assemblies and let them withdraw their candidacies from the CNS elections! The assemblies will decide on a massive boycott of these elections! Only in this way will it be possible to establish a relationship of forces capable of imposing direct negotiations with the leaders of the employers through commissions that have mandated instructions and simply transmit the decisions of the whole assembly, the only center of decision-making. * In the educational centers, assemblies must also be organized and forms of direct action must be planned, with the resignation of delegates from official bodies. Recallable committees must be set up, following the example set by the institutions of secondary education (Mila, Infanta, Emperador, Carlos, etc.) and by some university departments, such as journalism. Coordination must be developed between these committees and the unitary bodies, and they must begin to coordinate with the bodies set up by the working class and with the workers commissions. Together with the working class and the toilers, a mobilization must be prepared capa-
The following declaration was issued jointly in Barcelona May 20 by the comrades of the
Catalonia Committee of the Liga Comunista Revolucionaria/Euzkadi ta Askatasuna-VI
(Revolutionary Communist League/Basque Nation and Freedom-VI) and the National Committee of Catalonia of the Liga Comunista (Communist League), sympathizing organizations of the Fourth International in Spain. ble of extending the boycott of the trade-union elections. We call for all those who are mobilized to unify their efforts so as to press forward this dynamic of struggle, beginning from the workers commissions and the united structures in the schools, the departments of the universities, the institutes, and the neighborhoods. We call for them to unify their efforts to convoke broad assemblies of all those in struggle in each branch, in each sector, especially, because of its importance, in the metal industry: We call on all political forces, all the workers commissions, and in particular the workers commist sions of SEAT, Hispano Olivetti, Siemens, Pirelli, Clima Roca, and Unidad Hermetica and the workers commissions in the branches where combativity has been most strongly asserted (the construction industry, for example) to throw themselves into this effort. The fundamental role of preparing and pressing forward the struggle for the revolutionary general strike capable of overthrowing the dictatorship devolves today on the workers commissions. In this context, on the ruins of the CNS, the workers commissions must take the initiative in convoking trade-union congresses at all levels, all the way through to a General Constituent Congress, to lay the basis for the kind of frade union that the workers want: A single union independent of the employers, the church, and the state and entirely based on workers democracy: Let us unify the objectives of struggle against all the attacks of the employers and their government: *Against lockouts and wage cuts: Sliding scale of wages and hours! No wages under 750 pesetas a day! (About USS15.) Forty-hour workweek! *Against bad living conditions: Cut prices, raise wages! Reduced prices for products of primary necessity! Down with all forms of selection! For permanent, public, secular education entirely free of charge and paid for by the state, compulsory up to eighteen years of age! Down with the general education law! For social security entirely financed by the state covering the whole population and administered by the workers!
*Against all repression and oppression: Rehiring of all people laid off! Free the political prisoners! Liquidate the state of exception! Reopen Valladolid! Immediate freedom for Eva Forest and her comrades! Cancel the trials now going on! Dissolve the institutions of Francoist repression! For the free negotiation of collective labor contracts with no state intervention! For the right to strike, to hold meet ings, and to demonstrate! For a single union of ail the workers independent of the employers, the church, and the state! For full and complete political and trade-union rights! For free self-determination for Catalonio and the other oppressed nationalities! *Total solidarity with the struggle of the Portuguese workers and people and with the masses of Indochina! Solidarity with the workers and oppressed of the whole world! We insist that today more than ever the efforts of all parties, all organizations, and all fighters of the working class and the oppressed must be unified around the workers commissions. Unfortunately, instead of orienting themselves in this direction, the PSUC and the coordinating committee of the workers commissions (the National Coordinating Committee of Catalonia and Barcelona), which are dominant, are counterposing intensive activity aimed at what they call "cornering the elections." Other parties, like the PTE and the MCE, are in reality aiding such an orientation. With this tactic these parties and these coordinating bodies of the workers commissions are once again opposing themselves to direct action and to the democratic organization of the masses. They are opposing themselves to the overthrow of the fundamental pillar of the dictatorship represented by the CNS, preferring instead to transform it and maintain as far as possible its structure, which has been imposed by the bureaucrats. They are opposing themselves to the struggle for a united trade union of all the toilers independent of the employers and their government. And while they are doing this they keep their hands tied by the pact they have concluded with bourgeois politicians in the Junta Democratica and the Assembly of Catalonia, *We call on all those in struggle to rally to press forward the battles that loom ahead. We call on
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