Some of you have expressed concern and doubt over the lies and half-truths that the current secretariat of the IWA have been spreading through social media. As you know, at CNT we don’t usually get involved in arguments over the Internet.

Dear comrades,

On the contrary, we’d rather focus on building a revolutionary grass-roots workers movement. We have little time or energy to waste on bickering on social networks and loose little sleep over what certain people, who are only active there, are saying. However, it seems that these recent comments from the current secretariat of the IWA have achieved their goal to spread misunderstandings and hence we’re answering some of these remarks, as you have asked us to do.

First, rest assured, there’s always been, as there is now, only ONE CNT in Spain. As has happened in the past, certain individuals are trying to benefit from the long tradition of revolutionary commitment that is associated with our name. If you’re aware of the events in the 1980s, you know that what is now CGT tried to hijack our name, after leaving CNT. At the time, the rift within our organisation was large and important and yet, after many lawsuits and confrontations, with tooth and nail, we fought this off. Now, history seems to be repeating itself, as a farce and on a tiny scale. Some individuals are very active on social media claiming to be CNT. Don’t be fooled by them. They only exist on the Internet. In no way is there a rift within the organisation, as there was thirty years ago. Needless to say, we’re going to oppose this fraud by all means necessary. We’ll defend our organisation, as we did in the past. Otherwise, CNT would be legally liable by the actions of others. We already have had to deposit 500,000 Euros in a tribunal to answer a claim brought against us by a criminal negligence that took place in one of our offices, occupied by some of these individuals. Likewise, we’ve had to appear in court to answer for threats posted on Facebook by some of them, under the name CNT. Beyond the moral duty to defend our organisation, the misappropriation of our name can’t go on.

Once this is clear, there are also some facts about these individuals that the current secretariat of IWA prefers not to mention in their statements. For example, that, except for maybe one or two exceptions, we’re talking about individuals or tiny groups that have no real activity, union-based or otherwise, beyond being present on social media. Neither is mentioned the fact that these individuals have stated, on paper and in person, that they intend to sue CNT for all our assets (offices, historical heritage, name, etc.) to keep it for themselves. They stated so in their application to become the Spanish Section (SS) of the IWA, so its secretariat is aware of this, though they probably don’t want to talk about it. There is also no mention in the statements about the fact that these individuals had, in turn, a massive fallout among themselves. They’ve already had several arguments and vicious fights over social media, as couldn’t be otherwise. Which of all these factions the IWA chose as its SS is not our concern.

What has us wondering, though, is if the current secretariat of IWA is aware of the situation and they’re hiding it, or if they’re being lied to or they’re fooling themselves about the reality of their SS. We have documents proving that they’ve been encouraging and supporting these individuals for a number of years (even when CNT was still in IWA), so they must surely know. This must be, then, an attempt to put up a semblance of normality in an international that has lost 95% of its individual members over the last two years thanks to kicking out CNT, FAU, FORA and USI. Surely, this should be enough to do some serious soul searching. Instead, they prefer hiding the truth behind a rather violent discourse, rather than having to consider the role they have played in the pitiful situation in which IWA currently finds itself.

Finally, no one is questioning IWA’s capacity to choose whoever they want as their SS, no matter how small or ineffective. Similarly, any group, faction or individual in Spain can attach IWA to their name, as far as we’re concerned. Regardless of what’s being suggested in the latest statements by IWA’s secretariat, no one is arguing that. By claiming that CNT is taking action against the IWA’s SS because of the international part of their name (the –IWA), the current secretariat is wilfully misrepresenting the truth. As we said above, there’s only one CNT and we’ll use any means necessary to defend our organisation from those who are trying to hijack our identity (the name “CNT”). Beyond that, the IWA can designate anyone as their SS, as long as they don’t claim to be CNT, because they’re not. In any case, it’s paradoxical, to say the least, that we’re being accused of trying to hold to the IWA name, when we’ve been reminding our branches to remove it from the offices. Those individuals who have busied themselves sharing the statements of the current secretariat of IWA on social media, while at the same time complaining that CNT have asked our branches to remove its name from our offices must suffer some form of schizophrenia.

As you all know, at CNT we don’t like getting entangled in online arguments with the trolls, so we won’t be commenting on this issue any further. Unfortunately, it’s highly probable that a long stream of digital lamentations, counter-claims and word nit-picking will follow this statement. We’d suggest our friends globally to ignore the white noise coming from certain corners -and from the current IWA secretariat in particular- and focus instead on real worker’s struggles, organising and other tangible revolutionary activities in general. That’s where you’ll find us and where you’re more than welcome to join us.

In solidarity,

CNT’s Permanent Secretariat

A nuestros compañeros y nuestras compañeras de todas partes del mundo