2. THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

The structure of the textile industry—Report of the Textile Trade Union of Barcelona—The structure of the collective organizations in the textile industry. Three patterns—La España Industrial: Report on the activity of the Central Committees in the factories.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

REPORT OF THE TEXTILE TRADE UNION OF BARCELONA

One of the most important industries in Catalonia, most heavily concentrated in Sabadell and Tarrasa, is the textile industry. The trade union mentioned above has 40,000 CNT workers in Barcelona alone.

The two major trade union federations together have 230,000 workers in the industry, 170,000 of whom are members of our Confederation. The current proportions among the unionized workers are approximately 70% in the CNT, and 30% in the UGT.

Wages

The workers in the Dry Cleaning section, before July, earned a weekly wage of 68 pesetas. Today they receive 78.20 pesetas, or 15% more than they did before the revolution. They receive the same wage as the workers in the Washing section.

Hosiery

This subdivision used to be paid by the piece, obtaining, prior to July 19, weekly wages of up to 175 pesetas, working on “Cotton” (men) and working an average of 10 hours per day. Today they receive 135 pesetas a week, and work forty hours a week for an hourly wage.

The workers who work on “Standard”, who received between 60 and 70 pesetas a week prior to July, and were also formerly paid by the piece, now receive a fixed wage of 65 pesetas a week.

Industrial technicians, before July, made anywhere from 250 to 350 pesetas; today, they make between 200 and 250 pesetas a week.

Foremen, before July, made 125 pesetas; today, they make between 125 and 150 pesetas a week.

It might very well appear, from the figures provided above, that wages have declined, but in reality this is an advantage for the worker, since he receives a fixed and steady wage, piecework having been eliminated. Another factor that must be taken into account is the number of hours the worker currently works and those he worked before the revolution; before July 19, the workers who worked on “Cotton” and “Standard”, in order to make the wages we just enumerated above, would have had to work 80 hours a week; today, in the factories where the short week has not been introduced (as a result of the shortage of raw materials), they work only 40 hours. If we divide the weekly wage by the number of hours worked, we find that the worker is making more money per hour than he did under the bourgeois regime.

Militiamen to the front

A very large number of CNT members from the manufacturing and textile industries have left their jobs in the factories and workshops operated by our Confederation in order to go to the front, and we may say that at the present time this sector of industry has undergone a major reduction in the number of workers it employs. From the City of Barcelona, between 20,000 and 25,000 workers who are members of the CNT have left for the front as volunteers. Of those who have volunteered from Barcelona, only about 3,000 are members of the UGT.

The elimination of rebel elements and fugitives. The bourgeois element.

The following numbers will give us an idea of the approximate position of this element in the present situation. Of the total numbers of bourgeoisie, who in Catalonia number about 20,000 persons, whose most concentrated focus is in Barcelona (5,000), about 10% have remained in their factories, working and participating like simple workers: this was achieved by the collectivization process; about 40% have been eliminated from the social arena, and approximately 50% have fled to foreign countries, gone into hiding, etc.

Up to 30 factory or workshop foremen have been eliminated due to their anti-revolutionary ideas and actions (SUFT-CNT). Between 12 and 14 workers have suffered the same fate for identical reasons.

Donations for the victims of fascism

The SUFT has to date delivered to the Committee to Aid the Victims of Fascism 2,500,000 pesetas. Due to the reductions in the working week due to a shortage of raw materials, the weekly collections, which once averaged about 110,000 pesetas, have been reduced to about 55,000 pesetas. Here is a detailed list of the amounts contributed to the Militia Committee by each affiliate of the CNT, from the Water, Manufacturing and Textile Industries:

The Water Industry: each worker gives 5 pesetas each week for aid to victims of fascism and to the militias.

Manufacturing and Textiles: 5% of the wages of the workers who are working short weeks; 10% of the wages of the workers on full time weeks, and 15% of the wages of the workers who earn more than 100 pesetas a week.

Collectivization

Almost the entire textile and manufacturing industry of Catalonia is collectivized.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE COLLECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Once the enterprises are fully collectivized, the Control Committees will become Technical-Administrative Committees. These Committees will be elected by the workers in each factory, meeting in a general assembly, and the latter will be convoked by the trade union Factory Committee and by the Federation’s industrial section.

The Committees will consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of nine comrades, and it will be a matter of importance at all times to seek to ensure that both technical as well as manual workers should be represented on these Committees. All the different industrial departments of the factory will also be represented on these Committees, and once they are formed they will include the following departments:

1. Internal Department.

2. Statistics.

3. Economics and Finance.

4. Liaison.

The mission of the Internal Department:

a) Maintain the machinery in good working order and assure that it meets prevailing standards of safety.
b) Maintain the working areas and locker rooms and make sure they meet modern standards of hygiene.
c) Allocate labor by sections and conduct all business of a technical order that was previously handled by the directors.

The mission of the Statistics Department:

a) Raw materials needed on a monthly and annual basis.
b) Machinery, its types and output.
c) The number of manual and technical workers categorized by their specialties.
d) All kinds of accessory details not covered by the questionnaire that could serve to improve the operations of the industry.

Mission of the Department of Economics and Finance:

a) Oversee the financial situation of the factory. Disburse wages.
b) Payment of wages to all manual and technical workers.
c) Payments for all kinds of operations, such as repair of the machinery, building maintenance, etc.
d) Cost-cutting for the collective with regard to all those aspects of the old regime that were superfluous and useless.
e) Establish prices for costs and manufacture.
f) Provide precise statistics regarding days of work lost and injuries, whether as a result of illness or accident.

Mission of the Department of Liaison:

a) This Department will be the Secretariat of the Committee.
b) It will maintain direct relations with the local Committee of Industry, as well as with the Factory Committee, with regard to all those matters that affect the trade union order.
c) It will assume responsibility for all the orders that must be transmitted from one Committee to another.

Additional Note—In the factories where, due to their small workforces, only between three and five comrades need to be elected to the Committee, these comrades will divide the responsibilities for the above Departments among themselves, even if this means that one person might have to be responsible for two Departments.

A town that only has one or two factories does not have to have a Local Committee, as this function will be assumed by the Regional or District Committee, which implies that the Department of Liaison of the factory or factories will be in close contact with said Committee, since the latter will have the obligation to facilitate whatever is necessary for the efficient operation of the factory.

LOCAL COMMITTEES OF INDUSTRY

Their structure

All the different industrial sectors that exist in a locality will be represented on these committees. These committees will be divided into sections or departments and each department, in accordance with the directives of the Trade Union of the Industry, will be able to avail itself of the services of all the necessary technical and bureaucratic personnel.

Departments

1. Liaison.

2. Economics and Finance.

3. Statistics.

4. Warehouse.

5. Labor allocation.

6. Private and individual initiatives.

This Committee will be elected by all the technical-administrative committees of the local factories subject to the ratification of the general assembly of the Trade Union of the entire industry.

The General Secretariat will be formed by the Department of Liaison. This Secretariat will convoke the plenary meetings.

These plenary meetings will take place as often as the Secretariat deems necessary or else by request of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of the Industry.

The representative or representatives of the Trade Union may attend these meetings, with the right to address the meeting, deliberate and vote.

The General Secretariat of the Local Committee will be obliged to deliver to the Central Committees of the Trade Unions all production statistics, as well as statistics for expenses and income and any observations that would be of use to the collective.

Department of Liaison

a) Receive all the reports of the Local and Trade Union Committee of the Economy.
b) Maintain permanent contact with all the Factory Committees or Technical-Administrative Committees.
c) Safeguard the well being of all the workers in the industry, as well as seeking to establish the most perfect harmony between the Factory Committees and the workers.
d) Attend all the meetings of the workers of the factories of the industry.
e) Meet at least once a month with all the Technical-Administrative Committees for the purpose of establishing the necessary solidarity.
f) Receive from the District Committee all the requests for the manufacture of particular goods.

Department of Economics and Finance

a) Monitoring of expenses and income generally.
b) Draft summaries on Thursday of each week depicting the weekly total balance sheet of revenues and withdrawals from the Industry’s General Fund.
c) Register all those payments made for insurance claims in general, in the form of actual insurance claims or in any other forms that may arise.
d) Register all the goods produced and their cost of production.
e) Register all the varieties of goods produced and delivered to the District Committee and all the raw materials that the industry received.

Department of Statistics

a) Inventory of the machinery of each industrial process and its production capacity, as well as its value in pesetas or other types of valuation that may be adopted.
b) Monthly and annual requirements for raw materials.
c) Types of production, and monthly and annual quantities.
d) Personnel employed in the local industry and their specialties.
e) Monthly and annual ratios of expenses to income, as well as receipt and shipment of raw materials and manufactured or finished products.
f) The precise accounting of all days of work lost and injuries due to accidents or illness and the total number of hours of work they represent.
g) Determine the cost of the goods produced, based on the summary of the monthly or quarterly inventories that may be conducted.

Warehouse Department

a) Collect all the raw materials and manufactured products in a warehouse or warehouses.
b) Ship these raw materials to the factories and keep track of the manufactured products.
c) Request from the District Committee all the necessary raw materials and deliver to it the products that the District Committee requests; in order to accomplish this, this Department will have access to the necessary means of transport.

Department of Labor Allocation

a) Receive from the Liaison Department notifications of the quantities and specifications for articles to manufacture.
b) Allocate this labor in accordance with the conditions of the quality and capacity of each center of production or factory.
c) Advise the Local Committee of the Economy and the Trade Union concerning the process of manufacture and the exact number of hours necessary for production, following instructions received from the District Committee.
d) Be open to new ideas for the improvement of the production process, and facilitate the practical implementation of the new ideas.

Department of Initiative

a) This Department will be staffed by the most knowledgeable industrial technicians and by expert manual workers.
b) Foster improvements of industry in all its aspects.
c) Be open to all the viable initiatives that are presented to it, studying them carefully, and provide facilities for the possible realization of the new initiative.
d) To fulfill its mission it will be in constant contact with the Department of Labor Allocation, the General Secretariat of the Economy and the Committees of each Section of the Trade Union.

[DISTRICTS][8]

Catalonia, with respect to the textile and manufacturing industries, will be divided into Districts that will be established in accordance with the map of industrial sites and then on the basis of a detailed technical and scientific study.

In each District an Industrial Committee will be created, which will be the institution responsible for facilitating relations with the different localities in the District.

These Committees will be composed of representatives of all the industrial sectors that exist in the District and will be subdivided into the following Departments:

• Statistics.

• Economy and Finance.

• Labor Allocation.

• Liaison.

• Warehouse and Distribution.

Department of Statistics

a) Ascertain the total production of the District and provide details regarding types of goods and their qualities.
b) Produce an inventory of machinery. The type of machine and its output.
c) Required raw materials and types of raw materials.
d) Number of factories in each locality and the production capacity of each factory.
e) Total number of manual and technical workers employed and unemployed, by factories and localities.
f) All kinds of supplementary details not foreseen in this questionnaire.

Department of Economy and Finance

a) Oversight over the financial situation of the District.
b) Disbursement, to the localities, of weekly wages and social assistance.
c) Pay for raw materials.
d) Provide a precise accounting for the wages of each locality.
e) All kinds of purchases or expenditures will be the responsibility of this Department.
f) Ascertaining the cost price and the price of manufacture.

Department of Labor Allocation

a) Allocation of labor in accordance with the technical characteristics of each locality.
b) Receive requests for goods.
c) Progressive labor relations, seeking to carry out the work in the most practical and best way.
d) This Department will be responsible for the replacement or repair of machinery and its adaptation to the needs of production orders.
e) When one locality has too many or too few workers, whether manual or technical workers, this Department, after previous agreement with the Trade Union or the Labor Center (since no Department may act without the approval of the latter), will solve the problem in the best way possible.

Department of Liaison

a) Maintain contact with the Regional Committee of Industry with regard to all the above tasks, whether involving raw materials, exchange and or any other kind of operations concerning which the other Departments have notified it.
b) Maintain contact with the Trade Unions, whether agricultural or metallurgical, with respect to every kind of problem that may arise within the textile industry.
c) This Department, always with the agreement of the Trade Unions or Regional Committees and in conjunction with them, will seek the most harmonious possible solutions for all the conflicts of a moral order that may affect the workers of the industry which cannot be resolved by the localities.
d) All the operations that may affect the day to day progress of the industry, whether related to exchange, purchase of machinery, requests for raw materials, movement of funds, shortage of cash, or anything that has an impact on the general order of production, will have to proceed via this Department to the knowledge of the Regional Committee, without whose endorsement no operation on this scale would be possible.
e) All business, whether relating to Economy, Warehouse, Labor Allocation or Statistics, which requires consultations with other institutions, whether or not involving those already referred to above, will pass through the Department of Liaison, which will be responsible for implementing it, as well as for maintaining constant contact with the localities that compose the District.

Department of Warehouses and Distribution

a) Process requests for and oversee distribution of raw materials.
b) Receipt, storage and distribution in accordance with requests of finished goods.
c) Produce a catalog of samples of every kind of product manufactured in the District.
d) This Department will receive all proposals for exchange and will transmit them to the Department of Liaison for conveyance to the Regional Committee.

These committees will be elected at the Local Plenums of each District and these Plenums will be convoked by the National Liaison Committee of the Manufacturing and Textile Industry of Spain, and will be composed of the number of comrades that the Plenum deems necessary for the dignified fulfillment of the mission with which they are entrusted.

The criterion of residence will also determine who attends the Plenum, always taking into account the fact that some areas will have more favorable transportation facilities than others.

This Committee will have the right to appoint the technical and bureaucratic personnel required to comply with its mandate.

THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

This Committee will be structured according to the following norms:

It will be divided into two parts: the technical-administrative part and the executive part.

The technical-administrative part will be composed of those comrades who will be elected at the District Plenums and who reside in the same District where the Committee is located.

The executive part will be composed of one representative of each manufacturing District, elected by the Districts as mentioned above, and will also be a member of the Liaison Department of the District Committee of the District he represents.

The Regional Committee will be divided like the others into Departments.

These Departments will be as follows:

a) Department of Statistics.
b) Economy and Finance.
c) Allocation of Labor.
d) Liaison.
e) Purchase, sales and exchanges.
f) Technical and Initiative.

Department of Statistics

a) Ascertain the total production of the region, providing details of types and qualities of the products.
b) Machinery. Types of machinery and output.
c) Necessary raw materials and their types.
d) Determine the number of factories in each District and the production capacity of each factory.
e) Determine the total number of workers employed in each District and the total number of unemployed workers in the region.
f) All other such statistical details that can facilitate the smooth operation of the manufacturing industry.

Department of Economy and Finance

a) Oversee the financial situation of the entire region.
b) All kinds of payments and income.
c) Precise accounting for the wages paid in each District.
d) Establishment of cost, manufacturing and sales prices.
e) Send an itemized account of the weekly output of the workers to each District, always accompanied by the requisite documentation, which will always bear the signatures of the responsible members of the District Committees.
f) Study the proposals to economize as much as necessary for the benefit of the collective.

Department of Labor Allocation

a) Receive from the Liaison Department the orders for the quantities and the specifications of the articles to manufacture.
b) Allocate this work in accordance with the conditions of quality and capacity of each production District.
c) Advise the Committee of Regional Economy and the corresponding District and Trade Union Committees of the manufacturing process and the precise number of hours required for production, in accordance with the orders received from the Regional Council of the Economy and form the Regional Supply Committee.
d) Draw up economic plans that apply the most advanced organic-industrial technology to certain production Districts or to all of them.
e) Diligently collect all new ideas for the improvement of production, facilitating all possible applications of the new ideas, and seeking to obtain international patents on them.

Liaison Department

a) This Department will form the Secretariat of the Regional Committee, and will be responsible for implementing all the resolutions of the Committee, as well as those of the Plenums, whose number will be determined by the needs of industry.
b) This Department will also maintain contact with all the other institutions, whether trade union or economic in nature.
c) This Department will also have the right to appoint as many comrades as it will deem necessary to carry out inspections, whether at the District, local or factory level, and they will be responsible for seeing to it that the resolutions of the Plenums and Assemblies are complied with.

Department of Purchases, Sales and Exchanges

a) Import all kinds of raw materials, whether from domestic or foreign suppliers, and distribute them in accordance with the requests from each District.
b) Produce a sample catalog of all products manufactured in the region and store those products in warehouses.
c) Coordinate, in accordance with the Council of the Economy and the Supply Committee, every kind of domestic and foreign exchange.
d) This Department will have in each District a delegate authorized to coordinate sales and exchanges for the purpose of avoiding the shifting of buyers towards the center and to facilitate the distribution of the products.
e) Precise oversight over all sales in the region.

Department of Technical Affairs and Initiative

a) This Department will be composed of the most knowledgeable technicians of the industry and expert manual workers.
b) The mission of this Department will be to safeguard the industrial and commercial advancement of the industry.
c) Collect all the new initiatives for the improvement of the industry, carefully studying them, and providing facilities for the implementation of the new ideas.
d) This Department will be in direct contact with the technical departments of the production Districts.
e) Study all foreign patents and report on their advantages and their drawbacks.

THE POWER OF THE CONFEDERAL ORGANIZATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COLLECTIVIZATION OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

The confederal organization will have its direct representatives in every factory of the industry; these representatives, who may be members of the Factory Committee of the Trade Union, will exercise control over every aspect of the conduct of the Technical-Administrative Committees, and in the case that abnormalities in their conduct should arise, these representatives will expose the abnormalities to the Industry Committee, so that the latter may convoke an Assembly of all the personnel of the factory to resolve the conflict or apply the sanctions that they believe to be appropriate.

The confederal organization will have two representatives in the local Industrial Committee, who will be workers from the industry, and they will remain in very close contact with the Industry Committee, and will always be prepared to denounce anything that would imply a step backwards in the revolutionary order.

In the case of immorality or something else that is not within the normal purview of the local Industrial Committee, the Industry Committee will have the right to convoke an Assembly of Committees to express its complaints, and if it is thought to be advisable, this Assembly of Committees will have the right to convoke the general assembly of all the workers in the industry so that the latter can issue their ruling. The same thing applies to the District Committee, and the latter will be under the control of the regional Committee, and the latter will have the right to call a meeting of all the factory Committees of the region in case of anomalies. The Regional Committee of industry will be under the control of the Regional Committee of the CNT and in case of abnormalities such as discussed above, the Regional Committee of the CNT will have the right to convoke Plenums of local and regional factory Committees, and, if it is considered to be necessary, even a Trade Union Plenum, in order to resolve any such problems that may be encountered.

“ESPAÑA INDUSTRIAL”

Report on the activities of the Central Committee of Industry (October 25, 1936)

Once it had assumed its responsibilities, the first thing the first Committee elected by the Assembly did was to admit into its ranks, as it had been ordered, the two representatives from the comrades of the Barcelona office, who had previously been unanimously elected at a meeting of the personnel of their Department, the comrades Rabadá and Segura. At the first session of this Committee, it was noted that one delegation had undoubtedly been overlooked, that of the factory of Sabadell, which was completely integrated with the factory at Sans. Individuals from the recently formed Committee, elected as delegates by the Plenum of the Committee, went to Sabadell and, after verifying the duly conducted negotiations held by the comrades in the factory there, with some difficulties at first as a result of some misunderstandings, quite expected in such cases, but fortunately overcome with absolute unanimity, in an Assembly of all the comrades of that factory, the comrades Bernat and Vilará were elected as representatives of the entire factory, who have attended all the ordinary Plenums held by the Central Committee.

Internal Organization of the Committee. Its Activities.

Once these first difficulties had been taken care of, and now that the Committee was definitively fully established, the Committee was perfectly aware of the immense scale of the task that it had to accomplish, and considering that it would merely obstruct the Committee’s normal operations if it had to debate every matter with its 19 members, it was agreed to divide into special commissions, each of which would be responsible for various specific aspects of the task at hand, with the right to independently resolve all the minor issues itself and to approve resolutions that it thought proper, after studying each matter, in order to then transmit them to the Plenums of the Committee where final decisions would be made. Some of these commissions have subdivided into sub-commissions, in order to more effectively carry out their responsibilities.

The Committee Plenum, from the very first week, has met every Saturday morning at the Barcelona office, and its 19 members have all attended almost every meeting.

The various commissions meet on a certain day each week, sometimes during working hours and sometimes after work.

We have the satisfaction of being able to say that so far this organization has yielded good results, with regard to the allocation of the multiple tasks that we have to address.

Each week, different persons from the Committee are assigned the task of producing an account of the Committee’s funds.

This is the way the Committee has organized its work, and it has demonstrated before the Assembly that it has done so with all the power at its disposal required by the necessities of its tasks and with the intimate conviction that it is fulfilling the job with which it was entrusted by the first Assembly, and with the clear consciousness that the omissions, errors, failures of initiative, negligence, incorrect decisions and all the thousands of imperfections from which the Committee suffers are inevitable in all human works, which can always be improved by the same elements that are now attempting to execute them or by others.

The useful and necessary things that we have not carried out are as obvious to the Committee as they are to you. With regard to this question the only thing you need to know is that, for our part, it is impossible for us to get a clear picture of the moral and material benefits that have been obtained during the time that you have entrusted us with the responsibility for “España Industrial”, but you must always take into account the fact that all of us are only harvesting the fruits of those who, with arms in hand, have risked death, and with their hearts open to a future in which there are only the arms of labor, science and the arts, and fraternity and love prevail, they fight in not-so-distant lands to conquer human rights, to preserve what has already been won, to prevent other men from seizing from us the smallest moral and material improvements that the fighters for progress have with so many sacrifices been able to obtain. We point this out, since we have spoken of benefits that undoubtedly exist in fact and in law, but if the events that flow from the current circumstances cause us to have to make material sacrifices, we would only be so many fools if it was only upon these facts we were to make an unfavorable commentary, when this could have repercussions on the collective.

The financial situation

As the comrade from the accounting section reported in the last Assembly, the financial situation of “España Industrial” has only become critical recently. This is why the Committee approved emergency measures in response to the situation, in order to regulate, as far as possible under the current state of affairs, all available resources. One such resource and the most important one whose expenditure must be postponed, until the situation has more or less stabilized, is the payment of invoices for supplies received before July 28, the date when the activities of our enterprise were resumed, after the reprehensible fascist uprising; it must be understood that we are not saying that we shall renounce any of these commitments, but that we shall address them by making allowances for the available resources that we are acquiring in order to give preference to the new purchases of raw materials, facilities and wages, within the framework of the development of activities in the regime that has been imposed on us since that date. That is, those credits contracted for verified purchases since the date of confiscation of the enterprise shall have priority. While at this time we cannot be optimistic about being able to provide a complete and satisfying solution for this financial situation, we cannot say, as was stated in the last Assembly, that we are throwing in the towel, because we have not made any use of all the resources at the disposal of “España Industrial”, always keeping in mind the fact that we have always had to take them into account in order not to jeopardize in the least the commercial credit that our enterprise had enjoyed in the old bourgeois system.

For the information of the Assembly, we shall point out that the total wage bill paid since the last Assembly up until this date amounts to 1,162,336.90 pesetas, of which 1,038,008.85 correspond to the personnel of the Sans plant, 70,019.20 to the Sabadell plant, and 6,251.40 to Valencia, as well as 95,268 pesetas for the monthly salaries of the office employes in the factories and at the Barcelona headquarters. Another 24,581.10 pesetas were disbursed as subsidies to comrades who were unable to work because of illness.[9]

The nature and origin of some raw materials that are consumed in large amounts in our factories, among others those of such importance as cotton and artificial fibers, have also forced us to make significant payments, because they are only obtainable, depending on the case, with cash, and in some cases must be paid for even before they arrive at our warehouses. We have managed, nonetheless, to avail ourselves of the commercial credit mentioned above, in all those cases where it has been possible, and have always accommodated and made an effort to honor our commitments at the moment when they are due.

Therefore, we have completely ceased to pay dividends and stock premiums, which were suspended at the moment of confiscation, the labor of our Committee having been carried out without the stockholders’ and investors’ interference, since nothing else would have been acceptable to us, as this is how we have interpreted the mandate you have imposed upon us.

Sales difficulties

One of the first and most difficult problems that we have faced is that of marketing our various products. Unfortunately, due to the territorial reductions caused by the fascist rebellion that have limited our consumers market, on the one hand, and the increase in demand for certain kinds of products as opposed to others, on the other hand, our various products have accumulated in our inventory in the proportions approximately expressed below:

Pieces in stock on August 8, 1935 48,213
Pieces in stock now 50,321

Articles destined for the needs of the war

During this period it has been possible to shift the production of some articles to war use, although subject to such limitations that are imposed by the special structure of our industry and the scarcity of certain materials, which has temporarily given work to some of our productive workers making commodities that will generate cash in the short term. The sectors devoted to the production of other types of finished goods for the winter season, and all those articles called luxury goods, have suffered from all the consequences of their orders being canceled.

Exports

Nonetheless, the Commission of Commercial Affairs whose members sit on this Committee, also from the very first moments and with a view based on reality, in consideration of the fact that, as long as the current limitations on consumption for the domestic market mentioned above persist, a normal development of commercial activities will not be possible, has elaborated a plan in which the situation is summarized and advises the study of the existing export commodities, a plan that deserves the approval of this Committee. To address the practical realities in accordance with this plan, it has been necessary that day after day, patiently, they examine an endless number of technical difficulties of every type, such as currencies, customs, trade agreements, quotas, etc., all of which are intimately connected with the rules and regulations in effect in the various countries where our products can be shipped. In order to bring all these deliberations to a good conclusion, it has been necessary to carry out a parallel project, following the norms and rules of the Council of the Economy, where, by the way, we have always encountered intelligent and cordial collaboration. Today we can say that, regarding the progress of these projects, we have solid hopes, since, after a preparatory labor carried out on previously chosen markets, our comrade Rabadá, fully authorized by this Central Committee and also with the authorization of the Council of the Economy, has journeyed to these markets where, by delegation of all of us, he is administering these previously planned sales operations.

Cost prices

Another serious problem and one that we must inform you about, is the imbalance between the current cost prices of our manufactures, increased by the rise of the cost of labor power and raw materials, the latter having resulted from the decline undergone by the value of our currency, taking into account the fact that a large proportion of our finished goods is of foreign origin, and the price of these finished goods must be set by the market, compelled by regulations that make it impossible for us to attenuate this imbalance. Not long ago, in relation to this problem, the Council of the Economy was presented with a document in which we informed it of this anomalous situation, and we are assured that this institution, once all the indispensable data has been compiled, will provide us all the guidelines to follow to redress this situation.

It has also been our special concern to expedite as effectively as possible the production of those articles destined for military use or to obtaining them as soon as possible, and as you shall see, in a proposal that we shall discuss below, our proposal is subordinated to this priority, not without first having consulted and studied the resolution of all technical difficulties.

Changing fashions in clothing

A very subtle point, but one that deserves the very close attention of the Commission of Commercial Affairs, is the fact often witnessed over the course of the history of major social convulsions, that the latter entail new esthetic conceptions, which also affect the arts of clothing and upholstery, all the elements of which comprise our specialties and as a result imply radical changes in the articles to be produced. The most basic precautions make it advisable for all technical or design personnel to keep these factors in mind for future reference, and these trends have resulted in a transformation of the labor process that has obliged the relocation of our comrades from the “Jacquards” section.

Difficulties in obtaining raw materials

We must emphasize and explain for your consideration the difficulties, every day more pronounced, with which the manufacturing and textile industry of Catalonia, and therefore our enterprise, has run up against in its attempt to acquire raw materials. We consumed most of the existing “stocks”, and facing all kinds of problems in restoring our supplies of stocks, such as the lack of foreign currency for foreign purchases and the inaccessibility of the domestic productive and extractive centers, despite the multiple labors and initiatives carried out by the Supply Committees and the Liaison Committees and the superior institutions, it has been necessary and indispensable to distribute the currently existing stocks of supplies and raw materials to those work processes or finished goods going to the comrades who are fighting on the front.

These shortages and the interventions that the various entities and organizations have had to carry out due to the abnormal current situation have rendered the processes of purchase and acquisition of many materials extremely difficult, which in the past could be accomplished with a simple phone call. All of us think that it is possible, and understandable, that many of our comrades present here, due to your various daily tasks, have no precise idea of these difficulties of every description that must be overcome, which is why we feel that it is indispensable to bring to your attention those elements of judgment necessary so that you may perceive these difficulties and express your views. When a truck full of raw materials passes through the gates of our factory, many of you, always accustomed to such a sight, only observe the last stage of a process, but not the whole process. One example out of many that we could cite is that of the acquisition of artificial fibers to replace the stocks of our factory in Sabadell, in which it took twenty-two days from the date when this Committee approved its purchase to the date the commodity entered our warehouses and obliged a necessary daily journey by various individuals from this Committee in order to obtain the purchase authorizations, foreign currency, permits, etc., something that in the past did not require more than filling out three or four simple forms. This explains the many trips you have seen the members of this Committee make, not only within the factory, but also in the offices.

This Committee has sought at all times to be informed of all the many resolutions that the workers organizations have approved and the goals these resolutions seek to achieve in order to instill their spirit into all our activities, as well as to adapt them to the regime of labor of all of us, and is therefore always available to speak with all their directive committees, having found the latter to be always cooperative and obliging.

The technical commission

This Committee having resolved to change the electric power supply network for one part of the Spinning section, just as it is not being used much in any other part of the section, whose reduction in electric power and lubrication we have decided is of importance; but we have made this modification conditional on an improvement of our financial situation, despite the good credit terms that have been offered to us by the comrades who are responsible for supplying and installing the equipment.

New machinery in Sabadell

Two machines have been shipped during this period to the factory at Sabadell, machines whose purchase contracts were already signed, and while we had to pay for them with cash, because they were imported from a foreign country, we can say that their need was essential for the normal function of the spinning of artificial fibers, which occupies a large part of the factory and whose normal function and efficiency of labor our comrades in that city have been able to note.

A combing machine owned by “España Industrial”, which had until now been stored by a manufacturer in Sabadell, on deposit, has been shipped to our factory, and this increased the productivity of our comrades.

Materials for war industries

This Committee, having been required by the Commissar of Defense to issue a declaration of materials useful for the war, and being aware of the existence of old machinery in the basement of our factory, previously inspected by technical personnel and after close examination determined to be totally unserviceable, proceeded to register it as utterly useless, in order to place the materials at the disposal of the needs of the war industry, this Committee is pleased to tell the Assembly that the arduous labor that this process implied was undertaken by volunteer labor on the part of the comrades employed in the water industry sections, whose presence was not urgently required in their respective sections, and were thereby made available for this task.

Commission for internal organization

As for the regime of labor and its remuneration, many and various resolutions have been approved by the corresponding section and ratified at the Committee’s plenums, many of which you are aware of and the most important of which we shall enumerate below so that everyone may be informed of their contents.

Full sick pay for comrades who are unable to work because of illness, first approved for Sans, has been extended to the workers of Sabadell, who, because they are insured by a Mutual Aid plan, will not be covered by the Sans statutes for the first three days because they are covered by their own Mutual Aid plan for that period.

The various work rules approved by the various trade union organizations have continued to be in force for all our comrades.

Another resolution of this Committee is the suppression of all kinds of bonuses that some of our technical, commercial and production comrades have been receiving, which has resulted in a saving of 118,075 pesetas.

We have also postponed the implementation of a resolution, in accordance with our interpretation of the desires expressed at the last Assembly, to increase the retirement allowances for the comrades, leaving the standard payment for all at 25 pesetas a week.

An exception was made for the money set aside for pensions for the widows of two workers from “España Industrial” who were killed during an attack carried out in 1921 in a street near the Sans factory, these being the only two pensions we have found that the former owners had to concede.

In compliance with the resolutions approved at the last Assembly, those individuals who did not come to work during the first moments of the revolution and then failed to come to work thereafter without any justifiable reason are definitively dismissed from employment at the plant.

Another measure this Committee deemed necessary is the evacuation of the apartments in the factory compound that were occupied by unauthorized personnel, with the exception, due to the special mission with which he is entrusted, of the Chief Porter, comrade Alvarez, in consideration of the fact that the residence corresponds to the functions he performs.

It is the opinion of the Committee, with regard to the question of the replacement or nomination of comrades to assume responsibility for sections or job allocations, that the comrades themselves, and only taking into account the abilities and knowledge of the job that has to be done, will be the ones who designate the people to whom these functions are delegated, without any increase in wages.

We must also report to all of our comrades that, from now on, in order to obtain the necessary workers for the plant, we shall send requests to the labor centers of the respective sections of the Trade Union, thus denying the requests made on behalf of family members of the current workers at the plant.

Hiring of new personnel

An exception to the last-mentioned rule will be made in the case of a brother of a Sabadell comrade killed at the front in the struggle for the consolidation of the proletarian demands, at the request of the family and of the Trade Union to which the unfortunate comrade belonged and with the agreement of the Committee and the other trade union organizations.

Due to an unfortunate automotive accident caused by one of our factory’s vehicles, we invited to join our staff a son of the victim, who is sixteen years old, taking into consideration the precarious state in which his family has been left after the accident. This Committee judged that, since the trade union organizations were previously consulted, this request was just, and relying in advance on the noble feelings of all the personnel of our factory, this young man is now working with us.

Statutes

The Commission of Personnel and Internal Organization is responsible for the drawing up of Statutes that are in accordance with the new democratic regime of labor and the norms of freedom achieved by the proletariat.

The rulings that have been repeatedly promised, and not just by the Minister of the Economy, but also by other institutions, that were supposed to be issued shortly concerning the regulation and structure of the new system of labor, have caused the Committee to postpone any attempt on its own part to resolve at the present time the problem of regulations, which we consider, as all of you do also, to be of the greatest urgency, since the immediate need of having to adapt to this new expected regulatory system to which we have referred has caused us to delay their drafting for many days, until such a time as the promised rulings will be issued.

The Statistical Commission

The Statistical Commission has been, during this delay in our mandate, informing the plenum of the Committee of the variations in the cost of labor power and the output and efficiency of the producers’ efforts in the factory of Sans. We have implemented a very sensible change with respect to the extremes of the latter, concerning which, in order to study it in detail, information was requested of the delegates of the Committee with respect to the causes to which they could attribute these changes. This study led to the notice that you have seen posted at the gates of the factory and in various other locations.

The Sub-commission for Social Assistance

In order to facilitate the distribution of labor in the many varieties overseen by the comrades of the Personnel Committee, as we pointed out above, the Sub-commission of Social Assistance was created, whose first study dealt with the reorganization of the nursery and daycare services. To this end, as you have seen, their direction was entrusted to technical and specialized personnel.

This Committee thought that the nursery and daycare services required the care of specialists and that we should not be sparing of care for the little ones of today, who will be the men of tomorrow. For this reason the rules established by the current director of these services are being followed, in order to adapt all the suggestions to modernize and make more pleasant our young ones’ stay in these departments.

We need, we plead and hope that, all the suggestions, initiatives or requests concerning this special task that you will believe to be appropriate, you will bring to the Committee’s attention, without any hesitations, in the assurance that you should be most attentive to this Commission, since it is by means of your own efforts that we can obtain the maximum efficiency and improvement of these services.

Internal security

The Commission for Internal Organization has recently ruled that at the entry to the factory, besides the usual door-wardens, there should also be a permanent armed guard. This measure, fully debated at the Committee Plenum, which, of course, is responsible for such matters, like all its other decisions, is undoubtedly considered to be a sensitive issue, and that is why we are now bringing it to your attention. Commissions of armed individuals have presented themselves at the factory gates on various occasions, intending to enter the factory with their weapons in hand, sometimes for the purpose of requisitioning transport vehicles and for other reasons on other occasions, sometimes successfully, without paying any attention to the requests of the unarmed door-wardens at the gates. This was considered intolerable, and that is why a permanent armed guard was established. This Committee, however, will as soon as possible seek to abolish this post, since it is the first to regret its necessity and accepts full responsibility for the bad impression this has made on those who are not acquainted with the true reasons for its ruling.

The report of the comrades of Sabadell

The comrades of Sabadell have delivered to us a report on that production center, which is summarized in the report you are reading now. We must note, however, one striking aspect of that report, and concerning which we are pleased to inform the Assembly, and this is that the work in that factory is being carried on perfectly normally, having registered, after confiscation, a decrease in the production cost of the goods, at the same time that we are also informed that the 124 workers, our comrades of Sabadell, identify wholly with the workers of Sans.

The need for further improvements and additional projects

We have received requests for further improvements and additional projects that are thought to be necessary. This Committee shares the good intentions that have motivated these requests, but it regrets that it has to announce that it has been unable to carry them out as was its intention, since, first of all, the requisite personnel are occupied with other improvements, and second of all, we cannot ourselves assume sole responsibility for carrying out projects whose costs are beyond our current economic possibilities. We, the workers, who, by being in contact with the consequences, have always had to regret the imperfections and defects of everything that affects the safety and hygiene of the personnel in the factories and workshops, now that we enjoy full powers to remedy them, are incapable of doing so to the full extent we would like.

This is, however, the situation of all revolutionary periods; but you know, comrades, just how important this question is for making man’s life in the factory as pleasant as we desire and we have this goal before our eyes.

How often the Assembly shall meet

This Assembly, as we see it, is convoked at what we could call reasonable intervals. It is true that there was no resolution at the last general meeting concerning the precise date when this Assembly should be held, nor does any current Statute set forth how often the Assembly shall meet. Fliers are currently being circulated concerning this issue; some call for monthly meetings, others quarterly meetings. We believe that, since the last meeting, nothing serious has taken place that would have justified the convocation of a general assembly. There is no doubt that today’s agenda contains certain issues of obvious importance, but even without such issues of importance we would have summoned the comrades from their homes, since we consider the time that has passed since the last meeting to be reasonable. It is no less true, however, that in a meeting of militants and Committees it was suggested or requested that an Assembly should be held soon.

This is the summary of the activities of this Committee that is submitted for the consideration of the Assembly; and we understand that if you find some omission in it, you should attribute it to forgetfulness or carelessness, or to our desire not to make this report endless, and we are here, as at every other moment, ready to provide any clarifications or explanations that may be requested of us.

The Central Committee