and Propaganda without Facts or Morality: A CIT Bullshit Detector
The union in Madrid which belongs to the CIT has published (after many years) a „response” to the criticisms of the CNT-AIT Madrid, the CNT-AIT Spain and the International Workers Association. The supposed reason for not responding earlier is being „too busy” - an excuse which really seems dismissive rather than real. The CNT-AIT has written a response, which we publish here. Any notes added it to are just clarifications.
The IWA Secretariat has also decided to respond to these texts and we would like to point out a number of flaws in their arguments and address the manipulations.
One of the most interesting (but not so imaginative) claims of the CIT union is that it „had to” bring lawsuits against CNT-AIT, because, according to them, the CNT-AIT started suing them first. This situation has been going on for years but suddenly, such an inplausible defense is given – after years of GIVING OTHER REASONS AND „JUSTIFICATIONS”. You would think that, if that really happened, it would have been used as an argument a bit earlier, but hey. It seems more likely that they are looking for a new alternative reason, hoping that their supporters are really just blind believers, who won't question what they say, or the fact that they have been explaining this differently for years. The fact is that the CIT organization filed dozens of lawsuits, which we have seen, a fact we have been denouncing since 2017. When the cases finally came to court, after the CNT-AIT had grown by numerous unions, they laid on more lawsuits.
Among other false explanations is the history of that organization with the IWA. The CNT-AIT addresses the history of the CIT organizations disaffiliation, as will we. It was disaffiliated in 2016, after a long period of ignoring the decisions and obligations of said international,initiating the formation of a new international organization and, most importantly for the CNT-AIT, ignoring the Statutes of the CNT-AIT in many issues.
The CNT-AIT writes:
„In their statement, the CIT of Madrid recalls that the CNT-AIT separated from the IWA some time ago, but they don't explain how that process unfolded. The decision wasn't made at any Congress or Plenary session of the Organization. (trans.- CNT-AIT) Their statement mentions respecting agreements freely reached by majority vote or assembly, but the break with the IWA was driven by their refusal to respect the agreements of its 25th Congress (Valencia, December 6-8, 2013). That congress ratified the continuation of equal representation for sections, with one vote per country or section, rejecting the proposal to introduce a proportionality system, similar to a parliamentary one, where those who paid the most would have more votes. In addition to their refusal to respect that agreement, they also disregarded the congresses of the Spanish CNT section itself. These were the congresses held in Córdoba (trans.- 2010) and Zaragoza (trans. - 2015), which ratified their continued membership in the IWA, although the latter, in Zaragoza, stipulated that a proposal should be submitted to the IWA to modify its operating procedures. The proposal was never allowed to be implemented.”
This was because the Secretaries and Leaders of the organization at time actually decided to boycott the Congress in 2016 – a decision not made by the organization itself.
The CIT organization dishonestly claims that an „expulsion” of USI played part in their decision, but their was no expulsion of USI before the Spanish organization, so it could not be part of that organization's decision. The two organizations were disaffiliated on the same day. Rather, the facts are that three organizations were moving to form another international. This was evident before they were finally disaffiliated.
The 2016 Congress was attended by current members of the CNT-AIT as the CIT organization did not organize any organic meeting to go to the Congress which they intended to boycott. They only sent a person known for carrying out inquisitions in the Spanish organiztion to the Congress after they heard that members of CNT-AIT wanted to observe. The main motive was to see who were there, report them and move to expel them for maintaining contacts with the IWA. The „delegate”, sent by the National Committee, not elected by the membership, carried absolutely no mandate to the Congress.
The 2016 and 2017 Congresses recognized that those continuing in Spain were in fact that continuation of our Spanish Section, the CNT-AIT. We firmly reject any claims that our comrades cannot continue operating in the name they always had.
Part of the reason we recognize this as obvious (but the state, looking for more cooperative people may not) is that the Committees and Secretaries of the organization had broken many points of the CNT-AIT Statutes. The CIT union, with no shame, talk about infractions of other, many times made up. However, the CNT-AIT points out:
“Even before the aforementioned IWA congress, the Confederal Committee, by decision of its managers, had been withholding dues. When they failed to modify the equal representation system within the IWA, the amount withheld was increased to nearly 40,000. The objective could only have been to subjugate the International through this futile attempt at economic blackmail. However, the membership continued to pay the portion of the monthly dues that corresponded by agreement. We never knew exactly where the entire amount of the dues went.”
This is an important point. As an anarcho-syndicalist knows the organization mandates people like a Treasurer with different responsibilities and may impose different limitations on the Treasurer. The Statutes of the CNT-AIT clearly stated the responsibilities of the Treasurer and how the CNT-AIT's members dues were to be allocated. Among the things in the Statutes were allocated a fixed sum for the IWA, along with other things more should be spent on within the organization. This means that the Treasurer has to follow this mandate and do what the organization decided. He could not just make a decision by himself or with a small group of leaders to do something completely different with the money.
However, that is exactly what happened. Not once, but twice. The money was redirected: to where, people do not know to this day. One of the major issues was that the membership was not receiving financial reports for a few years and only found out later that their dues were not paid. As there was no Congress decision – or any organic decision for that matter – to do this, members demanded that the funds be used in accordance with their Statutes. But most of all, the CNT-AIT still had anarcho-syndicalists in it (at that point). And they demanded that the leadership act accordingly, not act as executive directors.
(It was shortly after revealed that the Secretary of the Organization had embezzled a lot of money and the Treasurer had been covering it up, so it turned out that some of the membership's money just went up his nose.)
Over the years it has been amazing to see people claiming to talk about anarcho-syndicalism who put up with this evident abuse of power in the organization. But that is what a group of people controlling most of the votes turned it into – because of both the passivity of the membership it recruited and its indifference to the actual operating principles of anarcho-syndicalism.
The CNT-AIT also briefly touches on how the CNT-AIT of Madrid was actually kicked out of the organization in breach of the operational statutes of the organization. (It was not the only organization to be purged in an anti-statutory manner.)
The IWA Secretariat, which is well aware of the history of the profound problem in the CIT organization and what actually went down, supports the decisions of the IWA to show solidarity with our Section in Spain, CNT-AIT, and denounce the vindictive legal cases brought against our comrades.
We point out that the CIT union maintains an authoritarian and monopolist mentality in relation to the name of the union. We have CNT-AIT in France, for historic reasons with the same acronyms. Many different re-alignments occured in that country: there is CNT-SO and just CNT; somehow they all manage. Even in Spain, there are numerous unions called CNT, some of which of not in CIT or AIT, but they were not sued. The union of CNT-AIT in Barcelona functioned outside of the federation for literally decades, but only got sued when they reafilliated to the IWA. 14 unions were disaffiliated in 1996, but all that time used the name CNT. They only became a „threat” to the CIT organization decades later, when they adhered to the CNT-AIT.
Simply put, we care more about our comrade's principles than what they call themselves, but anarcho-syndicalism has a legacy that many died for. It is shameful that an organization which has verticalized become a bastardization of this historic legacy. In fact, what they are doing is trying to gather all the capital, manage groups of workers who are not really committed to building horizontal, revolutionary organizations and trying to crush any other people to do not conform to the vision they have for their leadership.
Below, we translate the text of the CNT-AIT in reply to the CIT unions dishonest statement.
IWA Secretariat
In response to the “CNT” CIT of Madrid
On November 5th, the “LIBERTARIAN LABOR UNION FOR MUTUAL SUPPORT AFFILIATED WITH THE NATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOR, CNT,” which signs as „CNT MADRID”, issued a statement referring to our organization and the ongoing conflict. This statement, riddled with inaccuracies and some falsehoods, compels us to respond. While some of what we will explain may already be known from other statements, it is necessary to reiterate it for a clear understanding of the current situation.
In their statement, the CIT of Madrid recalls that the CNT-AIT separated from the IWA some time ago, but they don't explain how that process unfolded. The decision wasn't made at any Congress or Plenary session of the Organization. (trans.- CNT-AIT) Their statement mentions respecting agreements freely reached by majority vote or assembly, but the break with the IWA was driven by their refusal to respect the agreements of its 25th Congress (Valencia, December 6-8, 2013). That congress ratified the continuation of equal representation for sections, with one vote per country or section, rejecting the proposal to introduce a proportionality system, similar to a parliamentary one, where those who paid the most would have more votes. In addition to their refusal to respect that agreement, they also disregarded the congresses of the Spanish CNT section itself. These were the congresses held in Córdoba (trans.- 2010) and Zaragoza (trans. - 2015), which ratified their continued membership in the IWA, although the latter, in Zaragoza, stipulated that a proposal should be submitted to the IWA to modify its operating procedures. The proposal was never allowed to be implemented.
Even before the aforementioned IWA congress, the Confederal Committee, by decision of its management, had been withholding dues. When they failed to modify the equal representation system within the IWA, the amount withheld increased to nearly 40,000. The objective could only have been to subjugate the International through this futile attempt at economic blackmail. Nevertheless, the membership continued to pay the portion of the monthly dues that was agreed upon. We never learned exactly where the entire amount of the dues went.
With this imposition by the leadership, violating the agreements of all the congresses, the IWA's requests for explanation regarding the non-payments that had persisted for years were met with a response. The response was simply to act as it should, by inviting expulsion. That was the intention, achieved through a fait accompli. But to further force their own disaffiliation, and while still part of the IWA, they organized a public meeting in Barakaldo calling for the creation of another international organization. (trans. note- Nov. 2016. Secretariat note: another meeting for this purpose had taken place in June 2016 in Italy). This is now known as the CIT.
It is evident that they were unable to bring down the IWA, which today maintains a presence in 22 countries and is expected to expand at the next congress. And, of course, its CNT-AIT section is present in the context we are discussing.
Since the Madrid CIT speaks of usurpations, it sjould be responding to the numerous requests from the IWA for the return of its archives, originally deposited at the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation, now occupied by the CIT, but which they refuse to return to the IWA.
They are also lying when they claim ownership of the CNT-AIT premises in Madrid. Before the CIT falsified documents, one of the two floors was legally owned by the CNT-AIT Construction Union of Madrid, and the other by the Metalworkers' Union, also part of the CNT-AIT, not the CIT. All payments for expenses, renovations, maintenance, and loan repayments were made by the Local Federation, as stipulated in the purchase agreement. You can find the details at this link: https://madrid.cntait.org/sobre-la-propiedad-de-los-historicos-locales-s.... (trans. - See English translation here: https://iwa-ait.org/content/hands-premises-cnt-ait-madrid-and-statem...) They falsified documents, just as the CIT of Olot did in Figueres (Catalonia), to convince a court that they were the CNT-AIT of Figueres and keep its premises. Thus, in Madrid, they registered the historic CNT-AIT premises in their name.
Furthermore, they accuse the CNT-AIT of filing lawsuits. They omit the fact that on December 31, 2017, their legal secretary announced that they had initiated legal action against the unions that were already part of the CNT-AIT at that time. Who started this? (See note 1).
In the specific case of Madrid, they try to portray it as a cross-complaint, attempting to equate their aggression with our defense. Are they trying to make people think that requesting an eviction is the same as trying to stop it? Will our comrades in Madrid be the violent ones when the police sent by the CIT arrive at the premises? Let's see how they cover that up.
In their complaints before the National Court, we stated that appealing a complaint is not using the legal route. Using the legal route means filing a lawsuit, as they have done against each and every one of the CNT-AIT unions, demanding €50,000 from each union—an amount they know no union has anywhere near—with the clear intention of legally shutting them down. And when the CIT filed a criminal complaint seeking two years in prison for CNT-AIT members in Tarragona for opposing the sale of their premises, were we also the ones using the legal route? And what does the CIT membership know about all this? Do they agree? Have they been consulted?
All these decisions to sue unions, seize their premises, carry out evictions, and even seek imprisonment are decisions made by the CIT leadership. Their unions and members find out about it online. That is the concept of horizontality and assembly-based decision-making held by the authoritarian leadership of that organization.
And in the same way, the CIT, with very little shame, accuses us of its own actions and speaks of assaults. No CNT-AIT union has assaulted a CIT union office, nor have we tried to sell them, nor have we demanded money from them, nor have we called for their imprisonment. The CIT, however, did assault, rob, and destroy everything it could on repeated occasions in Cádiz and recently in Figueres. They did the same in Madrid when they fraudulently expelled the Local Federation of Unions against agreements (note 2). Before reaching the agreement, they raided their offices in Plaza Tirso de Molina. These are the same offices for which they are now requesting a police eviction order, since today those premises in the center of Madrid are worth millions of euros.
It should be added that a member of the Valladolid branch of the CIT participated in the repugnant but ultimately unsuccessful attack on our Madrid premises. This same member, during his time on the Confederal Committee, was known to have covered up the theft of tens of thousands of euros from the Confederal Committee's funds. Subsequent administrations of the Confederal Committee followed suit, and discrepancies and a lack of transparency in the accounts persisted. The then-Secretary of the Central Regional branch also participated in the attack. He continued to serve in that capacity even though he was no longer a member of the CIT, as he was affiliated with the Madrid Local Federation, which had been fraudulently expelled. His actions consisted of closing the Madrid premises without authorization, invading the second-floor office, expelling the comrade who was permanently stationed there, and changing the locks. For details of what happened, see: https://sovmadrid.org/comunicado-de-los-hechos-del-27-de-octubre-de-2018...
These are just a few examples of how the actions of the CIT's leadership are precisely the opposite of what they preach, demonstrating once again that those who should be keeping quiet are always the ones who talk the most, hiding their shameful actions amidst a torrent of lies.
In the coming months, the CIT will continue its legal attempts to have the police raid the CNT-AIT Madrid premises in Tirso de Molina, a social landmark for decades that has hosted countless activities and provided a space for so many grassroots groups. But the CIT has a problem with its top-down and opaque structure; its intention, already approved, is none other than to sell off as many premises as possible, even those occupied by active unions.
Anarcho-syndicalism cannot and must not sell the premises created by the work of our predecessors. Anarcho-syndicalism must breathe life into these premises. And it must relaunch those closed due to the burning of so many militants by all these maneuvers of power, falsification, and inconsistency with our principles.
Finally, the CNT-CIT Madrid statement claims that “Months ago we took the initiative to open a channel for dialogue… Tirso de Molina showed no hurry,” but the truth is that they said this after their Confederal Committee had already filed the eviction notice. Nothing more happened in the plenary session of their Confederal Committee prohibiting them from continuing the process. We have included in the link what was proposed and what remains open to be initiated: https://madrid.cntait.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Anexo-4-Propuesta-n...
Clearly, the CNT-AIT, which has weathered far worse times in its long history, will stand up to them. A gang of thugs will not be able to do what the State, in all its forms, has never managed: extinguish anarcho-syndicalism.
NOW AS ALWAYS, SOLIDARITY AND DIRECT ACTION.
AGAINST ALL AUTHORITY.
LONG LIVE SOCIAL REVOLUTION.
Secretariat of the National Committee of the CNT-AIT
Notes:
(1) BN7085, internal communication document number.
(2) In the CIT document, the link to the agreements of the disfederation plenary session includes a section:
“B) To veto the reaffiliation of those belonging to the Madrid General Trades Union.” In other words, the General Trades Union was being expelled exclusively at the regional plenary session. Due to federalism and its own internal regulations, the disfederation must be addressed within its own sphere, the Madrid Local Federation. The problem: the expulsion wouldn't have passed in Madrid, so it was carried out informally in a regional plenary session. We will return to this point, as it has happened with other unions as well.