Next Thursday, September 19th, the trials against 16 unions of the CNT-AIT (IWA) begin as a consequence of the lawsuits brought by the CNT-CIT (ICL), a union with which we formed a single organisation until less than 10 years ago. We will not go into the reasons for this situation, something we already did 3 years ago in a text entitled ‘Against all odds’. Today our intention is to inform and point out some questions about the content and the meaning of the lawsuits.

The lawsuits seek to force us (through the State) to stop using ‘the name National Confederation of Labour, the initials CNT, its distinctive signs [flags and logos] ... and its emblem [Hercules fighting the Lion of Nemea]’, with the argument that ‘they are registered as National Trademarks’ (at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office) in the name of the CNT-CIT. They accuse us of supplanting an identity that they claim belongs to them and seek to confuse their potential affiliates by using this historical prestige. But the only certainty is that, of the two parties, the CNT-AIT is the only one that has always made it clear who it is and to which international it belongs (the International Workers' Association founded in 1922). About the CNT-CIT, on the other hand, one could almost say that they deliberately hide this as a marketing strategy. Who is creating the confusion? The answer seems obvious to us.

Another point that we think is relevant in the lawsuits is their intention to judicially prevent us from publically saying what happened, about their intolerable behaviour, their political manoeuvres and their corrupt practices. They intend to silence us by making use of the National Court, achieving by the force of the State what their lack of moral legitimacy has been unable to achieve.

As if this were not shameful enough, they are asking for €50,000 from each defendant union (a total of €800,000) for the alleged ‘moral damages’ caused, with the aim of crippling us financially.

On June 29-30, over 60 delegates and observers from the IWA participated in the Plenary which took place in Bogota, Colombia. We were also joined on line by Chinese anarcho-syndicalists who were invited to observe the meeting. We thank ULET, our Section in Colombia, for the tremendous effort in organizing the Plenary and for their very warm hospitality.

Prior to the Plenary there was a public discussion with members of CNT-AIT Spain, ZSP from Poland and ULET from Colombia. The Plenary was also accompanied by a number of cultural events.

The Plenary dealt with many internal matters such as procedures and dealing with good practices but also decided to organize some actions and campaigns. There will be a new, long-term campaign against wage theft, in addition to the Week Against Unpaid Wages that we have held over the past few years. Next year there will be an IWA Week of Action in May where the Sections and Friends can organize a wide variety of activities.

Solidarity with the CNT-AIT!

Again this year, the whole of the International Workers' Association stand in solidarity with our Section in Spain, the CNT-AIT. The unions of the CNT-AIT face the repressive and vindicative actions of the union now known as CNT-CIT. The lawsuits and legal actions brought by the Spanish Section of the CIT, or ICL (International Confederation of Labor) threaten the CNT-AIT with serious financial loss and, for some members, even time in prison.

The situation has not changed since last year when we wrote this article: https://vivacntait.iwa-ait.org/iwa-days-of-solidarity-with-the-cnt-ait-s...

We explain that the changes that took place in the CNT, particularly over the past 15 years meant that a group of individuals who were both theoretically and practically inclined against the grassroots, non-hierarchical, internationalism of the CNT-AIT, based on revolutionary ideas and practices in line with anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism, tried to re-fashion the organization to support clientele unionism and the professionalization of the organization, including financially profiting from the union's legacy. In order to achieve these goals, there was a period where the „reformers” spearheaded a number of purges from the organization, most infamously of those who exposed corruption or criticized these tendencies. At the same time, it sought to take control over the International Workers' Association and disenfranchise many of its member organizations. The results of all this were the exclusion from the IWA (as a consequence of their own auto-exclusionary actions) and the decision of part of our Section in Spain to remain the CNT-AIT, not to reform the CNT based on hierarchical practices and not to start a new international based on ideas that ran against the egalitarian traditions of the IWA.

The CNT-AIT is an anarcho-syndicalist union, known to many people around the world. Unfortunately, for several years now, it has come under attack by another organization,
the Spanish affiliate of CIT, which also claims the name CNT.

These attacks, which are vindictive in nature, threaten not only the CNT-AIT, but also the historical traditions of anarcho-syndicalism in Spain. They are carried out through the statist apparatus and threaten to see members of the CNT-AIT put in jail. Their aim is to receive money and property from the CNT-AIT in order to destroy that organization.

The IWA considers an attack on any of our comrades to be an attack on all of us, so we stand united in calling for an end to these outrageous legal actions.