pastradamus
21st March 2009, 18:00
Since becoming a leftist I have been absolutely fascinated with the Spanish Civil war (approx 17 July 1936 - 1 April 1939).
The main thing that interests me is that you have a Group of Spanish people with a few international volunteers as well as a little vital support from Stalin exporting arms to the Republic from Odessa port, against the Mass of Mussolini's Italian Troops "Corpo Truppe Volontaire" (75,000 troops, Aircraft, Naval capabilities, Tanks and heavy artillery) as well as Hitlers German "condor legion" (19,000 troops, high-tech aircraft, artillery, tanks and specialist officers). In spite of the poor Armed capability of the People of Spain, they managed to hold out for three long years against the swell of Franco troops - his Falange and his fascist and Nazi support.
So here I have chosen to write a bit on the Workers party of Marxist Unification (POUM).
The POUM were formed around the time of the start of Franco's Rebellion in Morocco. The Party formed with the uniting of the "Workers and Peasants Bloc" (BOC) which was based mainly in Catalonia and described itself as a "Right opposition" group. The other group were a Trotskyist group called the "Trotskiest Communist Left of Spain" (ICE).
The Group was founded by two main leaders Joaquin Maurín who was leader of the BOC and was a former local secretary to the Anarchist CNT in Lleida. The Other Founder was Andreu Nin. Nin is a very interesting figure in that he began as a Journalist who then went on to found the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), then he worked for the Red International of Labour Unions and was on Leon Trotsky's Staff. When he left and came back home to Spain he split from the PCE and formed the ICE, whilst all the time corresponding with Trotsky and then united it (against the advice of Trotsky) with the BOC to form the POUM after a hard-fought argument and a split with Trotsky. Nin himself is a fascinating character and it would be worthwhile for anyone to read up on him.
In the beginning the POUM was small. However most historians agree that despite its small size it organised some of the best Vanguard elements in the Catalan working class. The POUM set up a newspaper called "La Batalla" which openly criticised the Stalinists in Moscow and unmasking the crimes of the Moscow trials as well as developing some of the best formal criticisms of of the Popular front as well as the second republic. However the POUM were not without their critics when it came to the Socialist UGT and the Anarchist CNT leaders who wanted to exclude POUM members from their unions.
Though critical of the Popular front the POUM did take part in Presidente Azana's Popular front Government. Various left-wing organisation's joined the group including: the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Workers General Union[/URL] (UGT), Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the republicans: Republican Left (IR), (led by Azaña) and the Republican Union Party (UR). This pact was supported by Galician (PG) and Catalan Nationalists (such as the Esquerra Party), and the anarchist trade union, the Confederacíon Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). The POUM tried, mostly in vain to introduce many of their more radical policies through the new government but were usually shot down by moderates during a vote. Membership in the POUM started to grow rapidly during the war years beginning very small at 3000 to 8000 members it grew Like most of the left groups it grew during the Civil War and by September 1936, it was about 30 000 strong, with l0 000 in its own militia. Yet much more than to contribute to its numerical growth, the Popular Front government and the Civil War cruelly exposed the centrist politics of the POUM leaders. Capable of left criticisms, the POUM consistently refused to carry through a break with the leaders of the CNT and UGT. Fearful above all of ‘isolation’ from these leaders they diplomatically refused to be critical of their practice. Worse still, they acted as a ‘loyal opposition’ in the Popular Front, often arguing against the PCE’s proposals but accepting to abide by them and even taking responsibility for them when they were defeated. It is for this reason that Trotsky ruthlessly called the POUM ‘the chief obstacle on the road to the creation of a revolutionary party’. Which in my opinion Irons out and dismisses any substantial accusation of "a trotskist party", I dont believe you could simply call the party trotskyist as it was a mix of lots of different forms of Marxism.
It was plainly obvious that the POUM leadership in Spain refused to criticise the CNT leadership. This is due to the fact that a large number of POUM militiamen were CNT union members(as the POUM had no union) and we see this described in George Orwell's (a POUM veteran) "Homage to Catalonia":
The P.O.U.M. (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista) was one of those dissident Communist parties which have appeared in many countries in the last few years as a result of the opposition to 'Stalinism'; i.e. to the change, real or apparent, in Communist policy. It was made up partly ofex-Communist and partly of an earlier party, the Workers' and Peasants' Bloc. Numerically it was a small party, with not much influence outside Catalonia, and chiefly important because it contained an unusually high proportion of politically conscious members. In Catalonia its chief stronghold was Lerida. It did not represent any block of trade unions. The P.O.U.M. militiamen were mostly C.N.T. members, but the actual party-members generally belonged to the U.G.T. It was, however, only in the C.N.T. that the P.O.U.M. had any influence.
The POUM often Fought alongside the CNT and other Militia's in the Catalonia foothills and on the Aragon Front against the fascists. One of the Big Poum wins was securing the Jaca road after the Anarchist fell.Despite the fact that the POUM eventually lost the battle they showed courage and skill in their defense - picking up where the Anarchist Militia's were overwhelmed.
The POUM and the Stalinist PCE came to a head in 1937 during the Barcelona May Days. This occured when the PCE attempted to take over Anarchist-run telephone exchange Building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_General_Union) in Barcelona. The telephone workers fought back, sparking a city-wide conflict. Five days of street fighting ensued, with anarchist workers and their allies the Friends of Durutti Group , supporters of the non-Stalinist POUM, building barricades and exchanging fire with the Assault Guards, stormtroopers and PSUC.
The CNT workers were eventually persuaded into a compromise by the Anarcho-Syndicalist leader Juan Garcia Oliver, amongst others. The Republican government sent 10,000 Assault Guard troops to Barcelona to quell the fighting. The ultimate result of the battle was the further erosion of worker control of the city and the consolidation of government power over the major labor organizations in Catalonia, the CNT and its sister group, the Anarchist Federation of Iberia (known collectively as the CNT-FAI). This brought the POUM to the fore as a militant enemy of the PCE. This meant full outright war and fighting and in the end the POUM suffered 900 dead and 2,000 wounded according to La Batalla.
In the end the POUM's downfall was the PCE and Stalin. Nin and most of the leadership of POUM were arrested and sent to a camp near Madrid. Andreu Nin was tortured and murdered in the most callous of fashions, under the supervision of the NKVD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Garc%C3%ADa_Oliver). Some claim the Republican Government's secret police killed Nin on June 20, with the involvement of "Comandante Contreras" Vittorio Vidali[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Vidali"], and Iosif Griguleivich.
The main thing that interests me is that you have a Group of Spanish people with a few international volunteers as well as a little vital support from Stalin exporting arms to the Republic from Odessa port, against the Mass of Mussolini's Italian Troops "Corpo Truppe Volontaire" (75,000 troops, Aircraft, Naval capabilities, Tanks and heavy artillery) as well as Hitlers German "condor legion" (19,000 troops, high-tech aircraft, artillery, tanks and specialist officers). In spite of the poor Armed capability of the People of Spain, they managed to hold out for three long years against the swell of Franco troops - his Falange and his fascist and Nazi support.
So here I have chosen to write a bit on the Workers party of Marxist Unification (POUM).
The POUM were formed around the time of the start of Franco's Rebellion in Morocco. The Party formed with the uniting of the "Workers and Peasants Bloc" (BOC) which was based mainly in Catalonia and described itself as a "Right opposition" group. The other group were a Trotskyist group called the "Trotskiest Communist Left of Spain" (ICE).
The Group was founded by two main leaders Joaquin Maurín who was leader of the BOC and was a former local secretary to the Anarchist CNT in Lleida. The Other Founder was Andreu Nin. Nin is a very interesting figure in that he began as a Journalist who then went on to found the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), then he worked for the Red International of Labour Unions and was on Leon Trotsky's Staff. When he left and came back home to Spain he split from the PCE and formed the ICE, whilst all the time corresponding with Trotsky and then united it (against the advice of Trotsky) with the BOC to form the POUM after a hard-fought argument and a split with Trotsky. Nin himself is a fascinating character and it would be worthwhile for anyone to read up on him.
In the beginning the POUM was small. However most historians agree that despite its small size it organised some of the best Vanguard elements in the Catalan working class. The POUM set up a newspaper called "La Batalla" which openly criticised the Stalinists in Moscow and unmasking the crimes of the Moscow trials as well as developing some of the best formal criticisms of of the Popular front as well as the second republic. However the POUM were not without their critics when it came to the Socialist UGT and the Anarchist CNT leaders who wanted to exclude POUM members from their unions.
Though critical of the Popular front the POUM did take part in Presidente Azana's Popular front Government. Various left-wing organisation's joined the group including: the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Workers General Union[/URL] (UGT), Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the republicans: Republican Left (IR), (led by Azaña) and the Republican Union Party (UR). This pact was supported by Galician (PG) and Catalan Nationalists (such as the Esquerra Party), and the anarchist trade union, the Confederacíon Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). The POUM tried, mostly in vain to introduce many of their more radical policies through the new government but were usually shot down by moderates during a vote. Membership in the POUM started to grow rapidly during the war years beginning very small at 3000 to 8000 members it grew Like most of the left groups it grew during the Civil War and by September 1936, it was about 30 000 strong, with l0 000 in its own militia. Yet much more than to contribute to its numerical growth, the Popular Front government and the Civil War cruelly exposed the centrist politics of the POUM leaders. Capable of left criticisms, the POUM consistently refused to carry through a break with the leaders of the CNT and UGT. Fearful above all of ‘isolation’ from these leaders they diplomatically refused to be critical of their practice. Worse still, they acted as a ‘loyal opposition’ in the Popular Front, often arguing against the PCE’s proposals but accepting to abide by them and even taking responsibility for them when they were defeated. It is for this reason that Trotsky ruthlessly called the POUM ‘the chief obstacle on the road to the creation of a revolutionary party’. Which in my opinion Irons out and dismisses any substantial accusation of "a trotskist party", I dont believe you could simply call the party trotskyist as it was a mix of lots of different forms of Marxism.
It was plainly obvious that the POUM leadership in Spain refused to criticise the CNT leadership. This is due to the fact that a large number of POUM militiamen were CNT union members(as the POUM had no union) and we see this described in George Orwell's (a POUM veteran) "Homage to Catalonia":
The P.O.U.M. (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista) was one of those dissident Communist parties which have appeared in many countries in the last few years as a result of the opposition to 'Stalinism'; i.e. to the change, real or apparent, in Communist policy. It was made up partly ofex-Communist and partly of an earlier party, the Workers' and Peasants' Bloc. Numerically it was a small party, with not much influence outside Catalonia, and chiefly important because it contained an unusually high proportion of politically conscious members. In Catalonia its chief stronghold was Lerida. It did not represent any block of trade unions. The P.O.U.M. militiamen were mostly C.N.T. members, but the actual party-members generally belonged to the U.G.T. It was, however, only in the C.N.T. that the P.O.U.M. had any influence.
The POUM often Fought alongside the CNT and other Militia's in the Catalonia foothills and on the Aragon Front against the fascists. One of the Big Poum wins was securing the Jaca road after the Anarchist fell.Despite the fact that the POUM eventually lost the battle they showed courage and skill in their defense - picking up where the Anarchist Militia's were overwhelmed.
The POUM and the Stalinist PCE came to a head in 1937 during the Barcelona May Days. This occured when the PCE attempted to take over Anarchist-run telephone exchange Building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_General_Union) in Barcelona. The telephone workers fought back, sparking a city-wide conflict. Five days of street fighting ensued, with anarchist workers and their allies the Friends of Durutti Group , supporters of the non-Stalinist POUM, building barricades and exchanging fire with the Assault Guards, stormtroopers and PSUC.
The CNT workers were eventually persuaded into a compromise by the Anarcho-Syndicalist leader Juan Garcia Oliver, amongst others. The Republican government sent 10,000 Assault Guard troops to Barcelona to quell the fighting. The ultimate result of the battle was the further erosion of worker control of the city and the consolidation of government power over the major labor organizations in Catalonia, the CNT and its sister group, the Anarchist Federation of Iberia (known collectively as the CNT-FAI). This brought the POUM to the fore as a militant enemy of the PCE. This meant full outright war and fighting and in the end the POUM suffered 900 dead and 2,000 wounded according to La Batalla.
In the end the POUM's downfall was the PCE and Stalin. Nin and most of the leadership of POUM were arrested and sent to a camp near Madrid. Andreu Nin was tortured and murdered in the most callous of fashions, under the supervision of the NKVD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Garc%C3%ADa_Oliver). Some claim the Republican Government's secret police killed Nin on June 20, with the involvement of "Comandante Contreras" Vittorio Vidali[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Vidali"], and Iosif Griguleivich.