The Collectives
"To the people. The CNT and FAI call everybody to armed revolt. The hour of revolution has struck and the moment is here. We stand ready to make anarcho-communism a reality. Personal property is abolished, and all wealth will be collectivized. The factories, workplaces and other means of production will be taken over by the organized proletariat. Everything will be put under the control of factory-councils and workers-councils who will try to maintain the production at the present level. In the country-side agricultural lands and everything that forms the wealth of the people will be put at the disposal of the free communes. Workers who live in poor housing conditions should occupy any habitable building and the houses of the rich. The stores must come under the control of the district-councils who will see to the distribution of the products and will guarantee supplies to the people. The use of money is abolished, as is business for personal profit." (pamphlet of the CNT-FAI).
After the victory collectivization began. In Catalonia, center of industry, most factories came directly into the hands of the workers. In many cases the owners and managers fled. Sometimes the co-operated. The making of decisions by the workers in the factory itself meant that there was a great variety of approches. Sometimes everybody received the same wages, sometimes there were different wages, here and there all the power was in the councils, in pther places the councils only supervised. But the old hierarchy no longer existed.
The CNT and the people were well prepared. Most of the factories and businesses had stopped production for a short time, but soon they were working again at the old or higher production-level. Profits were used to support other factories and businesses who were having difficulties. Under no circumstances were profits handed out for personal use. They were always used for purposes in the fight against fascism or for improvement of production. At times meetings took place where committees and workers discussed the activities and the status of the business or factory.
The country-side was also collectivized and again surprisingly almost effortlessly. After centuries of exploitation, the changes were more logical to the peasants and the workers than to many outsiders. Here too, many different forms of production and consumer co-operatives developed. But in all the agricultural co-operatives solidarity was as strong as it could be. Suddenly everyone had enough to eat and the co-operatives helped each other out when necessary. Communal reserves where established to help the villages who produced less because the ground wasn't as good. Spontaneous monthly meetings developed where everyone was present and collective decisions were taken.
Agriculture improved quickly; better irrigation, more machines, more variety in production, reforesting, more live-stock, communal stables and barns were built on a large scale, depending on local conditions. Trade, production and distribution were brought more into balance, first on the district-level, then on a regionally and finally a national level. In many places money was abolished.
The number of collectives grew steadily. After some time there were 400 collectives in Aragon, 900 in Levante, 300 in Castile. All the industries in Catalonia were collectivized and most striking was the fact that the workers had done it themselves. The government watched and then came running with their own prescriptions. But even the CNT was not in control. And it was not obligatory to participate, membership of a collective was voluntary.
Education improved quickly too (before the revolution it was entirely under control of the catholic church). Most of the collectives, some completely and some partly socialized, built at least one school each. For example in the federation of Levante in 1938 each collective had a school. Education for everyone, and no bullshit with priests and nuns, but simply education in the own language.
