When bombs were rumbling in the fields of Europe and millions of workers
were being sent to their deaths in the name of other people's interests,
a light went on in the northwest of the peninsula. In Ferrol, a restless
working-class city, a group of men and women decided to raise their
voices against barbarity. This article delves into one of the most
forgotten episodes in the history of the libertarian movement: the
International Peace Congress of 1915. At a time when patriotism,
militarism and obedience were unquestionable dogmas, anarchists and
trade unionists gathered at the Ateneo Sindicalista of Ferrol proclaimed
that another Europe was possible, a Europe of free peoples and conscious
workers. To understand the magnitude of this gesture, we need to go back
in time and immerse ourselves in the antecedents that made that meeting
possible. Because history is also written from the point of view of
resistance.
Background
The International Peace Congress took place in Ferrol at the end of
April 1915, the result of a complex political, social and ideological
situation that affected the European labor movement and, more
specifically, the Spanish revolutionary anarchist and syndicalist
context. To understand it, it is necessary to go back both to the
evolution of the labor movement in Spain and to the international
response of socialism to the First World War 1 .
The founding of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) in 1910,
during the Congress of Workers' Solidarity in Barcelona, marked a
decisive milestone in Spanish revolutionary unionism. This new unionism
was clearly different from the old workers' societarism: it sought not
only to resist the working conditions imposed by capitalism, but to
combat and overcome them through direct and transformative action. It
defended principles such as class unity and apoliticism, and the
strategy of the revolutionary general strike 2 .
However, the repression exercised by the liberal government of José
Canalejas after the revolutionary general strike of September 1911 had,
among other things, a decisive consequence: the illegalization of the
CNT barely a year after its foundation. Since then, the organization was
forced to operate clandestinely. Not having an established structure,
this situation caused its practical dissolution, with activity being
limited to the most active anarchist groups and territories, which in
1913 began a slow process of confederal reorganization 1,2 .
Meanwhile, in the international arena, the outbreak of the First World
War on July 28, 1914 marked a turning point. Most of the European social
democratic parties, betraying the principles of proletarian
internationalism, chose to support their governments and even integrate
into national concentration cabinets, thus breaking with the spirit of
the Second International 1 . Faced with this drift, the libertarian
sectors maintained, with greater coherence, their opposition to the war,
raising the banner of anti-militarism as one of the fundamental pillars
of their political culture. In the anarchist press of the time, the
patriotism, militarism and imperialist logic of the European powers were
openly denounced, appealing to the historic slogan: "Neither war between
peoples, nor peace between classes" .
This criticism had deep roots: already in the Cuban War (1895-1898), the
Galician anarchists, through the newspaper El Corsario , had taken an
unequivocal position against the war actions of the Spanish government
and in favor of the independence of the island and the freedom of all
peoples. The subsequent Moroccan War had also contributed to shaping a
clearly anti-militarist social agenda, especially among libertarian sectors.
Nevertheless, the debate was lively and open. Personalities such as
Errico Malatesta, James Guillaume and Emma Goldman stood out for their
radical opposition to the conflict, while a small group led by Piotr
Kropotkin, Charles Malato and Jean Grave adopted a pro-Allied position,
supporting the Allies as a way to defeat German imperialism. The latter
went so far as to sign the well-known Manifesto of the Sixteen in 1916,
in contrast to the alternative manifesto of 1915 signed, among others,
by Goldman, Berkman, Malatesta and the Spaniard Pedro Vallina 1 .
In Spain, anarchism remained largely against the war, interpreting it as
a struggle between capitalist powers at the expense of the lives of the
working class 1 . However, there were exceptions: Ricardo Mella from
Vigo adopted a pro-Allied stance and the Mañé-Montseny couple showed
doubts about the position to adopt.
It was at this juncture that the International Peace Congress was
launched in Ferrol, promoted by Galician anarchists as a collective
response to the war.
Call for Congress
At the height of revolutionary unionism, and with most libertarians
openly opposed to the war, the initiative arose to organize a peace
congress to which the international proletariat would be invited. The
call materialized on February 11, 1915, during a rally held at the Romea
Theater in Ferrol. At that massive rally, chaired by the anarchist
Miguel D'Lom, incendiary speeches were made against the European war.
But this initiative did not arise only from the libertarian sector in
Ferrol. D'Lom had been accompanied at that rally by other anarchists
such as Raimundo Castro, but also by socialists such as Antonio Maneiros
and José Bueno, and even republicans such as Maximino Rodríguez 3 .
Ferrol was presented as the optimal location to hold that congress
because, according to the Ateneo Sindicalista, A Coruña was at the time
the most frequented Spanish port by merchant marines and transatlantic
steamers, which would facilitate the mobility of both European and
American delegates. Ferrol, as a nearby city with a strong working-class
fabric, was thus presented as the perfect enclave to host the Congress 4 .
To publicize the call, which was scheduled to be held on April 30 and
May 1 and 2, the unionists from Ferrol published the newspaper Cultura
Libertaria , from which they appealed to all European workers to
establish a common position against the war. The objectives were clear,
considering the three points to be discussed CL, SO:
The quickest means to end the European war.
New guidance to follow in order to prevent such crimes against humanity.
The general disarmament of the standing armies.
It should be noted that, although the anarchists were the main
promoters, it was not an exclusively acratic congress. The call was open
to all currents of laborism: socialists, syndicalists and anarchists.
Even in the organizing committee, along with the anarcho-syndicalists
José López Bouza and Raimundo Castro, the socialist Antonio Maneiros was
included. Also participating in this were Miguel D'Lom himself, Antonio
Filgueira Vieytes, Francisco Salgado, Antonio Porto Casal and Collado
EPO, 3 .
Before the congress was held, on 23 April 1915, a preparatory meeting
took place in the Romea theatre in Ferrol, where passionate speeches
were made against the war. Its impact was such that the government
chaired by Eduardo Dato decided a few days later to ban the Congress,
considering it a threat to public order ED,1 . The threats did not come
only from the government; in these days leading up to the meeting, the
convening of the Congress had already aroused strong reactions in the
press and among political sectors. As delegate Lozano would later
report, El Socialista , the official organ of the PSOE, had actively
campaigned against the Congress. Some headlines in the bourgeois press
went even further, accusing the organizers of acting as agents in the
service of the German emperor, in an attempt to discredit a clearly
anti-war and internationalist workers' initiative. However, the
preparations continued TyL .
Development of the Congress
The departmental city, which had its troops quartered, was invaded in
the days before the congress by the Civil Guard and the police. The
state repression bodies went through the hotels daily, coercing their
employers not to host the delegates who were attending the TyL congress .
Despite this climate of tension, and the government ban, the congress
was able to be held clandestinely in the premises of the Ateneo
Sindicalista, although it was limited to two sessions. Along with the
Spanish and Portuguese workers' societies and anarchist groups, the
Brazilian Workers' Confederation was represented at the congress, by
Antonio F. Vieytes, and the French Syndicalist Youth by the Portuguese
academic Aurelio Quintanilha. In addition, more than 135 entities joined
the congress, most of them workers' and agrarian societies and
federations, but also anarchist groups and federations, ateneos,
rationalist schools, workers' centers, people's houses, libertarian and
syndicalist youth. To a lesser extent, tenant societies, cooperatives,
mutual aid societies, savings banks and Esperanto groups. Along with the
libertarian workers' associations, the Agrupación Socialista de Nerva
and the Partido Republicano de Ferrol participated. As for the origin of
these entities, most of them were from Spain, many from Portugal, four
from England, one from France, one from Brazil, and one from Argentina,
as well as the Unione Sindicale Italiana. To these should be added the
International Association for Peace and Freedom and the League for the
Defense of Human Rights TyL .
The first session of the congress was held on the evening of Thursday,
April 29. After greetings to the delegates, the first topic was
addressed, on the appropriate means to end the war. At the proposal of
José López Bouza, of the organizing committee, it was decided to declare
a general strike in all European nations. But given the circumstances in
which the congress had to be held, this general strike also incorporated
a protest against the Spanish government in the face of its attempt to
suspend the congress. In this latter sense, the proposal of Aurelio
Quintanilha to undertake agitation and protest actions in front of
Spanish embassies and consulates abroad was also approved TyL .
Immediately afterwards, Constancio Romeo's proposal to create a
Permanent Committee of the International Peace Congress, composed of
five members, whose main task would be to draft revolutionary speeches
every fortnight in the different languages of the belligerent nations
and have them reach the European trenches, was addressed. The motion was
approved, and it was decided to establish the Committee in Lisbon TyL .
The session ended at dawn after approving the creation of another
committee that, composed of Portuguese and Spanish delegates, was to
work to strengthen the bonds of solidarity between the proletariat of
both countries. The medium-term objective of this proposal, signed by
Ernesto Costa Cardozo, was the foundation of an Iberian Federation that
would be the cell for the refoundation of the Workers' International. A
federation that would serve to rebel "against war, against all wars,
against capitalist exploitation and against the tyranny of the State"
TyL,SO .
Once the first session had ended, in the early hours of Friday the 30th,
the authorities stormed the hotel where the foreign delegates were
staying, arresting them and deporting them to their countries TyL . In
this way, the second and final session of the congress was held with the
participation of only the Spanish delegates. Given the circumstances,
and making a virtue of necessity, what remained of the congress revolved
around the issue of the reorganization of the CNT. Unfortunately, the
confederal press, perhaps for security reasons, only reported the
approval of Ángel Pestaña's proposal, without specifying its content,
beyond the creation of a committee for the confederal reorganization
with headquarters in Barcelona.
Another topic to be discussed in this second session was the location
where the Iberian Committee for the re-foundation of the Workers'
International should reside. Constancio Romeo, a rationalist master from
A Coruña, proposed that this should be Lisbon. For his part, the Madrid
native Francisco Miranda, future secretary general of the CNT, proposed
A Coruña. Antonio Loredo then protested that "only A Coruña and
Barcelona should be brought to light, because they are a kind of mirror
in which many workers are seen who are carried away by superficialities,
but who do not properly analyze the workers' movement in said
locations", requesting the delegates from the other regions to speak so
that it would be known "that there is not only a workers' movement in A
Coruña and Barcelona, but that there is one throughout Spain". After
several delegates had spoken, it was decided that the committee would
reside temporarily in Ferrol and that its members would be the same as
those of the organizing committee of the TyL congress .
Before the congress was over, it was decided to draw up a manifesto in
protest of the expulsion of the Portuguese delegates the previous night,
to be signed by all the delegates present at the TyL . The manifesto,
which would be published by El Porvenir del Obrero , denounced the
unconstitutionality of the suspension of the congress by the EPO
government .
After the congress, the authorities arrested López Bouza and Eusebio
Carbó for their participation in the rally on the 23rd. The same act
that had served as an excuse for the authorities to ban the congress was
now used to repress two of its most prominent figures. The arguments put
forward by the authorities were hesitant. If they initially cited the
violent tone of the speakers' speeches for the suspension of the
congress, and then the dangerous nature of the anarchists who were about
to gather in Ferrol, López Bouza and Carbó would ultimately be
prosecuted for "incitement to sedition", being tried a year later SO,5 .
In parallel with the congress, the representatives of the anarchist
groups and newspapers agreed to constitute the Spanish Committee of the
Anarchist International, approving the proposal presented by Constancio
Romeo. In the preamble Romeo attributed the war situation to the
collapse of the Second International. A social democratic international
that he considered "lifeless and without honor", after its leaders had
supported the European war. However, according to the rationalist
professor, in the face of this betrayal of workers' internationalism,
the "lack of a healthy and revolutionary orientation in the world
proletariat was, without a doubt, the most important factor that the
governments of the belligerent States used to drag the proletarians onto
the battlefields, to defend with their blood and their lives the
senseless interests of their tyrants and executioners". It was therefore
necessary to set up an international organization that would bring
anarchists into contact to act in common agreement and counteract the
governments' war actions. This was how a committee composed of five
members was appointed whose functions were 1) To begin the procedures to
obtain the accession to the International of all anarchist individuals,
groups and federations in Spain; 2) To establish communication with the
London Committee and, together, to address anarchists in other countries
until the constitution of the International Anarchist Association; 3)
Once the international association was created, it was to create, in
turn, a section or committee in each country. The committee was assumed
by the Tierra y Libertad group of Barcelona TyL .
Repercussions of the Peace Congress
The Peace Congress of Ferrol had a great impact on the future of the
Iberian proletariat although, paradoxically, this influence had little
to do with the war issue. Federico Urales, who for family reasons could
not attend the congress, drew up a manifesto on the strike against the
war. Urales (nickname of Joan Montseny) who, as we have already said,
was hesitant between pro-Allied and anti-war positions, showed in this
manifesto a certain closeness to the Allied countries. He also indicated
that one of the agreements of the congress was to put the initiative of
the strike against the war on hold, mandating the committee to launch it
when international circumstances were more suitable. The intention was
to harm as little as possible those countries that granted the most
freedom to their citizens, that is, the Allies. He also indicated that
the agreement on the strike against the war would be given a permanent
character, to be applied against any country that had invaded foreign
territory EPO . Be that as it may, the general strike did not occur in
Spain and, much less, on a European scale.
Although the CNT had returned to legality in March 1914, after the
dismissal of the dissolution proceedings against it initiated in
September 1911, it was not until the Peace Congress of Ferrol that its
process of federal reconstruction began. Until then, the activity of
some of its old trade unions and local federations had allowed certain
labor conflicts to be raised, but the lack of an organic structure had
prevented these conflicts from escalating and sustaining. The meeting at
the Congress of militants from almost all the regions, and from a number
of localities, as well as the launch of the reconstruction committee,
served to lay the foundations for the new organic structure of the
confederation 2,5 . The acting committee, based in Barcelona, would
quickly begin to develop the task for which it had been mandated by the
congress. The basis of this process was the Catalan regional, which had
been active since 1913, after the release of many of its militants after
the general pardon granted by the Romanones government in January, and
its relegalization in April 2 . The medium used was its mouthpiece,
Solidaridad Obrera , whose pages hosted a propaganda campaign that
breathed new life into the failed confederal structures. A
reorganization that, starting from the militant base that the CNT had
throughout the peninsular territory, and from its atomized trade
societies and local and regional federations, was able to restore the
organic unity and action of the Spanish proletariat. This occurred at a
time of consolidation of the new structure of Spanish capitalism, which
was leaving behind the small industries of the local bourgeoisies,
replaced by large companies that operated at a state level. The
reorganization committee's campaign highlighted the need to break with
corporatism and localism, to embrace the class solidarity of the
proletariat of the different Iberian regions SO . After this campaign,
the CNT would be definitively reconstituted in the summer of 1915, with
the appointment of a new national committee, although this time the
anarchist positions had advanced with respect to the revolutionary
syndicalists, a process that would culminate in the 1919 Comedia
congress in which the CNT would definitively abandon the revolutionary
syndicalist orientation to embrace anarcho-syndicalism LJS .
At the Ferrol congress, new CNT leaders also emerged who, like Ángel
Pestaña, would end up displacing the old figures of Workers' Solidarity
and would have very prominent positions in the confederation 2.5 .
Conclusions and learnings
Although the International Peace Congress of 1915 did not achieve its
initial objective of articulating an effective international response to
war, its political and symbolic legacy is of undeniable relevance. The
idea of an Iberian Federation of Trade Unions, which was already in the
making at that meeting in Ferrol, deserves to be revisited from the
present. At that time, betting on collaboration between workers'
organizations on the peninsula -with special emphasis on ties with
Portugal- was a strategy to overcome borders and patriotisms and focus
on solidarity between workers. Today, that bet still makes sense. In
times when the offensive of the State and Capital is intensifying across
the continent, across the world, building bridges between libertarian
groups from different territories is not just an exercise in historical
memory, but a real way to strengthen our capacity for response and joint
action.
If there is a slogan that runs through that historical moment and that
continues to resonate strongly, it is that of "Neither war between
peoples, nor peace between classes". This maxim, as simple as it is
resounding, serves as a guide in the face of the horror that surrounds
us: Ukraine, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Kurdistan, Niger, Sudan,
Congo... War is the most brutal expression of a system sustained by
inequality, plunder and domination. And while the bombings, forced
displacements, massacres and hunger follow one another, states justify
their violence in the name of civilization, democracy or security. The
position of anarchism must remain clear: we are with the people, never
with the armies; with popular resistance, never with the geopolitical
interests of the powers.
If in the midst of the World War the Iberian proletariat felt the need
to found a proletarian organism with which to "fight by all means, and
especially through the press and the tribune, bourgeois and political
opinion in its fever for the increase in armaments and its desire for
territorial conquests" TyL , where do we find ourselves today, when the
global war machine continues to swallow up lives, territories and entire
futures, with the active complicity of states and the comfortable
passivity of liberal democracies? Perhaps it is time to remember that it
is not a question of conquering lands, but of consciences; that the real
struggle is in deploying words where others sow fear, in weaving bonds
where others erect walls, and in making ourselves irresistible not by
force, but by the clarity and coherence of what we propose. Because
there are ideas that, once shared, can no longer be disarmed.
Another parallel with the event we are writing about is the context
marked by the systematic repression of grassroots organizations
-currently, with the criminalization of mobilizations and legal
proceedings against trade unionists like the 6 of Switzerland,
anti-fascists like the 6 of Zaragoza or international nationalists like
the 9 of Compostela-. This panorama demands from libertarian militancy
the same courage that those comrades demonstrated who, faced with war
and censorship, decided to come together, debate and organize.
The current resurgence of organized and strategic libertarian projects
opens a new scenario, in which for the first time in a long time it is
possible to think about stable and coordinated structures on a
peninsular scale. But so that this new stage does not reproduce the
mistakes of the past, it is essential to approach it with honesty,
transparency and a real willingness to self-criticism. The Ferrol
Congress demonstrated that broad and diverse spaces can be engines of
reorganization if there is a sincere commitment to unity in principles
and action, without renouncing the plurality of voices or the depth of
debates. Today, as then, is the time to speak, to contrast visions, to
assume dissent and to build solid agreements based on political trust.
Claiming the Ferrol Congress is not just remembering a little-known
episode in our workers' history. It is activating that memory as a
living tool, as a root and as a horizon. It is connecting with the
efforts of those who, in times as difficult as the current ones, decided
to come together to think of alternatives and propose shared paths.
Today, 110 years later, we face the challenge of rebuilding,
reorganizing and strengthening the presence of anarchists in the
political and social sphere. And doing so without forgetting that the
fight for authentic peace -without armies, without exploitation, without
oppression- begins with our firm commitment to organization, solidarity
and the memory of those who came before us.
Dani Palleiro and Inés Kropo (SELG)
Literature
1 Vadillo, Julián (2021). History of the FAI. Organized Anarchism .
Madrid: Catarata.
2 Bar, Antonio (1981). The CNT in the Red Years. From Revolutionary
Syndicalism to Anarcho-Syndicalism (1910-1926) . Madrid: Akal.
3 Fernández, Eliseo (2005). Ferrol workerism . Vigo: A Nosa Terra.
4 Llorca Freire, G. (1985). The Ferrol University in its history:
1879-1880, 1903-1917, 1931-1936 . Ferrol: Ateneo Ferrolán.
5 Vadillo, Julián (2021). History of the CNT. Utopia, pragmatism and
revolution . Madrid: Catarata.
Hemerography
CL - Libertarian Culture , 15/3/1915; 31/3/1915.
ED - The Flood , 24/IV/1915.
EPO - The Future of the Worker , 13/V/1915.
ES - The Socialist , 2/V/1915
LJS - Social Justice, 10/23/1915
SO - Worker Solidarity , 18/3/1915; 13/V/1915; 3/VI/1915; 17/VI/1915;
8/VII/1915; 22/VII/1915; 12/VIII/1915.
TyL - Land and Liberty , 12/V/1915; 19/V/1915; 26/V/1915.
https://www.regeneracionlibertaria.org/2025/04/29/o-congreso-internacional-da-paz-de-ferrol-1915/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
were being sent to their deaths in the name of other people's interests,
a light went on in the northwest of the peninsula. In Ferrol, a restless
working-class city, a group of men and women decided to raise their
voices against barbarity. This article delves into one of the most
forgotten episodes in the history of the libertarian movement: the
International Peace Congress of 1915. At a time when patriotism,
militarism and obedience were unquestionable dogmas, anarchists and
trade unionists gathered at the Ateneo Sindicalista of Ferrol proclaimed
that another Europe was possible, a Europe of free peoples and conscious
workers. To understand the magnitude of this gesture, we need to go back
in time and immerse ourselves in the antecedents that made that meeting
possible. Because history is also written from the point of view of
resistance.
Background
The International Peace Congress took place in Ferrol at the end of
April 1915, the result of a complex political, social and ideological
situation that affected the European labor movement and, more
specifically, the Spanish revolutionary anarchist and syndicalist
context. To understand it, it is necessary to go back both to the
evolution of the labor movement in Spain and to the international
response of socialism to the First World War 1 .
The founding of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) in 1910,
during the Congress of Workers' Solidarity in Barcelona, marked a
decisive milestone in Spanish revolutionary unionism. This new unionism
was clearly different from the old workers' societarism: it sought not
only to resist the working conditions imposed by capitalism, but to
combat and overcome them through direct and transformative action. It
defended principles such as class unity and apoliticism, and the
strategy of the revolutionary general strike 2 .
However, the repression exercised by the liberal government of José
Canalejas after the revolutionary general strike of September 1911 had,
among other things, a decisive consequence: the illegalization of the
CNT barely a year after its foundation. Since then, the organization was
forced to operate clandestinely. Not having an established structure,
this situation caused its practical dissolution, with activity being
limited to the most active anarchist groups and territories, which in
1913 began a slow process of confederal reorganization 1,2 .
Meanwhile, in the international arena, the outbreak of the First World
War on July 28, 1914 marked a turning point. Most of the European social
democratic parties, betraying the principles of proletarian
internationalism, chose to support their governments and even integrate
into national concentration cabinets, thus breaking with the spirit of
the Second International 1 . Faced with this drift, the libertarian
sectors maintained, with greater coherence, their opposition to the war,
raising the banner of anti-militarism as one of the fundamental pillars
of their political culture. In the anarchist press of the time, the
patriotism, militarism and imperialist logic of the European powers were
openly denounced, appealing to the historic slogan: "Neither war between
peoples, nor peace between classes" .
This criticism had deep roots: already in the Cuban War (1895-1898), the
Galician anarchists, through the newspaper El Corsario , had taken an
unequivocal position against the war actions of the Spanish government
and in favor of the independence of the island and the freedom of all
peoples. The subsequent Moroccan War had also contributed to shaping a
clearly anti-militarist social agenda, especially among libertarian sectors.
Nevertheless, the debate was lively and open. Personalities such as
Errico Malatesta, James Guillaume and Emma Goldman stood out for their
radical opposition to the conflict, while a small group led by Piotr
Kropotkin, Charles Malato and Jean Grave adopted a pro-Allied position,
supporting the Allies as a way to defeat German imperialism. The latter
went so far as to sign the well-known Manifesto of the Sixteen in 1916,
in contrast to the alternative manifesto of 1915 signed, among others,
by Goldman, Berkman, Malatesta and the Spaniard Pedro Vallina 1 .
In Spain, anarchism remained largely against the war, interpreting it as
a struggle between capitalist powers at the expense of the lives of the
working class 1 . However, there were exceptions: Ricardo Mella from
Vigo adopted a pro-Allied stance and the Mañé-Montseny couple showed
doubts about the position to adopt.
It was at this juncture that the International Peace Congress was
launched in Ferrol, promoted by Galician anarchists as a collective
response to the war.
Call for Congress
At the height of revolutionary unionism, and with most libertarians
openly opposed to the war, the initiative arose to organize a peace
congress to which the international proletariat would be invited. The
call materialized on February 11, 1915, during a rally held at the Romea
Theater in Ferrol. At that massive rally, chaired by the anarchist
Miguel D'Lom, incendiary speeches were made against the European war.
But this initiative did not arise only from the libertarian sector in
Ferrol. D'Lom had been accompanied at that rally by other anarchists
such as Raimundo Castro, but also by socialists such as Antonio Maneiros
and José Bueno, and even republicans such as Maximino Rodríguez 3 .
Ferrol was presented as the optimal location to hold that congress
because, according to the Ateneo Sindicalista, A Coruña was at the time
the most frequented Spanish port by merchant marines and transatlantic
steamers, which would facilitate the mobility of both European and
American delegates. Ferrol, as a nearby city with a strong working-class
fabric, was thus presented as the perfect enclave to host the Congress 4 .
To publicize the call, which was scheduled to be held on April 30 and
May 1 and 2, the unionists from Ferrol published the newspaper Cultura
Libertaria , from which they appealed to all European workers to
establish a common position against the war. The objectives were clear,
considering the three points to be discussed CL, SO:
The quickest means to end the European war.
New guidance to follow in order to prevent such crimes against humanity.
The general disarmament of the standing armies.
It should be noted that, although the anarchists were the main
promoters, it was not an exclusively acratic congress. The call was open
to all currents of laborism: socialists, syndicalists and anarchists.
Even in the organizing committee, along with the anarcho-syndicalists
José López Bouza and Raimundo Castro, the socialist Antonio Maneiros was
included. Also participating in this were Miguel D'Lom himself, Antonio
Filgueira Vieytes, Francisco Salgado, Antonio Porto Casal and Collado
EPO, 3 .
Before the congress was held, on 23 April 1915, a preparatory meeting
took place in the Romea theatre in Ferrol, where passionate speeches
were made against the war. Its impact was such that the government
chaired by Eduardo Dato decided a few days later to ban the Congress,
considering it a threat to public order ED,1 . The threats did not come
only from the government; in these days leading up to the meeting, the
convening of the Congress had already aroused strong reactions in the
press and among political sectors. As delegate Lozano would later
report, El Socialista , the official organ of the PSOE, had actively
campaigned against the Congress. Some headlines in the bourgeois press
went even further, accusing the organizers of acting as agents in the
service of the German emperor, in an attempt to discredit a clearly
anti-war and internationalist workers' initiative. However, the
preparations continued TyL .
Development of the Congress
The departmental city, which had its troops quartered, was invaded in
the days before the congress by the Civil Guard and the police. The
state repression bodies went through the hotels daily, coercing their
employers not to host the delegates who were attending the TyL congress .
Despite this climate of tension, and the government ban, the congress
was able to be held clandestinely in the premises of the Ateneo
Sindicalista, although it was limited to two sessions. Along with the
Spanish and Portuguese workers' societies and anarchist groups, the
Brazilian Workers' Confederation was represented at the congress, by
Antonio F. Vieytes, and the French Syndicalist Youth by the Portuguese
academic Aurelio Quintanilha. In addition, more than 135 entities joined
the congress, most of them workers' and agrarian societies and
federations, but also anarchist groups and federations, ateneos,
rationalist schools, workers' centers, people's houses, libertarian and
syndicalist youth. To a lesser extent, tenant societies, cooperatives,
mutual aid societies, savings banks and Esperanto groups. Along with the
libertarian workers' associations, the Agrupación Socialista de Nerva
and the Partido Republicano de Ferrol participated. As for the origin of
these entities, most of them were from Spain, many from Portugal, four
from England, one from France, one from Brazil, and one from Argentina,
as well as the Unione Sindicale Italiana. To these should be added the
International Association for Peace and Freedom and the League for the
Defense of Human Rights TyL .
The first session of the congress was held on the evening of Thursday,
April 29. After greetings to the delegates, the first topic was
addressed, on the appropriate means to end the war. At the proposal of
José López Bouza, of the organizing committee, it was decided to declare
a general strike in all European nations. But given the circumstances in
which the congress had to be held, this general strike also incorporated
a protest against the Spanish government in the face of its attempt to
suspend the congress. In this latter sense, the proposal of Aurelio
Quintanilha to undertake agitation and protest actions in front of
Spanish embassies and consulates abroad was also approved TyL .
Immediately afterwards, Constancio Romeo's proposal to create a
Permanent Committee of the International Peace Congress, composed of
five members, whose main task would be to draft revolutionary speeches
every fortnight in the different languages of the belligerent nations
and have them reach the European trenches, was addressed. The motion was
approved, and it was decided to establish the Committee in Lisbon TyL .
The session ended at dawn after approving the creation of another
committee that, composed of Portuguese and Spanish delegates, was to
work to strengthen the bonds of solidarity between the proletariat of
both countries. The medium-term objective of this proposal, signed by
Ernesto Costa Cardozo, was the foundation of an Iberian Federation that
would be the cell for the refoundation of the Workers' International. A
federation that would serve to rebel "against war, against all wars,
against capitalist exploitation and against the tyranny of the State"
TyL,SO .
Once the first session had ended, in the early hours of Friday the 30th,
the authorities stormed the hotel where the foreign delegates were
staying, arresting them and deporting them to their countries TyL . In
this way, the second and final session of the congress was held with the
participation of only the Spanish delegates. Given the circumstances,
and making a virtue of necessity, what remained of the congress revolved
around the issue of the reorganization of the CNT. Unfortunately, the
confederal press, perhaps for security reasons, only reported the
approval of Ángel Pestaña's proposal, without specifying its content,
beyond the creation of a committee for the confederal reorganization
with headquarters in Barcelona.
Another topic to be discussed in this second session was the location
where the Iberian Committee for the re-foundation of the Workers'
International should reside. Constancio Romeo, a rationalist master from
A Coruña, proposed that this should be Lisbon. For his part, the Madrid
native Francisco Miranda, future secretary general of the CNT, proposed
A Coruña. Antonio Loredo then protested that "only A Coruña and
Barcelona should be brought to light, because they are a kind of mirror
in which many workers are seen who are carried away by superficialities,
but who do not properly analyze the workers' movement in said
locations", requesting the delegates from the other regions to speak so
that it would be known "that there is not only a workers' movement in A
Coruña and Barcelona, but that there is one throughout Spain". After
several delegates had spoken, it was decided that the committee would
reside temporarily in Ferrol and that its members would be the same as
those of the organizing committee of the TyL congress .
Before the congress was over, it was decided to draw up a manifesto in
protest of the expulsion of the Portuguese delegates the previous night,
to be signed by all the delegates present at the TyL . The manifesto,
which would be published by El Porvenir del Obrero , denounced the
unconstitutionality of the suspension of the congress by the EPO
government .
After the congress, the authorities arrested López Bouza and Eusebio
Carbó for their participation in the rally on the 23rd. The same act
that had served as an excuse for the authorities to ban the congress was
now used to repress two of its most prominent figures. The arguments put
forward by the authorities were hesitant. If they initially cited the
violent tone of the speakers' speeches for the suspension of the
congress, and then the dangerous nature of the anarchists who were about
to gather in Ferrol, López Bouza and Carbó would ultimately be
prosecuted for "incitement to sedition", being tried a year later SO,5 .
In parallel with the congress, the representatives of the anarchist
groups and newspapers agreed to constitute the Spanish Committee of the
Anarchist International, approving the proposal presented by Constancio
Romeo. In the preamble Romeo attributed the war situation to the
collapse of the Second International. A social democratic international
that he considered "lifeless and without honor", after its leaders had
supported the European war. However, according to the rationalist
professor, in the face of this betrayal of workers' internationalism,
the "lack of a healthy and revolutionary orientation in the world
proletariat was, without a doubt, the most important factor that the
governments of the belligerent States used to drag the proletarians onto
the battlefields, to defend with their blood and their lives the
senseless interests of their tyrants and executioners". It was therefore
necessary to set up an international organization that would bring
anarchists into contact to act in common agreement and counteract the
governments' war actions. This was how a committee composed of five
members was appointed whose functions were 1) To begin the procedures to
obtain the accession to the International of all anarchist individuals,
groups and federations in Spain; 2) To establish communication with the
London Committee and, together, to address anarchists in other countries
until the constitution of the International Anarchist Association; 3)
Once the international association was created, it was to create, in
turn, a section or committee in each country. The committee was assumed
by the Tierra y Libertad group of Barcelona TyL .
Repercussions of the Peace Congress
The Peace Congress of Ferrol had a great impact on the future of the
Iberian proletariat although, paradoxically, this influence had little
to do with the war issue. Federico Urales, who for family reasons could
not attend the congress, drew up a manifesto on the strike against the
war. Urales (nickname of Joan Montseny) who, as we have already said,
was hesitant between pro-Allied and anti-war positions, showed in this
manifesto a certain closeness to the Allied countries. He also indicated
that one of the agreements of the congress was to put the initiative of
the strike against the war on hold, mandating the committee to launch it
when international circumstances were more suitable. The intention was
to harm as little as possible those countries that granted the most
freedom to their citizens, that is, the Allies. He also indicated that
the agreement on the strike against the war would be given a permanent
character, to be applied against any country that had invaded foreign
territory EPO . Be that as it may, the general strike did not occur in
Spain and, much less, on a European scale.
Although the CNT had returned to legality in March 1914, after the
dismissal of the dissolution proceedings against it initiated in
September 1911, it was not until the Peace Congress of Ferrol that its
process of federal reconstruction began. Until then, the activity of
some of its old trade unions and local federations had allowed certain
labor conflicts to be raised, but the lack of an organic structure had
prevented these conflicts from escalating and sustaining. The meeting at
the Congress of militants from almost all the regions, and from a number
of localities, as well as the launch of the reconstruction committee,
served to lay the foundations for the new organic structure of the
confederation 2,5 . The acting committee, based in Barcelona, would
quickly begin to develop the task for which it had been mandated by the
congress. The basis of this process was the Catalan regional, which had
been active since 1913, after the release of many of its militants after
the general pardon granted by the Romanones government in January, and
its relegalization in April 2 . The medium used was its mouthpiece,
Solidaridad Obrera , whose pages hosted a propaganda campaign that
breathed new life into the failed confederal structures. A
reorganization that, starting from the militant base that the CNT had
throughout the peninsular territory, and from its atomized trade
societies and local and regional federations, was able to restore the
organic unity and action of the Spanish proletariat. This occurred at a
time of consolidation of the new structure of Spanish capitalism, which
was leaving behind the small industries of the local bourgeoisies,
replaced by large companies that operated at a state level. The
reorganization committee's campaign highlighted the need to break with
corporatism and localism, to embrace the class solidarity of the
proletariat of the different Iberian regions SO . After this campaign,
the CNT would be definitively reconstituted in the summer of 1915, with
the appointment of a new national committee, although this time the
anarchist positions had advanced with respect to the revolutionary
syndicalists, a process that would culminate in the 1919 Comedia
congress in which the CNT would definitively abandon the revolutionary
syndicalist orientation to embrace anarcho-syndicalism LJS .
At the Ferrol congress, new CNT leaders also emerged who, like Ángel
Pestaña, would end up displacing the old figures of Workers' Solidarity
and would have very prominent positions in the confederation 2.5 .
Conclusions and learnings
Although the International Peace Congress of 1915 did not achieve its
initial objective of articulating an effective international response to
war, its political and symbolic legacy is of undeniable relevance. The
idea of an Iberian Federation of Trade Unions, which was already in the
making at that meeting in Ferrol, deserves to be revisited from the
present. At that time, betting on collaboration between workers'
organizations on the peninsula -with special emphasis on ties with
Portugal- was a strategy to overcome borders and patriotisms and focus
on solidarity between workers. Today, that bet still makes sense. In
times when the offensive of the State and Capital is intensifying across
the continent, across the world, building bridges between libertarian
groups from different territories is not just an exercise in historical
memory, but a real way to strengthen our capacity for response and joint
action.
If there is a slogan that runs through that historical moment and that
continues to resonate strongly, it is that of "Neither war between
peoples, nor peace between classes". This maxim, as simple as it is
resounding, serves as a guide in the face of the horror that surrounds
us: Ukraine, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Kurdistan, Niger, Sudan,
Congo... War is the most brutal expression of a system sustained by
inequality, plunder and domination. And while the bombings, forced
displacements, massacres and hunger follow one another, states justify
their violence in the name of civilization, democracy or security. The
position of anarchism must remain clear: we are with the people, never
with the armies; with popular resistance, never with the geopolitical
interests of the powers.
If in the midst of the World War the Iberian proletariat felt the need
to found a proletarian organism with which to "fight by all means, and
especially through the press and the tribune, bourgeois and political
opinion in its fever for the increase in armaments and its desire for
territorial conquests" TyL , where do we find ourselves today, when the
global war machine continues to swallow up lives, territories and entire
futures, with the active complicity of states and the comfortable
passivity of liberal democracies? Perhaps it is time to remember that it
is not a question of conquering lands, but of consciences; that the real
struggle is in deploying words where others sow fear, in weaving bonds
where others erect walls, and in making ourselves irresistible not by
force, but by the clarity and coherence of what we propose. Because
there are ideas that, once shared, can no longer be disarmed.
Another parallel with the event we are writing about is the context
marked by the systematic repression of grassroots organizations
-currently, with the criminalization of mobilizations and legal
proceedings against trade unionists like the 6 of Switzerland,
anti-fascists like the 6 of Zaragoza or international nationalists like
the 9 of Compostela-. This panorama demands from libertarian militancy
the same courage that those comrades demonstrated who, faced with war
and censorship, decided to come together, debate and organize.
The current resurgence of organized and strategic libertarian projects
opens a new scenario, in which for the first time in a long time it is
possible to think about stable and coordinated structures on a
peninsular scale. But so that this new stage does not reproduce the
mistakes of the past, it is essential to approach it with honesty,
transparency and a real willingness to self-criticism. The Ferrol
Congress demonstrated that broad and diverse spaces can be engines of
reorganization if there is a sincere commitment to unity in principles
and action, without renouncing the plurality of voices or the depth of
debates. Today, as then, is the time to speak, to contrast visions, to
assume dissent and to build solid agreements based on political trust.
Claiming the Ferrol Congress is not just remembering a little-known
episode in our workers' history. It is activating that memory as a
living tool, as a root and as a horizon. It is connecting with the
efforts of those who, in times as difficult as the current ones, decided
to come together to think of alternatives and propose shared paths.
Today, 110 years later, we face the challenge of rebuilding,
reorganizing and strengthening the presence of anarchists in the
political and social sphere. And doing so without forgetting that the
fight for authentic peace -without armies, without exploitation, without
oppression- begins with our firm commitment to organization, solidarity
and the memory of those who came before us.
Dani Palleiro and Inés Kropo (SELG)
Literature
1 Vadillo, Julián (2021). History of the FAI. Organized Anarchism .
Madrid: Catarata.
2 Bar, Antonio (1981). The CNT in the Red Years. From Revolutionary
Syndicalism to Anarcho-Syndicalism (1910-1926) . Madrid: Akal.
3 Fernández, Eliseo (2005). Ferrol workerism . Vigo: A Nosa Terra.
4 Llorca Freire, G. (1985). The Ferrol University in its history:
1879-1880, 1903-1917, 1931-1936 . Ferrol: Ateneo Ferrolán.
5 Vadillo, Julián (2021). History of the CNT. Utopia, pragmatism and
revolution . Madrid: Catarata.
Hemerography
CL - Libertarian Culture , 15/3/1915; 31/3/1915.
ED - The Flood , 24/IV/1915.
EPO - The Future of the Worker , 13/V/1915.
ES - The Socialist , 2/V/1915
LJS - Social Justice, 10/23/1915
SO - Worker Solidarity , 18/3/1915; 13/V/1915; 3/VI/1915; 17/VI/1915;
8/VII/1915; 22/VII/1915; 12/VIII/1915.
TyL - Land and Liberty , 12/V/1915; 19/V/1915; 26/V/1915.
https://www.regeneracionlibertaria.org/2025/04/29/o-congreso-internacional-da-paz-de-ferrol-1915/
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