#WORLD #WORLDWILD #ARGENTINA #ANARCHISM #LIBRARY #News #Journal #Update - (en) #Argentine, FORA - Organizacion-Obrera #95: 100 YEARS AFTER THE REFOUNDATION OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Between December 25, 1922 and January 2, 1923, the workers' congress was held

that led to the founding of a new international trade union entity, which took
the name of the International Workers' Association (AIT) to account for the
continuity of the federalist and anti-authoritarian wing of the 1st
International, disintegrated in 1881. ---- The intentions of reviving that
institution forty years later responded to the evaluation developed by some trade
union organizations from different countries. Although the expectations of
establishing a greater international relationship was always on the agenda of
certain entities, both because of the internationalist principles with which
their promoters agreed and because of the tactical benefits that a coordinated
defense would bring about, it was not until the 1920s XX that failed to meet the
necessary conditions to be able to give birth to a new trade union entity on a
global scale.

Since the end of the 19th century, anarchism suffered harsh repression throughout
Europe, making it difficult for negotiations to establish stable agreements
between trade organizations influenced by that current of thought. Then, the
irruption of the First World War did the same by postponing the aspirations of
achieving greater coordination among the European anarcho-syndicalists, making
communication between different regions of that continent difficult. The Great
War also meant the death of the Second International due to the disagreements
produced within it regarding the war, but at the same time, the irruption of the
Russian Revolution modified the map of possibilities to generate the coordination
desired by the revolutionary and internationalist workers. .

While the civil war in Russia (1918-1922) was still going on between those who
supported the revolutionary process and the former wealthy sectors, the
Bolsheviks set about the task of seeking the international support of the working
class, at the same time that they postulated that their This political feat was
going to have a favorable impact on the expansion of the revolution in other
latitudes of the planet. In fact, its global expansion would be an indispensable
requirement for the definitive victory in Russia against the reactionary forces.
Beyond the propaganda formulations of the Bolsheviks, the organizational advances
at the international level achieved their fruits, setting up the Red Trade Union
International (ISR or Profintern) in 1921.

Many revolutionary anarchists and syndicalists, albeit cautiously,[1]participated
as delegates to the founding congress of the ISR in mid-1921 in Moscow, betting
on being able to build an anti-capitalist international coordination. But the
centralist character adopted by the Russians and the close relationship that was
established with the Communist Parties of the Comintern, ended up alienating the
anti-party sectors from that experience. That is why they ended up being
convinced that their range of coordination would be more limited, but that only
with those organizations that shared certain basic premises could they establish
solid and sincere solidarity ties.

Summarizing what has been said so far, it was not until experiencing the failures
of other coordination attempts that the anarcho-syndicalists defined the idea of
holding a call on their own. It was on this foundation that the Berlin Congress
was given impetus in December 1922.

The expectations of integrating an internationalist entity were still present
among the revolutionary proletariat, contributing to a good reception and the
participation of delegations from important trade union organizations such as USI
(Italy), SAC (Sweden), FAUD (Germany), NAS (Holland). ), FORA (Argentina), NSF
(Norway), CNT (Spain), as well as activists from the revolutionary minority in
France and Russian émigrés.

FORA had two delegates, Ángel Orlando, who traveled exclusively for the Congress,
and Diego Abad de Santillán, who had already been in Germany for some time for
personal reasons. Santillán was also the indirect representative of the
anarcho-syndicalist organizations of Mexico, Chile and Uruguay, whose
participation in the Congress managed to expand the geographical scope of the new
international entity by not subscribing exclusively to Europe.

To a large extent, the Congress managed to meet the expectations of the
attendees, the political bases of the AIT proposed by Rudolf Rocker were agreed
upon and the strategies to be developed jointly in the future were debated.

The internationalist, anti-capitalist, anti-statist and reluctant character of
political parties defined the profile adopted by the new international, although
this did not prevent discussions between positions typical of anarcho-syndicalism
and revolutionary syndicalism.

In this sense, it should be remembered that a large part of the intervention made
by the FORA delegates was aimed at delimiting their differences with both
currents. The revolutionary syndicalism was criticized for its mentioned
apoliticalism, since the experience of that current in Argentina had shown that
it had no problem approaching politicians in positions of power to facilitate
their union aspirations. A factor shared by that trend with anarcho-syndicalism,
of which FORA took a critical position, was the conception of the role that
unions should play as administrators of goods and production in revolutionary
times. These differences made the FORA adhere to the AIT conditionally in its
first Congress, becoming its own tendency within it (the "forista") from then on.

After that founding Congress, which had to be held semi-clandestinely and the
venues were moved several times to avoid police interference, the International
had a long journey and had to face very adverse contexts such as the Second World
War, the discredit spread by the "real socialism" and the imposition of a
triumphalist vision by capitalism after the fall of the Berlin Wall, just to
mention some great milestones that deepened the precariousness of the lives of
workers around the world.

Throughout its century of life, the AIT held twenty congresses and progressively
incorporated more trade union organizations from different countries. FORA has
remained within it throughout this time, until, in 2018, there was a momentous
split for its course. The proposal for this division was promoted by the three
largest organizations of the AIT made up of several active unions and hundreds of
affiliates (USI, FAU and CNT).

The reasons originated from the incompatibility of criteria assumed by
organizations that carried out daily union activities, in search of immediate
improvements and establishing broad membership criteria to attract more workers
to their unions; on the other side there were small groups of anarchists with
little union insertion in their respective countries who, over time, were gaining
positions within the AIT. The proposals of these organizations were based more on
political interpretations and ideological biases than on tactical proposals based
on their own development and experience.

It was in 2018 when the division finally materialized, giving rise to the birth
of the International Workers' Confederation (CIT). This entity gathers the
principles and tradition of the 1st International, worrying about expanding its
influence in the different corners of the planet so that the working class
organizes itself in order to fight for their labor rights, at the same time that
they build solidarity ties that unite the proletariat of the globe and become
aware of the systemic problems that must be faced to change this social reality.

Collecting the lessons of our past is that the CIT was established to continue
the internationalist trade union struggle. As members of this international, we
dedicate ourselves to the support of the other affiliated organizations, seeking
not only to help them immediately, but also to expand the concept of
internationalist solidarity.

The capitalists have already understood very well that nations are fictitious
borders to which they do not keep any obedience. The workers of the world have
taken this matter into account for a long time, but for different reasons their
objectives have been postponed. That is why we continue and will continue to
maintain that the exploited of the world are a single social subject, faced with
the exploiters of any part of the planet. Supporting international coordination
spaces is our greatest contribution to this global dispute.

Long live worker internationalism!

[1]In December 1920 the revolutionary unions held a "Preliminary Conference" in
Berlin in order to discuss the convenience of joining the Soviet invitation, and
if so under what terms to adhere. Participating in FORA was Tom Baker, a former
member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) who had lived in Argentina
some time before.

https://organizacion-obrera.fora.com.ar/2023/01/09/a-100-de-la-refundacion-de-la-primera-internacional/
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