IN THE ASTURIAS COAL BASIN
The heroic strike action of the Spanish miners in Asturias, which began a month and a half ago, is reported to be coming to an end although as many as 10,000 to 15,000 were still stubbornly refusing to go back to the coal seams last week end,
Up to now Spain's fascist government has not undertaken brutally repressive measures against the illegal strike, perhaps reserving this for later when the strikers have reached the point
rere
of exhaustion,
A vivid account of the situation in the coal fields, written by special correspondent José Antonio Novais, appeared in three installments in the Paris daily Le Monde [May 29, 30, 31].
An Andalusian, Luis Santiago Lopez, is quoted as saying: "The fact is that if we're not going to work, it's because welve had enough of being cheated day after day."
"Itve been here five years," the striker continued. "Where else could I go? Here at least you eat every day, On the average | I make three thousand pesetas a month [about asol, But it's a mouse trap, much worse than the 'tercio! [the Spanish Foreign Legion], You can't get out of it. There's no hope. .-. To be a miner or driller, to get decent wages of from six to seven thousand pesetas, you have to be born in Asturias, Otherwise it's impossible to learn the trade," .
While new workers are coming to the mines, others are leav~ ing. Vicente Toro, a labor delegate in Oviedo, told the correspondent of Le Monde: "In the last three years or so, fifteen thousand Asturian miners, among the very best., have gone to other countries, . The workers are leaving;. as for capital, it has stopped coming in," _ Antonio Novais- describes: the area:
"The Asturias coal basin is mountainous. The minister of housing had blocks of houses built in the towns for the miners, especially the immigrants. But:in the hills there are small places often with less than.a dozen houses and this is where the. Asturians generally live. While the miners in the towns are practically proletarians, those in the villages are semirural, Almost all of them have small patches of land which they own. A company bus gocs by each morning to take them to work, When the bus comes down empty, this means there is a strike, Generally the 'tough ones! live in the hills, the miners, the drillers -- those who decide on a work stoppage in a mine,"
A miner of Vimdnés “told him, "Look,~the Asturian is noble, open, a braggart. We are joining in the strike because we've had enough. , . Promises, always promises, nothing more than that,".
You would never guess that this big, strong-looking miner had silicosis,
"Here silicosis is our daily bread. . . The Ministry of Labor seems to have set up norms that are favorable for us. But then you should see how they are carried out,"
The Asturian is an individualist, in the opinion of Le Monde's correspondent. “An underground political organization hardly exists. ‘The strike, a product of an intolerable social situation, is led by
mu
a minority of natural.leaders who were formed little by little in recent years, In Asturias purely ideological questions seem to count for very little. What counts. is the prestige of a man capable of moving his comrades, The Vimanes miner is one of them,"
This "natural" leader of the miners offered a further opinion: "The strike is lost and has been since the beginning. . . In Spain it is difficult for the workers to win a s;srike, but it's the only weapon we have, The unions are useless, ‘fhe strike is at least a union of the workers, Every lost strike tightens the bonds among the Asturian miners,"
In Oviedos, Antonio Novais interviewed a graduate of a social’ school, who told him: "Up until 1950, Asturias was a concentration camp,. The ‘regulars! -~- Moroccan troops -- and the 'tercio! were established in the region. Not a miner budged, but later things changed, it “
"what is. the cause of this strike?"
"The first strike in Asturias took place in 1958; then came the one in 1962, Since then:you could say that it has practically never stopped, As immediate-.cause of the present strike, you could : cite mainly the delay in elaborating the new work regulations proms © ised in 1958, In November 1963, Mr, Solis, minister secretary of the Movement and national delegate of the unions [the fascist Movement and government unions are referred to], assured the represéenta-~ tives of the Asturian miners who went to Madrid to see him, that-thegovernment was going to soon work out another plan for transforming the coal field, They even promised publication of the regulations by the first of the year, Later they talked about April,’ then May » « » The miners have had more than enough; the resumption of the strike was inevitable. "
Nand what are they demanding?"
ny have read a rough draft of the text presented by the mine commission, It includes two’ points which, knowing the bosses, are not likely to be approved, On the one hand they are supposed. to lay out. 800 million pesetas in accordance with wage increases; The miners want a monthly increase of around two thousand pesetas for the underground workers and fifteen hundred for the surface workers, The regulations also envisage a system under which representatives of the workers could check the company books. .. Naturally the bosses will never agree to that formula." oo : i - Bven the - small minority of miners who admit to being pro-Franco ‘havexbeen affected. by the strike, as the following curious statcments, made by a delegate of the José Antonio Circle in La Felguera, show: —
"In a Phalangist or syndicalist state, strikes must be banned and work. subordinated: to.the interests of the nation, But we live
under complete capitalism. Vertical syndicalism was not conceived for a capitalist state like the one we live under. In the best of cases, this makes our unions unworkable. .. when they're not lean= ing on the side of the bosses..." . ;
THE DEATH OF NEHRU
The