On the False Information Concerning the Refounding of the IWA

Earlier this month, the Spanish branch of the International Confederation of Labour (ICL or CIT in Spanish), an international organization that supports integration with Marxist-Leninist and vertical trade unions, published false information claiming that: “The ICL was born from a refounding of the historic International Workers’ Association (IWA), following the expulsion of several of its member unions in 2016.” We refute this information as it is deliberately misleading. The IWA has never voted in favor of its refounding, and such a proposal has never been presented to an IWA Congress for debate. As an international organization based on the principles of horizontalism—that is, decision-making by its members at their Congresses—no decision of this kind could be adopted without going through the IWA’s established procedures.

The IWA has clarified this matter on numerous occasions, despite the Spanish branch of the ICL’s insistence on perpetuating this falsehood.

The ICL emerged from the efforts of three unions that were formerly part of the IWA. These unions had developed non-organic organizational and leadership structures to join similar organizations, enabling executive action and other practices that did not align with the IWA’s tactics and objectives.

By attempting to split the IWA and form another international, refusing to participate organically within it, they effectively excluded themselves and were expelled.

These are some of the decisions of the 26th IWA Congress held in 2016:

« The IWA declares illegitimate any attempts by the disaffiliated CNTE or USI to represent the IWA, to call themselves the IWA, or to ‘relaunch’ the IWA. »

“Any attempts to ‘relaunch’ the IWA, reorganize it, etc., that are undertaken outside the IWA’s established procedures must be considered unofficial and treated as attempts to seize and usurp the International. In any situation where an organization makes a public call for this purpose, a statement must be issued explaining that it is not supported by the IWA. If we become aware that other organizations are being invited to participate, we must inform them that the IWA does not support such initiatives.”

Regarding the “CNT” of Spain: “We can say that the CNT has withdrawn from the IWA, but also that it has disaffiliated itself due to non-payment of dues, violating the IWA’s statutes and attempting to provoke a split.”

These are the IWA’s agreements. Enough with the lies.