Source: Spanish Revolution, Vol. 2 No. 3. February 17, 1937, pp. 4-5;
Transcribed: by Revolution's Newsstand.
The urgent need for a unified command and strict discipline in the workers’ armed forces is being gradually realized, but it gives those professional military men who remained loyal to the Republic a new opportunity to install themselves as an uncontrolled caste in a position to betray the workers again. They are aided in this by the middle class and the Stalinist elements who fear the revolutionary workers in arms and want to build up a regular "People’s Army" instead of a Red Workers’ Army. The struggle is now raging between these two conceptions.
Our problem: To build a revolutionary army of the workers with a centralized command and strict discipline, but at the same time with a strict workers’ political control over the command. We present the proposals of the P.O.U.M., and those of the Conference of Militiamen.
1. The fascist uprising of the 19th July 1936, supported by the majority of the "Republican" Army, has unloosed the Socialist Revolution of the working-class. If the workers have not acted more boldly, this is due to the false political leadership with which social reformism and official communism have deceived the masses. Social reformism and official communism are the arms with which the middle-class capitalists are trying in every way possible to stop the revolution, to postpone it until after the war, in the hope that with the passage of time it can be smothered. This is why they hold that the present movement should not surpass the bounds of the democratic republic, but should be content with minor social reforms. This is why the socialists and communists, who have been deflected by the bourgeoisie, say that the present struggle is between capitalist democracy and fascism, that is, between two forms of capitalism, making no mention of Socialism.
2. The present struggle is essentially a class war. It has been correctly said by Marx that war is the continuation of the political struggle in a military field. The armed insurrection is the culminating point of the political struggle of the working-class against the capitalists.
On the 19th July, 1936, while, indeed, the fascist counter-revolution triumphed in parts of the territory of the Spanish state, the workers triumphed in others, where the industrial proletariat was concentrated. The workers took advantage of the armed insurrection to seize the organs of power, and then turned to fight the counter-revolution, creating their own army of the revolutionary working-class, the Workers’ Militia.
3. The central programme of our Party, which represents the essential will of the working masses, is "War at the Front and Socialist Revolution Behind the Lines."
Th’s programme necessarily presupposes, and puts in the forefront, the creation of the Revolutionary Army of the Working Class, to conquer Fascism and to guarantee the building of socialism behind the lines. The Revolutionary Army of the Workers must, therefore, be a class army.
All the armies which have existed in our country, as in all countries, have been class armies. Instruments at the service of the ruling class, they have supported its policies. The old Spanish Army, under the Monarchy as well as the Republic, was a class and caste army.
Therefore, the new army, springing from the revolution, must be a Socialist Army, in the service of the new class which is destined to take power, the working-class.
4. The Workers’ Militia were the improvised army of the working class. This army, strong in class morale, enthusiasm and heroism, nevertheless had defects which must be corrected. It was, after all, an irregular army, technically unprepared. which reposed too much confidence in the spirit and self-denial of its members, and did not take sufficient account of the science, technique and strategy of war.
Our party, therefore, taking into account the results of our revolutionary war, and the experience of similar wars in the past, stands openly for the creation of a "Revolutionary Regular Army of the Workers," which will give the present Workers’ Militia the technical efficiency that would take the fullest advantage of the fighting enthusiasm and heroic self- denial which it already possesses.
To achieve this it is necessary to fuse the militia columns into units of a regular army, adding to the volunteer militia whatever conscripts are necessary to make the Revolutionary Army a first-class force.
5. In order that the new Revolutionary Army of the Workers shall not be robbed of its class aims, and in order to guarantee the political freedom of all fighters, there must be in each military unit a committee representing proportionally the proletarian tendencies, which shall guarantee the political rights of men and officers.
6. As a guarantee of the rights of the soldiers, and of their participation in the military operation, there should be established a committee of soldiers in each company; each battalion would have a representative of the Soldiers’ Committee, and each Regiment a representative of the Battalion. In the Regiments and Divisions there would be a delegation from the workers’ organisation equal to the representation of the soldiers. In this way the army would be united with the workers behind the lines.
7. The functions and attributes of these Committees of Soldiers, of their representation in the higher units of the army, along with the delegates of the workers’ organisations, should be made clear by an Ordinance.
8. Since the winning of a war and the effective conduct of any army depends directly upon the support of and interaction with the life behind the lines, a "War Commissariat" should be created, to avoid divergences between the fighting workers and those behind the line. It would bear in mind not only technical military principles, but also that war is a "political line." All the workers’ organisations would participate in the Commissariat, which would direct the war and plan operations.
9. For an efficient army, a strict sense of responsibility is necessary, especially among the command, as well as a sense of discipline among the troops.
To succeed in this double aim without injuring the democratic spirit of the new Revolutionary Army of the Workers, the following provision is necessary:
a) Revision of all commissions given up till now, especially those given by the military office, since those who have not presented themselves since July 19 are politically suspect.
b) In filling the positions of command in the new army, preference should be given to comrades of the workers’ organizations fighting at the front.
c) The officers in command should be controlled by the workers’ organizations of which they are members as well as by the Commissariat of War.
d) The People’s Military Schools should be politically controlled by the workers’ organizations and should be transferred to locations within reach of the fighters at the front.
e) A Code of the Revolutionary Army of the workers should be established, which would legalize the discipline in matters of service, the rights of the soldiers and the army democracy.
10. The present war has acquired a scope unsuspected in the first days. The Workers’ Militia cannot be kept as a permanent shock troop on the front line. Furthermore it must be kept in mind that the Workers’ Militia, from their voluntary character, include the most aggressive section of the working-class, and an excessive waste of these forces is a drainage of vitality from the Revolution, which must be avoided. In order to avoid this danger, it is necessary then to decree the compulsory mobilization of all persons between the ages of 18 and 35 years.
11. The workers’ organizations and their organs of power must see that the fighters are properly cared for, and with this in view the Party proposes:
a) Indemnity and subsidy for needy families who have lest a member at the front.
b) Facilities and preferences for families of soldiers.
12. A large-scale war, such as the present one, cannot be waged unless the armies are supplied by a war industry.
Our class war meets the open hostility of the whole capitalist world, which is throwing up every difficulty to prevent us from getting armaments, while the fascist states proceed to arm our enemies. This conduct will become more marked as the war goes on, and as the socialist triumphs of the workers are realized.
To overcome this and to become independent of everyone; to assure our continued ability to meet our military needs; to prevent the drying up of our sources of arms from abroad from putting our victory in danger, and to assure our independence against foreign intervention after the triumph of the Socialist Revolution has established the "Union of Iberian Socialist Republics," it is necessary to build a strong war industry, especially in Catalonia and the Basque Country, with all haste. Without this war industry, the revolution will always be in danger.
13. To give an impetus to all the steps herein proposed, all of which are of interest to the revolutionary workers’ groups, the Central Committee of the P.O.U.M. proposes that all the armed forces from all sectors hold a Congress where these problems would be debated.
A Congress of Soldiers, in which militia, soldiers, Assault Guards, National Republican Guards, orderlies, policemen and sailors would take part, would be a great step forward toward the revolution and toward cohesion and efficiency of these forces.
14. To attain all these objectives, the P.O.U.M., through its Central Committee, has resolved:
a) To form party cells in all the armed units for the purpose of propagating its slogans and viewpoints.
b) To create a Committee of Political Work in the armed units and bodies.
c) To print and circulate bills, folders, bulletins and news- papers designed for the armed forces, in which our political point of view shall be popularized.
d) To create a Military School of the Party.
e) To hold a Party Military Conference, to study in greater detail the military policy of the P.O.U.M. and the tasks it must realize.
f) To form a territorial armed force of the P.O.U.M. to push the revolution and guarantee the conquest already obtained.
g) Finally, to create a Military Committee of the P.O.U.M. to coordinate all these tasks and all of our armed forces by elaborating a plan, in agreement with the War Department and the Executive Committee of the Party.