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Federación Anarquista Ibérica

The Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI, Iberian Anarchist Federation) is a Spanish organization of Anarchist (Anarcho-Syndicalist) militants active within affinity groups inside the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) trade union. It is often abbrieviated as CNT-FAI because of the close relationship between the two organizations. The FAI publishes the periodical Tierra y Libertad.

The Iberian part of its name alludes to the purpose of unifying Spanish and Portuguese anarchists in a Pan-Iberian organization. The FAI meetings were attended by members of the União Anarquista Portuguesa and the Confederação Geral do Trabalho (including the Zaragoza Congress of the CNT in 1936).

History

It was founded Valencia in 1927 (after a preliminary meeting the previous year in Marseille, France), to campaign for keeping the CNT on an Anarchist path by challenging the bureaucracy of CNT - which it viewed as having grown to become a mediating link between labor and capital, rather than a representative of the working class. This issue was becoming especially tense, as Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorial regime took over in Spain, and engineered a crackdown on labor movements.

The hegemony FAI gained over CNT politics caused the moderate syndicalist members under Ángel Pestaña to confront the leadership and create the Syndicalist Party in 1931.

Members of the FAI were at the forefront of the fight against Francisco Franco's forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Since Franco's death, and Spain's transition to democracy, the FAI has continued to function. Though the organization shares members with the CNT, the FAI's membership is secret.

References

Sources

Stuart Christie, We, the anarchists! A study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927-1937, ChristieBooks (distributed by Central Books), 128pp, ISBN 1901172066
Beltrán Roca Martínez (2006). "Anarchism, anthropology and Andalucia: an analysis of the CNT and 'New Capitalism'". Anarchist Studies 14 (2): 106–130. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.