thising organisation of the Fourth International) and an activist The massive mobilisation of the power of the Spanish state in a ruthless campaign of intimidation and repression prevented the Spanish working class from celebrating May Day in a truly massive fashion.
Despite the fact that the so-called liberal' Home Secretary, Fraga, promised months ago that the right to demonstrate would soon be granted, all requests for permission to demonstrate on May Day were curtly refused by the authorities. For the past two weeks the Spanish police have been on a state of alert to block any attempts to build illegal demonstrations, arresting dozens of militants in a drive to prevent the distribution of leaflets, putting up of posters, or holding of planning meetings.
Show of Force On May Day itself the police organised a massive show of force in all the major cities, ruthlessly attacked demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges, and made 1,000 arrests.
In Barcelona the main city square was occupied by a large force of police, including an armoured car, the city centre closed to traffic and groups of heavily armed riot police stationed throughout the city ready to move against any attempts to assemble. ment and denounced the Government's phoney reform' schemes. Half this crowd then defied the local police and staged a march through the town under their very noses. In Tarrassa some 3,000 workers took part in a similar rally.
In Madrid several thousand workers and their families responded to the appeal of the Workers Commissions to attend a festival in one of the city's parks. Elsewhere the scenes of Barcelona were being repeated, with small groups of demonstrators gathering and being dispersed by police assaults.
In the Basque city of Vitoria, 5,000 workers attended a mass in memory of the workers killed in the recent strikes there, called by monument was laid on the spot where two workers were shot, inscribed 'from the workers and people.
Demonstrations and received the same repressive treatment. the Strike Coordinating Committee. After the service local workers' leaders addressed the crowd on the significance of May Day, and a stone people of Vitoria to those fallen in defence of the rights of the working Further demonstrations took place in all the major cities of Spain, Demonstrators attempt to build barricade in Barcelona against police attacks The repression of these May Day demonstrations is a burning testimony to the fear of the Spanish dictatorship of all forms of expression of independent working class activity. All its talk of reform' is simply a smokescreen to cover over Months after the new Government was formed with an international fanfare proclaiming its schemes to introduce democracy, nothing of importance has The latest scheme announced shows just how bankrupt the reforming' Francoists are: it consists of nothing more than a plan to allow elections to a Parliament in which political parties will not be recognised, with the most import ant workers organisations illegal, and in which an upper house based on the present cabal of die-hard Francoists will hold the power to block any measures they dislike.
The repression of the Spanish workers right to celebrate May Day and affirm their own demands and unity is an insult to the entire international labour movement. It should be treated as such and galvanise workers everywhere into more determined efforts to assist our Spanish brothers and sisters to wipe out this rotten and repressive dictatorship once and for all.