La Suiza Six: Charges Dropped for Syndicalists in CNT
- IWW Ireland
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Industrial Workers of the World would like to express our love and solidarity at this time to the women of the CNT Xixón and Les Seis De la Suiza. Our international solidarity comes following the earlier announcement issued, that the false charges placed against them have now been dropped.
In doing so, we extend our solidarity to everyone involved who stood with them in their struggle for justice. To the family, friends and comrades who relentlessly campaigned over the past number of years throughout the Spanish State and internationally. To the international labour movement who rejected these attacks upon the 6 workers directly involved, in to attempt by the State to criminalise workers' solidarity from organising and fighting back. Comrades, you are not alone!
Full text of CNT statement translated for further info
The pardon granted to the women known as the Six of La Suiza is not a gesture of generosity from those in power. It is the direct result of struggle.
For years, six union members were persecuted, tried, and imprisoned for doing what the labor movement has always done: organizing against exploitation and defending a worker who denounced harassment and violations of labor rights. For this, they were sentenced to three and a half years in prison in a trial that has called into question the very limits of union action.
They went to prison. And they didn't go alone.
Behind them was an organization, the CNT, which did not abandon its members, and hundreds of thousands of people who filled the streets, maintained strike funds, publicized the case, and denounced the injustice. There were demonstrations, union statements, social support, and constant political pressure for months, demanding a solution that the justice system denied.
We appreciate the gesture of partial pardon (the financial penalties remain in place) proposed by the Government, but it comes too late. It comes after the punishment. It comes after an attempt to criminalize solidarity.
But let no one be mistaken: if they are free today, it is not due to the Government's benevolence, but to the collective strength of the organized working class.
This case has demonstrated something fundamental: that unionism that is a nuisance, that calls out the bosses, that refuses to compromise on dignity, continues to be persecuted. And precisely for that reason, it remains necessary.
Faced with those who want a docile, institutionalized, and conflict-free unionism, the experience of La Suiza reaffirms the opposite: anarcho-syndicalism, based on direct action, mutual aid, and solidarity, not only remains relevant, but is more useful than ever.
Because when one of us is attacked, we all respond. Because without organization, there is no defense. Because no right has ever been won without struggle.
Today we celebrate that our comrades are free.
But we haven't forgotten: they should never have gone in.
Solidarity, organization, and struggle.