Mas de las Matas is a small town in Aragon, Spain which was a part of Revolutionary Spain during the Spanish Civil War.
Revolution
Despite having a population of around 3,200 in 1936, 2,000 belong to the CNT and 300 to the UGT,
Food is rationed. Only bread is distributed without limit. Of the 3,200 residents of the village, 2,000 belong to the CNT and 300 to the UGT. Five hundred heads of families, a total of 2,000 people, belong to the collective. The remaining 300 residents are individualists. They must pay for things with money. Since there are no private stores and shops, they must buy from the collective where they have a line of credit. Food must be rationed for them also. The individualists bring the product of their labour to the collective and receive merchandise of equivalent value. They can, if they wish, take their goods to the city, but this gives them no line of credit. They prefer to work with the collective. Authority is in the hands of the CNT. There is a Committee of Investigation, but the prison is empty. The community has a flour mill which produces for its own consumption. A mill worker explains: "There are too many comrades at the front. We do not have enough hands. Our day begins at five in the morning and ends after dark. But we like to work because we know we are in the fight against fascism."
Alcohol production for Aragon is located in Saragossa, which is cut off from free Spain. New distilleries have been built in the liberated zone. A small one is located in this village. It produces 200 litres of alcohol per day. The alcohol is shipped to Caspe, provincial capital of free Aragon. The former owner continues to work in the distillery and so does the technical director. A small dress shop employs ten girls who work eight hours a day. Like the mill workers, they are not paid a wage. Formerly they received two pesetas a day. Now, in a socialised economy, they are doing much better. They are clean and well dressed, and they all know how to read and write. There are no unemployed workers anywhere. The former owner of the shop is as concerned for the work today as in the past. When we visited the shop the workers had already left. However, he was still working. We question him:
"I don't have the burdens and the worries now," he declares. "In the past the shop was idle several months a year. Now we work steady through the year. I don't have to worry about getting orders. I have enough to live. The collective takes care of everything. I worked before. I'm still working."
This former owner took the revolution with equanimity, putting a good face on what could not be avoided. Collectivisation took place in the town in September, 1936. It was done under the law of confiscation of the property of fascists. The collectivity decided to collectivise all private property on the basis of the law. The former owners of shops and plants did not oppose the new order. The law permitted them to continue to own their property, but they joined the collective voluntarily and turned over their property.
The doctor does not belong to the collective. He is known to have rightist ideas. But his convictions are respected; he continues to practice his profession as previously.
The collective has not yet created new institutions. Their tolerance of the individualists impresses favourably. The individualists are a minority. The collectivists are the majority not only in the town, but in the entire province. They have the capacity to force the individualists to accept the new economic system. But they have not done so. Membership in the collective is voluntary. Those who wish to remain outside the collective are not condemned. However, the individualists do not have the privilege of hiring people to work for them. They can have as much land as they can cultivate together with the members of their families. They can work for themselves and they have nothing to fear from the collective.
Compared with the collectives, the situation of the individualists is poor. Collective work, collective economy offers advantages to the members of the collective. The individualist must endure difficulties in silence. Many understand this and they join the collective. Only dyed-in-the-wool conservatives are unable to change their attitudes.
The new idea has great suggestive force. The main idea behind collectivisation arises out of the philosophy of anarchism, as does libertarian communism.