58 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
58 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
''This article focuses on Barcelona during the [Spanish
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Revolution](Spanish_Revolution_\(1936\) "wikilink"), not ''
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## Public Services
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### Public Transport
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After the city was liberated from fascist control by
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[anarcho-syndicalists](Anarcho-Syndicalism "wikilink"), the owners of
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the public transport systems fled, and the
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[CNT](National_Confederation_of_Labour_\(Spain\) "wikilink")
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democratised them. Buses, subway, streetcars - were separate union
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"sections", as were the repair depots. These all were managed through
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elected committees, answerable to
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[assemblies](Democratic_Assembly "wikilink") of the workers. An engineer
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was elected to each administrative committee, to facilitate consultation
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between manual workers and engineers. There was an overall assembly for
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decisions that affected the transit-system as a whole. There was no top
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manager or executive director. A 7-member elected worker committee was
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responsible for overall coordination.
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#### Streetcars/Tram
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 The main public transport
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system was a large system of streetcars/trams that operated 60 routes
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across the city and surrounding suburbs. Before the revolution, the
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system was maintained by 7,000 people, 6,500 of whom were members of the
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CNT. During the initial days of fighting in the [Spanish Civil
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War](Spanish_Civil_War "wikilink"), many transport workers fought in the
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fighting and even used an armoured streetcar/tram. The system had been
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badly damaged, tracks were unworkable, overhead wires snapped, equipment
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boxes shot and tracks blocked by barricades. Within 5 days, the workers
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had completely repaired the system and re-painted the cars in the red
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and black colour scheme of anarcho-syndicalism. Previously, the
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equipment boxes of the electric company had been placed in the middle of
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streets, leading to tracks being tightly curved around them, frequently
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leading to derailments. Afterwards, a move of the boxes and
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straightening of the tracks was made between the transport and
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electrical workers. In addition, electrical wiring powering the tracks
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were moved from the centre of the tracks to the side in order to be
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safer.
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Barcelona Tramways had operated with a fare zone system which meant that
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it cost more for people in the outer working class suburbs to get into
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the city center. The worker-run transit operation switched to a flat
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fare throughout the metropolitan area, to equalize fare costs to riders.
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Despite this lowering of the fare, the worker-run transit system
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operated at a profit. A sizeable part of this profit was donated to the
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anti-fascist war effort. Workers also donated their time on Sundays to
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work in factories set up in transit system workshops to make munitions
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for the anti-fascist armies. New tools and machinery from France and the
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USA were purchased to give each section a surplus of spare parts for
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repairs. Before the revolution, the private company had only made about
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2% of the repairs through its own workshops and were set up only to deal
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with the most urgent repairs. But within a year under workers
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management, the workshops were manufacturing 98% of the parts used. They
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were able to do this and still make a profit, despite a 150% increase in
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prices of raw materials. |