The War Is Over Page #5

Quatre-Chemine, Aubervilliers...

la Poterne des Peupliers,

Victor-Hugo...

Jaures, Paul Vaillant-Couturier.

You know these suburbs

like the back of your hand.

You arrive from your own country...

and at your every return

you find this landscape of exile.

You see once more those desiccated,

tireless, worn-out men...

fastidious about detail but less clear

about the larger picture...

ready to die:
Your comrades.

You'll again find this comradeship...

irreplaceable and yet eaten away

by a lack of reality.

You'll spend whole days

in Ivry or Aubervilliers...

trying to rebuild your country...

in the likeness of your memory.

Toiling stubbornly to force your dreams

into the far-off reality of Spain.

Good morning!

How goes it?

- How are you?

- Fine. And you?

Fine.

- You had a good trip?

- Yes.

It's in the paper.

"According to official sources..."

the Spanish police has been

carrying out...

a vast preventive operation...

against various extreme-left

working-class groups in Madrid.

A printing press was seized

and several dozen arrests were made...

including ringleaders who entered

the country illegally from France.

These measures appear to be

directly linked to the unrest...

"during recent months

among the working classes in Madrid."

- Here. I know you all like coffee.

- Good idea.

I'm going to run some errands.

If the doorbell rings, don't answer.

All right. We can begin.

I'll try to sum up the situation,

comrades...

based on the information

we had received by Saturday.

You again have the feeling

you've lived this before...

that you've said all this before

over the years.

How often have you come here

after a wave of arrests, after a "fall"?

They call it a "fall" in Spanish.

They say a colleague has "fallen"...

that a printing press

or an organization has "fallen."

Sooner or later, say the old-timers,

everybody falls.

The road is long

and marked by falls.

How often have you come here

to examine why these falls occurred...

or to decide

what measures to take next?

Andres did not show up for the meeting

at the Botanical Gardens.

That's when it all started:

Thursday, three days ago.

We must therefore withdraw

the call to strike in Madrid.

I must say, in general, I disagree

with the directive in this case.

Carlos has given us a completely

subjective view of the situation.

Carlos has given us a completely

subjective view of the situation.

He exaggerates the consequences

of the arrests currently being made.

Indeed, he seems to have lost

all political perspective.

What is the situation

that has led to these arrests?

A political offensive

by the working class...

by students and peasants.

A situation where the dictatorship

is desperate and on its last legs.

Even the current arrests reflect...

the regime's fear in the face

of resistance by the masses.

Under these conditions,

they cannot halt...

the movement's advance,

its spread, its progress.

We are on the eve

of a general strike.

That is why we decided

to send Juan to Madrid...

with precise orders

and instructions.

The mass movement must be organized

and given a single goal.

That goal is the general strike.

The requisite conditions exist

and we must act now.

A date had to be set

and we have set it.

The strike is called for April 30th...

with nationwide demonstrations

on May 1st.

Carlos disagrees with the decision

to call a general strike.

He says we must bear in mind

the realities of the situation.

But what does "realities

of the situation" really mean?

That we should allow the political

situation to come to a head on its own?

That's mere opportunism,

pure and simple!

I never said we should just let things

develop spontaneously.

You never said we should just let things

develop spontaneously.

You merely question certain forms

of action under certain conditions.

A general strike is not

the sole form of struggle...

an inevitable finale.

Lenin voiced criticisms

of a general strike...

insofar as it tends to preclude

other forms of struggle.

If you wish to discuss Lenin,

then we'll discuss Lenin.

You accuse us of voluntarism,

but Lenin proved precisely that...

a dose of voluntarism, of revolutionary

subjectivism, is indispensable.

Your criticism is purely negative.

What are you really proposing?

Criticism is always negative

at first.

You try to make yourself

understood...

to explain it's not the idea of

a general strike you're criticizing...

but merely the specific situation

to which it's being applied.

You oppose the call

for a general strike on April 30th...

because the required conditions

are absent.

Another failure may discourage

the masses from this form of action.

You oppose deciding

from a position of exile...

a plan of action

and its date of execution in Spain.

We cannot be proxies for workers

in Bilbao, Barcelona, Madrid...

or decide for them.

Our underground can only organize

and serve as an instrument...

to carry out

the will of the masses.

It cannot replace that will.

Why speak of exiles as if they were

in opposition to those in Spain...

the underground

in opposition to the masses?

No, I don't.

I only mean one cannot

replace the other.

It would be absurd to imply...

that Carlos has been intimidated

by the arrests.

Over the past ten years he has often

proven he's not easily intimidated.

But he has been lacking

in political insight.

Just what is the situation?

Juan is in Barcelona.

He is scheduled to meet Carlos

in Madrid on Thursday.

But Carlos is here and Juan

has been left to his own devices.

We must reach Juan

in Barcelona...

and set up another contact for him

with the group in Madrid.

We're forced to increase

the number of trips...

and, as a result,

the risk automatically increases too.

This is what Carlos' undue haste

has led to.

But if Carlos had instead

remained in Madrid...

he could have followed the raid

hour by hour.

He could have taken

certain steps.

Juan would be protected

by Carlos' presence in Madrid.

These are the results of

an individual decision lightly taken...

without taking into account

the constraints of the act...

or respecting the decisions

made by the central committee.

You're not going to Barcelona.

You're staying here.

Ramon will go

and accompany Juan to Madrid.

You just spent six months in Spain,

in the hub of day-to-day action.

Perhaps the details of a partial reality

have blinded you.

The dozens of tiny, true little details

have clouded your vision.

You'll take a break.

You need to think things over.

Discuss matters calmly with others.

Let them set you straight.

You're staying here.

Let's go.

Let's go!

The passport.

Sal lanches.

Here it is.

Sallanches, Rene.

Born October 17, 1922.

It will just take a minute.

We need a passport for Ramon.

- When?

- Today.

- This afternoon.

- Always in a rush!

- Speak French, all right?

- Yes, of course.

The work going well?

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