The Continental American Workers Association (Spanish: Asociación Continental Americana de Trabajadores, ACAT) was an anarcho-syndicalist trade union confederation that functioned as the Latin American branch of the International Workers' Association (Spanish: Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores, IWA-AIT).
In May 1929 the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (Spanish: Federación Obrera Regional Argentina, FORA) convened a congress of all South American countries, which met in Buenos Aires.[1] In this congress, apart from the Argentina section, the following were represented: Paraguay, by the Centro Obrero del Paraguay; Bolivia, by the Local Federation of la Paz, Antorcha y la Luz y la Libertad; Mexico, by the General Confederation of Workers; Guatemala, by the Committee for Trade Union Action; Uruguay, by the Uruguayan Regional Federation. Delegates from seven Brazilian States were present. Costa Rica was represented by the organization Hacia la Libertad. Delegates from the Industrial Workers of the World arrived from Chile. The AIT also sent one of its secretaries, Augustin Souchy.[2]
However, the organization failed to make a significant impact as anarcho-syndicalism lost terrain in the Latin American labour movement during the 1930s, a trend that could not be reversed even after the arrival of exiled Spanish FAI members after their defeat in the Spanish Civil War.[3] The association dissolved in 1936.[1]
References
Bibliography
- Alexander, Robert J.; Parker, Eldon M. (2009). International Labor Organizations and Organized Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean: A History. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC Clio. ISBN 978-0-275-97739-9.
- Migueláñez Martínez, María (2014). "El proyecto continental del anarquismo argentino: resultados y usos de una propaganda transfronteriza (1920-1930)". Ayer (94): 71–94. ISSN 1134-2277.
- Poy, Lucas (2020). "Working Class Politics and Labour Internationalism in Latin America: An Overview of Labour International Organisations in the Region During the Interwar Period (1919-1939)". In Belluci, Stefano; Weis, Holger (eds.). The Internationalisation of the Labour Question: Ideological Antagonism, Workers' Movements and the ILO since 1919. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 165–189. ISBN 978-3-030-28234-9.