The bastion of the National Confederation of Cuban Workers

The Third National Workers' Congress, held on August 2-7, 1925 in Camagüey(eastern Cuba), marked a milestone in the history of the Cuban trade union movement by announcing in its final session the creation of the National Workers' Confederation of Cuba (CNOC by its Spanish acronym)), a decision taken by representatives of 82 related organizations in the country.

Its leader Alfredo Lopez remarked the outstanding character of that transcendental meeting, which although it could not exclude some isolated manifestations of anarcho-syndicalist tinge, made prevail the unity of the workers, a will that in the future would accompany the CNOC.

Lopez's correct line influenced in a timely manner in reaching agreements in favor of the impoverished and poorly paid working class, with essential rights to be won, motivating their enormous struggle.

Those unitary flags waved at that time prevailed until 1939, when the Confederation was dissolved and the Cuban Workers' Federation (CTC by its Spanish acronym) was born.

The CNOC has the relevant historical merit of having led the ideological struggle and the most courageous actions against the tyranny of the bloodthirsty Gerardo Machado, who had been in power since the very year in which the workers' organization was created (1925) and was overthrown by a popular wave of the so-called Revolution of 1933.

It is irrefutable that the Confederation organized the popular mobilizations with the support of the Communist Party, founded by Julio Antonio Mella and Carlos Baliño, in 1925, with the mobilization of forces later led by the brilliant poet Ruben Martinez Villena.

Going back to the early days of the organization and its tireless leader Alfredo Lopez, before coming to it, the trade unionist had already battled in the Havana Workers Federation (FOH by its Spanish aceonym)), created by him.

All those who participated in the founding of the Confederation always remembered the reading of a telegram sent by Julio Antonio Mella, announcing the news of the government's ban on the landing of the crew of the Soviet ship Vátslav Voróvsky on the Cuban shores.

Already anchored in the bay of Cardenas, the ship was engaged in the transfer of an agreed sugar cargo. Mella deployed all his solidarity in favor of the noble cause of the Soviet people.

As an all-embracing and unitary organization, it should be emphasized that the CNOC included in its ranks socialists, communists, reformists and anarcho-syndicalists.

From the beginning, the dictator Gerardo Machado and his followers aimed their heavy artillery against the Confederation, using agents such as Eduardo Machado Gomez, who used the so-called Cuban Labor Federation (FCT by its Spanish acronym), to direct exclusive unions with maritime and port workers who responded to interests contrary to the workers' movement and in favor of the dominant oligarchy. Not only did they employ the overt mechanisms of repression, but also the underhand subversion today equally managed by the manipulators of the masses.

Ruben Martinez Villena, an intellectual of luster and a true patriot, drafted for the CNOC a program opposed to the actions of Machado Gomez, with a vindictive approach, which reflected the true motivations and objectives of struggle of all the workers' fronts gathered.

Becoming an advisor to the trade union center, Martinez Villena soon became the top leader of the organization after the assassination of its founder, perpetrated by Machado's henchmen from the dungeons of the Castillo de Atares, after terrible tortures.

Villena's political affiliation further favored the unity with the Communist Party, of which the poet was a dedicated militant until his early death due to tuberculosis in 1934.

Not only was he linked to the party of the political vanguard, but also to other sectors such as the patriotic intellectuality, together they opposed and condemned the extension of power issued by Gerardo Machado.

Closely united to the Communist Party, the CNOC organized and led the general strike of March 20, 1930, the most far-reaching one deployed up to that time by the Cuban workers. With this they demanded the revocation of the measures imposed by the government to outlaw the National Confederation and the Havana entity, and the freedom of the workers imprisoned for being "strikers".

A notable persecution, accompanied by terrible punishments that went as far as savage crimes, was unleashed after the failure of the general strike of March 1935, two years after the fall of Gerardo Machado and the abortion of the Government of the Hundred Days that succeeded him with the fulfillment of a progressive program thanks to the extraordinary Antonio Guiteras Holmes.

The institutional violence that prevailed led to the approval of the Unionization Law, issued by the Secretary of Labor, ratifying all the repressive provisions in force, which in practice annulled the right to strike.

The 4th Plenum of the CNOC, held clandestinely in July 1935, defended to the hilt the unity in a single anti-imperialist popular front, and the rejection of the general elections promoted by the government of Carlos Mendieta Montefur, as core issues.

There was no other option but to accept this legality forced by the powerful, but with the organizations working with one concept: to defend unity.

In March 1937, the 1st Provincial Conference of Trade Union Unity was convened in Santiago de Cuba, with the participation of independent unions, CNOC affiliates and representatives of important sectors.

Later, the CNOC was declared dissolved in the congress for the constitution of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), held from January 23 to 28, 1939, which in 1961 became the Cuban Workers Federation.

The current organization continues joining and structuring the raison d'être of all Cuban workers, defender of justice and the homeland, is the legitimate heir of the work carried out in glorious times by the CNOC.