Spain's Marinaleda--another and better world is possible.

• Author: Hamilton, Douglas
• Position: Less of What We Don't Need

Around 100km east of Seville in Spain lies a small town of 2,700 people called Marinaleda. It's one of many agriculture-based towns and villages in the province of Seville, surrounded by mile upon mile of flat, agricultural plains. What makes Marinaleda different, indeed from anywhere else in Spain and possibly Europe too, is that for the past 30 years it has been a centre of continuing labor struggle and a place where a living, developing and actual form of existing socialism has emerged. I had the fortune of visiting the town and at a time of deep economic crisis and political cynicism I couldn't have been more impressed by its unique socialist achievements.

In the 1970s and 1980s, in a struggle for jobs and a more just form of agriculture, workers in Marinaleda were involved in various occupations and expropriations of agricultural land from local landowners and their vast estates that are typical of the region. The occupations were led by a young, charismatic, radical socialist called Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, who led the Sindicato de Obreros del Campo (SOT) (Agricultural Workers' Union). In 1979 the SOT activists established the Colectivo de Unidad de los Trabajadores--Bloque Andaluz de Izquierdas (CUT) (Collective for the Unity of Workers--Andalusian Left Block) in order to stand in the 1979 local elections. Standing on a radical socialist platform of agricultural reform, CUT representatives were immediately elected, and Sanchez Gordillo became alcalde (mayor). Since that day the party has had a majority on the local council for just over 30 years. In 1986 CUT became part of Izquierda Unida (IU) (United Left), the main political grouping of socialist/communist/green parties in Spain. Marinaleda Council currently has 7 IU councillors and 4 from the reformist Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE) (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).

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Marinaleda hit the news when its workers successfully expropriated a 3,000 acre estate in 1991. The estate was turned over to local people and now comprises eight agricultural co-operatives where the majority of local people work. The co-operatives concentrate on labor intensive crop production such as artichokes, peppers, beans and also wheat and olive groves. Every worker gets paid the same wage--[euro]47 for a six and a half hour working day. This is in contrast to much of the agriculture in the local area outside Marinaleda, which is based on the production of highly capital...