9. AMPOSTA

ON THE BANKS OF THE EBRO

On the right bank of the river is the town, composed for the most part of the humble homes of peasants, worn by the passage of time.

Wide and impressive, after flowing nine hundred twenty eight kilometers, the most important river in Spain, born from the springs of Fontibre (Santander), issues into the blue waters of “Mare Nostrum”.

Just past the town, the Ebro is more than three hundred meters wide. The land stretches in an unbroken plane for as far as the eye can see. A small hamlet breaks the monotony of the journey, the ribbons of some canals scoring the land.

Amposta is a town of ten thousand inhabitants, and its economy is based on agriculture. It is known for its rice, and produces more rice than any other part of Catalonia.

In the last rice harvest of the year, which takes place in September, thirty-six million kilos of rice are harvested. It must be kept in mind that for every one hundred kilos of raw rice, about sixty kilos of white rice can be processed.

The land, collectivized by the workers, will produce better yields, thanks to the improved conditions in which they will be cultivated.

And, irrigated by the fertile waters of the Ebro, the rice paddies will extend to their fullest expanse, offering their wealth to the hard-working and free town of Amposta.

DAILY LABOR

There are some one thousand two hundred farmers in the area of Amposta. In order to increase the output of the farms, they have uprooted some old olive and locust trees to expand the irrigated lands.

We should mention the Poultry Farm, run by the peasants according to the most modern methods. This farm is valued at about two hundred thousand pesetas. By the end of this year, once the buildings of the farm are completed, they will raise some five thousand chicks, and next year, with the incubators that are being installed, they will be able to produce up to two thousand chicks per week.

Besides the work of aviculture, the peasants are also engaged in the collectivization of another large farm, where they will work raising cows, pigs and sheep; they already have some seventy milk cows there, whose output will allow for the operation of a dairy with all the modern appurtenances.

The collective is perfectly able to fulfill its task, since it already has fourteen tractors, fifteen threshing machines and seventy horses.

The land has been municipalized and those who wish to remain outside the Agricultural Collective and desire to obtain some parcels that they can farm on their own account, must submit a request to the Municipality, which will permit them to do so as long as they do not resort to the odious practice of hiring wage labor, the infamous vestige of the past slavery that has survived up until our time.

The Construction Industry is collectivized, and its section has a tile factory and a limekiln. Public entertainment and several other trades have also been collectivized.

THE CULTURAL IMPULSE

With respect to education, Amposta was once quite backward. We need only say that at the present time the town has 38 schools, having established 15 schools since the beginning of the insurrectional movement. Because school is compulsory, one does not see in Amposta what we saw in other towns, where the little children wander about the streets, immersed in ignorance and exposed to all kinds of trouble.

In order to create the new schools the Municipality used buildings confiscated for the purpose. It has adequate materials, without having to request anything from the Generalitat.

Seeking to put an end to illiteracy, which characterized the old Municipalities, the Municipality has instituted six special classes for adults.

The Municipality shall also soon create a School for Arts and Trades, and a School Cafeteria.

The Municipality has a library, which will be expanded to satisfy the cultural appetites of the people.

Several conferences have been held concerning the educational program and a choir and a theater are planned, for the purpose of developing in the children the taste for art. For this work special teachers are available.

SUPPORTING THE REVOLUTION

More than three hundred residents of Amposta are fighting at the front and the Municipality has defrayed the cost of all their equipment and everything they need.

The town of Amposta has also contributed considerable direct financial assistance to the Militias, and up to the present date it has sent more than five hundred thousand pesetas to the Militias.

Having arrived from the evacuated regions, 162 people have been given refuge by Amposta, which has provided for all their needs.

A war tax has been imposed, which yields more than three thousand pesetas a week.

PROVISIONING THE TOWN

At the same time that the town endeavored to send volunteers to the various battlefronts, it also sought—comrade Reverter, a model of anarchist activity and understanding, told us—to obtain provisions for its population. There have been no shortages in Amposta, thanks to the trade in rice. There are many tons of this nutritional food in storage in Amposta.

A family rationing coupon has been instituted for basic goods, which provides for three days’ needs.

The Consumers Cooperative has been established in the church. It is curious to observe how the various parts of the church are used for this purpose. A large part of the population obtains its provisions in this Cooperative, which sells between eleven and twelve thousand pesetas worth of commodities each week.

There are about forty-five families that, due to their advanced age or because of ill-health, cannot earn their sustenance by means of their own labor. The Municipality has done everything necessary to see to it that they do not lack anything.

To summarize: the provisioning of the town is assured. “We only experience a scarcity”, we were told by the secretary of the Municipality, “of wine and alcohol, and this is because we have an interest in seeing to it that as little as possible of those things enters Amposta.”

URBANIZATION PROJECTS

The Municipality seeks to carry out significant improvements, such as demolishing some dilapidated shacks near the entrance to the town, completing the sewage system and expanding water service.

Amposta has a water purification plant that is among the finest and the largest in all of Spain. The water, which comes from the Ebro, and serves the needs of the town, is purified by means of liquid chlorine.

Thanks to the sanitation program, epidemics like the fevers and illnesses that used to wreak havoc among the workers have been eliminated.

Attending to the needs of the town, a hospital has been established. Part of the building housing the hospital contains a health clinic. Now, anyone who wishes can go to the hospital.

Finally, a sanatorium has been constructed, outside of the town, to care for those with tuberculosis.

THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND FUTURE PLANS OF THE MUNICIPALITY

Although the Confederation is predominant in Amposta, the CNT and the UGT are both represented on the Municipal Council, and the most perfect harmony prevails. Let us hope that the same good relations prevail everywhere!

All urban real property has been municipalized; the income from rents, which have been reduced, is used to defray municipal expenses.

The Municipality has confiscated several saltpans that can yield about five hundred thousand pesetas a year. It is also building a sodium hypochlorite plant.

Every year, many tons of rice leaves go to waste that could be utilized for the manufacture of paper if the Generalitat were to become interested in this initiative.

A plan has been approved to introduce the family wage. Once this measure is implemented, the Municipality will convoke an annual public assembly so that the people may decide how the profits are to be employed, once all expenditures are deducted.

In conclusion, Amposta is one of the most promising towns in revolutionary Catalonia. This is due to the combative spirit of the comrades in general, among whom the members of the Libertarian Youth stand out, a magnificent group of men and women, who are clearing the way to the future for the oppressed.