Today, January 21, is a day to remember and reflect on an interesting ephemeris of our recent history. It is 50 years since the lockdown of 47 workers from Potase in Navarre. This lockdown, which lasted fifteen days, caused a general strike in Navarre, the Department of the Interior reported. This mine, located between Beriáin and Undiano, was at the time the factory with the highest number of workers in the province. Many of its workers were organized into factory boards and their representatives coordinated with other factories in the so-called workers ' commissions. These commissions proved to be the main form of organization of the labor movement of the time. It was the Workers' Commissions, a unitary movement little or nothing related to the current CCOO.

Months before the lockdown, the labor commissions presented the employers with a list of economic demands and joint policies for the workers of several factories. Demands included wage increases and the right of assembly. The employers' rejection of a general strike called the workers on 11 December last in many parts of the Basque Country. At the beginning of January, after more than a month of strike, they were sentenced to two months in prison for refusing to leave the strike without any work or pay. Faced with the aggression, the strikers decided not to return to work and increased their wager: they organized a lockdown to give continuity to the fighting process, which lasted fifteen days. The question was who would get the power: whether the forces of the company and the regime or those of the organised workers.

In solidarity and unity, on 15 January a general strike of a political nature was convened throughout Navarre with the aim of serving as an instrument of struggle to support the confinement and to put pressure on the employers and the State in relation to the demands of the workers movement. The strike lasted until the end of the lockdown and left us: 20,000 strikers from 50 companies, daily mobilizations, closing shops, student strikes... It was an integral struggle of the entire working class.

It is noteworthy that the level of organization of the participants in the confinement was very high, both in the work before the confinement and during the fifteen days it lasted, and was a clear example of the maturity of the labor movement. In this sense, the high level of awareness developed in it stands out, taking advantage of this space of struggle for training and political debate. In addition, the confinement had negative effects on the regime. It is the largest company in Navarre, Potas de Navarra, owned by the State. On the other hand, we must not forget the contribution made by the great strike that accompanied the lockdown in the midst of the Franco crisis.

Among the conclusions of the struggle is the repression of the bosses against the workers who were in lockdown. They were all expelled and fined. However, thanks to the organized solidarity of the working class, both factory colleagues and neighbors and friends, the repressive allies managed to get a new job, pay fines, meet their vital needs while seeking another job... Both in the moments of mobilization and in the moments of regression, the unit of the working class was an example. The lockdown allowed that conflict, which had been coming since the fall of 1974, to be destined for one of the most successful strikes in Navarre. Thanks to class solidarity, thousands of workers from all over Navarre took over the struggle of workers from a factory. The workers knew that only by joining forces could they achieve their goals.

For, beyond dates, names and places, this principle of solidarity towards all members of the working class is what we must remember and make live, without nostalgia, so that we can act with workers solidarity in the face of all the attacks of the entrepreneurs and managers of this capitalist society in crisis. Indeed, this principle agglutinated the workers at the time, which strengthened them in the face of the repression and the sanctions they intended to distribute, and that is precisely the principle that should guide us today.

Imanol Kañamares, member of the Socialist Council of the Region of Pamplona