Sabrina Alvarez (University of the Republic, Uruguay).
The Disorganization of Railway Workers During the Last Uruguayan Dictatorship (1973–1985).

The military board of directors of the State Railway Administration (AFE)—the monopoly in Uruguay’s railway sector—implemented measures, inspired by the economic policy proposals outlined in 1972 in the National Development Plan (1973–1977), aimed at streamlining railway operations and placing them primarily at the service of freight transport demand. This orientation had been resisted by workers organized in the Railway Federation since at least the mid-1960s. Many union activists, even though they were employees of the company, were persecuted and expelled under the array of regulations enacted following the coup d’état of June 27, 1973.
Beyond the practices aimed at breaking and disciplining union activists in the sector, the company implemented a set of policies designed to discipline the entire workforce, much of which had recently joined as a result of staff turnover. In this paper, I will characterize the various disciplinary measures carried out by AFE, which ranged from the persecution and purging of part of the staff, through the signing of agreements with workers in certain specialized trades, and the control exercised by the Medical and Hygiene Service Department, to the development of cultural and sports activities that sought to mold a certain type of ideal railway worker (and family).  I understand that, in addition to the political (and even moralizing) purpose of this series of measures, one of its central objectives was to increase the company’s profitability by improving the workforce’s productivity. This took place within an increasingly authoritarian context. ▼

Francisco Polo Muriel (Spanish Railway Foundation).
Purge and Repression of Railway Personnel During the Civil War and the Franco Regime in Castilla-La Mancha (1936–1975).

It is well known that the purge process, carried out following the enactment of the Civil Service Purge Act of February 10, 1939, was widely applied to the railway companies that operated their respective networks under concession agreements. The impact of this purge varied among railway workforces depending on how strictly the different companies applied the purge regulations and on the region where the workers lived. The five provinces that currently make up the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha (Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Toledo) remained within territory loyal to the Republic until the end of the conflict. For this reason, the Franco regime carried out harsh repression during the postwar period.
The railway workers of Castilla-La Mancha, numbering nearly seven thousand and distributed across the five provinces, were, along with teachers, among the professional groups that, due to their strong political and union commitment to the Second Republic, suffered most from the purges launched in the five provinces following the aforementioned Law on the Purging of Civil Servants of February 10, 1939.
Similarly, a significant percentage of the railway workforce serving during the Civil War in the provinces that today make up Castilla-La Mancha faced summary trials, through which various penalties were imposed, including the death penalty, which was carried out on approximately 200 railway workers in that region.
This paper aims to highlight the effects of both processes on the railway workers employed in the aforementioned provinces, relating them to the political and socioeconomic contexts of those regions during the Second Republic and the years of the Civil War. PDF

Juan Manuel Martiren (CEL-UNSAM / UBA).
Workers’ and Activists’ Memoirs: A Reflection Based on the Biographical Reconstruction of the Communist Railway Worker Víctor Vázquez. 

Víctor Vázquez was a prominent railway leader and member of the Communist Party of Argentina. Born in 1915 in the Buenos Aires city of Campana, he joined the Ferrocarril Central Argentino (renamed Ferrocarril Mitre after nationalization) in 1937. He held various positions and was deeply active in the Unión Ferroviaria union and the Communist Party. His political and union activism led him to attain prominent positions within the union’s leadership as part of the National Executive Committee, as well as to face numerous arrests. On June 4, 1976, he was abducted while returning to his family home, amid the state terrorism that took place during the last military dictatorship (1976–1983), and is included on a list of approximately one hundred disappeared railway workers. This paper aims to reflect, based on the biographical reconstruction of Víctor Vázquez, on the world of workers’ memories and the archives and documents preserved by the activists themselves. PDF  

Miguel Muñoz Rubio (ASIHF).
"Case 296-53." The foiling of an attempt to reorganize the National Railway Union (UGT).

The dominant historiographical paradigm maintains that the National Railway Union (UGT) took no action whatsoever within Spain during the Franco regime. This paper aims to analyze, specifically, an attempt by the SNF to reorganize clandestinely, which demonstrates that some of its members did indeed attempt to carry out union activities within the country. Based on police records, the paper first explains the scope and nature of this organization. Using various judicial documents, it then constructs a biographical profile of these members, thereby preserving their memory. Finally, brief conclusions assess the historical significance of this case. PDF 

Cristina Santamarina and Rafael Machuca. 
Juan Machuca Pastor, a son of iron.

The life of Juan Machuca Pastor is yet another story—like so many others—that spans the Spanish 20th century. His life, like all stories, begins before his birth, and it is this story that will shape the harsh course of his own life, that of his father, his uncle, his grandmother, himself, and his entire family. His path will be shaped by the history of Spain and its turbulent crossroads—or, more accurately, a train wreck—that will lead first to a civil war and then to the following four decades of Franco’s dictatorship. The story of Juan Machuca is a story of the vanquished, the persecuted, the harassed, the punished for no greater crime than defending the constitutional order and aspiring to a more just life. It is the voice of a Spain of the vanquished, yes, but not defeated, because their determination and tenacity drive them to press on. And continuing the family tradition that began with his grandparents, it will unfold between train stations, Ferrocarriles Andaluces, and Renfe. His journey and that of his family is part of the railways’ intangible historical heritage that is coming to light in the 21st century because it took a long time before the story could find its voice and become a legacy for future generations. This is not a complete story; it is a solid and extensive fragment that remained unfinished because the COVID-19 pandemic and then death interrupted it.
Spain’s railway heritage cannot be understood without these voices of proud workers who wove the most real and authentic fabric of their identity—the institutional and corporate fabric that is sustained by these life experiences, the true heritage of the railways and of all Spaniards. PDF