The Sound of the Strike (Colombia, 1938) - Gonzalo Buenahora
Historical Context:
In the early 1920s, the Barrancabermeja oil field was discovered in the Magdalena River basin, near the town of Barrancabermeja. This discovery led to increased exploration and production activities by international oil companies in the area, such as the Tropical Oil Company (later known as the Colombian Petroleum Company or COLPET).
In this piece, Gonzalo Buenahora writes about a labor dispute between oil workers and their employers in the late 1920s. During what began as a peaceful protest, government officials were ordered to open fire on protesters, Many were killed as a result. In the years following, numerous strikes have been organized by the USO (syndicated workers union), including as recently as March of 2023.
Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo was elected president in 1934, almost unopposed, and as the second participant of the so-called Liberal Hegemony in Colombia, his initial government platform became known under the name "Revolución en Marcha" (Marching Revolution), as it attempted to implement far reaching social and political reforms. Several radical changes were promoted during his first administration, as the government supported the creation of labor unions, this may explain why Buenahora references him in this piece.
"The Sound of the Strike" ("El Son de la Huelga," Colombia, 1938) By Gonzalo Buenahora.
Translated by Abel Guzman.
English:
To His Excellency President of the Liberal Republic
Don Alfonso López
A strike in Barrancabermeja
12:38 on the 8th of April
People screaming strike! Strike!
There isn't even space for a gun.
Nevertheless everything stopped.
The workers, tired, crossed their arms
Work stopped when someone collapsed
The workers facing life or death
Swore over the corpse
To never return to the plants
Until the agreement was signed
And a faraway yell could be heard
Let’s strike
No working
There goes a parade of flags fighting against the wind
Green flags
Workers Union flags
White flags
Patriotic flags
Red revolutionary flags
And a close yell could be heard
for Lopez
not for Shannon
It's a parade of overalls
A parade of shirts the color of oil
Not black, not green, not yellow
And the loudest yell so far
for Colombia
Not for trade
Workers walk by
With their flags held high
Their arms linked together
Their hearts beating like lightning
Their foreheads anvils in the sun
Of crowned sweat
Their mouths full of screams
Neck veins swollen
They yell with iron voices
Tolima y Cundinamarca
They have voices like bronze
Narino, Huila, and Cauca
The voices of the women
Are voices of fine silver
The voices of the elderly
Hollow voices like tin sheets
Voices like cleaned steel
Those of the coast
Cristal horns soundoff
They yell Antioquia and Caldas.
They are golden bugles
Large, loud, and thundering
Thundering hearts
When santander screams
Like the voice of 100 lions
For a diamond bugle
The workers go by
With their flags held high
It's a human serpent
Through the streets of Barranca
Fry cooks, refiners
Tailors and portworkers
Laborers and canners
Firefighters and gaugers
Drivers and railway workers
The guards look at them, look
The guards are looking at them
Until they hear the order
to fire into the masses
Because if it’s apart of the crowd it’s liberal
Well, of what I know, in Colombia
Fortunately there are no other masses.
And it's the same guns
That in times of hegemony
Also shot on the town
The workers blood washes over the streets of Barranca
and at the end of the massacre
You could still hear the painful and sarcastic screams
For Lopez.
Not trade.
For Lopez.
For Lopez.
Español:
Al excelentísimo señor presidente de la república
liberal don alfonso lópez
Huelga en barrancabermeja.
Meridiano y 38 a los ocho días de abril.
Y al grito de huelga! huelga!
No hay donde quepa un fusil.
No obstante todo paró.
Las máquinas, cansadas, cruzáronse de brazos.
El trabajo se murió de un colapso.
Los obreros-vida o muerte-
Juraron sobre el cadáver
No volver a las usinas
Hasta no firmado el pacto.
Y se oye un grito lejano........
Huelga si.
Trabajo nó.
Allá viene un desfile de banderas peleando con el viento.
Banderas verdes.
Banderas de la USO.
Banderas blancas.
Banderas de la patria.
banderas rojas de la revolución.
y se oye el grito cercano........
López sí
Shannon nó.
Es un desfile de overoles.
Es un desfile de camisas color de aceite. -no negras. no verdes. no amarillas-.
Y el grito más fuerte aun........
Colombia sí
Troco nó.
Es que pasan los obreros con sus banderas en alto
Los brazos hechos de nudos
El corazón de relàmpagos.
La frente -yunque del sol-
De sudores coronada.
La boca llena de gritos
Las venas del cuello hinchadas.
Y gritan con voz de hierro
Tolima y cundinamarca.
Y tienen voces de bronce
Nariño, huila y el cauca.
Las voces de las mujeres
Son voces de fina plata.
Las voces de los ancianos
Huecas voces de hojalata.
Voces límpidas de acerco
Las del litoral atlántico.
Suenan trompas de cristal
Si gritan antioquia y caldas.
Y son clarines de oro
Largos, sonoros, tonantes,
-Tonantes de corazones-
Cuando grita santander
Que es la voz de 100 leones
Por un clarín de diamante.
Van pasando los obreros
Con sus banderas en alto.
Es una serpiente humana
Por las calles de barranca.
Paileros, refinadores,
Marineros, constructores,
Taladreros y portuarios,
Braceros, embazadores,
Bomberos y medidores,
Choferes y ferroviarios.
La guardia los mira mira
La guardia los va mirando
Hasta que escucha la orden
De disparar a la masa
Que si es masa es liberal
Pues, que yo sepa, en colombia
No hay por fortuna otra masa.
Y son los mismos fusiles
Que en tiempos de hegemonía
También al pueblo abalearon.
Sangre obrera lava las calles de barranca.
Y al final de la matanza
Se oye aún el grito doloroso y sarcástico.......
López sí.
Troco no.
López sí.
López sí.
Translator's Note - Abel Guzman
Gonzalo Buenahora was a Colombian poet who wrote “El son de la Huelga,” a piece detailing the oil strike in Barrancabermeja April 8, 1924. While researching this I came across details of more recent strikes but very little detailing this strike and its resulting massacre. Buenahora details a violent reaction to peaceful protesting and the oppression of the messes through the power of the state. He is recognized in the Anarchists library and it seems that this strike has shaped his writings. This poem stood out as it fit the narrative of oppresed people overcoming their oppresors to reach a common goal.
Some notes to be made on the writing style of Buenahora are his lack of capitalization be it the start of a sentence of the name of a town or country. In his original 1938 "Huelga en Barranca."
Citation:
Guzman Abel, Translator, "The Sound of the Strike, (Colombia, 1938) by Gonzalo Buenahora," Spanish and Hispanic Studies Digital Gallery at HWS, Summer, 2024.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.