Concientización y Liberación is the section of ¡LA VERDAD! in which we publish our analysis on specific questions facing the struggle for Raza National Liberation. We understand that only by bringing clarity to the struggle through criticism and self-criticism will we be able to advance as a movement.

¡Unidos Venceremos! Another Step Forward in the Building of An Advanced Political Organization Capable of Leading Our Gente To Liberation:

On January 17, 18 and 19 of 1997 the national membership of Unión del Barrio came together in San Diego to participate in our first Congreso Nacional. This historic meeting took place at Centro Aztlán, our national headquarters. Unión del Barrio members came from throughout California to attend this important event. Also present were several fraternal organizations who offered us messages of solidarity from their respective organizations. On the evening of Friday, January 17th, our members and representatives of La Raza Unida Party, the Brown Berets de Aztlán, MEChA, the African Peoples Solidarity Committee, and the African Peoples Socialist Party joined together for the open session of the Congress. That evening each organization expressed their congratulations to Unión del Barrio for committing itself to a higher level of struggle.

Unión del Barrio Had Been Building Towards This Congress Years in Advance

Since 1993 Unión del Barrio has been struggling to build and consolidate ourselves into an advanced political organization capable of leading our gente to liberation. Our work has been constant and has included deep, intense struggle these past four years, and the congress was representative of this struggle. The importance of this Congress was reflected as far back as a year before, after our first Plenary Session, at which time we focused our internal struggle around the need for political education to unite our membership around a clear political line. Therefore we developed a series of study groups that focused on such topics as: La Mujer, Raza Youth, Raza Prisoners, Liberation Struggle South of the Imposed Border, Raza Labor, Cultura and Religion, The History of the Chicano Mexicano People, as well as other topics as a way of helping Unión del Barrio build a political understanding that will lead our organization and our gente towards National Liberation.

Each project of Unión del Barrio (Somos Raza, Chicano Mexicano Prison Project, Comité de Mujeres Patricia Marín, La Verdad Publications, etc.) was required to have a retreat and produce a document and statement summing up that particular area of struggle. These documents served as the base of political preparation and struggle months before the Congress itself.

The Central Vision Of The Congress Was A National Political Direction, A National Strategy And A National Leadership - All Necessary For A National Liberation Organization.

The main focus of the Congress was to consolidate and accept a general program of action for the organization at a national level. In other words, the central vision of the Congress was the development of a national political direction, a national strategy, and a national leadership - all necessary for a National Liberation organization. We saw this as our central focus because as Unión del Barrio we have identified the absence of national direction, national organization, and national leadership as the fundamental reasons why the Chicano Power Period (1965-1975) was eventually defeated by the gringo military and political system (see Unión del Barrio pamphlet series #7 "Summing-Up the Last Period of Struggle (1965 - 1975)". We were never confused as to just how difficult this process was and is going to be; this has been evident through the rise in the internal struggles that have taken place since even before the National Plenary of 1995.

Unión del Barrio, now - after the Congress and more than ever before - is an organization not based on emotional or subjective unity, but a formation organizing and building to identify those of our gente who are willing to unite with an organization that demands tremendous discipline and sacrifice. We are clear that an advanced political organization capable of leading Mexicanos to liberation will not come without struggle. An organization capable of putting millions of our gente into motion and leading all of us to a better future does not come without years of intense struggle, growth, discipline, and commitment.

We understand that dignity, justice and national liberation are not things we can just purchase at the corner liquor store; but rather something that only organization is capable of producing, and organization is the only path to freedom for our people. It is for this reason that we see organization and organizational unity as primary in the mind of any individual who is truly about struggle. If we learned anything about ourselves as Unión del Barrio and about struggle in general from our first Congress, is the importance of organizational unity.

In practical terms our first Congress represented and accomplished several other key items:

· Unión del Barrio membership witnessed - as a whole - as to what a National Congress is and should be; and what it is not and must not be;

· Four temporary commissions were established to deal with issues identified as central to the growth of our organization: 1) The National-International Question, 2) Finances, 3) Unión del Barrio Constitutional and Organizational Structure, and 4) Mass based Organization. These commissions had to be established because it was not until the Congress itself that our membership came to the realization of just how unclear many of our members were on these particular issues;

· The establishment of these commissions also highlighted the weaknesses of our organization at this given time and thus allowed us to identify them and plan on how to correct these weaknesses;

· Our first Congress created an environment in San Diego and elsewhere for political growth of our membership because many came to internalize what serious political struggle is all about;

· Our first Congress was also one of the very few times since the last period of struggle (1965-1975) that a Mexican national liberation organization has held a National Congress in the occupied territories. Only La Raza Unida Party has recently held another gathering such as this towards building the Mexican Liberation Struggle.

These are truly historical accomplishments and we are sure that we will reflect upon our first Congress as a step towards the final goal of freedom and independence for our gente. We have set a precedent for future revolutionaries and organizations.

Our First Congress Did Not Lack Contradictions and Problems

As we sum-up some of the weaknesses and contradictions of our congress, as Unión del Barrio we want both our membership and our supporters to recognize the fact that even with all its problems, our first Congress was tremendously important for our movement and a learning experience for our membership.

As we have explained, even before the congress, most members understood that there was going to be difficult struggle ahead. It wasn't until the congress itself that we were able to witness some serious contradictions and weaknesses within the membership and the Congreso process itself; this included:

· Weakness on the part of the Central Committee (CC), in making and defining in a clear way the mission and vision of our congress;

· A deep subjectivism coming from some of our membership as we struggled to make our points;

· A lack of political development in both our political line and the political maturity of some of our membership (which would later affect the final outcome of the Congress);

· Being new to this whole process added to the frustration of some of our membership and in the end the focus of the Congress was narrowed in both a practical and ideological sense;

· Too much time was spent on certain issues which was cause for our inability to complete our agenda;

· The rules and methods of struggle and decision making processes were not made clear by the Central Committee. Furthermore, the CC should have exerted more control of the Congreso proceedings;

· Because of narrowing of the overall focus of the Congress we had to establish the commissions to complete the objectives of the Congreso; and we set back some of our more practical work.

· And finally, because the lack of political development, confusion as to the process, and subjectivism, deep individual frustration was apparent and we lost several valuable members. Even now in May- four months later - we have yet to recover from these losses of membership and we have yet to complete the tasks of the commissions.

Even with these contradictions our work has progressed and we are in the process of concretizing the resolutions that came out of our first Congress and the Central Committee will make a final report to the general membership as soon as the commission work is completed.

The power of organization, unity, and accountability together with the importance of respect, leadership, political development, and constructive criticism have been clearly identified by Unión del Barrio as central to the success of a Congress and growth of an organization in general. This will not be denied and must be required of each Unión del Barrio member at all times.

¡Unidos Venceremos!
¡Hasta La Victoria-Siempre!