Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Barcelona General Strike of 1919 was sparked when workers at an electric plant were fired for political reasons. The National Confederation of Workers (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT), led by Salvador Seguí, called for a general strike after initial negotiations failed. The workers were at first successful (winning an eight-hour workday), and the general strike ended in less than a month, but the situation deteriorated dramatically as the military (philosophically in line with the bourgeoisie) defied civilian authorities, setting off additional strikes and a wave of violence. In 1919, an oppressive Spanish government faced a constitutional crisis: Catalan separatists were arguing for autonomy, and economic conditions were strained in the post-world war society. Workers across the world were trying to gain improved working conditions, better pay, and legitimacy for their unions through general labor strikes, and the Bolshevik Revolution was viewed as a success of working-class action. During this time in Catalonia (the capital of which is Barcelona), the CNT, an anarchosyndicalist union formed in an October 1910 meeting of trade unionists, gained in strength (in membership and effectiveness). When the eight workers at the electric power plant La Canadiense were dismissed in February 1919, CNT's leadership leapt into action: by the end of February, the majority ... log in or subscribe to read full text