Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and the region's wine growers also banded together to seek greater security. Tension was fur-
ther heightened by the
loss of Cuba
in 1898, which only added to local economic problems,
with the return of soldiers seeking employment in the cities where there was none.
Conflict in Barcelona
A call-up for army reserves to fight in Morocco in 1909 provoked a general strike and, at the
end of July, a solid week of rioting in Barcelona, and then throughout Catalunya, in which
over one hundred people died. Working-class Catalans objected violently to the suggestion
thattheyshouldgotofightabroadforastatethatdidlittleforthemathome,andBarcelona's
streets saw the widespread burning of churches and other religious institutions - symbols of
the power of the state that dominated their lives. Battle lines were drawn in the very name
given to the disturbances - what was a glorious “July revolution” to the rioters came later to
beknownbythenervousbourgeoisie astheso-called
TragicWeek
(Setmana Trágica). Mass
arrests, executions and repression followed, as the rioters were put down, but future seeds
were sown as Catalan workers realized the need to be better organized. A direct result was
the establishment of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo - the
CNT
- in 1911, which
included many previously unconnected Catalan working-class organizations.
World War I and the start of dictatorship
During
World War I
Spain was neutral, though inwardly turbulent since soaring inflation
and the cessation of exports following the German blockade of the North Atlantic hit the
country hard. As rumblings grew among the workers and political organizations, the army
moved decisively, crushing a general strike of 1917. However, the situation did not improve.
Violent strikes and assassinations plagued Barcelona, while the CNT and the union of the
socialists, the CGT, both saw huge increases in their membership. In 1923,
General Primo
de Rivera
, the captain-general of Catalunya, overthrew the national government in a milit-
ary coup that had the full backing of the Catalan middle class, establishing a dictatorship that
enjoyed initial economic success. The general resigned in 1930, dying a few months later,
butthehopesofsomefortherestorationofthemonarchy'spoliticalpowerswereshort-lived.
The success of the anti-monarchist parties in the municipal elections of 1931 led to the ab-
dication of the king and the foundation of the
Second Republic
.
The Second Republic
In 1931, Catalunya, under Francesc Macià, leader of the Republican Left, declared itself to
be an
independent republic
, and the Republican flag was raised over the Ajuntament in
Barcelona. Madrid refused to accept the declaration, though a statute of limited autonomy
was granted in 1932. Despite initial optimism, the government was soon failing to satisfy
raised local expectations.
Anarchism
in particular was gaining strength among the frustrated
middle classes as well as among workers and peasantry. The
CommunistParty
and the left-
wing
socialists
, driven into alliance by their mutual distrust of the “moderate” socialists in
