Class, Culture and Conflict in Barcelona 1898–1937

Class, Culture and Conflict in

Barcelona 1898?1937

This is a study of social protest and repression in one of the twentieth century's most important revolutionary hotspots. It explains why Barcelona became the undisputed capital of the European anarchist movement and explores the sources of anarchist power in the city. It also places Barcelona at the centre of Spain's economic, social, cultural and political life between 1898 and 1937.

During this period, a range of social groups, movements and institutions competed with one another to impose their own political and urban projects on the city: the central authorities struggled to retain control of Spain's most unruly city; nationalist groups hoped to create the capital of Catalonia; local industrialists attempted to erect a modern industrial city; the urban middle classes planned to democratise the city; and meanwhile, the anarchists sought to liberate the city's workers from oppression and exploitation. This resulted in a myriad of frequently violent conflicts for control of the city, both before and during the civil war.

This is a work of great importance in the field of contemporary Spanish history and fills a significant gap in the current literature.

Chris Ealham is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, Lancaster University. He is co-editor of The Splintering of Spain: Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Civil War. His work focuses on labour and social protest in Spain, and he is currently working on a history of urban conflict in 1930s Spain.

Routledge/Ca?ada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain

Series editors Paul Preston and Sebastian Balfour Ca?ada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, London

Spain 1914?1918 Between War and Revolution Francisco J.Romero Salvad?

Spaniards in the Holocaust Mauthausen, Horror on the Danube

David Wingeate Pike

Conspiracy and the Spanish Civil War The Brainwashing of Francisco Franco

Herbert R.Southworth

Red Barcelona Social Protest and Labour Mobilisation in the Twentieth Century

edited by Angel Smith

British Women and the Spanish Civil War Angela Jackson

Women and Spanish Fascism The Women's Section of the Falange 1934?59

Kathleen Richmond

Class, Culture and Conflict in Barcelona, 1898?1937 Chris Ealham

Anarchism, the Republic and Civil War in Spain, 1931?1939 Juli?n Casanova

Catalan Nationalism

Francoism, Transition and Democracy Montserrat Guibernau

British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War The British Battalion in the International Brigades, 1936?1939

Richard Baxell

The Catholic Church and the Spanish Civil War Hilari Raguer

Nazi Germany and Francoist Spain Christian Leitz

Also published in association with the Ca?ada Blanch Centre:

Spain and the Great Powers edited by Sebasti?n Balfour and Paul Preston

Class, Culture and Conflict in Barcelona 1898?1937

Chris Ealham

LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave., New York,

NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. "To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to

." ? 2005 Chris Ealham

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including

photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-49355-9 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-57252-1 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0-15-29961-6 (Print Edition)

For my parents, Annie and Jack (in memoriam) and for Bea (for the future)

La calle no es de nadie a?n. Vamos a ver qui?n la conquista. The street still belongs to no-one. We'll see who conquers it.

Ram?n Sender, Siete domingos rojos

Contents

List of illustrations

viii

Acknowledgements

xi

Important abbreviations and acronyms

xiii

Introduction

xv

1 The making of a divided city

1

2 Mapping the working-class city

21

3 The birth of the republican city

49

4 The proletarian city and the Second Republic

76

5 The struggle to survive: unemployed self-help and direct action during

91

the Republic

6 Militarised anarchism, 1932?36

115

7 Cultural battles: class and criminality

132

8 An `apolitical' revolution: anarchism, revolution and civil war

151

Notes

173

Bibliography

213

Index

227

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