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156-644: It emerged from the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist movement , composed of three main organisations: the CNT union; the FAI federation; and the FIJL youth wing. Many women who participated in these groups felt that their issues were being ignored by the predominantly male anarchists. As a result, the autonomous Mujeres Libres groups were created, pursuing both women's liberation and the anarchist social revolution . They argued that

312-661: A Goth-Alania . Other theories suggest: In English, Catalonia is pronounced / k æ t ə ˈ l oʊ n i ə / . The native name, Catalunya , is pronounced [kətəˈluɲə] in Central Catalan , the most widely spoken variety, and [kataˈluɲa] in North-Western Catalan . The Spanish name is Cataluña ( [kataˈluɲa] ), and the Aranese name is Catalonha ( [kataˈluɲa] ). The first known human settlements in what

468-947: A republic under French protection. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the northern parts of Catalonia , mostly the Roussillon , were ceded to France. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the Crown of Aragon sided against the Bourbon Philip V of Spain , but after the Peace of Utrecht (1713) the Catalans were defeated with the capitulation of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 . Philip V subsequently imposed

624-755: A campaign to encourage breastfeeding. This was later bolstered by their February 1938 founding of the Louise Michel Institute of Maternal and Child Care, named after the French anarchist, and offering extensive medical services and counselling for mothers and children. During the war, Mujeres Libres was supported by the anarchist government minister Federica Montseny in their efforts to disseminate information regarding birth control, and they supported her legalisation of abortion. Mujeres Libres supported group childcare, and set up childcare centres in both industrial and agricultural workplaces. As women were

780-458: A center-right Catalan nationalist electoral coalition, with Pujol re-elected until 2003. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the institutions of Catalan autonomy were deployed, among them an autonomous police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra , in 1983, and the broadcasting network Televisió de Catalunya and its first channel TV3 , created in 1983. An extensive program of normalization of Catalan language

936-489: A centralized government. The most influential proponent of mutualism in Spain was the federal republican Francesc Pi i Margall (named, upon his death, "the wisest of the federalists, almost an anarchist" by anarchist thinker Ricardo Mella ), who in his book Reacción y Revolución wrote that "every man who has power over another is a tyrant" and called for the "division and subdivision of power". Another disciple of Proudhon

1092-593: A century after the Civil War. The 1996 historical drama film Libertarias , directed by Vicente Aranda , is centred on members of Mujeres Libres. Anarchism in Spain Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco 's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered

1248-477: A consistently lower pay than men for the same work. The literacy rate across Spain in this period was low for both men and women, but consistently lower for the latter. The female illiteracy rate in 1930 reached as high as 60% in the southern parts of Spain, and as high as 30% in the Basque region . This limited the political involvement and social mobility of working class women. Women were also largely confined to

1404-674: A focus on direct action and a militant anti-clericalism , also began to rise to prominence in Spain. The earliest successful attempt to introduce anarchism to the Spanish masses was undertaken by a middle-aged Italian revolutionary named Giuseppe Fanelli . An early partisan of the Young Italy movement, during the Italian Revolution Fanelli had given up his career to participate in the Risorgimento under

1560-597: A full journal devoted entirely to the cause of women, rather than just one page. The announcement in April of the following year that this project would go ahead generated widespread support among anarchists and marked the full emergence of the Mujeres Libres organisation into the public eye. The first issue of the Mujeres Libres magazine was published on May 20, 1936, and ran for 14 issues. As participants in

1716-412: A good mother—in the strict sense of the term—and a good lawyer or chemist at the same time... Perhaps one can be an intellectual and a woman at the same time. But a mother? No." The women of Mujeres Libres were also often disrespectfully referred to as 'Mujeres Liebres'. This term, literally translated as 'women hares', implied that they 'hopped' from bed to bed—a clear attempt to sexually degrade members of

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1872-402: A la luz. Fists upraised, women of Iberia towards horizons pregnant with light on paths afire feet on the ground face to the blue sky. Affirming the promise of life let's defy tradition we mold the warm clay of a new world born of pain. Let the past vanish into nothingness! What do we care for yesterday! We want to write anew the word WOMAN. Fists upraised, women of

2028-562: A legal entity for the first time, while the Usages of Barcelona were compiled in the process to turn them into the law and custom of Catalonia ( Consuetudinem Cathalonie ), being considered one of the "milestones of Catalan political identity". In 1258, by means of the Treaty of Corbeil , James I of Aragon King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona , king of Mallorca and of Valencia, renounced his family rights and dominions in Occitania , while

2184-584: A minority in most workplaces, stifling the capacity of women to participate in the CNT in particular. Even where women represented a majority, the anarchist trade unions made little effort to organise women, perceiving them as potential strike-breakers. One reason that sexist beliefs remained so prominent was the fact that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , often referred to as 'the father of anarchism', had openly believed that women were inferior, and advocated in his writings that women should remain in domestic roles even following

2340-601: A modernizing and progressive social agenda, despite the internal difficulties. This period was marked by political unrest, the effects of the economic crisis and their social repercussions. The Statute of Autonomy was suspended in 1934, due to the Events of 6 October in Barcelona, as a response to the accession of right-wing Spanish nationalist party CEDA to the government of the Republic, considered close to fascism . After

2496-552: A nation. This decision was severely contested by large sectors of Catalan society, which increased the demands of independence. A controversial independence referendum was held in Catalonia on 1 October 2017, using a disputed voting process. It was declared illegal and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain , because it breached the 1978 Constitution . Subsequent developments saw, on 27 October 2017,

2652-453: A necessity, extending even to apprenticeship programmes. Women involved in Mujeres Libres filled gaps in the economy in a huge variety of areas. They formed divisions dedicated to transport, sanitation, manufacturing, metallurgy, and public service, alongside 'mobile brigades' which completed any unfinished work. They supplied food both to militias and to urban communities, including the creation of communal kitchens; and they helped to unionize

2808-673: A period of dispersion, the Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region disappeared, to be replaced by the Anarchist Organization of the Spanish Region .... This organization then changed, in 1890, into the Solidarity and Assistance Pact, which was itself dissolved in 1896 because of repressive legislation against anarchism and broke into many nuclei and autonomous workers' societies.... The scattered remains of

2964-452: A radical movement in 19th century Spain was found amongst the followers of the ideas laid out by the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon . Mutualism had a considerable influence on the Spanish cooperativist movement , which advocated for a peaceful and gradualist approach to defeating capitalism , as well as the federalist movement , which envisioned a society of local municipalities joining together and coordinating without any need for

3120-479: A result, all the workers that were present at the meeting declared themselves in support of the International and Fanelli subsequently extended his stay in the city, holding "propaganda sessions" with the nascent anarchist adherents - paying particular attention to Anselmo Lorenzo. On January 24, 1869, Fanelli held his last meeting with the anarchist workers of Madrid, in which they declared the establishment of

3276-677: A successful process of economic growth and proto-industrialization , reinforced in the late quarter of the century when Castile's trade monopoly with American colonies ended. After the War of the Spanish Succession , the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Castilian Crown through the Nueva Planta Decrees was the first step in the creation of the Spanish nation state . These nationalist policies, sometimes very aggressive, and still in force, have been and are

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3432-1002: A symbolic declaration of independence by the Parliament of Catalonia, the enforcement of direct rule by the Spanish government through the use of Article 155 of the Constitution, the dismissal of the Executive Council and the dissolution of the Parliament, with a snap regional election called for 21 December 2017, which ended with a victory of pro-independence parties. Former President Carles Puigdemont and five former cabinet ministers fled Spain and took refuge in other European countries (such as Belgium , in Puigdemont's case), whereas nine other cabinet members, including vice-president Oriol Junqueras , were sentenced to prison under various charges of rebellion, sedition, and misuse of public funds. Quim Torra became

3588-572: A unifying administration across Spain, enacting the Nueva Planta decrees which, like in the other realms of the Crown of Aragon, suppressed Catalan institutions and legislation. As a consequence, Catalan as a language of government and literature was eclipsed by Spanish. In the 19th century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic and Carlist Wars . In the second third of the century, it experienced industrialisation. As wealth from

3744-417: Is estimated to be around 200,000. Catalonia Catalonia ( / ˌ k æ t ə ˈ l oʊ n i ə / ; Catalan : Catalunya [kətəˈluɲə] ; Spanish : Cataluña [kataˈluɲa] ; Occitan : Catalonha [kataˈluɲa] ) is an autonomous community of Spain , designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy . Most of its territory (except

3900-773: Is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic . The oldest known trace of human occupation is a mandible found in Banyoles , described by some sources as pre- Neanderthal , that is, some 200,000 years old; other sources suggest it to be only about one third that old. From the next prehistoric era, the Epipalaeolithic or Mesolithic , important remains survive, the greater part dated between 8000 and 5000   BC, such as those of Sant Gregori ( Falset ) and el Filador ( Margalef de Montsant). The most important sites from these eras, all excavated in

4056-933: The 131st President of the Government of Catalonia on 17 May 2018, after the Spanish courts blocked three other candidates. In 2018, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) on behalf of Catalonia. On 14 October 2019, the Spanish Supreme court sentenced several Catalan political leaders , involved in organizing a referendum on Catalonia's independence from Spain, and convicted them on charges ranging from sedition to misuse of public funds , with sentences ranging from 9 to 13 years in prison. This decision sparked demonstrations around Catalonia. They were later pardoned by

4212-628: The 1929 International Exposition . After the fall of the dictatorship and a brief proclamation of the Catalan Republic , during the events of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic (14–17   April   1931), Catalonia received, in 1932, its first Statute of Autonomy from the Spanish Republic's Parliament, granting it a considerable degree of self-government, establishing an autonomous body,

4368-642: The Black Death pandemic and by later outbreaks of the plague . Between 1347 and 1497 Catalonia lost 37   percent of its population. In 1410, the last reigning monarch of the House of Barcelona, King Martin I died without surviving descendants. Under the Compromise of Caspe (1412), the representatives of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia appointed Ferdinand from

4524-646: The Catalan constitutions , which established a compilation of rights for the inhabitants of the Principality. In order to collect general taxes, the Catalan Courts of 1359 established a permanent representative body, known as the "Deputation of the General" or Generalitat , which gained considerable political power over the next centuries. The domains of the Aragonese Crown were severely affected by

4680-724: The Duchies of Athens and Neopatras , were incorporated into the dynastic domains of the House of Aragon . The expansion was accompanied by a great development of the Catalan trade, creating an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean which competed with those of the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice . At the same time, the Principality of Catalonia developed a complex institutional and political system based in

4836-625: The European Union . Modern-day Catalonia comprises most of the medieval and early modern Principality of Catalonia (with the remainder northern area now part of France's Pyrénées-Orientales ). It is bordered by France ( Occitanie ) and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. In addition to about 580 km of coastline, Catalonia also has major high landforms such as

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4992-565: The Goths "), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, known as Gothia , whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Cathalaunia > Catalonia theoretically derived. During the Middle Ages , Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the local medley of Goths with Alans , initially constituting

5148-699: The Gulf of Roses , in Emporion ( Empúries ) and Roses in the 8th century BC . The Carthaginians briefly ruled the territory in the course of the Second Punic War and traded with the surrounding Iberian population . After the Carthaginian defeat by the Roman Republic , the north-east of Iberia became the first to come under Roman rule and became part of Hispania , the westernmost part of

5304-520: The Kingdom of Aragon and to marry his daughter Petronila , establishing the dynastic union of the County of Barcelona with Aragon, creating a composite monarchy later known as the Crown of Aragon and making the Catalan counties that were vassalized or merged with the County of Barcelona into a principality of the Aragonese Crown. During the reign of his son Alphons , in 1173, Catalonia was regarded as

5460-401: The Kingdom of Aragon were united by marriage, resulting in a composite monarchy known as the Crown of Aragon . Within the Crown, the Catalan counties merged in to a polity, the Principality of Catalonia , developing its own institutional system, such as Catalan Courts , Generalitat and constitutions , becoming the base and promoter for the Crown's Mediterranean trade and expansionism. In

5616-777: The Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees , the Transversal Range (Serralada Transversal) or the Central Depression. The official languages are Catalan , Spanish and the Aranese dialect of Occitan . In the late 8th century, various counties across the eastern Pyrenees were established by the Frankish kingdom as a defensive barrier against Muslim invasions. In the 10th century, the County of Barcelona became progressively independent. In 1137, Barcelona and

5772-682: The Reapers' War (1640–1652), which saw Catalonia rebel (briefly as a republic led by the president of the Generalitat, Pau Claris ) with French help against the Spanish Crown for overstepping Catalonia's rights during the Thirty Years' War . Within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia. Most of Catalonia was reconquered by the Spanish monarchy but Catalan rights were mostly recognised. Roussillon and half of Cerdanya

5928-577: The Roman Empire . Tarraco (modern Tarragona ) was one of the most important Roman cities in Hispania and the capital of the province of Tarraconensis . Other important cities of the Roman period are Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Gerunda (Girona) as well as the ports of Empuriæ (former Emporion) and Barcino ( Barcelona ). As for the rest of Hispania, Latin law was granted to all cities under

6084-420: The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC-PSOE), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), and the socialist Pasqual Maragall was appointed president. The new government redacted a new version of the Statute of Autonomy , with the aim of consolidate and expand certain aspects of self-government. The new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved after a referendum in 2006,

6240-446: The Spanish colonisation of the Americas , but, in time, also carried the main burden of military expenses of the united Spanish kingdoms. After Isabella's death, Ferdinand II personally ruled both crowns. By virtue of descent from his maternal grandparents, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, in 1516 Charles I of Spain became the first king to rule the Crowns of Castile and Aragon simultaneously by his own right. Following

6396-431: The Treaty of Utrecht . Philip felt that he had been betrayed by the Catalan Courts, as it had initially sworn its loyalty to him when he had presided over it in 1701. In retaliation for the betrayal, and inspired by the French model, the first Bourbon king enacted the Nueva Planta decrees of 1707, 1715 and 1716, incorporating the realms of the Crown of Aragon, including the Principality of Catalonia in 1716, as provinces of

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6552-403: The Urnfield Culture , whose successive waves of migration began around 1200   BC, and they were responsible for the creation of the first proto-urban settlements. Around the middle of the 7th century   BC, the Iron Age arrived in Catalonia. In pre-Roman times, the area that is now called Catalonia in the north-east of Iberian Peninsula – like the rest of the Mediterranean side of

6708-401: The Val d'Aran ) is situated on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula , to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight vegueries (regions), which are in turn divided into 42 comarques . The capital and largest city, Barcelona , is the second-most populous municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in

6864-450: The Visigothic Kingdom for almost two and a half centuries. In 718, it came under Muslim control and became part of Al-Andalus , a province of the Umayyad Caliphate . From the conquest of Roussillon in 760, to the conquest of Barcelona in 801, the Frankish empire took control of the area between Septimania and the Llobregat river from the Muslims and created heavily militarised, self-governing counties . These counties formed part of

7020-409: The 15,000 women working in food services and public transport in the two main cities of Madrid and Barcelona. Even at the battlefront, women mainly filled auxiliary roles. In reaction to this, Mujeres Libres organised support for the inclusion and training of women soldiers (such as Mika Feldman de Etchebéhère ), setting up shooting ranges and target practice classes and promoting their stories through

7176-417: The 1930s, Miguel Giménez Igualada edited the individualist anarchist magazine Nosotros , in which many works of Han Ryner and Émile Armand appeared, and also participated in the publishing of another individualist anarchist magazine Al Margen: Publicación quincenal individualista . In his youth he engaged in illegalist activities. Igualada's thought was deeply influenced by Stirner, of which he

7332-406: The 1960s was the second-fastest growing economy in the world in what became known as the Spanish miracle . During this period there was a spectacular growth of industry and tourism in Catalonia that drew large numbers of workers to the region from across Spain and made the area around Barcelona one of Europe's largest industrial metropolitan areas. After Franco's death in 1975, Catalonia voted for

7488-409: The 19th   century, Catalonia became an important industrial center, particularly focused on textiles . This process was a consequence of the conditions of proto-industrialisation of textile production in the prior two centuries, growing capital from wine and brandy export, and was later boosted by the government support for domestic manufacturing. In 1832, the Bonaplata Factory in Barcelona became

7644-414: The 19th century and the early 20th century, founding the CNT trade union in 1910 and achieving one of the first eight-hour workdays in Europe in 1919. Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week (Catalan: Setmana Tràgica ) in Barcelona in 1909. Under the hegemony of the Regionalist League , Catalonia gained a degree of administrative unity for the first time in

7800-510: The 20th century, this violence began to fade, and the movement gained speed with the rise of anarcho-syndicalism and the creation of the huge libertarian trade union , the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). General strikes became common, and large portions of the Spanish working class adopted anarchist ideas. There also emerged a small individualist anarchist movement based on publications such as Iniciales and La Revista Blanca . The Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI)

7956-400: The 3rd   century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th   century. Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of Vandals , Suebi and Alans in the 5th   century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some deurbanization . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the area was conquered by the Visigoths and was ruled as part of

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8112-424: The Castilian House of Trastámara as King of the Crown of Aragon. During the reign of his son, John II , the persistent economic crisis and social and political tensions in the Principality led to the Catalan Civil War (1462–1472) and the War of the Remences (1462–1486) that left Catalonia exhausted. The Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe (1486) liberated the remença peasants from the feudal evil customs . In

8268-421: The Catalan government on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds, while several others—including then-President Carles Puigdemont —fled to other European countries. Those in prison were pardoned by the Spanish government in 2021. The name "Catalonia" ( Medieval Latin : Cathalaunia ), spelled Cathalonia , began to be used for the homeland of the Catalans ( Cathalanenses ) in the late 11th century and

8424-470: The Column in spirit and tactical ability; they were eventually incorporated, by decree, into the regular army. Over a quarter of the population of Barcelona attended Durruti's funeral. It is still uncertain how Durruti died; modern historians tend to agree that it was an accident, perhaps a malfunction with his own gun or a result of friendly fire, but widespread rumors at the time claimed treachery by his men; anarchists tended to claim that he died heroically and

8580-433: The Crown of Aragon, rose up in support of the Austrian Habsburg pretender Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor , in his claim for the Spanish throne as Charles III of Spain. The fight between the houses of Bourbon and Habsburg for the Spanish Crown split Spain and Europe. The fall of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 to the Bourbon king Philip V militarily ended the Habsburg claim to the Spanish Crown, which became legal fact in

8736-412: The Crown of Castile, terminating their status as separate states along with their parliaments, institutions and public and administrative laws , as well as their pactist politics, within a French-style centralized and absolutist kingdom of Spain. In the second half of the 17th century and the 18th century (excluding the parentesis of the Succession War and the post-war inestability) Catalonia carried out

8892-448: The FRE gave rise to Solidaridad Obrera in 1907, the immediate antecedent of the [CNT]." An uprising took place in December 1933. Aside from a prison break in Barcelona, no gains were made by revolutionaries before the police quelled the revolt in Catalonia and most of the rest of the country. Zaragoza saw ephemeral insurrection in the form of street fighting and the occupation of certain buildings. Spanish individualist anarchism

9048-433: The Generalitat of Catalonia, which included a parliament , an executive and a court of cassation . The left-wing pro-independence leader Francesc Macià was appointed its first president. Under the Statute, Catalan became an official language. The governments of the Republican Generalitat , led by the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) leaders Francesc Macià (1931–1933) and Lluís Companys (1933–1940), sought to implement

9204-406: The International's Basel Congress as a delegate for the Spanish sections, where he joined Bakunin's " International Alliance of Socialist Democracy ". Anarchism had soon taken root throughout Spain, in villages and in cities , and in scores of autonomous organizations. Many of the rural pueblos were already anarchic in structure prior to the spread of "anarchist" ideas. In February 1870,

9360-434: The Madrid chapter of the International had gained roughly 2,000 members. Fanelli then returned to Barcelona where he held another meeting, attracting a number of more radical students such as Rafael Farga i Pellicer to the idea of anarchism, which subsequently gained a much larger following in Barcelona, already a bastion of proletarian rebellion, Luddism , and trade unionism . In May 1869, Farga i Pellicer spearheaded

9516-430: The Madrid section of the IWA published in La Solidaridad a call for all Spanish sections to convene a national workers' congress, which was eventually decided would be held in Barcelona. On June 18, 1870, the First Spanish Workers' Congress convened at the Teatro Circo Barcelonés , where delegates from 150 workers' associations met, along with thousands of common workers observing ("occupying every seat, filling

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9672-479: The Madrid section of the IWA. Fanelli explained his decision to leave Spain was so that the anarchists there could develop themselves and their groups "by their own efforts, with their own values," in order to maintain spontaneity , plurality and individuality within the workers' movement . The anarchists of the Madrid section subsequently began to spread their ideas by holding meetings, giving speeches, and publishing their newspaper La Solidaridad . By 1870,

9828-448: The Modern era. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces were authorized to create a commonwealth (Catalan: Mancomunitat de Catalunya ), lacking any legislative power or specific political autonomy, which carried out an ambitious program of modernization, but it was disbanded in 1925 by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923–1930). During the final stage of the Dictatorship, with Spain beginning to suffer an economic crisis, Barcelona hosted

9984-428: The Spanish Republic fell to Franco's Nationalist forces, and the resultant Francoist dictatorship suppressed the anarchist movement. Nevertheless, participation in the movement had an effect on its members. Historian Martha Ackelsberg noted that their experiences of "energy, enthusiasm, and sense of personal and collective empowerment" had a "dramatic and long-lasting impact" on women who had been members, even half

10140-401: The Spanish government and left prison in June 2021. In the early-to-mid 2020s support for independence declined. The climate of Catalonia is diverse. The populated areas lying by the coast in Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona provinces feature a Hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ). The inland part (including the Lleida province and the inner part of Barcelona province) show

10296-412: The Spanish individualist anarchist press was widely read by members of anarcho-communist groups and by members of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union CNT. There were also the cases of prominent individualist anarchists such as Federico Urales and Miguel Giménez Igualada who were members of the CNT and J. Elizalde who was a founding member and first secretary of the Iberian Anarchist Federation . In

10452-424: The Spanish individualist press. Armand's concept of amorous camaraderie had an important role in motivating polyamory as realization of the individual. Historian Xavier Diez wrote on the subject in El anarquismo individualista en España: 1923-1938 . Utopia sexual a la prensa anarquista de Catalunya. La revista Ética-Iniciales (1927–1937) deals with free love thought in Iniciales . Diez reports that

10608-453: The adoption of a democratic Spanish Constitution in 1978, in which Catalonia recovered political and cultural autonomy, restoring the Generalitat (exiled since the end of the Civil War in 1939) in 1977 and adopting a new Statute of Autonomy in 1979, which defined Catalonia as a "nationality". The first elections to the Parliament of Catalonia under this Statute gave the Catalan presidency to Jordi Pujol , leader of Convergència i Unió (CiU),

10764-413: The anarchist movement. During the Civil War, within the Republic, ideological tensions between various factions were extremely prominent. As anarchists made strides towards revolution in the Spanish Revolution of 1936 , Communist groups such as the PCE and PSUC moved to suppress the movement, arguing that defeating Franco was more immediately important than revolution. As this ideological tension grew,

10920-425: The anarchist movement. The Grupo Cultural Feminino or 'Feminine Culture Group' was thus formed, growing into a Catalan regional organisation entirely independently of Mujeres Libres. When the two groups discovered each other in late 1936, the latter decided to affiliate itself with the Madrid group, and renamed itself Agrupación Mujeres Libres . As time went on, numerous other Mujeres Libres branches formed across

11076-472: The anarchist revolution. Even for the most egalitarian-minded men, it has been commented that "the anarchist utopia stopped at the front door". Sara Berenguer and Pepita Carpeña , who later became members of Mujeres Libres, reported witnessing sexism in FIJL youth groups, which were notable hotbeds of such behaviour. Other anarchist women, notably Lucía Sánchez Saornil and Mercedes Comaposada, had similar experiences with sexism. Following their realisation of

11232-416: The anarchists in its fundamental operations. One exception was Durruti..." ( Memorias de Dolores Ibarruri , p. 382). The column began with 3,000 troops, but at its peak was made up of about 8,000 men. They had a difficult time getting arms from a fearful Republican government, so Durruti and his men compensated by seizing unused arms from government stockpiles. Durruti's death on November 20, 1936, weakened

11388-594: The anarchists, who advocated for abstentionism and direct action , and the "politicians", during which congress took a line of compromise regarding electoralism: allowing individual members to participate in elections if they wished, but also committing itself officially to abstentionism and anti-statism. Congress also adopted a "dual structure" for the FRE-AIT whereby workers would be organized into both trade unions based on their profession and local federations based on their location, which could then federate together from

11544-438: The anarcho-syndicalist movement, Mujeres Libres believed in the abolition of the state and of capitalism . Many anarchists at the time presumed that gender inequality was a product of these economic hierarchies, and that it would disappear once the social revolution had been achieved. However, following their negative experiences within male-dominated anarchist groups, the anarchist women who founded Mujeres Libres began to reject

11700-476: The basic principle of " From each according to his ability, to each according to his need ." In some places, money was entirely eliminated, to be replaced with vouchers. Numerous sources attest that industrial productivity doubled almost everywhere across the country and agricultural yields being "30–50%" larger, demonstrated by Emma Goldman, Augustin Souchy , Chris Ealham , Eddie Conlon, Daniel Guerin and others. Of

11856-582: The bottom-up, laying an anti-bureaucratic and decentralist foundation for syndicalism in Spain. During the Cantonal rebellion , several independent cantons rose against the First Spanish Republic . Anarchism had a considerable influence in this series of insurrections especially in the Canton of Cartagena , which was the only canton to last more than a few days. The anarchist idea

12012-527: The century onwards, the Renaixença , among both the working class and the bourgeoisie. Right after the fall of the First Spanish Republic (1873–1874) and the subsequent restoration of the Bourbon dynasty (1874), Catalan nationalism began to be organized politically under the leadership of the republican federalist Valentí Almirall . The anarchist movement had been active throughout the last quarter of

12168-479: The civil war, and between 600 and 800 women were attending classes every day at one school in Barcelona. Following Proudhon's patriarchal views, some anarchist opponents of the movement towards women's rights in Spain argued that a woman's proper role was to be a mother and to offer support to their activist husbands in the home, rather than to participate directly in the movement themselves. For instance, anarchist woman Matilde Piller wrote in 1934 that "one cannot be

12324-465: The clear dominance of anarchism within the Congress, there also existed three other main tendencies: the " associatarians " that were interested in the cultivation of cooperatives , the " politicians " that wanted to mobilize workers to participate in elections, and the "pure-and-simple" trade unionists that were focused on immediate workplace struggles. There was a particularly sharp conflict between

12480-618: The command of Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini . After the proclamation of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861, Fanelli was elected to the Italian Parliament as part of Mazzini's far-left coalition , before meeting Bakunin and becoming an anarchist. Following the Glorious Revolution and the beginning of the Sexenio Democrático in 1868, the new Provisional Government declared

12636-541: The competition between the respective women's groups developed a new dimension, with Mujeres Libres particularly competing for membership with the PCE-led Association of Antifascist Women  [ es ] (in Spanish, Asociación de Mujeres Antifascistas , AMA). In the name of anti-fascist unity, the AMA called for the unification of women's groups into one organisation dedicated to mobilising women for

12792-466: The concept of a pact between the estates of the realm and the king. The legislation of Catalonia had to be passed the Catalan Courts ( Corts Catalanes ), one of the first parliamentary bodies of Europe that, since 1283, obtained the power to legislate with the monarch. The Courts were composed of the three Estates organized into "arms" ( braços ), were presided over by the monarch, and approved

12948-511: The country, encouraging women to become anarchist and participate in both Mujeres Libres and the CNT. Mujeres Libres also produced their women-run magazine, alongside various pamphlets and other publications, to keep its members informed. The magazine addressed working class women and focused on "awakening the female conscience toward libertarian ideas." Mujeres Libres often collaborated with the anarchist humanitarian organisation Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista , of which Lucía Sánchez Saornil

13104-478: The country. They remained essentially independent of each other in all but name until, in August 1937, 90 local Mujeres Libres groups formally established a national federation. As the movement grew, it reached a height of 30,000 members in the summer of 1938. From September to November 1935, Lucía Sánchez Saornil and CNT National Secretary Mariano Rodríguez Vázquez  [ es ] corresponded publicly through

13260-526: The countryside were in the hands of the Carlist faction ; the latter proposed to reestablish the institutional systems suppressed by the Nueva Planta decrees in the ancient realms of the Crown of Aragon. The consolidation of the liberal state saw a new provincial division of Spain, including Catalonia, which was divided into four provinces (Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona). In the second third of

13416-630: The de facto power of the armed popular militias. Violent confrontations between the workers' parties ( CNT-FAI and POUM against the PSUC ) culminated in the defeat of the first ones in 1937. The situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat lost most of its autonomous powers within Republican Spain. In 1938 Franco's troops broke the Republican territory in two, isolating Catalonia from

13572-418: The death of his paternal ( House of Habsburg ) grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor , he was also elected Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , in 1519. Over the next few centuries, the Principality of Catalonia was generally on the losing side of a series of wars that led steadily to an increased centralization of power in Spain. Despite this fact, between the 16th and 18th centuries, the participation of

13728-602: The domestic sphere. Typically, women had the primary responsibility for raising children, restricting them in ways men did not experience. Where women were employed, they usually worked in the home, doing either domestic work or working in their own house, doing piecework in industries such as textiles . The anarchist movement was nominally committed to equality, declaring that "the two sexes will be equal, both in rights and in obligation." In practice, however, there were numerous shortcomings with respect to this goal. The unequal nature of Spanish society meant that women constituted

13884-586: The electoral victory of the left wing Popular Front in February 1936, the Government of Catalonia was pardoned and the self-government was restored. The defeat of the military rebellion against the Republican government in Barcelona placed Catalonia firmly in the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War . During the war, there were two rival powers in Catalonia: the de jure power of the Generalitat and

14040-587: The emperor of the Franks, to whom they were feudatories (801–988). The earliest known use of the name " Catalonia " for these counties dates to 1117. At the end of the 9th   century, the Count of Barcelona Wilfred the Hairy (878–897) made his titles hereditaries and thus founded the dynasty of the House of Barcelona , which reigned in Catalonia until 1410. In 988 Borrell II , Count of Barcelona, did not recognise

14196-478: The end of the 6th millennium   BC." The Chalcolithic period developed in Catalonia between 2500 and 1800   BC, with the beginning of the construction of copper objects. The Bronze Age occurred between 1800 and 700   BC. There are few remnants of this era, but there were some known settlements in the low Segre zone. The Bronze Age coincided with the arrival of the Indo-Europeans through

14352-556: The end of the golden age of classical anarchism . There were several variants of anarchism in Spain, namely expropriative anarchism in the period leading up to the conflict, the peasant anarchism in the countryside of Andalusia ; urban anarcho-syndicalism in Catalonia , particularly its capital Barcelona ; and what is sometimes called "pure" anarchism in other cities such as Zaragoza . However, these were complementary trajectories and had many ideological similarities. Early on,

14508-481: The establishment of the Barcelona section of the IWA, which began to advocate for socialism within the structures that had already been set up by the 1868 Barcelona Workers' Congress . The IWA's influence was thereby extended to a number of workers' societies and the federal republican newspaper La Federación , quickly bringing thousands of workers under the anarchist banner. Farga i Pellicer even went on to participate in

14664-506: The extent of sexism within the CNT in 1933, the two began discussing the issue. By 1935, they had begun to form the first Mujeres Libres group in Madrid. Together with Dr Amparo Poch y Gascón, the three women are considered the 'initiators' of the Mujeres Libres movement, an effort to empower Spanish women. In 1934, a similar but separate group was founded in Barcelona by CNT members, including Soledad Estorach , in an effort to involve women in

14820-520: The first factory in the country to make use of the steam engine . The first railway on the Iberian Peninsula was built between Barcelona and Mataró in 1848. A policy to encourage company towns also saw the textile industry flourish in the countryside in the 1860s and 1870s. Although the policy of Spanish governments oscillated between free trade and protectionism, protectionist laws become more common. To this day Catalonia remains one of

14976-420: The geographical areas of Catalonia and Languedoc . As a coastal territory, Catalonia became the base of the Aragonese Crown's maritime forces, which spread the power of the Crown in the Mediterranean, turning Barcelona into a powerful and wealthy city. In the period of 1164–1410, new territories, the Kingdom of Valencia , the Kingdom of Majorca , the Kingdom of Sardinia , the Kingdom of Sicily , and, briefly,

15132-480: The hallways, and spilling out beyond the entrance". The agenda was closely guided by the anarchists around Rafael Farga i Pellicer, who opened the congress with a declaration against the state and proposed an distinctly anarchist program for the Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA ( Spanish : Federación Regional Española de la Asociación Internacional de Trabajadores , FRE-AIT). Despite

15288-535: The historiographically known as the Gothic and Hispanic Marches, a buffer zone in the south of the Frankish Empire in the former province of Septimania and in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to act as a defensive barrier for the Frankish Empire against further Muslim invasions from Al-Andalus. These counties came under the rule of the counts of Barcelona , who were Frankish vassals nominated by

15444-592: The idea that the struggle for gender equality was subordinate to the wider class struggle for economic equality. This was reflected in their statement of purpose, which argued that women should be emancipated from their "triple enslavement"—to their own ignorance, to gender inequality, and to capitalism. The reference to 'ignorance' stemmed from a belief that women had an additional 'internal' struggle to overcome—women had to respect themselves in order to gain respect from and achieve equality with men. While Mujeres Libres believed that men and women were equal, they rejected

15600-561: The industrial expansion grew, it saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers' movements appeared. The establishment of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939) granted self-governance to Catalonia , being restored the Generalitat as the autonomous government. After the Spanish Civil War , the Francoist dictatorship enacted repressive measures, abolishing Catalan self-government and banning

15756-504: The intervention of Ramon Berenguer I , count of Barcelona (1035–1076) in the negotiations with the rebel nobility resulted in the partial restoration of the comital authority under the new feudal order. To fulfill that purpose, Ramon Berenguer began the modification of the legislation in the written Usages of Barcelona , being one of the first European compilations of feudal law. In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona decided to accept King Ramiro II of Aragon 's proposal to receive

15912-462: The king of France, Louis IX , formally relinquished to any historical claim of feudal lordship he might have over the Catalan counties, except the County of Foix , despite the opposition of king James. This treaty confirmed, from French point of view, the independence of the Catalan counties established and exercised during the previous three centuries, but also meant the irremediable separation between

16068-467: The label of feminism . Instead, they typically referred to their ideology as 'humanism'. This was because they believed that gender inequality could not be solved separately from economic inequality. For example, they believed that prostitution was a form of exploitation of women that arose partially due to the desperate circumstances of poverty ; as a result, their attempts to eradicate the practice focused on creating women's shelters rather than banning

16224-485: The later Middle Ages, Catalan literature flourished in Catalonia proper and in the kingdoms of Majorca and Valencia, with such remarkable authors as the philosopher Ramon Llull , the Valencian poet Ausiàs March , and Joanot Martorell , author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch , published in 1490. Ferdinand II of Aragon , the grandson of Ferdinand I, and Queen Isabella I of Castile were married in 1469, later taking

16380-471: The later Middle Ages, Catalan literature flourished. In 1469, the monarchs of the crowns of Aragon and Castile were married and ruled their realms together, retaining all of their distinct institutions and legislation. During the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), the Principality of Catalonia revolted (1640–1652) against a burdensome presence of the royal army, being briefly established as

16536-550: The magazine. Mujeres Libres also supported the war effort by setting up a school to train nurses, and creating an emergency medical clinic to support those who were injured in the war. One of the initiators, Dr Amparo Poch y Gascón, was a doctor herself, and used her expertise to teach advanced first aid and trained women as midwives. In Barcelona, they ran a lying-in hospital, which provided birth and post-natal care for mothers, and offered education for all women regarding child and maternal health, sexuality, and eugenics, even running

16692-548: The most economically dynamic communities in Spain. In the 2010s, there was growing support for Catalan independence . On 27 October 2017, the Catalan Parliament unilaterally declared independence following a referendum that was deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish state. The Spanish Senate voted in favour of enforcing direct rule by removing the Catalan government and calling a snap regional election . The Spanish Supreme Court imprisoned seven former ministers of

16848-399: The most industrialised areas of Spain. In the same period, Barcelona was the focus of industrial conflict and revolutionary uprisings known as "bullangues". In Catalonia, a republican current began to develop among the progressives, attrackting many Catalans who favored the federalisation of Spain. Meanwhile, the Catalan language saw a Romantic cultural renaissance from the second third of

17004-671: The movement) were seen as calling into question the capability of existing organisations. Mujeres Libres formed to address what they argued was the failure of the existing organisations to address the specific and unique situation of women. As continued autonomy would imply that the anarchist movement remained incapable of solving the issue, the accusation of separatism was commonly levied at Mujeres Libres—despite their constant affirmation that they sought no such end, and their belief that women's emancipation and anarchist revolution were intrinsically linked. Relations between Mujeres Libres and other women's groups were often tense. One reason for this

17160-487: The movement. As the anarchist organisations were strong advocates of decentralization , policies on cooperation with Mujeres Libres varied between the local, regional, and national levels. Local groups tended to be more amenable towards collaboration, enabling Mujeres Libres to undertake many of its projects jointly with local unions. In contrast, at the regional and national levels, they found much more resistance. While they were granted funding to continue their operation, it

17316-578: The new French king Hugh Capet as his king, evidencing the loss of dependency from Frankish rule and confirming his successors (from Ramon Borrell I onwards) as independent of the Capetian crown whom they regarded as usurpers of the Carolingian Frankish realm. At the beginning of eleventh century the Catalan counties experienced an important process of feudalisation, however, the efforts of church's sponsored Peace and Truce Assemblies and

17472-416: The next period, publishing in Catalan continued throughout his rule. The years after the war were extremely hard. Catalonia, like many other parts of Spain, had been devastated by the war. Recovery from the war damage was slow and made more difficult by the international trade embargo and the autarkic politics of Franco's regime. By the late 1950s, the region had recovered its pre-war economic levels and in

17628-468: The official use of the Catalan language. After a period of autarky , from the late 1950s through to the 1970s Catalonia saw rapid economic growth , drawing many workers from across Spain, making Barcelona one of Europe's largest industrial metropolitan areas and turning Catalonia into a major tourist destination. During the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), the Generalitat was reestablished and Catalonia regained self-government , remaining one of

17784-475: The other branches. Founded in the Second Spanish Republic , the group followed the anarchists in supporting the Republican faction when the Spanish Civil War began. Upon victory by the opposing Nationalist forces in 1939, Mujeres Libres collapsed, and the anarchist movement as a whole was outlawed. Women in Spain in the years before 1936 were markedly unequal to men. In employment , they dealt with poor working conditions, ranging from unhygienic workplaces to

17940-408: The pages of the anarchist newspaper Solidaridad Obrera regarding the position of women within the anarchist movement. Rodríguez Vázquez was generally sympathetic towards the position of women, recognising that many men held a position of power over their partners at home, and even offering that Solidaridad Obrera dedicate one page each week to women. However, Sánchez Saornil was sharply critical of

18096-541: The peninsula – was populated by the Iberians . The Iberians of this area – the Ilergetes , Indigetes and Lacetani (Cerretains) – also maintained relations with the peoples of the Mediterranean. Some urban agglomerations became relevant, including Ilerda ( Lleida ) inland, Hibera (perhaps Amposta or Tortosa ) or Indika ( Ullastret ). Coastal trading colonies were established by the ancient Greeks , who settled around

18252-410: The political community in the local and the general Catalan government grew (thus consolidating its constitutional system), while the kings remained absent, represented by a viceroy . Tensions between Catalan institutions and the monarchy began to arise. The large and burdensome presence of the Spanish royal army in the Principality due to the Franco-Spanish War led to an uprising of peasants, provoking

18408-476: The practice. Compared to other leftist women's organizations in Spain at the time, Mujeres Libres was unique in that it insisted on remaining autonomous from its sister organisations, the male-dominated CNT, FAI, and FIJL. They did so in order to fully address women's issues, arguing that autonomy and separation would allow them to act independently towards organising and empowering women (goals which they saw other anarchist groups as having neglected). It insisted it

18564-441: The primary carers of children, this service allowed women to more freely participate in the workforce and union activities. Therefore, their efforts to improve the health and education of children also supported both the war effort and their aims of female emancipation. Another core focus of Mujeres Libres was on education. Intent on dealing with illiteracy, they set up a school to teach working-class women to read and transition into

18720-478: The publication of books on those subjects or simply discussion of them in open meetings, was banned. Franco's regime banned the use of Catalan in government-run institutions and during public events, and the Catalan institutions of self-government were abolished. The pro-Republic of Spain president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys , was taken to Spain from his exile in the German-occupied France and

18876-554: The region of Moianès , are the Balma del Gai (Epipaleolithic) and the Balma de l'Espluga (late Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic). The Neolithic era began in Catalonia around 5000   BC, although the population was slower to develop fixed settlements than in other places, thanks to the abundance of woods, which allowed the continuation of a fundamentally hunter-gatherer culture. An example of such settlements would be La Draga at Banyoles, an "early Neolithic village which dates from

19032-694: The reign of Vespasian (69–79   AD), while Roman citizenship was granted to all free men of the empire by the Edict of Caracalla in 212   AD (Tarraco, the capital, was already a colony of Roman law since 45   BC). It was a rich agricultural province (olive oil, wine, wheat ), and the first centuries of the Empire saw the construction of roads (the most important being the Via Augusta , parallel to Mediterranean coastline) and infrastructure like aqueducts . Conversion to Christianity , attested in

19188-715: The rest of the Republican territory. The defeat of the Republican army in the Battle of the Ebro led in 1938 and 1939 to the occupation of Catalonia by Franco's forces. The defeat of the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War brought to power the dictatorship of Francisco Franco , whose first ten-year rule was particularly violent, autocratic, and repressive both in a political, cultural, social, and economical sense. In Catalonia, any kind of public activities associated with Catalan nationalism , republicanism , anarchism , socialism , liberalism , democracy or communism , including

19344-430: The resulting industrial output, Republican military commander Vicente Rojo Lluch said "Notwithstanding lavish expenditures of money on this need, our industrial organization was not able to finish a single kind of rifle or machine gun or cannon." When Francisco Franco took power in 1939, he had tens of thousands of political dissidents executed. The total number of politically motivated killings between 1939 and 1943

19500-475: The right to freedom of association , allowing Spanish workers' societies to begin re-emerging from the secrecy that they had previously lived under. Bakunin took this as an opportunity to sponsor Fanelli on a journey to Spain in order to recruit members for the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), an international organization that aimed to unify groups working for the benefit of

19656-526: The seed of repeated territorial conflicts within the state. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic Wars . In 1808, it was occupied by French troops under general Guillaume Philibert Duhesme after he conquered Barcelona; the resistance against the occupation eventually developed into the Peninsular War . The rejection of French dominion

19812-453: The success of the anarchist movement was sporadic. Anarchists would organize a strike and ranks would swell. Usually, repression by police reduced the numbers again, but at the same time further radicalized many strikers. This cycle helped lead to an era of mutual violence at the beginning of the 20th century in which armed anarchists and pistoleros , armed men paid by company owners, were both responsible for political assassinations. In

19968-579: The title the Catholic Monarchs ; subsequently, this event was seen by historiographers as the dawn of a unified Spain. At this time, though united by marriage, the Crowns of Castile and Aragon maintained distinct territories, each keeping its own traditional institutions, parliaments, laws and currency. Castile commissioned expeditions to the Americas and benefited from the riches acquired in

20124-408: The two objectives were equally important and should be pursued in parallel. Aiming towards the empowerment of working class women, they organised activities ranging from education programs and technical classes to childcare centres and maternity care . While Mujeres Libres sought recognition as the fourth main organisation within the anarchist movement, they never formally achieved equal status to

20280-437: The victory of Franco, who had thousands of anarchists executed. Resistance to his rule never entirely died, with resilient militants participating in acts of sabotage and other direct action after the war, and making several attempts on the ruler's life. Their legacy remains important to this day, particularly to anarchists who look at their achievements as a historical precedent of anarchism's validity. The closest thing to

20436-425: The visibility of anarchist women and bolstered their cause, particularly by providing a space to discuss strategies for combating sexism on both individual and collective levels. The organization produced propaganda through radio, travelling libraries, and propaganda tours, in order to promote their cause. Organizers and activists travelled through rural parts of Spain to set up rural collectives and support women in

20592-518: The war effort. Dolores Ibárruri , a prominent female Communist figure and leader of the AMA, contested that women should be organised and encouraged into the workforce, but focused on the war effort rather than women's emancipation. Mujeres Libres rejected this call, not only due to their ideological opposition to the PCE, but also because they viewed wartime contribution as only one part of a broader programme of women's emancipation. In this way, Mujeres Libres

20748-449: The way in which anarchist women were encouraged into the movement, arguing with reference to men's sexist attitudes that "The vast majority of male comrades... have minds infected with the most typical bourgeois prejudices." Combined with her dissatisfaction with Vázquez's assertion that men were not to blame for holding onto their privilege by neglecting the cause of women, this led her to announce in one article her intention to create of

20904-584: The workforce. Their objectives with their education programmes ranged from simple literacy and elementary education to technical and professional schools, even offering training in highly specialised topics such as advanced viticulture. They also encouraged 'social formation' through education, teaching women methods of union organisation, sociology, economics, and cultural studies. This was supported by general courses in other areas that Mujeres Libres focused on, such as nursing and childcare. Direct educational programs such as these reached thousands of women throughout

21060-548: The working class. Arriving in Barcelona on a shoestring budget, Fanelli met with and borrowed money from Élie Reclus , in order to finance his trip to Madrid , where he met with the owner of the federal republican newspaper La Igualdad and was put in touch with a group of radical workers. Fanelli spoke in French and Italian, so those present could only understand bits of what he was saying, except for one man, Tomás González Morago , who knew French. Nevertheless, Fanelli

21216-411: The world towards horizons pregnant with light on paths afire onward, onward toward the light. The chief aims of Mujeres Libres were the incorporation of more women into the anarchist movement, and the empowerment of women within it. To this end, the groups' first actions were the creation of networks of women through the creation of women-only social groups. The existence of these groups increased

21372-471: Was Ramón de la Sagra , who founded the world's first anarchist journal El Porvenir , which was published for a brief time in Galicia . Mutualism subsequently gained widespread popularity throughout Spain, becoming the dominant tendency within the Spanish federal republican movement by the 1860s. It was around this time that the revolutionary socialist ideas of Mikhail Bakunin , based in collectivism ,

21528-475: Was a temporary adjustment, and that once Franco was defeated, they would continue in their libertarian ways. There was also concern with the growing power of authoritarian communists within the government. Montseny later explained: "At that time we only saw the reality of the situation created for us: the communists in the government and ourselves outside, the manifold possibilities, and all our achievements endangered." The anarchist-held areas were run according to

21684-444: Was able to convey his libertarian and anti-capitalist ideas to the audience. Anselmo Lorenzo gave an account of his oratory: "His voice had a metallic tone and was susceptible to all the inflexions appropriate to what he was saying, passing rapidly from accents of anger and menace against tyrants and exploiters to take on those of suffering, regret and consolation...we could understand his expressive mimicry and follow his speech." As

21840-905: Was an integral part of the libertarian movement, but it still chose not to request voting delegates at meetings of the three other organisations. It did so to preserve its autonomy—Mujeres Libres wished to participate in the movement, but it did not wish be bound by its resolutions and thus lose independence. The Mujeres Libres Anthem, written by Lucía Sánchez Saornil in 1937, reads as follows: Puño en alto mujeres de Iberia hacia horizontes preñados de luz por rutas ardientes, los pies en la tierra la frente en lo azul. Afirmando promesas de vida desafiemos la tradición modelemos la arcilla caliente de un mundo que nace del dolor. ¡Qué el pasado se hunda en la nada! ¡qué nos importa el ayer! Queremos escribir de nuevo la palabra MUJER. Puño en alto mujeres del mundo hacia horizontes preñados de luz, por rutas ardientes, adelante, adelante, de cara

21996-419: Was annexed to France and organized as four departments . The French troops evacuated Catalan territory at the end of 1814. After the Bourbon restoration in Spain and the death of the absolutist king Ferdinand VII (1833), Carlist Wars erupted against the newly established liberal state of Isabella II . Catalonia was divided, with the coastal and most industrialized areas supporting liberalism, while most of

22152-478: Was carried out. Today, Catalonia remains one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain. The Catalan capital and largest city, Barcelona, is a major international cultural centre and a major tourist destination. In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympic Games . In November 2003, elections to the Parliament of Catalonia gave the government to a left-wing Catalanist coalition formed by

22308-475: Was contested by important sectors of the Spanish society, especially by the conservative People's Party , which sent the law to the Constitutional Court of Spain . In 2010, the Court declared non-valid some of the articles that established an autonomous Catalan system of Justice, improved aspects of the financing, a new territorial division, the status of Catalan language or the symbolical declaration of Catalonia as

22464-498: Was created as a purely anarchist association, with the intention of keeping the CNT focused on the principles of anarchism. Anarchists played a central role in the fight against Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. At the same time, a far-reaching social revolution spread throughout Spain, where land and factories were collectivized and controlled by the workers. All remaining social reforms ended in 1939 with

22620-492: Was general secretary. They provided assistance to refugees and wounded soldiers during the Civil War. One of the core areas in which Mujeres Libres sought to empower women was in the workplace. Viewing women's participation in economic activity as a core part of their emancipation, they formed 'labour sections' to help to encourage women into work. This objective was bolstered by the fact that many working men had become soldiers, and so unions were more comfortable to employ women as

22776-878: Was influenced by American individualist anarchism but it was mainly connected to the French currents . At the start of the 20th century people such as Dorado Montero, Ricardo Mella , Federico Urales , Mariano Gallardo and J. Elizalde translated French and American individualists. Important in this respect were also magazines such as La Idea Libre , La Revista Blanca , Etica , Iniciales , Al margen , Estudios , and Nosotros . The most influential thinkers there were Max Stirner , Émile Armand and Han Ryner . Just as in France, Esperanto , anationalism , anarcho-naturism and free love were present as philosophies and practices within Spanish individualist anarchist circles. Later Armand and Ryner started publishing in

22932-496: Was institutionalized with the creation of "juntas" (councils) who, remaining loyal to the Bourbons, exercised the sovereignty and representation of the territory due to the disappearance of the old institutions. Napoleon took direct control of Catalonia to reestablish order, creating the Government of Catalonia under the rule of Marshall Augereau , and making Catalan briefly an official language again. Between 1812 and 1814, Catalonia

23088-474: Was lost to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). The most significant conflict concerning the governing monarchy was the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1715), which began when the childless Charles II of Spain , the last Spanish Habsburg, died without an heir in 1700. Charles II had chosen Philip V of Spain from the French House of Bourbon . Catalonia, like other territories that formed

23244-548: Was often much less than what was requested. The FIJL even set up a Women's Bureau within its own organisation, which competed with Mujeres Libres, despite their common position that women simply did not need a separate organisation. One key reason for this hostility—and the eventual denial of equal status at the October 1938 national movement congress—was the insistence of Mujeres Libres on autonomy. Their independent goals (of empowering women, rather than just incorporating them into

23400-523: Was probably used before as a territorial reference to the group of counties that comprised part of the March of Gothia and the March of Hispania under the control of the Count of Barcelona and his relatives. The origin of the name Catalunya is subject to diverse interpretations because of a lack of evidence. One theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the name Gothia (or Gauthia ) Launia ("Land of

23556-450: Was propagated by many periodicals like El Socialismo started by Fermín Salvochea . Salvochea is considered one of the earliest pioneers in the propagation and organization along anarchist lines. The anarchist movement lacked a stable national organization in its early years. Anarchist Juan Gómez Casas discusses the evolution of anarchist organization before the creation of the CNT: "After

23712-465: Was shot by a fascist sniper. Given the widespread repression against Anarchists by the Soviets, which included torture and summary executions , it is also possible that it was a USSR plot. During the Spanish Civil War, many anarchists outside of Spain criticized the CNT leadership for entering into government and compromising with communist elements on the Republican side. Those in Spain felt that this

23868-498: Was the main popularizer in Spain through his writings. The most effective anarchist unit in the Civil War was the Durruti Column , led by militant Buenaventura Durruti. It was the only anarchist unit which managed to gain respect from otherwise fiercely hostile political opponents. In a section of her memoirs which otherwise lambastes the anarchists, Dolores Ibárruri states: "The war developed with minimal participation from

24024-453: Was their rejection of feminism, due to their belief that women's activism should only take place alongside anarchist organising. This belief was of particularly great significance due to the political nature of many women's organisations. Several other political parties had set up women's organisations, particularly socialist and communist groups; even the fascist Falange had a Sección Femenina . Mujeres Libres effectively filled this role for

24180-468: Was tortured and executed in the Montjuïc Castle of Barcelona for the crime of 'military rebellion'. During later stages of Francoist Spain , certain folkloric and religious celebrations in Catalan resumed and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media had been forbidden but was permitted from the early 1950s in the theatre. Despite the ban during the first years and the difficulties of

24336-414: Was unique among contemporary women's organisations in that it considered women's emancipation an end in itself. Following the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, many Republican figures including Lucía Sánchez Saornil fled to France, and Mujeres Libres collapsed. The fourteenth issue of the Mujeres Libres magazine was still being printed when Barcelona fell, and no copies survived. Just two months later,

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