Industrialization, Socialism, Anarchism and Nationalism in the Basque Country

Industrialization completely changed the socio-economic structure of Biscay and the Huge immigration created a new society (little relation with the Basque world) and working class (composed by miners and workers of industry). Miners had the worst living and working conditions (they required more workers, but with a specialization), living in barracks (in horrible hygienic conditions), and were forced to buy in the companies' stores (lower quality and higher prices). Workers of industry were better off (more skilled), which put pressure on the bosses. // All this caused labour movements such as || Socialism: it had a monopoly of workers (mainly composed of immigrants seeking their way to integrate into Basque society), and it easily expanded thanks to large companies that contained a huge number of workers. Facundo Perezagua (a radical socialist who made the union struggle) was the leader of this movement and later founded the PSOE with Pablo Iglesias. In the 1890s, the militant period of socialism began, leading to The Great Strike of 1890 (the first modern revolution), where miners fought for better living and working conditions (long workdays, living in barracks, and the obligation to buy in stores). The strike finished with the Loma Agreement (a clear victory for the miners): a 10-hour workday, no obligation to buy in stores, and no living in barracks. This was not respected everywhere, so strikes continued. With the success of socialism, new socialist groups appeared, along with the weekly La Lucha de Clases, and the Socialist Federation of Biscay was created. However, over time Prietism appeared (led by Indalecio Prieto), and Basque socialism became moderate. When this current became the majority, Perezagua separated from the party. Even so, they won elections (Prieto became a deputy). In 1921, the Communist Party of Spain emerged from the separation of the PSOE. || Anarchism: another major labour movement, but it did not have great strength in the Basque Country. The CNT emerged when socialism turned moderate, and it gained a bit of power. Some groups joined and created the Regional Confederation of Labour of the North (Confederación Regional del Trabajo del Norte). Socialism and Nationalism

Against the centralist organization of the Spanish state, Nationalism emerged in Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country to protect their nations, because they had different languages, cultures and traditions, and defended the Fueros (which the state wanted to abolish). Spain also had a large economic dependency on Catalonia and the Basque Country. Another major factor in the emergence of nationalism was the socio-economic changes brought by industrialization: people feared socialism and the massive arrival of immigrants, who were seen as a threat to Basque identity, culture, language, and even race. / The most influential nationalist was Arana (founder of the Basque Nationalist Party), who thought that Basques were a different race with a different language that had to regain the traditional fueros (meaning full sovereignty and a path to independence). He took many elements from Carlism (ultra-Catholic, anti-liberal, anti-industrialization) but rejected it because it was a Spanish-unionist party (he wanted to cut all links with Spain). He changed the Carlist motto (Jaungoikoa eta Foruak) to a new one (Jaungoikoa eta Lege Zarra = JEL), from which the term Jeltzale comes. He founded the Euzkaldunen Batzokija and the Bizkaia Buru Batzar as well. / With Ramón de la Sota, another trend appeared in Basque nationalism: Euskalerriacos (a new wealthy bourgeoisie linked to industrialization), who were in favour of autonomy (not independence), and who wanted to rebuild Spain from the Basque Country. When the Euskalerriacos joined the party, tension between the two ideas began. However, as their claims for autonomy gave them victory in elections, they continued that current and became moderate. Arana split from the party.