Spanish Labor Movement: Ideologies and Evolution

Spanish Labor Movement: Origins and Ideological Currents

The Democratic Sexenio recognized the right of assembly and association, which allowed the labor movement to emerge from hiding and form its own class organizations, expanding simultaneously. The First International (AIT, 1864) arrived in Spain with Fanelli, an anarchist leader who disseminated Bakuninist principles among Catalan workers and Andalusian peasants. These principles included:

• Removal of the state
• Collectivization of property
• Apolitical stance

The spread of Marxism (Lafargue) was delayed, and despite being the ideological majority within the AIT, it only gained significant traction in Madrid. The confrontation between these two ideological currents prevented an alliance. Internationalism peaked during the First Republic, when anarchist groups attempted to instigate revolution and the collapse of the state. The Restoration regime forced labor and peasant organizations connected to the AIT back underground until the accession to power of the liberal Sagasta (1881) inaugurated a new era of permissiveness.

Anarchism's Influence and Divisions in Spain

Anarchism in Spain divided into two main streams. On one side were the supporters of promoting mass industrial action, which, in the medium term, could result in social revolution. From this group emerged supporters who sought to accelerate the social revolution through "direct action" – activities by small groups aimed at undermining the basic tenets of bourgeois capitalist society, including the State, the Church, and the bourgeoisie (e.g., assassinations of figures like Cánovas and Martínez Campos, attacks on institutions like the Liceo).

Anarchism was accused of being behind the Black Hand, a secret association that operated in Andalusia in the late nineteenth century and to which killings and crop burnings were attributed. The government responded with repression of the anarchist movement, creating a spiral of violence: action-repression-action. This deepened the division among anarchists. The proponents of mass action rejected terrorism and, in the early twentieth century, created two anarcho-syndicalist organizations:

• Solidaridad Obrera
• CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo)

Marxism's Development and Reach in Spain

The Marxist group in Madrid, led by Pablo Iglesias, following the instructions of the AIT (from which Bakunin had been expelled), created the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) and the UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores) union, whose influence extended to Asturias and Vizcaya. Marxism was very difficult to implant in places dominated by anarcho-syndicalism, such as Catalonia, and given its working-class character, it did not extend significantly to rural areas. The UGT union was much more moderate in its demands and forms of struggle compared to anarcho-syndicalism.

Early Labor Legislation and Worker Protection

The harsh conditions of life and work for laborers and increasing union pressure led Western European states to produce the first labor legislation that protected workers from the excesses of capitalist exploitation. In Spain, the first laws were passed in the late nineteenth century, but it was not until the twentieth century that more comprehensive labor law developed.