Spanish Labor Movement and Social Evolution (1874-1910)

The Development of the Labor Movement

During the Restoration, there was an extraordinary expansion of the Spanish labor movement in relation to industrial development. The Spanish labor movement was divided into two primary ideological trends:

Anarcho-syndicalism

Its main features are:

• Private property: It is considered the cause of social inequalities.
• Authority: Rejection of all kinds of imposed authority.
• Liberty: It is the path to revolution.
• Organization: It is organized on the basis of equality for all its members. Property is communal, and resources are shared equally among all its members.
• Politics: It is organized in small communities through assemblies.

Since 1874, the anarchists followed two tendencies: retreating to wait for more favorable political times or engaging in violent confrontation with the state. In 1881, Sagasta legalized union activity. Anarchism gained strength among Catalan industrial workers and laborers from the Andalusian countryside. Spanish anarchism was deeply divided into multiple organizations regarding effective trade union action. In 1910, the first unified Spanish anarchist organization emerged: the National Confederation of Labor (CNT).

Socialism

Its major points were:

• Private property: It is the cause of social inequalities.
• Labor: It is the path to revolution.
• The State: It must be used by the working class to impose economic, social, and political changes.
• Production: The socialist state will impose social ownership of the means of production.

Pablo Iglesias founded the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1879. In 1888, he also founded the General Workers' Union (UGT). Both the PSOE and the UGT did not renounce the revolutionary path, though their performance during the Restoration was pragmatic and prudent.

Political and Social Evolution

During this stage, the Carlist problem was finally solved, labor organizations were legalized, and the PSOE and the UGT were established. Slavery was finally abolished and, since 1890, universal male suffrage was reintroduced. Industrial development in Catalonia and the Basque Country gave rise to a nationalist bourgeoisie. With regard to the Cuban conflict, the Peace of Zanjón pacified the island, but the lack of Spanish authority in Cuba and the interest shown by the United States reopened the conflict by the end of the century.