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/Cañada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain Series editors Paul Preston and Sebastian Balfour Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, London Spain 1914–1918 Between War and Revolution Francisco J.Romero Salvadó 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 Julián 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 Cañada Blanch Centre: Spain and the Great Powers edited by Sebastián 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 http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” © 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 aún. Vamos a ver quién la conquista. The street still belongs to no-one. We’ll see who conquers it. Ramón 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 Illustrations and Tables Tables 1.1 Number of shanty houses and shanty dwellers in Barcelona, 6 17 1914–27 7.1 CNT membership figures, 1931–36 149 Figures 1.1 Repairs being made to the roof of a shanty dwelling in Poblenou, 6 circa 1930 1.2 An aerial view of the cases barates near the Can Tunis district 7 1.3 Map of Barcelona circa 1930 9 1.4 ‘Men of order’ surveying Les Rambles, circa 1920 12 1.5 Members of the Barcelona constabulary taking a cigarette break 16 in the back of a lorry, circa 1930 2.1 A fairly typical working-class family, probably of migrant origin 24 2.2 United in the workplace: workers at the ‘El Aguilar’ beer factory 26 pose for the camera 2.3 Class hierarchies in the street 27 2.4 Barcelona skyline, July 1909, as Church buildings burn across 34 the city. 2.5 Members of the community grouped around a barricade in the 35 Raval, July 1909 2.6 Revolutionary play: children with their barricade and flag, July 40 1936. Besides the clenched fists, note the youth in the centre wearing the uniform of the workers’ militia 2.7 Biology class at the l’Hospitalet Rationalist School 42 3.1 A vast crowd greeting the proclamation of the Second Republic 54 outside the Generalitat and Barcelona Council buildings, 14th April 1931. The square would soon be renamed Republic Square 3.2 Policing the city: Assault Guards patrolling l’Hospitalet, 1933 65 4.1 Thousands of strikers and CNT supporters occupy Republic 81 Square after a demonstration during the telephone workers’ strike, summer 1931 4.2 Workers in conversation outside their workplace during a labour 82 dispute during the Second Republic 4.3 An artists’ view of picket sabotage in the 1931 Telephone 88 workers’ strike 5.1 A female street trader with her wares 94 5.2 An unemployed workers’ demonstration. The banner reads 96 ‘Without Bread and Work’ 5.3 Street trade, 1936 106 6.1 Reclaiming urban space: Civil Guards and members of the 120 community observing a recently demolished barricade in l’Hospitalet, 1933 6.2 An Assault Guard protecting a tram during the 1933–34 122 Barcelona transport strike 7.1 Young anarchists on an excursion into the foothills around 136 Barcelona during the Second Republic 8.1 Workers resisting the military coup, 19–20 July 1936 152 8.2 Armed workers, July 1936, accompanied by a uniformed but 155 hatless member of the armed forces 8.3 Hotel Gastronómico no. 1, formerly the Barcelona Ritz, one of 162 the many communal eating houses established after July 1936 8.4 Workers burning property, July 1936. One of the many horses to 165 perish in the street fighting can also be seen here Acknowledgements I have incurred many debts of gratitude over the years as I prepared this book. My research has benefited from the generous financial support of the British Academy, the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies (LSE), the Departament d’Ensenyament of the Autonomous Catalan Government and the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s Dirección General de Relaciones Culturales y Científicas. The Arts and Humanities Research Board made it possible for me to enjoy a sabbatical year, during which I completed the manuscript of this book. While undertaking research for this book, I received assistance from many people in research centres and libraries. I wish to thank the staff at the Public Records Office in Kew, the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid and Salamanca, and the Biblioteca de la Caixa d’Estalvis de Barcelona in Badalona. At the Arxiu Històric de l’Hospitalet, Clara Pallarés helped me enormously. In Barcelona, I must thank the staff at the Arxiu Municipal de Sants-Montjuïc, the Centre d’Estudis d’Història Contemporania (Fundació Figueres), the Biblioteca de la Universitat de Barcelona, the Biblioteca de Catalunya and the Centre d’Estudis Històrics Internacionals (CEHI-FIES). Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the staff at the Institut Municipal de l’Història de la Ciutat in Barcelona, the Casa de l’Ardiaca, which for three years effectively became my second home. Other debts are more diffuse. As an undergraduate, Paul Heywood and, in particular, Paul Preston cultivated my early interest in Spanish history. Subsequently, Paul Preston has been a constant inspiration as a historian and an unfaltering source of enthusiasm. Over the years, numerous friends and colleagues have provided me with rich intellectual community and encouragement, particularly Manel Aisa, Alejandro Andreassi, Stuart Christie, Xavier Diez, Pete Dorey, Andrew Dowling, Andy Durgan, Graeme Garrard, Sharif Gemie, Helen Graham, Robert Lenton, Nick Parsons, Michael Richards, Nick Rider, Paco Romero, Caragh Wells and Eulàlia Vega. I am especially grateful to all those who have read and commented on earlier drafts of this manuscript. José Luis Martin Ramos, Elisenda Monleón and Gràcia Ventura helped me to find photographs, while Mark Barrett helped me to prepare them for publication. I received tremendous assistance from two anarchists.