Anarchism in the Catalan-speaking countries: between syndicalism and propaganda (1868-1931)

This text surveys the course of the anarchist movement in the Catalan-speaking lands from their introduction as part of the Democratic Revolution of September 1868 until the fall of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship. Anarchism was spread by workers to defend worker societarianism and had a trajectory within the ranks of federal republicanism. This characteristic gave it connotations that would remain with it forever: a relationship with republicanism and the primacy of the syndicalist over the anarchist content. It penetrated workers’ societies and ended up becoming the most powerful hub of anarcho-syndicalism in the world. In a twofold history, both highly pragmatic union sectors and more radical thinkers without a societarian tradition survived. In parallel, convinced of the value of education and knowledge, the anarchists struggled to imbue themselves with knowledge, and they developed their own culture which defined them as a group.