Labor movement in Spain in the context of Sexenio Democrático

⭐ Core Definition: Labor movement in Spain

The labor movement in Spain began in Catalonia in the 1830s and 1840s, although it was during the Democratic Sexenio when it was really born with the founding of the Spanish Regional Federation of the First International (FRE-AIT) at the Workers' Congress of Barcelona in 1870. During the Restoration, the two major Spanish trade union organizations were founded, the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, 1888) and the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT, 1910), with the latter predominating until the Second Spanish Republic. CNT and UGT were the protagonists of the social revolution that took place in the Republican zone during the first months of the Spanish Civil War. During Franco's dictatorship, the two historical centers were harshly repressed until they practically disappeared. In the final stage of Franco's regime, a new organization called Workers' Commissions (in Spanish: Comisiones Obreras) emerged, which together with the reconstituted UGT, will be the two majority unions from the beginning of the new democratic period until the present day.

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Labor movement in Spain in the context of Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT; lit. 'National Confederation of Labor') is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist trade union confederation.

Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union Solidaridad Obrera, it significantly expanded the role of anarchism in Spain, which can be traced to the creation of the Spanish chapter of the IWA in 1870 and its successor organization, the Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region. Despite several decades when the organization was illegal in Spain, the CNT continues to participate in the Spanish worker's movement, focusing its efforts on the principles of workers' self-management, federalism, and mutual aid.

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