Solidaridad Obrera was a labor federation in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It was initially formed on August 3, 1907, as a "pure syndicalist" federation, incorporating the structures of the Unió Local de Societats Obreres de Barcelona ("Local Union of Workers' Societies of Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

") with the purpose of reorganizing the Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

n trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s. These unions were quite weak at the time, due to the failure of a 1902 general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

 which had sought the eight-hour day

Eight-hour day

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...

 and the recognition of the right to strike.

There were two constituent meetings of what was initially the Federació Local de Societats Obreres de Barcelona ("Local Federation of Workers' Societies of Barcelona", June 1907), which agreed to publish a common manifesto to constitute an organizing committee, which included Antoni Fabra, Josep Prat, and Tomás Herreros.

The federation established a rule that they would only enroll organizations composed exclusively of workers. They quickly acquired an enormous force among the working class, affiliating many Catalonian workers' societies in the congress of September 6–8 , 1908, and reconstituting themselves as Catalan Regional Workers' Solidarity. That same year the newspaper Solidaritat Obrera

Solidaridad Obrera (periodical)

Solidaridad Obrera is a newspaper, published by the Catalonian/Balearic regional section of the anarchist labor union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo , and mouthpiece of the CNT in Spain....

published a manifesto rejecting the proposed Anti-Terrorism Law of the government led by Antonio Maura. Though the federation initially spurned partisanship, and alignment with either the Marxist or anarchist brand of socialism, the congress held on June 13, 1909, brought approval of the general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

, and effective takeover by the anarcho-syndicalists

Anarcho-syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...

 in the federation.

After a major general strike in Barcelona, which ended in the executions of several anarchists, the government repressed elements of the anarchist movement, these events being referred to as the "Tragic Week

Tragic Week

Tragic Week is the name used for a series of bloody confrontations between the Spanish army and the working classes of Barcelona and other cities of Catalonia , backed by anarchists, socialists and republicans, during the last week of July 1909.It was caused by the calling-up of...

" (Spanish: la Semana Trágica; Catalan: la Setmana Tràgica). The following repression of workers' movements brought Solidaridad Obrera's activities to a virtual standstill.

The reestablished confederation held its second congress in Barcelona in 31 October–1 November 1910, in which it discussed widening its ambit to all of Spain, a sensitive decision because the rival Unión General de Trabajadores

Unión General de Trabajadores

The Unión General de Trabajadores is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party .-History:...

 (UGT) already had a sound foundation in the rest of Spain, although not in Catalonia, where it constituted a minority. By a wide margin, they voted to constitute themselves as a workers confederation throughout Spain: the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...

 (CNT, "National Workers' Confederation").

Sources

• Bookchin, Murray (1998). The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years, 1868-1936 , Oakland: AK Press
  AK Press
  AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...
  
  .