Industrialization

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, Catalonia was the protagonist of an exceptional phenomenon in the context of the Spanish state: industrialization. This long-term, deep-rooted process had a profound effect on society, the economy and both countryside and city; and, in 1832, the opening of a factory in Barcelona to manufacture woven cotton goods on steam-driven mechanical looms marked the start of the modernization of the textile sector that would become the power house of the new industrial economy. Factories sprang up initially in Barcelona and the principal localities of the neighbouring boroughs. By the middle of the century, the availability of hydraulic power to drive the looms saw the establishing of textile colonies on river basins, especially along the Ter and Llobregat. This allowed, in turn, the closer policing of workers since these manufacturing colonies included both the factory and workers’ dwellings in the same space – and, not infrequently, the Civil Guard barracks as well.

Despite its economic power, however, the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie was bereft of any political influence in the inchoate liberal configuration that emerged in Spain after the disappearance of absolutism in 1833. As elsewhere in Europe, it was the intention of these wealth-creators to participate in decision-making as fully as the other leading classes by promoting a programme based on modernization, industrialization and protectionism. This project, conceived in and fostered by Catalonia, was aimed at the state as a whole and demanded progress for Spain. The development was uneven and halting, however, with a desire to return to the old ways rearing its head in the Carlist Wars, which occurred intermittently over the next four decades.

A further complication was, of course, the condition of popular classes and proletariat. With the advent of industrialization workers had to endure long shifts with poor pay, living in overcrowded dwellings that lacked the minimum concern for hygiene or health. They would soon militate against these conditions demanding improvement in social welfare and freedom. This experience would also be dogged by violence as a series of sporadic popular uprisings and reactionary military coups made their presence felt throughout the period.

Running parallel to the economic advance was a phenomenon which, along with industrialization, would eventually change entirely the political condition of Catalonia.