A century of struggle for workers' rights

PalmThese weren't the best of times: it was the era of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. Even so, it was then that Llorenç Bisbal, a shoemaker who would later become mayor of Palma, insisted on uniting the various workers' associations of Mallorca under a common acronym: the General Union of Workers (UGT). That was in the now-defunct Casa del Pueblo (People's House) in Palma on October 4, 1925, one hundred years ago.

Throughout Spain, the General Union of Workers was founded in 1888 in Barcelona by the typographer Pablo Iglesias Posse—not to be confused with the modern-day politician of the same name. Nine years earlier, Iglesias himself had founded the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in Madrid. This circumstance meant that the two organizations, party and union, remained closely linked practically to this day, when they now operate independently—and, at times, in conflict.

Of course, before the UGT was established in the Balearic Islands, a significant labor movement already existed. The Balearic Workers' Union (UOB), founded in 1881, was a significant precursor, with nearly ten thousand members and representation in various trades, not only in Palma but also in the Balearic Islands. Even before a branch was established in the islands, there were workers' societies, such as El Desarrollo del Arte and La Igualdad, which had joined the national UGT. Another precursor was the Federation of Workers' Societies, created around 1893.

A key role in the founding of the UGT in the Balearic Islands was played by Llorenç Bisbal Barceló from Alcudia. Bisbal—as we mentioned—worked as a shoemaker, but at the same time he was one of the newspaper's regular contributors. The Balearic Worker –sometimes with a pseudonym, nothing fancy, Elebebe–, of which he became the editor, and where he even published a poem. He had already been the main leader of the Federation of Workers' Societies.

From trade unionists to councilors

Bisbal took advantage of the fact that a dozen workers' associations were gathered at the Casa del Pueblo in Palma, inaugurated in January 1924 with a donation from Joan March, to encourage them to join a common trade union center. The Casa del Pueblo hosted the preparatory meetings and, on October 4, 1925, one hundred years ago, the founding congress of what was then the UGT of Mallorca alone. It brought together twenty organizations, with a total of 2,137 members and a presence in Alaró, Binissalem, Calvià, Esporles, and Llucmajor, in addition to Palma. Bisbal was elected its first general secretary, with Rafael Rigo—another shoemaker—as president. The constitution of the new union was subject to harsh criticism from anarchists and, above all, from communists, their theoretical "companions" in the labor movement.

By 1930, the trade union center in Mallorca was already made up of 33 workers' societies, with more than three thousand members. The Menorca Workers' Federation (FOM) joined. In the Pitiusas, the UGT also managed to establish itself. Bisbal left the general secretary position, despite attempts to reinstate him, and was replaced by Jaume Bauzà. The secretary's salary was then 40 pesetas per month, while the membership fee was ten cents per quarter.

Unlike the communists and anarchists, who refused to collaborate with Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, the UGT opted for pragmatism and agreed to participate in the "joint committees" of employers and workers, which sought to resolve their conflicts "amicably." This fact did not spare them from suffering episodes of repression: UGT leaders Jaume Garcias and Ignasi Ferretjans were prosecuted for criticizing the war in Morocco. For this "collaborationism," the UGT members were criticized by both communists and anarchists.

Nowadays, when the two spheres are perhaps more clearly defined, we would find it shocking if a union ran in municipal or general elections. But this was precisely what the island UGT did, by joining the Anti-Monarchist United Front coalition in the 1931 elections, which brought about the Second Republic. The union's general secretary in the Balearic Islands, Jaume Bauzà, became president of the Provincial Council; Bisbal became mayor of Palma, and other UGT members such as Rafel Rigo, Ignasi Ferretjans, and Jaume Garcias sat alongside him in the Cort seats as councilors.

The Republic represented a much more favorable environment, and the UGT grew spectacularly, exceeding six thousand members. However, different tendencies also emerged within it: the "Caballero" (Caballerista)—led by Largo Caballero, who was more radical—and the "Prieto" (Prietista)—led by Indalecio Prieto, who was more moderate. The union also considered whether it should continue supporting a regime that, however republican it was, was still "bourgeois," or whether it should take a step further, toward a proletarian revolution.

As in all social movements of the time, women remained secondary to that early UGT movement, although some played a very prominent role. Maria Plaza, a union member since the age of twenty-one, participated in the creation of the UGT in Búger, where she had been assigned as a schoolteacher. She was purged under Franco's regime, but she didn't give up: she studied pharmacy, became a chemist at Calatrava in Palma, and continued fighting for her ideals, first under the dictatorship and then with the restored democracy, until her death in 1990. In Menorca, Sofia Sintes stood out, collaborating with Bayo's failed expedition to Mallorca.

Margalida 'Alquilado' and Can Ventosa

In Ibiza, Margalida Roig Rented She had started working at the Can Ventosa textile factory—now the municipal library—when she was just fifteen. But she had one important difference from her colleagues: her godmother, something unusual, knew how to read and write, and introduced her to the world of books. Roig joined the UGT (General Union of Workers' Unions) and on July 13, 1936, just five days before the coup d'état, led an indefinite strike at Can Ventosa, demanding better working conditions. With the victory of the coup plotters, she was subjected to extremely harsh repression: sentenced to life imprisonment and an exorbitant fine of 4,666 pesetas. She was pardoned in 1946 and died twenty years later.

The UGT (General Union of Workers' Unions) in the Canary Islands, as a whole, was a victim of the repression unleashed by the victors. Albert Comes, Joan Huguet, and Manel Santana record how Josep Bernat, Antoni Ribes, and Miquel Porcel, members of the executive committee, "were executed by fascist guerrillas." Jaume Rebassa, former secretary general, died in a concentration camp. Rafael Rigo's house was raided, and he was imprisoned until 1945. The union's assets were seized, and the Casa del Pueblo was renamed "Casa Primo de Rivera," after the founder of the Falange. Fortunately for him, Bisbal had died in 1935.

The survivors of the massacre attempted to rebuild the UGT underground in the 1940s, led by Rafael Rigo. By then, the clashes of the past were far behind them: socialists and communists collaborated to revive the union, and a merger with the anarchist National Confederation of Labor (CNT) was also considered. At Gabriel Juan's home on Pursiana Street, in the then working-class neighborhood of Santa Catalina in Palma, who would have thought so today, a meeting was held between UGT and CNT members with this objective.

Towards the end of the 1940s, with Franco's Spain becoming a useful ally of the United States within the new context of the Cold War, hopes for an imminent end to the dictatorship faded, and the UGT in the Canary Islands was dismantled. A very long night was beginning for democratic unionism.

Information prepared from texts by David Ginard, Antonio Nadal, Antonio Vidal Nicolau, Pedro Gabriel, Juan Tomás Martínez Grimalt, Albert Herranz Hammer and Juana Maria Roque Company and Albert Comas, Juan Huguet and Manel Santana.