Internationalism between revolution and fascism: the Spanish Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) in the world (1919-1936)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/hispania.2018.008Keywords:
unionism, Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), internationalism, interwar period, IFTU, ILOAbstract
The article analyses the approach to external affairs adopted by Spain’s Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) during the interwar period, within the proletarian internationalist framework. The documents consulted are from the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, the Francisco Largo Caballero Foundation and the Pablo Iglesias Foundation. A large number newspaper archives were also examined. Documents on external affairs produced by the Internationals and the Spanish Trade Union Confederation are compared methodologically. The period between 1919 and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War saw the stabilization of the international labour landscape. UGT leaders were convinced that internationalism was the best way to solve major problems. Events showed workers’ organizations to be powerless to face the major challenges arising in the Twenties and Thirties. UGT looked to internationalism to justify the reformist strategy it had adopted at home. During the Black Biennium, it contributed to the radicalization of leaders and activists. The article seeks to show that external policy was very influential on the strategic line adopted by the Union inside Spain throughout this time.
Downloads
References
Aroca Mohedano, Manuela, «Spain’s Unión General de Trabajadores in the international context (1888-1936)», Ventunesimo Secolo, 38 (Roma, 2016): 9-33.
Becker, Marc, «Indigenous Nationalities in Ecuadorian Marxist Thougt», en Carlos Aguirre (coord.), Militantes, intelectuales y revolucionarios. Estudios sobre marxismo e izquierda en América Latina, Raleigh, Contracorriente, 2013: 229-270. PMCid:PMC3954876
Cuesta Bustillo, Josefina, Una esperanza para los trabajadores. Las relaciones entre España y la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (1919-1939), Madrid, Consejo Económico y Social, 1994.
Cuesta Bustillo, Josefina, Francisco Largo Caballero: su compromiso internacional, Madrid, FFLC, 1997.
De los Ríos, Fernando, Mi viaje a la Rusia sovietista, Madrid, Fundación Fernando de los Ríos, 1994.
Elorza, Antonio, «Los Sindicatos Libres en España: teoría y programas», Revista del Trabajo, 35-36 (Madrid, 1971): 141-413. PMid:5564468
Fimmen, Edo, La Fédération Syndical Internationale. Son developpement, ses buts, Ámsterdam, Publications de la Fédération Syndical Internationale, 1922.
Gómez-Navarro, José Luis, El Régimen de Primo de Rivera. Reyes, dictaduras y dictadores, Madrid, Cátedra, 1991. PMid:1665922
Kochanski, Aleksander, «El sindicalismo latinoamericano: Materiales del archivo moscovita de la Internacional Sindical Roja», Estudios latinoamericanos, 11 (Varsovia, 1988): 249-295.
Largo Caballero, Francisco, Presente y futuro de la Unión General de Trabajadores (1888-1925), Madrid, FFLC, 1997.
Martín Nájera, Aurelio y Garrigós Fernández, Agustín (eds.), Obras completas de Largo Caballero, Barcelona, FFLC-Instituto Monsa de Ediciones, 2003.
Martín Ramos, José Luis, Entre la revolución y el reformismo, 1914-1931. Historia de la UGT, vol. 2, Madrid, Siglo XXI, 2008.
Mateos, Abdón, «El espejo imaginario. Las relaciones entre los socialistas españoles y la izquierda mexicana hasta 1982», Tzintzun. Revista de Estudios Históricos, 63 (Morelia, enero-junio 2016): 242-267.
Nin, Andreu, Las organizaciones obreras internacionales, Barcelona, Fontamara, 1978.
Pagés, Pelai, Andreu Nin: su evolución política (1911-1937), Bilbao, Zero, 1975.
Rubio, José Luis, «El oficialismo institucional: el Instituto de Cultura Hispánica», en José Luis Abellán y Antonio Monclús (coords.), El pensamiento español contemporáneo y la idea de América, Barcelona, Anthropos, 1989: 117-207.
Schevenels, Walter, Quarante cinq années. Fédération Syndicale Internationale, Bruselas, Editions de l’Institute E. Vandervelde, 1964.
Spenser, Daniela, «Historia, política e ideología fundidas en la vida de Vicente Lombardo Toledano», Desacatos, 50 (México D.F., enero-abril 2016): 70-87, versión online.
Van Goethem, Geert, The Ámsterdam International: the world of the International Federation of Trade Unions, 1913-1945, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.