Contemporary Catalonia: Industrialisation, Catalanism, Republic, Repression and Self-Government
What this domain tests
Catalan history where it intersects with the Spanish and European ones: industrialisation, the political articulation of Catalanism, the Republic and the war, Francoist repression and the recovery of self-government. Questions often ask you to relate an institution to its legal basis - a distinction the exam loves.
Core content
- Industrialisation: eighteenth-century brandy and calico exports; the 1832 Bonaplata steam mill; mechanised cotton tied to the Spanish market; the 1855 general strike and the Canadiense strike of 1919, which produced the eight-hour day decree.
- Catalanism: the Renaixença (Aribau's 1833 ode, Jocs Florals from 1859), federalism under Pi i Margall, the 1885 Memorial de Greuges, the 1892 Bases de Manresa, the 1901 Lliga Regionalista, the 1906 Solidaritat Catalana.
- Institutions: the Mancomunitat (1914, Prat de la Riba; administrative, without legislative power), dismantled from 1923 and suppressed under Primo de Rivera; the Generalitat restored in April 1931 after the Pact of San Sebastián, the Núria draft and the 1932 Statute with reduced powers; the Leasehold Contracts Act and the events of October 1934.
- War and repression: the Generalitat during 1936–39, collectivisations, the May 1937 clashes, exile in 1939, the Law of Political Responsibilities, Companys executed in 1940, the post-war maquis.
- Recovery: the labour movement of the 1960s (Comissions Obreres), the Assemblea de Catalunya in 1971, Tarradellas's return in 1977, the 1979 Statute, the first Catalan elections in 1980.
Worked example
Question: was the Mancomunitat a form of self-government? Reasoning: define it - a union of the four diputacions created by royal decree in 1914, presided by Prat de la Riba; list what it could do (roads, schools, libraries, telephone, culture) and what it could not (legislate, control taxation, hold reserved competences); conclude that it was administrative decentralisation, not political autonomy, and contrast it with the 1932 Statute, which did grant a parliament and an executive. The contrast is the answer.
Traps
Confusing the Memorial de Greuges (1885) with the Bases de Manresa (1892); treating the 1932 Statute as the Núria text unchanged; calling the Mancomunitat an autonomous government; dating Solidaritat Catalana to 1901 instead of 1906; placing the Canadiense strike in the Republic rather than under the Restoration.