The Syndicalist Party (; ) was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, formed by

Ángel Pestaña Ángel Pestaña Nuñez (1886–1937) was a Spanish Anarcho-syndicalist and later the founder of the Syndicalist Party. Life In April 1919, after Catalonia was shaken by the '' Canadenca'' protests, Pestaña was arrested and detained, and the ...

in 1932. Pestaña, a leading member of the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionar ...

(CNT)

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

, formed the party in response to the growing influence of the

Iberian Anarchist Federation Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to: *Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...

over the CNT. He and other notable members of the CNT had previously signed a (" Manifesto of the Thirty"), which had got them expelled. The thesis of Ángel Pestaña was to contribute to the

workers' movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

by endowing it with a political party which, without interfering in their work, collaborated with the industrial unions, but with full autonomy. It differed from the

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

- UGT pact in that it intended to avoid all subordination of union work to partisan political interests. Pestaña's libertarian possibilist tendency corresponded with the British

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

, a representation of workers' interests in Parliament with a revolutionary purpose; that is, the achievement of

libertarian communism Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains r ...

with an organization based on the

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

and

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

History

Only a minority in the CNT, the possibilist tendency was isolated due to its moderate syndicalist stance, and depended on several cells in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

, and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. The Syndicalist Party published a daily newspaper, . In

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

the Catalan Federation of the party published (1936–1937) and then until January 1939. The youth wing of the party was the Syndicalist Youth (). The republican artillery captain

Eduardo Medrano Rivas Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footbal ...

was party secretary. In the

1936 Spanish general election Legislative elections were held in Spain on 16 February 1936. At stake were all 473 seats in the unicameral Cortes Generales. The winners of the 1936 elections were the Popular Front, a left-wing coalition of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ...

two party members, Pestaña and Benito Pabón, were elected to the parliament as affiliates of the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

. The group backed the Republican faction during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. However, affected by the death of Ángel Pestaña, the party dissolved itself in December 1937, still numbering 30,000 members.

Refoundation (1974-1985)

In 1974 a new generation of syndicalists launched a party with the same name, based on the tradition of the old Syndicalist Party. In the

1977 Spanish general election The 1977 Spanish general election was held on Wednesday, 15 June 1977, to elect the Spanish Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 207 seats in the Senate. It was the first ...

, together with the still illegal

Communist Movement The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least ...

, Socialist Movement and Workers' Communist Party, it formed part of an electoral alliance called the

Popular Unity Candidacy The Popular Unity Candidacy ( ca, Candidatura d'Unitat Popular, , CUP) is a left-wing to far-left pro- Catalan independence political party active primarily in Catalonia, where it has political representation, but also in other autonomous communit ...

(CUP), positioned to the left of the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...

. In the

1979 Spanish general election The 1979 Spanish general election was held on Thursday, 1 March 1979, to elect the 1st Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 208 seats in the Senate. This was the ...

the Syndicalist Party obtained 9,777 votes (0.05%), the majority of them obtained in

where it got 5,932 votes (0.2%). The party lasted until 1985, when it once again dissolved itself.

References

{{Reflist 1932 establishments in Spain 1937 disestablishments in Spain 1974 establishments in Spain 1985 disestablishments in Spain Anarchist political parties Defunct socialist parties in Spain Formerly banned political parties in Spain Formerly banned socialist parties Libertarian socialist parties Political parties disestablished in 1937 Political parties disestablished in 1985 Political parties established in 1932 Political parties established in 1974 Political parties of the Spanish Civil War Syndicalism Syndicalist political parties