Syndicalist Party
The Syndicalist Party (Spanish: Partido Sindicalista; Catalan: Partit Sindicalista) was a left-wing political party in Spain, formed by Ángel Pestaña in 1932. Pestaña, a leading member of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) trade union, formed the party in response to the growing influence of the Iberian Anarchist Federation over the CNT. He and other notable members of the CNT had previously signed a Manifest dels Trenta ("Manifesto of the Thirty"), which had got them expelled.[2]
Syndicalist Party Partido Sindicalista | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Ángel Pestaña Agustín Millares Cantero[1] Benito Pabón |
| Founded | 1932 1974 (refoundation) |
| Dissolved | 1985 |
| Newspaper | El Pueblo Hora Sindicalista Mañana |
| Youth wing | Syndicalist Youth |
| Membership | 30,000 (1937) |
| Ideology | Libertarian possibilism Anarcho-communism Antifascism |
| Party flag | |
 | |
History
Never a major group, the Party was isolated due to its moderate syndicalist stance, and depended on several cells in Madrid, Andalusia, Zaragoza, Catalonia, and the Land of Valencia.
The Syndicalist Party published a daily newspaper, El Pueblo. In Barcelona the Catalan Federation of the party published Hora Sindicalista (1936–1937) and then Mañana until January 1939. The youth wing of the party was the Syndicalist Youth (Juventud Sindicalista). In 1936 two party members, Pestaña and Benito Pabón, were elected to the parliament as affiliates of the Popular Front.
The group backed the Republic during the Spanish Civil War. Affected by Pestaña's death in December 1937, it still numbered around 30,000 members. In 1974 a group of people coming from anarcho-syndicalist traditions launched a party with the same name.
References
- (1997). Franchy Roca y los federales en el "Bienio Azañista", Ediciones del Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, pág. 342
- Tomás Álvarez: Ángel Pestaña: El anarquista de la triste figura. Diario de León, 25/04/2004.