The Federation of Workers' Societies of the Spanish Region (; FSORE), also known as the Federation of Resistance Societies of the Spanish Region (; FSRRE), was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist trade union federation which was active during the early 1900s. Following a period of economic crisis in Spain and the political repression of the anarchist movement during the previous decade, in 1900, Spanish trade unions came together to establish the FSORE as a means to coordinated solidarity between workers of different trades. The FSORE quickly grew to become the largest trade union federation in the country, although it faced difficulties organising workers due to the rapid advance of industrialisation and the entry of women in the workforce. The FSORE organised a number of strike actions in 1901 and 1902, particularly in Catalonia, culminating in the country's first general strike in Barcelona. The general strike was defeated and the trade union movement was suppressed, but a wave of strikes continued over the subsequent two years. By the mid-1900s, the FSORE had lost most of its support and went into a decline, formally dissolving in 1907. It was succeeded by the Barcelona trade union federation Workers' Solidarity (SO), which formed the nucleus for the National Confederation of Labour (CNT), founded in 1910.
Background During the late 19th century, the government of Spain had achieved a state of relative stability due to the Turno system, which alternated power between the Conservative and Liberal parties, causing the politics of Spain to remain stagnant. However, by the 1890s, the premium pricing of cotton and an economic surplus of textiles had caused political and economic instability in the northeastern industrial region of Catalonia. The Spanish defeat in the Spanish–American War exacerbated the crisis, sending the Catalan economy into an economic depression, as business owners lost a vital foreign exchange market and increased migration of unskilled workers from rural to urban areas created a surplus of labour. Disillusioned with the central government, Catalan business owners increasingly gravitated towards Catalan nationalism and formed the Regionalist League of Catalonia (LRC) to defend their economic interests. Other sections of the Catalan middle class turned towards the Republican Union (UR), which aligned itself against Catalan nationalism. In order to prevent the Catalans from uniting against the Spanish state, the government cultivated instability in the Catalan capital of Barcelona by playing the two parties off against each other.
In response to the labour surplus, employers sought to reduce workers' wages by purchasing new industrial machinery. They also refused to engage in collective bargaining with their workers and made frequent use of lockouts to force an end to industrial disputes. Low wages and persistent inflation made it increasingly difficult for working men to support their families on a single salary, which forced women and even children into the workforce. All this caused an increase in working class discontent, which attracted more workers towards the political philosophy of anarchism. This led to a rise in anarchist terrorism, as class conflict between business owners and the growing industrial working class erupted into open violence. The rise of anarchist terrorism provoked the political repression of the growing Spanish anarchist movement, which forced many of its leaders to flee the country and weakened the anarchists' connection with the labour movement.
Establishment
By the turn of the 20th century, Spanish anarchists were increasingly coming to believe that the use of violence had marginalised them from the rest of the working class. When Josep Prat returned from his exile in Argentina, he argued that the anarchist movement abandon the practice of propaganda of the deed. The number of cases of anarchist violence in Spain subsequently decreased, and the few acts of violence that occurred were carried out by foreign anarchists. Meanwhile, the political repression in the wake of the Montjuïc trial spurred an alliance between Spanish anarchists and previously non-aligned trade unionists. Spanish anarchists came under the influence of the French organisational theory of syndicalism, which they developed into the revolutionary political philosophy of anarcho-syndicalism. Trade union organising in Spain experienced a resurgence, with many anarchists calling for the establishment of a new national trade union federation.
On 13 October 1900, a bricklayers' trade union in the Spanish capital of Madrid convened a conference of trade unions, with the aim of establishing a national trade union federation. Delegates attending the congress represented 150 trade unions, with 50 more signalling their support for the initiative. Together the delegates represented roughly 50,000 workers, some of whom had previously been members of the Pact of Union and Solidarity (PUS) and had managed to keep their trade unions alive through the political repression of the previous decade. The conference acknowledged the French General Confederation of Labour (CGT) as its inspiration, and paid tribute to the anarcho-syndicalist theories of Fernand Pelloutier and Émile Pouget. Delegates expressed their opposition to politics and some were explicitly critical of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). As their goal, they demanded the eight-hour day and higher wages. They centred the general strike as a means to achieve their demands, with anarchist delegates calling for general strikes in the event of police brutality or other forms of injustice. Delegates also expressed support for workers committing violence against their employers and even against the state.
The conference concluded with the establishment of the Federation of Workers' Societies of the Spanish Region (; FSORE). Although it was initially constituted as a politically non-aligned organisation, allowing a number of republican groups to join, the FSORE soon became fundamentally anarchist in orientation. The trade union federation was established according to anarcho-syndicalist principles and based its federal organisational structure on that of the old Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region (FTRE). It was thus constituted as a decentralised and libertarian organisation. Its base unit was its local trade unions (or "resistance societies"), which federated together on a regional basis. Its main aim was to organise workers of different trades and build solidarity between them. The new federation quickly began contacting syndicalist organisations in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In the first year of its existence, the federation grew from its initial 50,000 members to over 70,000 members, more than double the membership of the socialist-aligned Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT). In the anarchist newspaper , Sidón Sequano proclaimed the growth of the FSORE to be a sign of the coming death of political socialism. Almost half of the FSORE's membership was drawn from Catalonia; 9% were based in the province of Cádiz; 5.5% from Málaga; 5% from Valencia; 5% from Murcia; 4.5% from Asturias and 3% from Madrid; the rest of the organisation's membership was diffused among the other regions of Spain. However, the FSORE never gained the adherence of the majority of Spanish workers.
Strike actions
In 1901, a wave of strike actions broke out in the anarchist strongholds of Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza. Several towns in Andalusia went on strike demanding libertarian communism, some of which escalated into insurrection. The FSORE supported an attempt at a general strike in Xixón, but it failed, causing disillusionment in the city's working class. Andalusian agricultural workers, led by the anarchists José Sánchez Rosa and José Crespo, also established the Society of Agricultural Workers (; SOA), which affiliated itself with the FSORE. At the suggestion of the FSORE, Crespo and Miguel Solano Núñez attempted to establish a regional anarchist commission, but the criminalisation of the anarchist movement in Andalusia prevented any further organisation. In the spring of that year, yarn manufacturers in Catalonia's Ter valley attempted to replace its male workforce with women, who would work for lower pay on new spinning mules. When the workers went on strike, the employers responded with a lockout. This drew the attention of trade unions in Barcelona, who worried that the victory of the employers over the Ter valley strike would result in lower wages for workers in Catalonia's other industries. By the autumn of that year, the Barcelona trade unions began preparing for an open confrontation with the employers.
By this time, only one quarter of workers in Barcelona were affiliated with a trade union. The FSORE had faced particular difficulty organising the textile workers in the Barcelona metropolitan area, as the mills in the region largely employed women and children, who were paid less than their adult male counterparts. Workers were also ideologically divided, with anarchists, socialists and syndicalists all disagreeing on the objectives of the labour movement. While anarchists were firmly anti-statist, many trade unionists sought to negotiate concessions with the state and their employers, and saw revolution as a last resort. The distribution of workers between hundreds of small factories also made trade union organising difficult. The FSORE was also unable to establish itself in the everyday life of its membership, and failed to coordinate wide-scale support for strike actions. On the other side of the industrial dispute, employers were able to hire large numbers of unemployed and unskilled workers as strikebreakers. Catalan employers were also organised in the , an employers' association which cooperated closely with the Spanish Army and police. Despite the challenges facing them, the anarchist workers of Barcelona were able to coordinate a response, drawing from the anarchist methods of direct action and self-organisation.
On 6 December 1901, 10,000 metalworkers in Barcelona went on strike, demanding the eight-hour day. Although they did not have strike pay, the workers managed to keep the strike going for eight weeks. But the employers refused to meet the workers demands, and even refused mediation. The newspaper warned the employers that the defeat of the strike could convince workers that violent action would be necessary, but the employers largely ignored public opinion on the issue. Growing sympathy from other trade unions in the Catalan capital culminated on 17 February 1902, when the Barcelona branch of the FSORE called a general strike in solidarity with the metalworkers. It was the first general strike in Spanish history.