Spain 1890

Synopsis

At the founding of the Socialist (Second) International in Paris in July 1889, delegates passed a resolution to make 1 May a universal day of action for the eight-hour workday and approved a host of measures intended to improve working conditions. The choice of this date was meant to recall the bloody events that occurred during the general strike in Chicago in May 1886 (the "Haymarket Massacre"), which resulted in the execution of the "Chicago Martyrs." In Catalonia, one of Spain's most industrialized regions, the International's resolution led to widespread mobilization. More important, a significant proportion of Catalan workers faced uncompromising employers and military repression as they embarked on an unlimited general strike.

Timeline

• 1870: Franco-Prussian War begins. German troops sweep over France, Napoleon III is dethroned, and France's Second Empire gives way to the Third Republic.
• 1876: Four-stroke cycle gas engine is introduced.
• 1880: South Africa's Boers...