The origins of woollen textile firm in Sabadell and Terrassa in the seventeeizth century

Abstract

The transition from rural to modern industry is studied in the district of Sabadell-Termssa, the major wool textile urea in Spain in the 19th. Century. In spite of its remarkable diffusion in inner Catalonia, the transformation of the wool industry took place only in very few centres (Igualada, Terrassa and Sabadell), which specialized in the production of medium and high quality woollen cloths. The key of the transition was, after a process of confrontation promoted by some clothiers “paraires", the breakdown of the traditional productive system, based on the guild organization, and the increasing subordination of labour to capital. The emergence of the modern firm, as a centre of articulation of new relations of production, was the most conspimons feature of this transformation.