Revista de Historia Industrial — Industrial History Review

Gray, Patrick, Joshua Hall, Ruth Wallis Herndon, and Javier Silvestre (eds.). 2022. Standard of Living. Essays on Economics, History, and Religion in Honor of John E. Murray. Cham: Springer, 482 pp.

Matthew Purcell — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Gray, Patrick, Joshua Hall, Ruth Wallis Herndon, and Javier Silvestre, eds.. 2022. Standard of Living. Essays on Economics, History, and Religion in Honor of John E. Murray. Cham: Springer, 482 pp.

García Ruiz, José Luis, y Michelangelo Vasta (eds.). 2023. Bank-Industry vs. Stock Market-Industry Relationships. Abingdon: Routledge, 144 pp.

Joaquim Cuevas — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

García Ruiz, José Luis, y Michelangelo Vasta (eds.). 2023. Bank-Industry vs. Stock Market-Industry Relationships. Abingdon: Routledge, 144 pp.

Barry, Frank, 2023. Industry & Policy in Independent Ireland, 1922–1972. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 256 pp.

Eoin McLaughlin — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Barry, Frank, 2023. Industry & Policy in Independent Ireland, 1922–1972. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 256 pp.

Medina-Ruiz, Israel-David, Antonio Jesús Pinto Tortosa, Rafael Ripoll Ravina y Nuria Rodríguez Martín (eds.). 2022. Los ingenieros en la Europa del Sur (siglos xviii-xix). Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch, 390 pp.

Patricia Suárez — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Medina-Ruiz, Israel-David, Antonio Jesús Pinto Tortosa, Rafael Ripoll Ravina y Nuria Rodríguez Martín (eds.). 2022. Los ingenieros en la Europa del Sur (siglos XVIII-XIX). Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch, 390 pp.

Martykánová, Darina. 2023. Los ingenieros en España. El nacimiento de una élite. Bilbao: Universidad de País Vasco, 344 pp.

Irina Yányshev-Nésterova — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Martykánová, Darina. 2023. Los ingenieros en España. El nacimiento de una élite. Bilbao: Universidad de País Vasco, 344 pp.

One guild, two merchants, and common property. A social capital crisis in textile manufacturing during the 18th century

José-Miguel Lana Berasain — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A case study of the wool carders’ guild in Estella-Lizarra (Navarre) from the 16th to 19th centuries questions prevalent opinions among historians, which have tended to define these collective action institutions as monopolies. This study complements the traditional “outside-in” approach that considers the guild to be a monolithic agent, adopting an inside perspective that reveals tensions between collective and individual interests. The research focuses on the collective management of common properties (fulling-mill and dyeing house) until their disappearance in 1758, and guild relations with commercial capital in the form of a major financial sponsor and a new factory. Difficulties associated with the guild’s financial management and the loss of its social capital lay at the heart of its troubles

“To recycle is to win!” The recovery of materials for war industry and institutional responses in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Fernando Largo Jiménez — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Recycling is considered an essential piece of environmental action. Moreover, in recent decades, it has gained significant prominence as a determining factor of the so-called circular economy, which is a new paradigm of sustainability within the capitalist framework. However, the reuse of resources has existed since the beginning of humanity. The processes of industrialization and urbanization reduced its previous visibility, although with important exceptions: the two world wars, which, due to their industrial character, made recycling a national priority for the belligerent countries. This article analyzes the case of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War and the recovery policies that sought to supply its war industry. The similarities with other cases and the peculiarities of Catalonia are raised; institutional responses and relations of cooperation and conflict with the Spanish Republican Government in the face of material scarcity. Finally, the know-how generated during the war and subsequent decades of scarcity and how this could affect our current environmental awareness is highlighted.

Internationalising Spanish Firms to the East: Business Strategies of the National Institute of Industry towards the Soviet Union (late 1950s to 1991)

Irina Yanyshev-Nesterova — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the internationalisation of Spanish firms, promoted by the National Institute of Industry (Instituto Nacional de Industria – INI), towards the Soviet Union market within the context of the Cold War and East-West economic collaboration. Based on a business history methodology and the primary sources of the INI, this paper argues the following. First, the National Institute of Industry’s approach to the Soviet Union was dictated by national strategic interests, such as industrial policy goals, resource-seeking, technology-seeking investment, and profit-seeking attitudes. Second, the INI’s approach to the Soviet Union was dictated by political purposes, such as establishing or maintaining relations with Spain and the Soviet Union. Third, before the restoration of diplomatic ties in 1977, the “stateness” of INI was considered a disadvantage. Finally, after restoring diplomatic relations, the “stateness” of the INI was deemed an advantage.

Wage dynamics during the technocratic stage of Francoism (1957–1973)

Luis Cárdenas del Rey — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What is the evolution of wages and labour shares in dictatorship economies? This article focuses on the technocratic stage of Franco’s dictatorship in Spain (1957–1973). Based on several databases, it presents evidence of an increase in both the wage and labour share, driven mainly by increases in the real wage and, to a lesser extent, by the number of employees. Furthermore, I identify a four-phase wage dynamic, with two phases of contraction and two phases of expansion of wage and labour shares. In the light of these findings, the cyclical behaviour of the wage share and its wage-growth driven character should be considered as stylised facts during developmentalism. These results point to the need to consider multi-causal, economic and social explanations for distributional change during the technocratic stage of Francoist dictatorship.

Economic repression through the labour market: job placement agencies, “preferential” workers and unemployment in Spain during the Civil War and early Francoism

Belén Moreno Claverías, Patricia Suárez Cano — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

How can a dictatorship implement economic repression? We focus on Franco’s dictatorial regime and the labour market in the years during and after the Spanish Civil War (1936- 1939). One of the aspirations of Franco’s dictatorial regime was absolute control over labour relations. The Spanish Syndical Organization (known as the Sindicato Vertical) was granted a central role and Republican job placement agencies were transformed. Workers given “preferential” status due to their ties to the regime were reinstated with ease into a labour market which, as illustrated in the press at the time, was suffering uncontrolled unemployment and lacking a skilled workforce. Against this backdrop, we will analyse the effects of the Public Order of 1939 in Riosa, which dismissed unemployment claims of anyone without vocational training under the age of twenty who did not fight on the winning side in the Civil War. The aim of this study is to shed light on some lesser-known aspects related to the labour world in the tumultuous final years of the Civil War and the beginning of Franco’s authoritarian regime.