The determinants of labour protest in Spain, 1905-1935: economic cycle, political framework and union organisation

Abstract

This work returns to macrosocial approaches to labour unrest during industrialisation with the aim to include the case of Spain in the international debate. Apart from a theoretical review and different quantitative estimations of several labour unrest and unionism indicators, this work offers the first econometric analysis of the determinants of strikes in Spain during the first third of the XXth century. Our results show that the strike cycle was determined by both economic and political factors. Moreover, political inestability and problems faced by unions to enter in the design of labour policy are crucial to understand labour unrest during the three decades prior to the Spanish Civil War.