The politics of furs. The lather industry in Spain (1940-1980)

Abstract

This article is structured on two parts quite independent one to the other. The first one draws the big lines of the economic tanneries of this period of time: the participation on the post-war, the tension in the structure of the sector that brought out the raise of the fifties, the importance of the foreign sector to take off during the sixties and the crisis of the seventies as well. The second part tackles several conflicts raised around the commercial policy held at that time in the minor sector of the small furs: the fights for the sheep leather import, the discussions about the leather exports and the establishment of the wool leather tariff as well. Several social agents positions are analyzed (the Government, the Sheep Union, The National Union of the Leather and the tanned factories as well, describing the different interests and political pressures behind every discussion.