The daily construction of emancipation: Celestí Ventura and the cooperative movement of his time (1917-1954)

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, a new batch of studies on the history of cooperative organizations has taken an interest in the influence of this eman- cipation movement on the shaping of working-class neighbourhoods. From an urban, micro-historic perspective, the research on cooperatives and their members has nourished the analysis of the relationship between the cooperative movement, the working-class movement and grass-roots associations.The study of the path pursued by CelestíVentura Raballí (1892-1969) along syndicalism and cooperative movement, and his dedication to the cooperative La Fraternitat de la Barceloneta (Barcelona), allows us to deepen those relationships twofold: first of all, we can examine the role of the cooperatives as the rearguard of the working-class move- ment and, more generally, the reciprocal influences between the working-class struggle and the expansion of the cooperative movement; secondly, by considering the way Ventura took part in trade unions, cooperatives and mutual societies, we can explore the multiple functions of the working-class association movement in Catalonia for much of the 20th century.