title: Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA
text: # Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA
  
  Part of a series on :
  
  Anarchism :
  
  History
  
  Outline :
  
  Schools of thought
  
  Feminist
  
  Green
  
  Primitivist
  
  Social ecology
  
  Total liberation
  
  Individualist
  
  Egoist
  
  Existentialist
  
  Free-market
  
  Naturist
  
  Philosophical
  
  Mutualism
  
  Postcolonial
  
  African
  
  Black
  
  Queer
  
  Religious
  
  Christian
  
  Jewish
  
  Social
  
  Collectivist
  
  Parecon
  
  Communist
  
  Magonism
  
  Without adjectives
  
  Methodology
  
  Agorism
  
  Illegalism
  
  Insurrectionary
  
  Communization
  
  Expropriative
  
  Pacifist
  
  Platformism
  
  Especifismo
  
  Relationship
  
  Syndicalist
  
  Synthesis :
  
  Theory
  
  Practice
  
  Anarchy
  
  Anarchist Black Cross
  
  Anarchist criminology
  
  Anationalism
  
  Anti-authoritarianism
  
  Anti-capitalism
  
  Anti-militarism
  
  Affinity group
  
  Autonomous social center
  
  Black bloc
  
  Classless society
  
  Class struggle
  
  Consensus decision-making
  
  Conscientious objector
  
  Critique of work
  
  Decentralization
  
  Deep ecology
  
  Direct action
  
  Free association
  
  Free love
  
  Freethought
  
  Horizontalidad
  
  Individualism
  
  Isocracy
  
  Law
  
  Mutual aid
  
  Participatory politics
  
  Permanent autonomous zone
  
  Prefigurative politics
  
  Proletarian internationalism
  
  Propaganda of the deed
  
  Refusal of work
  
  Revolution
  
  Revolutionary spontaneity
  
  Rewilding
  
  Security culture
  
  Self-ownership
  
  Social ecology
  
  Sociocracy
  
  Somatherapy
  
  Spontaneous order
  
  Squatting
  
  Temporary autonomous zone
  
  Union of egoists
  
  Voluntary association
  
  Workers' council :
  
  People
  
  Armand
  
  Ba
  
  Bakunin
  
  Berkman
  
  Bonanno
  
  Bookchin
  
  Chomsky
  
  Cleyre
  
  Day
  
  Durruti
  
  Ellul
  
  Ervin
  
  Faure
  
  Ferrer
  
  Feyerabend
  
  Godwin
  
  Goldman
  
  González Prada
  
  Graeber
  
  Guillaume
  
  He-Yin
  
  Kanno
  
  Kōtoku
  
  Kropotkin
  
  Landauer
  
  Liu
  
  Magón
  
  Makhno
  
  Malatesta
  
  Michel
  
  Most
  
  Parsons
  
  Pi
  
  Proudhon
  
  Rocker
  
  Santillán
  
  Spooner
  
  Stirner
  
  Thoreau
  
  Tolstoy
  
  Tucker
  
  Volin
  
  Ward
  
  Warren
  
  Zerzan :
  
  Issues
  
  Animal rights
  
  Capitalism
  
  Education
  
  Love and sex
  
  Nationalism
  
  Religion
  
  Violence :
  
  History
  
  Paris Commune
  
  Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA
  
  Cantonal rebellion
  
  Hague Congress
  
  International Conference of Rome
  
  Trial of the Thirty
  
  Haymarket affair
  
  May Day
  
  Congress of Amsterdam
  
  Tragic Week
  
  High Treason Incident
  
  Manifesto of the Sixteen
  
  Individualist anarchism in the United States
  
  1919 United States bombings
  
  Biennio Rosso
  
  German Revolution of 1918–1919
  
  Bavarian Soviet Republic
  
  Kronstadt rebellion
  
  Makhnovshchina
  
  Amakasu Incident
  
  Escuela Moderna
  
  Individualist anarchism in Europe
  
  Spanish Revolution of 1936
  
  Barcelona May Days
  
  Red inverted triangle
  
  Labadie Collection
  
  May 1968
  
  Provo
  
  LIP
  
  Kate Sharpley Library
  
  Australian Anarchist Centenary
  
  Carnival Against Capital
  
  1999 Seattle WTO protests
  
  Really Really Free Market
  
  Occupy movement :
  
  Culture
  
  A las Barricadas
  
  Anarchist bookfair
  
  Anarcho-punk
  
  Arts
  
  Culture jamming
  
  DIY ethic
  
  Films
  
  Freeganism
  
  Glossary
  
  Infoshop
  
  Independent Media Center
  
  The Internationale
  
  Jewish anarchism
  
  Lifestylism
  
  "No gods, no masters"
  
  Popular education
  
  "Property is theft!"
  
  Radical cheerleading
  
  Radical environmentalism
  
  Squatting
  
  Symbolism :
  
  Economics
  
  Communization
  
  Cooperative
  
  Cost the limit of price
  
  General strike
  
  Gift economy
  
  Give-away shop
  
  Free association
  
  Labour voucher
  
  Market abolitionism
  
  Mutual aid
  
  Mutual credit
  
  Participatory economics
  
  Social ownership
  
  Wage slavery
  
  Workers' self-management :
  
  By region
  
  Africa
  
  Albania
  
  Algeria
  
  Andorra
  
  Argentina
  
  Armenia
  
  Australia
  
  Austria
  
  Azerbaijan
  
  Bangladesh
  
  Belarus
  
  Belgium
  
  Bolivia
  
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  
  Brazil
  
  Bulgaria
  
  Canada
  
  Chile
  
  China
  
  Colombia
  
  Costa Rica
  
  Croatia
  
  Cuba
  
  Czech Republic
  
  Denmark
  
  Dominican Republic
  
  East Timor
  
  Ecuador
  
  Egypt
  
  El Salvador
  
  Estonia
  
  Finland
  
  France
  
  French Guiana
  
  Georgia
  
  Germany
  
  Greece
  
  Guatemala
  
  Hong Kong
  
  Hungary
  
  Iceland
  
  India
  
  Indonesia
  
  Iran
  
  Ireland
  
  Israel
  
  Italy
  
  Japan
  
  Korea
  
  Latvia
  
  Malaysia
  
  Mexico
  
  Monaco
  
  Mongolia
  
  Morocco
  
  Netherlands
  
  New Zealand
  
  Nicaragua
  
  Nigeria
  
  Norway
  
  Panama
  
  Paraguay
  
  Peru
  
  Philippines
  
  Poland
  
  Portugal
  
  Puerto Rico
  
  Romania
  
  Russia
  
  Serbia
  
  Singapore
  
  South Africa
  
  Spain
  
  Sweden
  
  Switzerland
  
  Syria
  
  Taiwan
  
  Tunisia
  
  Turkey
  
  Ukraine
  
  United Kingdom
  
  United States
  
  Uruguay
  
  Venezuela
  
  Vietnam :
  
  Lists
  
  Anarcho-punk bands
  
  Books
  
  Communities
  
  Fictional characters
  
  Films
  
  Jewish anarchists
  
  Musicians
  
  Periodicals :
  
  Related topics
  
  Anti-corporatism
  
  Anti-consumerism
  
  Anti-fascism
  
  Anti-globalization
  
  Anti-statism
  
  Anti-war movement
  
  Autarchism
  
  Autonomism
  
  Communism
  
  Counter-economics
  
  Definition of anarchism and libertarianism
  
  Labour movement
  
  Left communism
  
  Left-libertarianism
  
  Libertarianism
  
  Libertarian Marxism
  
  Libertarian socialism
  
  Marxism
  
  Situationist International
  
  Socialism
  
  Spontaneous order
  
  Voluntaryism :
  
  Anarchism portal
  
  Politics portal :
  
  vte :
  
  The Spanish Regional Federation of the International Workingmen's Association (Spanish: Federación Regional Española de la Asociación Internacional de Trabajadores), known by its Spanish abbreviation FRE-AIT, was the Spanish chapter of the socialist working class organization commonly known today as the First International. The FRE-AIT was active between 1870 and 1881 and was influential not only in the labour movement of Spain, but also in the emerging global anarchist school of thought.
  
  Through association with a significant number of trade unions in Spain, the Spanish Regional Federation quickly grew to become one of the largest national chapters of the IWA with upwards of 29,000 members by $1873.^{:71}$ Distribution of IWA membership was not homogeneous throughout Spain, however, with the local Barcelona section of FRE-AIT reaching 6,000 members compared to the Madrid section never exceeding 200 $members.^{:60}$
  
  The FRE-AIT is considered a predecessor of the present-day CNT which was founded in 1910.
  
  ## History
  
  ### Formation
  
  The Glorious Revolution of 1868 overthrew the Bourbon Queen Isabella II and initiated the Sexenio Democrático period of Spanish history where liberal and radical theories were spread openly for the first time in decades. The Barcelona Workers' Congress held in June 1870 provided the first opportunity for representatives from the emerging Spanish working class to organize publicly. Eighty-nine delegates attended the Barcelona Congress where attendees voted to join the International Workingmen's Association which had been founded six years earlier in London with the aim of uniting workers and trade unions $globally.^{:168–169}$ Delegates at the Barcelona Congress were not united in how best to achieve the IWA's class struggle aims, and the newly formed FRE-AIT developed factions along the lines of Bakuninist collectivist anarchism, syndicalism, and $cooperativism.^{:55-56}$
  
  ### Suppression and division
  
  At the onset of the Paris Commune in March 1871, reactionary fear of a working class uprising spread through the upper and middle classes. Strikes and union meetings were banned in Barcelona in an effort to thwart any attempt of a similar revolt in the $region.^{:173}$ After the fall of the Paris Commune, many communards fled to Spain as refugees which further stoked liberal and conservative fears of a socialist working class uprising. The Spanish government curtailed FRE-AIT activities and in June 1871 the organization's federal council left Spain for exile in Portugal. In the Spanish Cortes, the IWA was portrayed as a criminal organization by Minister of the Interior Práxedes Mateo $Sagasta.^{:61}$ The fallout from the Paris Commune furthered the divide between the working and middle classes in $Spain.^{:141–142}$
  
  After the fall of the Serrano government in July 1871, the incoming government led by Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla was more friendly towards the International and the FRE-AIT federal council moved back to Spain. In September 1871, the FRE-AIT held the Valencia Conference where the organization passed more Bakuninist resolutions putting it in conflict with the International's resolutions which were leaning more $Marxist.^{:51}^{:77}$ The smaller Madrid section of the FRE-AIT, however, maintained a more orthodox Marxist approach and would harbour Karl Marx's daughter and son-in-law, Laura Marx and Paul Lafargue, as exiles in late 1871 in the aftermath of the Paris $Commune.^{:155}$
  
  On November 10, 1871, the Spanish Cortes passed a motion prohibiting the FRE-AIT from $organizing.^{:204}$ This prohibition, though not always enforced, forced the FRE-AIT to operate clandestinely leading into 1872. The next FRE-AIT congress held in Zaragoza in April 1872 saw further division between the Marxists and the Bakuninists, with the latter continuing to dominate the $organization.^{:187-188}$ Finally, by June 1872, members of Marxist faction within the FRE-AIT associated with Lafargue were $expelled.^{:162}$ The expelled Marxist members centered in Madrid formed the New Madrid Federation [es] in July 1872 that was officially recognized by the International but only managed to gain a couple hundred members compared to the remainder of the FRE-AIT's membership of 15,000 at the $time.^{:63}$
  
  At the September 1872 Hague Congress of the International, the organization's Bakuninist wings were themselves expelled and the FRE-AIT joined the anarchist successor of the IWA split, known as the St. Imier International, in January $1873.^{:63}$ In recognition of FRE-AIT's now strictly anti-authoritarian stance, the organization's federal council was dissolved a new council was established in the working class industrial city of $Alcoy.^{:71}$
  
  ### First Spanish Republic
  
  With King Amadeo's abdication in February 1873, the First Spanish Republic was proclaimed. While many factions of the FRE-AIT were weary of participating in electoralism, the organization welcomed Spain's transition to republicanism and campaigned heavily for workers' rights in the lead-up to the May 1873 general $election.^{:201}$ After left-leaning Francesc Pi i Margall's electoral victory, the FRE-AIT organized demonstrations in Barcelona and other cities to demand improved workers' rights and a more decentralized federal $state.^{:204}$ While Pi was receptive to these ideas, the government's response was seen as too slow by FRE-AIT and radicals as the Spanish Cortes hoped to achieve a Spanish federation through the drafting of a new Spanish Constitution. In July 1873, the FRE-AIT attempted to organize a worker's uprising in Alcoy known as the Petroleum Revolution, but this uprising was suppressed after 4 days and the FRE-AIT moved its operations back to Madrid from $Alcoy.^{:197-200}$ At the same time, a general strike was held in Barcelona with support from the $FRE-AIT.^{:208}$
  
  More radical anarchist supporters, known as "intransigents", did not recognize any state-sponsored federation and began organizing independent cantons to self-associate during the cantonal rebellions that lasted until $1874.^{:200}$
  
  ### Underground and radicalization
  
  In January 1874, the Spanish government was dissolved in a coup led by General Pavía that brought forth another reactionary conservative era. On January 10, the FRE-AIT was again prohibited and its offices were occupied by the $government.^{:40}$ The FRE-AIT moved underground and began organizing materials and meetings $secretly.^{:256}$ The organization managed to maintain its ties with the St. Imier International and the FRE-AIT even sent delegates to the International's 1875 Congress in $Brussels.^{:203-204}$
  
  After moving underground, the FRE-AIT moved from Madrid to Barcelona and leaned more towards insurrectionist policies in an attempt to overthrow the restored Bourbon $monarchy.^{:263}$ By 1876, the FRE-AIT began advocating for propaganda of the deed which put it at odds with the St. Amier $International.^{:239-241}$ In 1877, a new rift began forming in the FRE-AIT between the anarcho-collectivist and anarcho-communist wings, led by followers of Bakunin and followers of Kropotkin respectively. While the FRE-AIT overall maintained a Bakunist collectivist approach, the Andalusian section organized itself along more anarcho-commnunist $lines.^{:51-55}$
  
  ### Dissolution
  
  In 1881, freedom of association was guaranteed by the new federal government led by Sagasta. With splintering ideologies and rampant radicalization within the FRE-AIT, the organization was dissolved at the Barcelona Workers' Congress of 1881 and replaced by the more moderate anarcho-syndicalist Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region (FTRE) that was permitted to operate $openly.^{:241-242}$ The FTRE itself only existed until $1888.^{:107}$
  
  