Josep Negre i Oliveras (13 May 1875 – 24 December 1939) was a

Valencian Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

leader.

Biography

In 1875, Josep Negre i Oliveras was born in the

town of Lludient. He settled in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, where he worked as a

typographer Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

and in 1907 participated in the founding of

Solidaritat Obrera Workers' Solidarity (; ; SO) was a regional federation of trade unions in Catalonia. Established in 1907, following a series of unsuccessful attempts to establish a national trade union center, national trade union centre in Spain, SO united ma ...

. In 1908, along with Tomás Herreros Miguel, he took part in the eight-month strike against the

Radical Republican Party The Radical Republican Party (), sometimes shortened to the Radical Party, was a Spanish Radical party in existence between 1908 and 1936. Beginning as a splinter from earlier Radical parties, it initially played a minor role in Spanish parlia ...

's newspaper ''El Progreso''. He was also a member of the strike committee formed during the Tragic Week of 1909. During the founding congress of the National Confederation of Labor (, CNT), on 19 November 1910 Negre was elected as the union's first

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

. In 1911, he was arrested and imprisoned for participating in a strike in solidarity with the

miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

of Euskadi. After his release, in 1913 he attended the First International Syndicalist Congress, held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from 27 September to 2 October, where he made his speech in

. The 1914 he was part of a clandestine commission of the Regional Confederation of Labor of Catalunya (, CRTC), which tried to reorganize the CNT. In 1916 he became the editor and director of the CNT's newspaper Solidaridad Obrera, but he left active militancy in 1917 after Salvador Seguí i Rubinat, Salvador Quemades and Manuel Buenacasa Tomeo publicly accused him of being sympathetic to the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

and of associating with the German embassy. However, by the time the Barcelona Traction strike began, he had already returned to the CNT's propaganda apparatus, and for that reason in 1919 he ended up imprisoned in the ''Pelayo'', in the port of Barcelona. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

he collaborated in propaganda campaigns of the Union of

Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

Industries, and at the end of the conflict he went into exile in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Here he was interned in the Argelès-sur-Mer concentration camp, where he died. His family was cared for by his friend, the French anarchist Maxime Mattéi.

Works

* ''¿Qué es el sindicalismo?'' (1919) * ''Recuerdos de un viejo militante'' (1936) * ''¿Qué es el colectivismo anarquista?'' (1937)

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Negre i Oliveras, Josep Anarchists from Catalonia People from the Province of Castellón Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France 1875 births 1939 deaths General secretaries of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

Biography

Works

See also

References

Bibliography