Josep Prat i Rogent (1886–1932) was a Catalan

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 ...

writer and theoretician.

Biography

Josep Prat i Rogent was born 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 ...

on 17 December 1866. Initially a federal republican, by 1890, he had converted to the philosophy of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. Prat joined a new generation of anarchist intellectuals, which contributed to the growth of the Spanish anarchist movement. He became a disciple of the Galician anarchist

Ricardo Mella Ricardo Mella Cea (13 April 1861 – 7 August 1925) was one of the early writers, intellectuals and anarchist activists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Spain. He was characterized as an erudite in various subjects and versed in ...

. He was a shy figure and rarely spoke in meetings, instead developing his talents as a writer. In 1894, Prat began contributing to ''La Idea Libre'', a journal which published anarchist theory. In the 1896 Barcelona Corpus Christi procession bombing, 6 people were killed and 45 wounded by an unknown attacker. Prat and Mella thought the perpetrator was a "misguided anarchists", but other anarchists thought it to have been an ''

agent provocateur An is a person who actively entices another person to commit a crime that would not otherwise have been committed and then reports the person to the authorities. They may target individuals or groups. In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a ...

''. The subsequent repressions of the Montjuïc trials forced many Spanish anarchists, including Prat, to flee into exile. Prat escaped Barcelona to

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, where he hid at Ricardo Mella's home. Together, they worked on an ''

exposé Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website * ''Exeposé'', a student-run newspaper of the University of Exeter Film and TV F ...

'' about the Montjuïc trials, titled ''La barbarie gubermental en Espana'', in which they fiercely criticised the actions of the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

. Prat then went into exile in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where he represented Spanish anarchists at the International Socialist Workers and Trade Union Congress 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 ...

. He then moved on to

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and collaborated on Antoni Pellicer's newspaper '' La Protesta Humana'', in which he condemned anarchist terrorism under a pseudonym. In 1898, Prat returned to Spain and became a leading figure in the anarchist movement. He found that the repressions had frightened many

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

artists away from the anarchist movement, so he criticised them for their

apoliticism Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased pos ...

. When the

Generation of '98 The Generation of '98 () was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish–American War (1898), committed to cultural and aesthetic renewal, and associated with modernismo. The name was coin ...

introduced

individualist anarchism Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hi ...

to the Spanish anarchist movement, Prat also criticised it, regarding it to be an illegitimate strain of anarchism. Together with

Anselmo Lorenzo Anselmo Lorenzo Asperilla (21 April 1841 – 30 November 1914) was a Spanish anarchist activist and writer. He is known for his leading role in the early stages of the Spanish anarchist movement, for which he became known as "the grandfath ...

, Prat became one of the leading theoreticians of

anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, 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 uni ...

. He stressed the need to build strong

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

through localised

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

s before carrying out a

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

ary

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

, and criticised the lack of enthusiasm among anarchist activists between 1900 and 1903. By this time, Prat was recognised as one of the most seasoned anarchist theoreticians of his time, alongside Joan Montseny. From October 1903 to September 1905, Prat published the bi-monthly magazine ''Natura'', which published works by anarchists from throughout Europe. In 1906, Prat began translating works about syndicalism. He translated titles including Enrique Leone's ''El sindicalismo'' and Luis Fabbri's ''Anarquismo y socialismo''. In 1908 and 1909, he published harsh critiques of

reformist socialism Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, refo ...

and the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

(IS), which he denounced as "

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

", in a series of article in '' Solidaridad Obrera''. In the anarchist publication '' Tierra y Libertad'', he pressed the trade union Workers' Solidarity (SO) to break away from the leadership of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE) and to instead take a revolutionary anarchist stance of

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

and

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

. By 1910, Prat's anarcho-syndicalist theories had been taken up by the SO, which was reorganised into the

National Confederation of Labour National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. His view that trade union strength needed to be built up through localised

s before declaring a general strike was taken up by the Sabadell Labour Federation (FOS), although during the first years of the 1910s, other sections of the CNT frequently declared general strikes at every opportunity. Prat also argued that a revolutionary general strike could only be successful if the

peasantry A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

was incorporated into the trade union movement. Prat died in Barcelona on 17 July 1932.

Selected works

*''A las mujeres'' (Barcelona, 1904) *''Necesidad de asociación'' (Barcelona, 1904) *''La burguesia y el proletariado'' (Valencia, 1909) *''Sindicalismo y Socialismo'' (A Coruña, 1912) *''Orientaciones'' (Barcelona, 1916)

Notes

References

Bibliography

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Biography

Selected works

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading