Salvador Seguí i Rubinat (23 September 1887, in

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

– 10 March 1923, 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 ...

), known as ''El noi del sucre'' ("the sugar boy" in Catalan) for his habit of eating the

sugar cube Sugar cubes are white sugar granules pressed into small cubes measuring approximately 1 teaspoon each. They are usually used for sweetening drinks such as tea and coffee. They were invented in the early 19th century in response to the difficulti ...

s served him with his coffee, 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 ...

in the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...

(CNT), a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist

labor union 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 ...

Biography

He is mainly remembered for playing a major role in building and organizing the

workers' movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of Working class, working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It ca ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. He became General Secretary of the CNT in Catalonia in 1918. While he was General Secretary in Catalonia, the CNT played a major role in the ''La Canadenca'' strike, which lasted for 44 days, which paralyzed 70% of the Catalan economy, and which led to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

being the first country in the world to establish the 8-hour working day by law. During the

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

, Seguí was imprisoned, but was liberated on the last day of the strike, just in time to attend the

general assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

attended by 20.000 workers which ended the strike. He was the person who communicated all the achievements. Together with

Ángel Pestaña Ángel Pestaña Nuñez (1886–1937) was a Spanish Anarcho-syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalist General Secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, general secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), founder of the Syndical ...

, Seguí opposed the

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

actions advocated and carried out by other members of the CNT. On 10 March 1923, while completing preparations to promote the idea of emancipation as a form of social empowerment among workers, he was assassinated by gunshot on Carrer de la Cadena, in Barcelona's Raval District, at the hands of gunmen working for the Catalan employers' organisation under protection of Catalonia's Civil Governor, Martínez Anido. At this same shooting, another anarcho-syndicalist, Francesc Comes, known as ''Perones'', was wounded and was to die several days later. He was buried in the

Cemetery of Montjuïc A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

, Barcelona. He has received many tributes since his death, and a foundation has been launched in his memory, the

Fundación Salvador Seguí Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, or ...

, based in Barcelona,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. In 2023, during the centennial anniversary of his

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

, many commemmorative events were organized. Several expositions were held throughout the territory. In addition, a commemmoration was held by the Fundación Salvador Seguí, the CNT, the GGT, Solidaridad Obrera, and the Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo. A square in

El Raval El Raval () is a neighborhood in the ''Ciutat Vella'' district of Barcelona, the capital city of Catalonia. The neighborhood, especially the part closest to the Port Vell, old port, was formerly (informally) known as ''Barri Xinès'' or ''Barrio ...

neighborhood of Barcelona is named after him.

Bibliography

* Seguí, Salvador «Noi del Sucre». Escuela de Rebeldía (Historia de un sindicalista), Ilustraciones de M. Ramos, Madrid, La Novela de Hoy (Sucesores de Rivadeneyra), 1923. * Seguí, Salvador. Narraciones. anarco-sindicalistas de los años veinte / Salvador Seguí... t al. Barcelona, Icaria, 1978. * Martí Font, Jordi (2021). ''Salvador Seguí. El colós de l'anarquisme''. Lo Diable Gros.

References

External links

*
Fundación Salvador Seguí
(in Spanish)
Groupe anarchiste Salvador-Segui
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Segui, Salvador 1887 births 1923 deaths 20th-century anarchists Anarchists from Catalonia Anarcho-syndicalists Assassinated anarchists Assassinated Spanish people Assassinated trade unionists Confederación Nacional del Trabajo members General secretaries of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo Inmates of Presó Model de Barcelona People from Lleida Spanish syndicalists

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References

External links