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On October 1, 2017, the Spanish police assault on Catalans voting in a peaceful referendum shot Catalonias struggle for independence onto the worlds front pages. Today, those two million-plus voters have neither forgiven nor forgotten: the struggle continues.Catalonia's national consciousness has deep roots. A People's History of Catalonia tells this small countrys history, from below, in all its richness and complexity. Catalonias struggles for freedom have, for centuries, been violently resisted; and its language and rights, suppressed. Since the nineteenth century, the fight for national sovereignty has often intertwined with working-class mobilisation for social justice. Barcelona became known as the Rose of Fire. In 1936 Catalonia saw one of historys most profound workers revolutions.From the peasant revolts of the 15th century and the siege of Barcelona in 1714, through the explosive workers movement led by anarchists, the defeat in the Spanish Civil War, to the anti-Franco resistance in the grim years that followed, the author tells a compelling story whose ending has yet to be written.
List of contents
Introduction
Part I: From Empire to Province
1. Rise and Fall of the Crown of Aragon
2. The Three Great Class Struggles of the Fifteenth Century
3. Revolution and Republic: 1641
4. Damn Them When You've Done: 1714
5. The Inanimate Corpse
Part II: The Working Class Moves Centre-Stage
6. Rose of Fire
7. Free Men and Women
8. The Mass Strike: Europe Burning
9. The Giant Awakes
10. Cradle of the Spanish Revolution: 1936
11. Defeat of the Dictatorship
12. The Difficult Spirit: From Autonomy to Independence
Endwords
Timeline
Glossary
Bibliography
Notes
Index
About the author
Michael Eaude has lived between Barcelona and the hills of Valencia for thirty years. He has written widely on Spanish and Catalan literature and politics. His several books include Catalonia, a Cultural History and Sails and Winds on the history, politics and culture of Valencia.
Summary
A history of Catalonia and its struggle for independence, from the 10th century to the present day
