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The Asturian miners' strike of 1934 was a major strike action which took place in Asturias in northern Spain soon developing into armed insurrection against the Spanish government.
Following the victory of the parties of the right in the General Election of 1933, the parties of the left became concerned that the new government would move towards authoritarianism and infringe worker's rights. As a result, they called a general strike. However the strike immediately exposed differences on the left between the PSOE linked Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), which organised the strike and the anarcho-syndicalist union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), which was sceptical of the value of strike action as a political tactic. As a result, the strike failed in much of Spain.
In Asturias, local unions in the mining towns of Asturias gathered small arms and determined to see the strike through. In Asturias, the strike began on the evening of October 4, with the miners occupying several towns, attacking and seizing local Civil and Assault Guard barracks. The following day saw columns of miners advancing along the road to Oviedo, the provincial capital. With the exception of two barracks where fighting with government troops continued, the city was taken by October 6. The miners proceeded to occupy several other towns, most notably the large industrial centre of La Felguera and set up town assemblies or 'revolutionary committees', to govern towns they controlled.
The government responded by organising troops led by Franco to retake the towns from the miners. On October 7, delegates from the anarchist controlled seaport towns of Gijón and Avilés arrived in Oviedo to request weapons to defend against a landing of government troops. Ignored by the socialist UGT controlled committee, the delegates returned to their town empty handed and government troops met little resistance as they recaptured Gijón and Avilés the following day. The capture of the two key ports effectively spelled the end of the strike, and in the armed action taken against the uprising some 3,000 miners were killed in the fighting with another 35,000 taken prisoner.
References
External links
- 1934: The Asturias Revolt at libcom.org
- Republican Spain at countrystudies.us
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