El Intruso
Type:Prim sour/As a regrds th frm→novel→literary,narrative/Content→soci txt||Authr: Vicnte Blasco Ibáñz. At 1st he was a manners author, then wrote a social theme. Also understood in politics+lecturer issues||Addressed:Readers→public txt||OBJECTIVE:Reflect social consquences f industriali:describing living conditis f workrs in th mines f Bizka at end f 19th century||Loca+Date:Historically located→period f th process f industriali f Bizka, specifically:at time f exploitati f th iron mines Intro El Intruso
CONTENT
In the novel “El Intr”,Vic B.I. reflects th sudden change+clash between two worlds+th soci conflicts in th indstrial environmnt f Bilb: from th pre-indstrial society:peasant+traditional+ Catho-to a new society:proletarianized, immigrant(“maketo”)+in favour o new ideologies
1.line – place the story in space, specifically “the house of the Labourers/peons”.
2nd-3rd paragraphs - explains the situation of workers in 3 ideas.
1. Description of the scarce conditions of life of the low class labourers of the iron mines of the Encartaciones of Bizkaia: Poor food and clothing (4-6l.); inappropriate residential buildings (barracks), small, cold, unprepared, dirty, lack of hygiene and health, overcrowding of workers and without lack of privacy (6-12l.)
2. Description of the working conditions of the low class labourers of the iron mines of the Encartaciones of Bizkaia: The work they do (2-4l.) is described and the places of work are mentioned, the abundant iron mountains of the Encartaciones (20l.). The work done in open pit mines and in underground mines is compared: underground work is a qualified and more difficult job. To work in the quarry instead, apart from physical strength, no special type of service is needed.
3. The problem that arose with immigration (24-27l.). In order to extend the demands of the workers' movement and improve working conditions in open pit mines, the continuous flow of poor workers who accepted any type of working conditions was an impediment. Likewise, workers who were expelled from the quarries for asking for labor improvements were quickly replaced and that prevented them from fighting for their rights. It is an idea linked to the principles of trade unionism.
3. CONTEXT
Precedents
Beginnings of industrialization in Bizkaia. Appearance of the Bessemer converter, which took advantage of the iron from Bizkaia with excellent characteristics for the steel industry. All this together with open-pit mines, unskilled workers, very low production costs, closeness to means of transport (the Bilbao estuary) made industrial development offer excellent opportunities for the new industrial bourgeoisie for the development of steel companies in Bizkaia.
Growth of the exploitation of the Encartaciones mines due to a series of favorable conditions: price, cheaper, easy to transport due to its proximity to the Bilbao estuary and the development of the railway and an iron of excellent quality.
Influence of the colonial exploitation, way in which the entrepreneurs organized the mining operations, which brought with it an accumulation of capital in a series of families of the Biscay oligarchy.
Present moment
Consequences of development in workers. Emergence of the working class. Explain the conditions of life and work of the workers.
In the Basque Country the workforce was composed of immigrants in a very large proportion.
From the first moment, the immigrants had to endure subhuman living conditions and poor working conditions. The hardest working conditions were borne by the workers of the mines without any doubt: crammed into barracks, days of more than 12 hours of work, without any type of labor agreement, forced to buy in the official stores of the companies by the system of vouchers … Before this painful panorama emerged the first socialist groups (Bilbao, Ortuella, La Arboleda …) At the state level, in Bizkaia emerged the most active and important socialist movement.
Consequences
Beginnings of the workers’ struggle: (especially the mining strike of 1890) strengthened the PSOE, and in this way, this party became little by little the representative in Bizkaia of the workers. Important historical figures of socialism were related to the workers movement in Bizkaia: Pablo Iglesias, Facundo Perezagua, Indalecio Prieto, Tomás Meabe… this strike would end with the signing of the Loma agreement. The implementation of the 10-hour workday would be achieved, the elimination of the obligation to buy in the company’s stores and freedom of choice of housing, not in barracks. The measures in exchange were not guaranteed and the strikes were repeated in the following years.
4. CONCLUSION/IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXT
- The influence that the Bessemer converter will have on the development of the growth of the mining activity in Bizkaia due to the excellent quality of the iron ore suitable for the converter, being the starting point of the industrialization.
- Explanation of the consequences of the industrialization process:
– Social: appearance of the working class, crisis of the traditional society, replaced mostly by an unskilled and immigrant workforce.
– Demographic: increase in immigration mainly from provinces bordering the Basque Country, and also a significant increase in population.
- Abandonment of working and living conditions of workers, and as a consequence of this the emergence and expansion of the workers’ movement.