Criteris correcció_ Barcelona 1951
Look carefully at Sources A and B and answer the following questions:
Source A: 1951 Barcelona strike Image: Barcelona 1951 tram's strike |
Source B:
Income per person 1913-1960
Country | 1913 | 1929 | 1950 | 1960 |
Europe Occidental | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Germany | 112 | 115 | 107 | 132 |
France | 97 | 113 | 114 | 111 |
Great Britain |
154 | 148 | 151 | 131 |
Portugal | 48 | 47 | 41 | 41 |
Spain | 58 | 66 | 46 | 47 |
Italy | 66 | 68 | 65 | 73 |
J. Catalán: La economía española y la segunda Guerra mundial. Editorial Ariel. Barcelona 1995 |
Source C: Black market
Black market. Barcelona 1951 |
- What kind of source is source B? (1 point)
(classify and justify your answer)
It is a secondary source, not contemporary of the facts (1995); it is statistical ( income per person) and public
- What is the historical context of source A? (What happens in Spain and Barcelona?(2 points)
Spain: 1951: Dictatorship: first period or totalitarian period (1939-1959)
Autarchy- self sufficiency- was the economical policy and the result was misery, deprivation, food rationing (cartilla racionamiento) , corruption an black market (estraperlo).
Barcelona: the municipal authorities in Barcelona increased the cost of trams while in Madrid the tariff was not modified. An anonymous leaflet circulated throughout Barcelona calling for a boycott of the city’s trams.
We can see in this photography how angry citizens gathered to throw stones at the trams and marched through the streets in Barcelona, march 1951. It is an example of opposition against Francoist regime.
Though the boycott was successful in returning tram fare to its original price, (but) living costs were still too high.
AMPLIACIÓ, si et demanen més informació sobre l'oposició al franquisme:
(The social,labour conditions and wages were worse than those before the civil war. People didn’t have money enough to survive ) Franco’s opposition gained the unexpected and spontaneous support of the Barcelonan’s in the wake of the boycott of the use of trams, due to the increase in ticket price, - What kind of economical policy did the government opt for? Which were the consequences of that policy? And who benefited from it (2 points)
They opted for autarchy and for an inefficient and corrupt system of intervention and control of products, materials and prices that stimulates a parallel market: black market, (estraperlo).
- The consequences were stagnation and misery, economical depression and almost bankrupt in 1959.
- They created administrative corruption and inefficiency and a record of industrial stagnation
Taxes: a regressive fiscal measures were adopted and they taxed consumption more than income or inheritance
- Look at Source B and compare the income per person in Spain, France, Germany and explain what happened and why? -? (2 points)
The income per person in Spain is worse in 1960 than in 1919. People worked more and earned less than 50 years before (inflation). We had had a civil war, but it was not worse than the Second world War, so what happened in Spain?
There was a political reason:
Spain experienced the ostracism because of Franco's collaboration with the Axis powers during World War II and because of the dictatorial nature of his regime deprived the country of the benefits of the Marshall Plan (USA), which was a major factor in the rebuilding of Europe's post-war economy, as we can see in Germany and France income in 1960
More, if you think they need some explanation of those facts:
Spain didn’t take part on the Second World War and we could have take advantage of our "neutrality", as we did in the First World war, but Franco wasn’t neutral, he gave support to the Axis, and the ONU isolate its regime when 2ndWW finished. They opted for autarchy : a policy of highly protectionist economic self-reliance in a destroyed country as Spain after 3 years of civil war. - What do you think about the economical or political isolation of one country -such as democratic countries did with Spain those years-? Do you think this policy worked? who paid that policy? (Explain what happened and justify your point of view)(2 points)
Free answer…The consequences of political isolation due to the foreign policy, initially oriented to the Axis, were paid for the poorest Spanish people: they had to work more than before and they could barely survive. The dictatorship survived until 1975 and the worse effects of isolation were paid for people, repression, black-market, food rationing.., but not for the regime ”families” and leaders.
To improve your Knowledge:
Film: "Pa negre" (link) (one of the best films to understand this time)
Music: international context: (link)Listen to a clip of "Strange Fruit" sung by Billie Holiday.
Informacions vaga 1951.
En marzo de 1951, la tensión acumulada a lo largo de la década anterior, Los periódicos no dieron el más mínimo informesobre lo que se considera uno de los episodios fundamentales de la oposición ..La idea de organizar la huelga general, que paralizó importantes empresasde Barcelona y su entorno a mediados de marzo de 1951, partió de una asamblea de enlaces sindicales en el local del Consejo Nacional de la OrganizaciónSindical de la Vía Layetana, en la que los dirigentes de la OSE fueron desbor-dados y perdieron el control del acto. En estas circunstancias, una crónica de La Vanguardia en Madrid dio cuenta de que la tarifa en esa capital era de 0,40 pesetas. LA OPOSICIÓN AL REGIMEN FRANQUISTA EN BARCELONA. |