Class instinct and workers' resistance in Asturias under the Franco dictatorship

Abstract

In the extreme conditions imposed by the Franco dictatorship, the legacy of the workers' movement will survive in a hidden way, expressed in forms of resistance that rest on primary solidarity that require very little or no organization, revolve around widely shared concrete purposes and entail a limited risk of adopting - apparently - non-political forms. Despite their almost instinctive nature, the collective subjects and the social environments in which they manifest themselves refer to the persistence of a memory of the workers' movement that subsists after the defeat of the civil war. Women assume the weight of the forms of solidarity based on family ties or community links, while men are the protagonists of those focused on the workplace. These collective attitudes refer to codes of conduct and shared values, to the point that on many occasions they are made effective through forms of non-verbal communication and can dispense not only with the written word but even with words. However, the activity of the small organized groups that develop active militancy against the dictatorship is based on these practices of solidarity and resistance, and from some of these primary solidarities they obtain resources - both material and moral - that are essential to continue their struggle.