14 de April de 2023
Books. The book tells the story of the five years of struggle, and the projects that would have transformed the city had war not broken out.
Barcelona City Council and Editorial Base are publishing La Barcelona que mai va ser: L’obra de l’Ajuntament republicà (1931-1936) [The Barcelona that Never Was: The Work of the Republican City Council 1931-36], a study that tells the story of five years of struggle, and projects that would have transformed the city.
The book explores the time of the Republic, when revolutionary politicians came to power and decided to transform Barcelona at a time when anything seemed possible. Despite the importance of this historical period, it had never been studied in depth until now. This work has shed light on the political projects and events that left their mark on the city, and imagines what Barcelona might have been like had they been able to develop those projects, and if the forty years of the Franco regime had never existed.
The book unveils, chronologically, a convulsive and hectic time, one that saw various crises and changes of government, against the backdrop of an intense tug-of-war between the new representatives of the Republican parties and the defenders of old privileges and structures who were loath to relinquish the position they had held until then. “The Republic meant a lot of things, and often different things. For the people, it meant the end of the corruption of the monarchy, for some it meant freedom and democracy, and others thought that it could usher in a federal system, agrarian reform or represent a path towards an alternative system to capitalism, be it socialist, communist or a response to demands it was impossible for the Republic to meet, bearing in mind that some were in conflict with each other”, concludes Alexandre Solano.
It also explains the changes in urban planning and public transport in the city, as well as the initiatives to achieve linguistic normalisation.
The book also retraces the history of political leaders who have “unjustly” fallen into oblivion, such as Jaume Aiguader, Jaume Vàchier and Carles Pi i Sunyer, and the action they took at key moments in history, such as the events of October 1934.
Presentation at the MUHBA’s Casa Padellàs
Monday 17 April, at 6.30 pm, the book will be presented in the Antonio de Capmany room at the Casa Padellàs (Pl. Rei, 11). The event will be attended by political scientist Alexandre Solano Budé, who has a PhD in Contemporary History awarded by the University of Barcelona and is the author of the book; Andreu Mayayo, professor of contemporary history and the modern world at the University of Barcelona and director of the Centre for International Historical Studies, and Jaume Muñoz Jofre, director of memory, history and heritage at Barcelona City Council.
Both the publication of the book and the presentation are part of the activities organised by the Councillor’s Office for Democratic Memory at Barcelona City Council aimed at the memories of key figures of the Second Republic, under the title “Primavera Republicana. Refugi de somnis” [Republican Spring. The Refuge of Dreams].
