Barcelona City Council joins in with and covers the commemorations being organised by various institutions to mark the 150th anniversary of the First Republic, which despite being brief shaped the history of our country.
The activities to mark the 150th anniversary of the First Spanish Republic include a book presentation on Monday, 13 February. The publication in question is La República a Barcelona de Miquel González i Sugranyes, 1873-1874, by the authors Jordi Roca Vernet (editor and introductory study) and Ginés Puente (presentation of documents and biographies), published by Barcelona City Council. Both authors will be taking part in the presentation, as will Jordi Rabassa, Councillor for Democratic Memory and for the District of Ciutat Vella, and Teresa Abelló Güell, Professor of Contemporary History and Today’s World at the Faculty of Geography and History at the University of Barcelona. Organised by the Councillor’s Office for Democratic Memory at Barcelona City Council, the presentation starts at 6 pm.
As stated on the back cover, “the history of the First Republic is unknown territory for most. It is a fascinating story in itself, without being a precedent for anything, and it shows us the unpredictability of accelerated moments in history. To get closer to it and find out what it meant, in this volume we reproduce the original book by Miquel González Sugranyes La República en Barcelona. Apuntes para una crònica. This is not a book of memories of an old republic, but rather a history book written by a witness, protagonist and analyst at the same time”. The edition includes an introductory study “which offers an understanding of the basics of republicanism and of federalism as the centrality of the tension between grassroots republicanism and the institutions in the construction of democracy. The book also allows us to consult the annexes to the work by Sugranyes with over a hundred documents, each preceded by a brief description added for readers of this edition. It also includes the biographies of key political and military authorities in the First Republic in Barcelona”.
Authors
Jordi Roca Vernet is an assistant lecturer on the Serra Húnter programme and coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Contemporary History and Today’s World at the University of Barcelona. Holder of a doctorate, and with a special award from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2007), he has carried out post-doctoral research at the Instituto Camões, the University of Warwick and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. He has published two research monographs: Barcelona revolucionària i liberal: exaltats, milicians i conspiradors (2011) and Tradició constitucional i història nacional (1808-1823). Llegat i projecció política d’una nissaga catalana: els Papiol (2011). With Núria Miquel, he has also published La Bullanga de Barcelona: La ciutat en flames. 25 de juliol de 1835 (2021).
Ginés Puente Pérez holds a doctorate in Contemporary History from the University of Barcelona, with the thesis De Soledad Gustavo a Teresa Mañé Miravent: els orígens de l’anarcofeminisme a Espanya (1865-1939). Co-director of the collection “Lliurepensaments”, published by Edicions UB and Publicacions URV, he has been a professor for various degree courses at the UB, the URV and the UOC. Specialising in the second half of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century, he has worked on the origins of anarchism and anarchist feminism, migration processes towards Latin America, the construction and renovation of Catalan communication networks and more.