Service-sector Guilds and the Challenge of Liberalization: The organization of maritime-cargo handling in Barcelona, c.1760-1840

Abstract

This thesis examines the guilds comprising the sub-sector of maritime cargo handling in Barcelona from 1760-1840, a period defined in economic terms by the progressive advance of liberal reforms and attempts at abolishing the guilds. Guilds in the service sector were responsible for activities that were vital to economic development, yet the organization of that labor remains an under-represented subject of investigation. By studying the totality of maritime-cargo handling trades of Barcelona, the thesis aims to contribute to the relatively limited scholarship of service-sector guilds and of port labor during the artisan phase. With this aim, the thesis discusses the historiography of guild and port labor studies, passing to a description of the geographic, infrastructural and socio-spatial delineations of the port based on objective and subjective considerations. By comparing the case of Barcelona to a number of other European ports, the study highlights relationships between port types and objective needs of cargo handling with the different organizational models that developed in the sub-sector. Thereafter, the investigation examines in detail the different guilds and the socio-judicial determination of responsibilities, privileges, organizational models and internal composition. Having covered these issues, the study then focuses on the various attempts at reforming or abolishing the guilds and the respective responses of these organizations to structural economic policy changes. During the period studied, the port infrastructure remained relatively unchanged and there was no mechanization of cargo-handling activities, facilitating the focus on changes in economic policy as factors in the application of liberal measures and the organizational responses of the guilds to these important changes. As such, the period studied covers the flexibilization of the labor market through reforms of monopolistic guild privileges and the eventual abolition of Spanish guilds in 1836. The proper handling of cargo and the mode of work influenced – but did not determine – occupational and organizational cultures: some guilds operated cooperatively, others, individually. These corporations were organized horizontally – there were no apprentices or journeymen in these trades, only masters – and developed alternative methods for organizing work processes, determining recruitment qualification, and for developing and transmitting skills. The investigation looks at the internal and external considerations that influenced the organizational responses to liberalism. The traditional (and arguably still generally dominant) historiography of guilds centers on discontinuity between the guilds and later organizations of labor and capital (trade unions and owners’ associations). This investigation highlights a number of direct continuities, contributing to the study of the development of capitalism. The principal conclusions of the research are focused on a number of related considerations, including: port types and infrastructures; the objective, cargo-based necessities of handling; work cultures, organizational cultures, and organizational models, (especially collaborative or individualistic activities); leveling mechanisms and the socio-economic composition of the guilds (vis à vis internal and external employment schemes), and the responses to liberalization (which is shown to have developed progressively over decades).

Esta tesis tiene como objetivo elucidar el sub-sector del manejo de la carga marítima en Barcelona (1760-1840) para mejor entender la función de los gremios de servicios. En especial analiza como reaccionaron estos gremios al desarrollo progresivo del liberalismo, que representó un reto considerable al sistema gremial. De esta manera, la tesis contribuye a la historiografía de los estudios de gremios europeos y de la historia de trabajo en el ámbito marítimo. Es notable que el objeto de estudio se encuentre como un outlier (o, caso atípico) en varios campos, ya que en los estudios de gremios hay poca atención puesta en el sector de servicios, y en los estudios de trabajo marítimo hay muy pocas investigaciones sobre la época artesanal. A nivel de historia local, existen unas pocas publicaciones sobre los gremios tratados aquí, pero en su mayoría se enfocan en un solo gremio, desconectado del resto de componentes del universo del trabajo portuario. Entre los temas tratados se encuentran: el análisis del sistema gremial europeo en general y la diferenciación de éstos gremios de servicios; un acercamiento al entendimiento socio-espacial del puerto (con casos comparativos); la definición socio-jurídica y económica de los gremios tratados; el avance progresivo del liberalismo en España y particularmente en Barcelona; y las estrategias de los diferentes gremios del sub-sector del manejo de la carga marítima frente las reformas y aboliciones liberales del sistema gremial. Basado en literatura secundaria principalmente en castellano, catalán e inglés, y en fuentes primarias mayoritariamente en castellano, la tesis se presenta en inglés, con un resumen exhaustivo en castellano. Las conclusiones se analizan a partir del objetivo y su relevancia a varios campos académicos.