La década prodigiosa de Regina Lamo: su compromiso con el cooperativismo obrero en la Cataluña de los años veinte

Abstract

This paper looks to shape the construction of the character Regina Lamo, until now presented as subordinate to other lives that have more historical relevance than hers. Among other types of activism, Lamo became an opinion leader and the creator of a school in the field of cooperativism as the most effective way to fight against the exploitation of the labour movement in the first decades of the twentieth century in Spain. The serious situation of social conflict experienced in the first decades of the century in the context of the modernization of Spain, and in particular in Catalonia, along with the rise of the labour movement, caused strong repression of the main force, anarcho-syndicalism. A space was thus opened for the mutualists, who were looking for a gradual and peaceful erosion of capitalism and were in favour of the social economy, in opposition to the Bakuninists, prone to militant struggle, the general strike and insurrection. In this context, Regina Lamo defined her commitment with an original proposal for the creation of Popular Credit Banks, which singled out her position, one that today we look to reclaim as a transgressor of gender boundaries.