Pistolerismo refers to the practise, used by Spanish employers during Alfonso XIII’s reconstruction crisis, of hiring thugs to face syndicalists and notable workers. The workers replied in turn by hiring their own gunmen.

In the end, pistolerismo caused the death of 200 workers and 20 employers’ gunmen.

Pistolerismo affected primarily Barcelona urban and industrial proletariat

Proletariat

The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...

, which was getting active and making an increasing number of strikes

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

 motivated by the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...

 (CNT), a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist trade union, though there were similar actions in other Spanish cities. After knowing of the CNT’s great power, the employers decided to strike back through violence, and the employers-workers clash degenerates in white pistolerismo (white terrorism by the employers) replied in turn by anarcho-syndicalism terrorism. Employers, politicians, the clergy and the forces of order on the one hand, and syndicalism leaders and lawyer were the target of these two kinds of terrorism.

The employers replied by closing several factories, deeming a lot of workers to unemployment and famine. The employers were helped by “Yellow” Trade Unions, or “Free” Trade Unions, such as the Sindicat Lliure, which provided scabs to supply the workers that were being punished. They also forced the Government to stop, by any means, the increasing role of anarcho-syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...

 in Spain. The Government chose General Martínez Anido as Civil Gobernor of Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. He protected the white terrorism while putting down syndicalism by applying the “escaping law”, a process that consisted of telling prisoner that they had just being released, in order to execute them moments later for “attempting to escape from prison”.

White gunmen assessinated, among many others, famous syndicalists such as Pau Sabater

Pau Sabater

Pau Sabater i Llirós was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo in Catalonia. He was known also as "el Tero". He was secretary of the Union of Dyers, one of the most powerful trade unions of the textile industry. His partner was Josepa Ros, with whom he had three...

in 1919, Evelino Boal in 1921, Salvador “El Noi del Sucre” Seguí, and Francesc Comes in 1923, and lawyers such as Francesc Layret in 1920.