Josep Llunas i Pujals


Josep Llunas i Pujals was a Catalán libertarian and free-thinker. He was the principal promoter and doctrinal theorist of anarchist proto-syndicalism, which formed the basis of Twentieth Century Catalan Anarcho-syndicalism. He was also a primary advocate of Collectivist Anarchism.

Organizations

He was a typesetter by profession, but he also studied music and singing and was a theatrical director. Of special significance in this regard was his role as secretary of the Catalan Athenaeum of the Working Classes, a proletarian cultural center which promoted a type of scientific anarchism. Llunas believed that the growth of science would promote social equality.
In 1870, he was a supporter of the First International and in 1872 became a member of the Local Federation of Workers' Societies of Barcelona. At the same time, he was involved with the secret committees of the Regional Spanish Federation of the International Workers' Association and organized the Typesetters Society of Barcelona in 1879. Two years later, together with Rafael Farga i Pellicer, Anselmo Lorenzo and other prominent anarchists, he helped found the Workers Federation of the Spanish Region and remained on the national committee until 1883.

Publications

He founded and managed the satirical journal La Tramuntana, also known as "El periòdic vermell". It was published from 1881 to 1896 and was the first weekly anarchist publication in Catalán. It took an aggressively anti-clerical and pro-working class approach and its contributors included many well-known leftist writers of the time, such as Eudald Canivell, Cels Gomis, Anselmo Lorenzo, Emili Guanyavents and Antoni Pellicer. Llunas also managed La Asociación, a cooperativist magazine.
He was jailed in 1893 during a general arrest and detention of anarchists, prompted by a bomb blast in the Liceu Theater that killed 20 people. After he was freed, he largely abandoned active participation in the workers' movement. Instead, he dedicated himself to the management of several weeklies and newspapers. These included El Productor and Los Deportes.

Major works