Pistolerismo

Pistolerismo refers both to a specific period of Spanish history, between the general strike of August 1917 and Primo de Rivera's coup in September 1923, and to the social phenomenon spread in many areas of Spain^[1] during which Spanish employers hired thugs to face and often kill trade unionists and notable workers – and vice versa.^[2] It was characterized by the birth and proliferation of several armed groups composed of pistoleros, specialized men in the use of violence.^[1]

It reached its most tragic consequences in the region of Catalonia and especially in the city of Barcelona, where hundreds of people were killed or injured as consequence of political violence and social attacks. Above all, social clashes of these years played a fundamental role in the crisis of the Spanish Liberal State, whose existence definitely finished with de Rivera's coup.^[3]