La crisis gremial y los problemas de la sedería valenciana (Finales del siglo XVIII y principios del siglo XIX)

The reform of the craft guild system in Spain, encouraged by the enlightened reformism of the second half of the eighteenth century, reached one of its most radical moments with the abolition of the Guild of Silk Throwsters in 1793. In this essay we look into the effects and reactions that this measure unleashed inside the important silk sector in the city of Valencia. Spinning, whose last and most skilled stage was throwing, had become a bottle-neck which put in jeopardy the future of an economic activity of vital importance for the urban population and economy. The abolition of this guild had the twofold effect of bringing to light the deep-seated troubles which were plaguing work organization in spinning, and disclosing the complex position of merchant capital in the silk trade. Valencian commercial bourgeoisie did not get involved in the much-needed reconversion of spinning. This is an essential factor to explain the failure of all the measures designed to provide the mills with cheap, good-quality yarn in large quantities. Furthermore, the absence of a restructuring of spinning is one of the reasons which accounts for the fact that the commercial bourgeoisie itself ended up maintaining a frontal opposition to this anti-guild decree issued by the Royal Court.