Cooperatives

At the end of the 19th century, the cooperative movement was taking root in the working neighbourhoods of Barcelona to tackle the economic difficulties faced by the working class. Through solidarity and mutual help, cooperatives organised the consumption, production and credit of many families, following the principles of economic democracy. The La Fraternitat cooperative (1879-1981) was created in La Barceloneta, and today its modernist building is home to the neighbourhood library. There used to be a shop on the ground floor; a function room where dances, concerts and meals were held on the first floor; a small theatre on the second floor; and the library and some offices on the third floor. 

Later, other cooperatives were founded in the neighbourhood, such as El Segle XX (1901), La Victòria (1901), the Centre Cooperatiu de Pescadors (1901), La Joventut Pescadora (1911) and La Salvació Fraternal (1913).

A host neighbourhood

Like the majority of the families in the neighbourhood, the López-Barber family was of foreign origin. The father was born in Rincón de la Victoria (Andalusia) and the maternal grandparents had come from Altea (Valencia). The expectation of finding work at the port or in the neighbourhood industries, such as La Maquinista Terrestre i Marítim and the Nueva Vulcano, meant that La Barceloneta received several waves of migration. During the 19th century, the majority of newcomers were sea people from other Catalan, Balearic and Valencian ports, while in the 20th century they mainly came from the rest of Spain.

Between 1975 and 1985 the first immigrants from outside Spain began to arrive, and today 40.5% of the population of La Barceloneta is of foreign origin. The most numerous community is Italian (19.3%), followed by the Pakistani (7.1%) and Moroccan (5.5%) communities. The Latin American population, from different countries, makes up 13% of the migrant population.

The black market

The father of the López-Barber family worked at the port and, making the most of this situation, took part in the phenomenon of the black market, like many other families in the neighbourhood. The end of the Civil War was marked by long periods of scarcity of basic products, and the port of La Barceloneta was one of the main entry points of goods from all over the world. This promoted a black market, beyond the control of the Franco regime, known as estraperlo, which for many working class families meant a way of survival or of achieving a more prosperous situation. The black market declined at the end of the rationing period, in 1952, but it continued to operate to a lesser extent for years.

Hospital del Mar

This thermometer from the 1970s is a reminder of the health services that have looked after the residents of La Barceloneta, such as the Hospital del Mar. It started out as the former municipal infectious diseases hospital, created in 1914 in one of the existing pavilions to tackle the serious outbreak of typhoid fever that had hit Barcelona. In 1930 the hospital opened in a new building; during the Civil War it was affected by the Fascist airstrikes and the patients and staff were transferred to Hotel Florida in Tibidabo. During the Franco regime the hospital, renamed as Nuestra Señora del Mar, became a leading health centre with the use of the first iron lung and the creation of the first intensive care unit. When democracy arrived, it became established as a health, teaching and research centre and expanded its facilities to become what is today known as the Parc de Salut MAR.

The neighbourhood movement

This badge is the symbol of one of the last big campaigns by the residents’ movement in defence of their neighbourhood, in 2017. From the 1960s onwards, residents’ associations started to appear all across Barcelona and they gradually became a school of democracy that clashed with the interests of the dictatorship. In 1969, La Barceloneta was affected by the mayor Porcioles’ pla de la Ribera, an urban renovation plan that speculated on land along the seafront, and this marked a turning point for the residents of La Barceloneta, who opposed it and managed to repeal it.

Today the residents’ association of La Barceloneta and l’Òstia and other platforms such as “La Barceloneta diu prou” and the Associació Barceloneta Alerta are fighting to preserve the neighbourhood’s identity in the face of a harmful tourism model that has led to an increase in the price of housing and the transformation of many businesses for tourism purposes.