La lucha por la calle»: la venta ambulante, la cultura de protesta y la represión en Barcelona (c. 1930-1936)

Este artículo analiza la venta ambulante de los obreros parados en la área barcelonesa durante los años previos a la guerra civil española. Esta práctica, igual que las respuestas de las autoridades, pone en evidencia el papel represor del Estado al igual que la intensidad de los conflictos sociales entre las clases comerciales y los parados durante este periodo. A su vez, la experiencia de los vendedores ambulantes, respaldados por el movimiento anarquista como un sector de los desposeídos, nos revela la flexibilidad de las estrategias movilizadoras de los libertarios. A primera vista puede parecer incongruente que los anarquistas defendieran esta forma de comercio, ya que, desde la perspectiva libertaria, la venta era, junto al Estado, uno de los grandes males que padecía la humanidad. Sin embargo, como veremos, los vendedores ambulantes, con su disponibilidad para defender su derecho al espacio público, proporcionaron a los libertarios una base de apoyo radicalizada. This article assesses street trade by unemployed workers in the Barcelona area in the years immediately prior to the start of the Spanish Civil War. This practice, along with official responses to it, tell us a lot about the repressive nature of the state, as well as highlighting sharp social conflicts between commercial sectors and the unemployed during this period. Equally, the experience of the street traders, who were embraced by the anarchists as a sector from within the dispossessed, provides us with an example of the flexibility of anarchist mobilising strategies. At first sight it might seem incongruous that anarchists should defend a form of trade, which, along with the state, was seen by the anarchists as a major scourge of humanity. Nevertheless, the street traders and their readiness to assert their right to the streets, provided the anarchists with a radicalised social constituency. sharp social conflicts between commercial sectors and the unemployed during this period. Equally, the experience of the street traders, who were embraced by the anarchists as a sector from within the dispossessed, provides us with an example of the flexibility of anarchist mobilising strategies. At first sight it might seem incongruous that anarchists should defend a form of trade, which, along with the state, was seen by the anarchists as a major scourge of humanity. Nevertheless, the street traders and their readiness to assert their right to the streets, provided the anarchists with a radicalised