I work 12 hours a day in exchange for an 80 m2 apartment

Puig-reigThis isn't an advertisement. It's not work in exchange for housing. It's a historical report, although, given the current situation, it could be relevant today and might even attract enough applicants. In any case, a century ago, quite a few people considered it a blessing to have a job six days a week and twelve hours a day, thus guaranteeing, in addition to a small salary, above all a roof over their heads and security.

This happened a century and a bit ago—not so long ago—in industrial Catalonia, and more specifically in the factory colonies. Many peasant families found a way to escape the misery and insecurity of the countryside. Of course, several industrialists made a lot of money and considered themselves, at the same time, social benefactors. One of the most notorious cases was the Vidal colony in Puig-reig, dedicated to the continuous production of cotton yarn in two shifts: the morning shift began at five in the dark. The work was non-stopThe only days of rest were Sundays, when it was time to go to mass, which in practice became an obligatory activity. Otherwise, you were ostracized.

What did the workers receive? They were entitled to an 80 m² apartment.² With electricity and running water, considerable advances at the time, for a rent of 10 pesetas a week. They also had their own vegetable garden with a shed. The entire residential area, situated on higher ground and in a less damp location, was separate from the factory and therefore far from the infernal noise of the machinery. It was a home in a protected, safe space. What more could one ask for?

In this environment, the privileged From being exploited, they left behind the uncertainty and hardship of life in the countryside in exchange for the certainty and hardship of factory work. From the gallows to the loom, from working under the sun to the deafening and stressful work inside an industrial building, where 300 backstrap looms operated simultaneously, creating a noise that seems intolerable to us today: 80% of the workers were women. Each week they received a wage—17 pesetas a week for men; 15 for women; and 12 for children—money that families spent almost entirely within the colony itself, where they had a good supply of everything, including a general store, a fishmonger, a shoemaker... They rarely left the compound, only if they were expelled: "to the fields!" was literal. If you fell out of favor for any reason—a work accident, illness, failure to keep to the schedule—you had no choice but to return to working in the fields, an undesirable prospect, without a fixed salary. It was like returning to the open air.

The novel Cologne scentSilvia Alcántara's novel was inspired by the Vidal colony, a microcosm of 900 people (around 150 homes) living under the long, protective, and controlling shadow of Mr. Vidal and the priest. The bank was also a factor: in 1929, Caixa Manresa opened its first branch outside the city. Not depositing money with them was also frowned upon.

The Vidal family was originally from Manresa. And they were very Catholic. They knew how to get along well with the ecclesiastical and governmental hierarchy: in the colony, a bust of Saint Thomas with a face suspiciously similar to Franco's is still preserved. In 1951, they founded a school for young workers in Navàs under the patronage of the Bishop of Solsona, the Valencian Vicent Enrique Tarancón, who years later, during the democratic transition, would play a key role in opening up the Church as head of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. The Vidals, specifically the Vidal-Arderiu branch, also became friends with Cardinal Roncalli, who would eventually become Pope John XXIII, also a reformist and driving force behind the Second Vatican Council. The Vidals were socially conscious conservatives.

But let's get back to the factory. That closed world of the colonies lasted for a little over a century, from the mid-19th century well into the second half of the 20th. Vidal was one of the last to open (in 1901) and one of the first to close (in 1980). In 1900, a year before it opened its doors, the last Carlist skirmish took place in Berguedà, a remnant of a world that was coming to an end: a group of traditionalists from Gironella clashed, weapons in hand, with the Civil Guard, resulting in two deaths and several injuries. It was a swan song. The 19th century, the century of the failure of the liberal state, was drawing to a close, and another story was beginning, one that would not be without violence, but now based on the axes of class struggle and national conflict: Catalanism vs. Spanishness, revolutionary workers vs. Reactionary capitalism. The old Carlist motto "God, country, and king" would gradually fade into oblivion. The great rural families were definitively losing influence. Industrialization had been gaining ground. In fact, Berguedà, following the course of the Llobregat, "the hardest-working river in the world," had become one of the regions in Europe with the most industrial colonies: fourteen.

Well, with Vidal, fifteen. It was the last and the most modern, even, thanks to the socially conscious Catholic spirit of the Vidal family, the most socially progressive: a dispensary with a doctor, a cinema, a nursery (for children aged 0 to 5), a free school (for children aged 5 to 10, boys and girls separated), a café, a football field, showers, and 2,000 books. Since its closure, it has also been the best preserved and the one that best explains, even today, what that system of paternalistic owners and grateful workers who exchanged freedom for security meant. Fifteen years after its closure as a production center, in 1995 it was inaugurated as a museum, following the cultural initiative that had been undertaken in the German Ruhr region once the mines closed.

Today, thirty years later, the Vidal Colony continues to receive visits, especially from schools, although its state of preservation is only partial. Only some parts can be visited. There are also a few occupied rental apartments, managed by the Vidalia cooperative. The complex, however, is owned by an investment fund that has so far failed to make it profitable. The future of the complex is not entirely clear.

The museum section is privately owned, still maintained today by the Vidal family foundation, and for a time was a section of the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia. It could also be part of a history museum: it recreates a significant economic and social experiment largely responsible for the success of Catalan industrialization. In this case, far from Barcelona, ​​it was a choice that responded both to the desire to escape the pressure of labor unions and to take advantage of hydroelectric power, only having to resort to the more expensive coal when the river flowed low (they had an alternative system in place).

Property situation of the Vidal Colony

The majority of the development is owned by Hynes, a US company that brings together various investment funds. It purchased the estate (two registered properties) around 2013. The Fundació Vidal retained ownership of, and still owns, one block of buildings: the block where the museum, library, auditorium, bar, and shop are located. Hynes financed the purchase with various investment funds and a loan from Banco Pastor. They raised approximately €20 million (€12 million to pay the owners and €8 million for renovations). The plan was to develop a housing project of up to 400 units. To promote the project in the town, a tent was set up in Puig-reig.

Initially, Hynes sold the waterfall to a private individual (for over €3 million), a resident of Madrid who still operates it. It is the largest waterfall on the Llobregat River, generating between 4.5 and 5 million kWh per year. The entire operation was halted by the real estate crisis. This also coincided with Banco Popular's acquisition by Banco Santander. Hynes put the entire complex up for sale through the Bilbao-based law firm Imaz. Previously, he had signed a 75-year sharecropping agreement with the Vidalia cooperative in exchange for a commitment to gradually rehabilitate the complex. Santander also transferred ownership of the property (and all its non-performing real estate assets) to the firm Alseda, which won a lawsuit against Vidalia. However, the sale has not yet been carried out.

There have been some interested buyers looking to rehabilitate the complex to build apartments. But so far, no sale has materialized.

The Vidal Foundation

The Vidal Foundation intends to continue its work, but the pandemic, with its lack of visitors, caused problems and losses. Perhaps by 2025, the numbers will start to improve. Last year, it received just over 20,000 visitors. Part of what is open to the public is through an agreement with Vidalia (the industrial building, the laundry, the apartment, the fish market, the church). The machinery belongs to the Foundation and, in part, to the National Museum of Science and Technology (MNCT), although the Vidal Colony, due to misunderstandings with the previous museum management, ceased to be a separate section. The Foundation would like to transition to a public-private partnership and reintegrate itself into the MNCT network.