The strike (, ) was a historic strike action in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that was initiated in February 1919 by Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and lasted over 44 days evolving into a general strike paralyzing much of the industry of Catalonia. Among its consequences was to force the Spanish government to issue the , the first law limiting the working day to eight hours. The strike originated at the principal electricity company in Barcelona, , a subsidiary of Barcelona Traction, popularly known as because its major shareholder was the Canadian Bank of Commerce of Toronto. Background The strike was part of the rise of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT which reached its maximum point in the National Congress of December 1919 in Madrid (the CNT's members increased from 80,541 in 1918 to 845,805 in 1919). It was, likewise, the first major action of the CNT after the reorganization into single unions carried out by the Regional Confederation of Catalonia, which the entire organization would later adopt. The choice to start the strike at the principal electricity company of Catalonia, vital for the industry of the entire region, aimed to make Catalan business owners recognize CNT as a major organized labor force. In January, weeks before initiating the strike, the Regional Confederation of Catalonia organized an agitation campaign in which it sent its best speakers (among whom were Salvador Seguí, Ángel Pestaña and Manuel Buenacasa) to Levante and Andalusia. This campaign greatly alarmed the government and, along with the agitation that was taking place in Barcelona, led the government of Álvaro de Figueroa to suspend constitutional guarantees, arrest important figures and CNT leaders like Negre, Buenacasa or Seguí and to close unions and the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera. Events of the strike Start of the strike The strike was initiated as a solidarity act to eight workers who had been fired from the . Some days before, the company had decided to lower the workers' salaries camouflaging the wage reduction by simultaneously changing these workers' status from temporary to permanent employment. Some of the workers affected by this action were members of the CNT and turned to it to defend their wages, resulting to their dismissal by the company. Three days later, on February 5, the workers of the billing section of the company started the strike until the reinstatement of their colleagues and sent a commission to the civil governor, Carlos González