As the two Gijóns acquired economic, political and cultural shape over the decades, the process of polarization took its most visible form in the increasingly endemic contentious collective action for which the city became renowned. This conflict was both the cause and the result of a polarizing society; it acted out the drama of opposing interests in a way that both illustrated and reinforced existing divisions. Equally important, the conflict was both the cause and the result of solidifying community networks, which provided the necessary resources and linkages to sustain such action. Thus, the collective action demonstrated the capacity for mobilization as it generated ever higher levels of mobilization. As a result, the city developed its urban battlefield long before the official outbreak of hostilities in July of 1936.

The precise source of conflict varied widely, from workplace conditions, to public services, to consumption issues, to political ideology. The groups and organizations that launched and participated in these conflicts also varied, from permanent political associations like the CNT, to formal interest groups like the Association of Tavern Owners, to informal coalitions like the women of a neighborhood. The wide range of issues, participants and strategies demonstrates the inadequacy of traditional class models of mobilization, which privilege only certain institutional players like the trade unions and specific kinds of “worker” concerns that were labeled “class consciousness.” It also illustrates the deficiency of evolutionary models of collective action based on the “modernization” of protest.