It was established by Carlist workers, and remained active during the early interwar period (the late stages of Restoration Spain) as a counterweight to the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo.

The Sindicatos lost momentum during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, and eventually dissolved when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed.

They Sindicatos Libres were founded on 10 October 1919 in Barcelona,[1] during a time of severe and violent class conflict between employers and workers in the city, with the practice of "pistolerismo" widespread.

With employers feeling that the Spanish Police and Army were inefficient in their attempts to stop left-wing agitation, they sponsored the growth of the Sindicatos, seeking to use them as violent militia groups.

[12] The Confederación Nacional de Sindicatos Libres ("National Confederation of Free Trade Unions") dissolved right after the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931.