In July 1909, women led a spontaneous uprising, known as the Tragic Week, against the system of mobilising reservists for the Moroccan War that exempted the rich. The repression was harsh and Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia was executed by a firing squad. In the summer of 1917, the crisis in Spain led to the Assembly of Parliamentarians in Barcelona and in August a general strike was declared. The syndicalist movement organised itself. The economic recession that followed the First World War led to a decline in workers' living conditions. In 1919, a strike at La Canadenca won an eight-hour working day for workers.