Francisco Ferrer Guardia (1859-1909) was a freemason, an atheist and a radical educational reformer who felt affinity with anarchism. On September 8, 1901, he opened La Escuela Moderna [The modern school] in Barcelona. The aim of this school was to educate the working class in a rational and secular way. La Escuela Moderna grew rapidly to thirty-four schools with over 1,000 students in 1906. The Spanish government and clergy found a reason to close the school after Ferrer's imprisonment in 1906. Ferrer was suspected of being involved in the attempt at the Spanish King. The end of La Escuela Moderna didn't extinguish his ideals.
In 1909 Ferrer was condemned to death on the accusation of having organised the Semana Trágica - a general strike against sending troops to Morocco - in Barcelona. In spite of many international protests he was executed in October 1909.