What is "cantonalism"

Cantonalism, mainly prevalent in late 19th century and early 20th century Spain, is an insurrectionary movement which aims to divide the nation state into almost independent cantons.

It is in favor of federalism with a radical character (including redistribution of wealth, improvement of the working classes etc.), its goal is to establish a confederation of towns or cities (cantons) as a federation of independent units. It resembles in some ways to the Greek polis. Cantonalism was predominantly a phenomenon of the petty bourgeoisie, but also had a great influence on the nascent labor movement, and constituted a precedent for anarchism in Spain.