Basque Country Industrialization: Economic Growth and Social Changes
1. In Spain, the first period of the 19th century was marked by coups, revolutions, wars, and changes of government, which made it impossible for Spain to experience significant economic development like England or other European territories. Some territories, such as Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Barcelona, may have seen small development due to Banking laws and the General Railroad Law. However, real economic growth occurred during the restoration process (1874-1930). This was because the government was based on bipartidism and rotativism organized by Cánovas, which provided Spain with peace and stability. Moreover, during the previous years, the Basque Country suffered the loss of their traditional laws, *foruak*, which were abolished after the defeat of the Carlists in the last Carlist War. Fortunately, in 1876, Cánovas partially restored them, and they were called “kontzertu ekonomikoak”:
- Each province would decide the amount of taxes, but they had to pay an annual quota to the State.
- Diputations could negotiate with the Central Government how they could administer the taxes: expropriate properties, build roads, ports…
- Diputations were not elected by General Juntas; they were elected by the state election system.
Apart from this, thanks to the great economic period, the tax pressure was smaller than in other provinces because they had more capital. In addition, thanks to this new law, the *jauntxoak* lost power, and the taxes were controlled by those who owned an industry.
3. Apart from developing the economy, industrialization had many different consequences in the Basque Country. For example, demographically, many people started to immigrate to the Basque Country to find a job. Although there was a high death rate due to the poor working and living conditions, the population grew significantly because the immigrants helped to raise the birth rate. Moreover, during this period, water services improved a lot in an attempt to prevent diseases.
However, in society, there was a significant problem caused by the differences between the new modernized and industrialized way of life and the traditional world defended by the *baserries* that lost power. So, the society was divided mainly into two groups: the industrial bourgeoisie and the working classes.
The industrial bourgeoisie was made up of a few families that controlled the most important industries of Bizkaia (Ybarra family, Chávarri, Martínez Rivas, Sota…). They obtained large capital from mining and invested it in industries. Furthermore, they had a marriage system where they unified their industries through marriages between them. Apart from these wealthy families, there were middle classes that were not poor but controlled small factories.
The working class or the proletariat was formed by those who worked in the factories and industries, usually immigrants. They worked in very bad conditions with a low salary and a working day of 12-15 hours without any type of Health National Service. Marginalized groups also belonged to the working class, and most of them were illiterate.
It is important not to forget the women, who at that time could not inherit the family property, so the best option for them was to work as domestics and marry to maintain or improve their status.
In politics, due to the new “españolist” oligarchy, which had representation in the Cortes and the Provinces, new parties emerged to improve the working conditions: Socialism, Anarchism, UGT, and Nationalism. The industrialization process also created areas to relax, like theaters, and new economic activities were developed.