Maria Cristina’s Regency & Rise of Social Movements in Spain
Maria Cristina’s Regency and Political Landscape
Following the untimely death of Alfonso XII, Maria Christina of Austria assumed the regency until the future Alfonso XIII came of age. This new phase commenced with a Liberal Party government under Sagasta.
Key legislative milestones during this period included the enactment of the Code of Commerce (1885) and the Civil Code (1890). The Associations Act served as a preliminary step towards examining the living conditions of workers and enacting necessary improvements. This Act also paved the way for the legalization of unions. Other significant laws included the Jury Act, which remained in effect for thirty-five years, and the Universal Suffrage Law. Despite his skepticism towards popular vote, Sagasta championed universal suffrage as a strategic maneuver to consolidate his leadership within the Liberal Party.
Social Movements: Regionalism and Nationalism
Significant social movements, such as the labor and peasant movements, alongside regional and national movements, remained outside the Restoration’s political framework. Their exclusion ultimately contributed to the system’s downfall due to its inability to integrate them.
Catalan Regionalism
Since the 1830s, within the context of Romanticism, a literary and cultural movement known as the Renaixença emerged in Catalonia. Prat de la Riba, a prominent member of the Catholic bourgeoisie and a key figure in the Catalan Regionalist League, was one of its most active ideologues. Founded in 1901, the League was a conservative party advocating for Catalonia’s autonomy, with its social base rooted in the middle and upper classes.
Basque Nationalism
The emergence of Basque nationalism in the last quarter of the century can be attributed to several factors: the rapid industrialization of Vizcaya, driven by the iron and steel industry, and the abolition of historical privileges following the last Carlist War. Basque nationalism, drawing from an idealized vision of its past and traditional society, rejected “Spanishness,” which was largely associated with workers from outside the region. Sabino Arana, incorporating these ideological elements, founded the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV). The PNV, with its Carlist and conservative roots, represented the interests of the agricultural and traditional petty bourgeoisie of Bilbao. Its motto was “God and the Old Law.”
Galician Regionalism
In Galicia, the earliest instance of an autonomy movement occurred in 1846 but was suppressed. Similar to Catalonia, a cultural movement known as O Rexurdimento emerged in the mid-19th century within the context of late Romanticism, albeit with limited political aspirations. In 1889, Manuel Murguía, husband of Rosalía de Castro, established the Galician Regional Association.
Labor Movement: Anarchism and Socialism
Concurrently, with progressive industrialization and the consolidation of capitalism, the working class grew both socially and numerically. Anarchism became the dominant force within the Spanish labor movement, with its primary strongholds in the Andalusian countryside and among the urban proletariat of Catalonia. The 1890s witnessed a cycle of attacks, executions, repression, and terrorist propaganda.
In 1879, Pablo Iglesias clandestinely founded the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), and in 1888, he established the General Union of Workers (UGT) as the party’s affiliated union. In 1889, the Second International was founded, dominated by Marxist ideology. The Second International established May 1st in 1890 as a day of labor action, commemorating the murder of five anarchist workers in Chicago, to demand an eight-hour workday. The PSOE organized rallies and demonstrations in Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao on May 4th, leading to the dismissal of five miners in Bilbao. This sparked a general strike in Bilbao, where working conditions were particularly harsh.
However, until the early 20th century, both the PSOE and the UGT remained minority groups compared to the anarchists.