Reign of Alfonso XIII: Crisis & Attempts at Reform in Spain (1902-1931)
ITEM 13: The Crisis of the Restoration: The Reign of Alfonso XIII (1902-1931)
1. Attempts at Internal Feedback System (1902-1914)
The first stage of Alfonso XIII’s reign was marked by the spirit of regeneration and change that had spread after the crisis of 1898. A new action followed since the power was called revisionism.
Political Revisionism and its Failure
The political responsibility of Alfonso XIII in the development of events was very high. That is why the opposition to the system resulted, in large part, in a rejection of him. Probably the main political fault of Alfonso XIII was his military spirit.
1. Attempts at Revolution from Above:
The twentieth century began with attempts to reform the political system of the Restoration. After the death of the founders of the two main parties, the stage of political revisionism began, led by Maura (Conservative Party) and Canalejas (Liberal Party).
The first attempts to reform came from Conservative governments, whose intention was to make the revolution from above. In 1908, they created the National Welfare Institute. Its mission was to promote and facilitate collective social insurance.
From 1910, it was the turn of the Liberals, headed by Canalejas, who also tried his own revolution from above. Seeking support, some laws with social content were enacted.
The measure that best reflected the character of the liberal revolution was the Canalejas Recruitment Act (1912), which provided for compulsory military service and had a partial class character with the practice of substitution and redemption.
2. The Crisis of Bipartisanship and the Shift of Power:
The key to the success of the political system of the Restoration was an era of political stability based on two pillars: the existence of two major parties and the peaceful change of government.
The deaths of Sagasta and Cánovas left the two major parties without leadership. The situation was further aggravated for the Liberal Party after the assassination of Canalejas.
This internal crisis of the two dynastic parties during the reign of Alfonso XIII partly explains the high political profile that the monarch assumed. As for the practice of the shift in power, it had also worked perfectly between Cánovas and Sagasta.
The reign began with a spirit of regeneration that tried to renew the political system, but not only did it not succeed, but just a decade later, disorders began.
The Question of Morocco
Having lost its overseas empire and increasingly isolated from Europe, Spain tried to participate in the Scramble for Africa. Morocco thus became the new goal for Spain.
Following the International Conference of Algeciras (1906), Spain gained the ultimate recognition of its rights in the northern territory.
The Tragic Week in Barcelona (1909)
The issue of Morocco brought popular discontent because of the forced recruitment of troops for a war that only interested two minority social groups:
- a) A section of the army.
- b) The capitalists interested in the exploitation of iron mines in the Rif.
On July 9, the Rif attacked a railway line near Melilla. The mobilization of reservists intensified the climate of social tension. In Barcelona, strikes and demonstrations began. The military authorities declared a state of war, sparking a wave of street violence: the Tragic Week.
On July 31, the insurrection was suppressed, and severe repression began: more than a thousand arrests and seventeen death sentences, of which five were executed. This execution raised a wave of international protest that led to the resignation of Prime Minister, the conservative Maura.
The experience of the Tragic Week showed anarchists the desirability of an organization of their own. So, in 1910, they founded the anarchist trade union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).
Political Opposition to the Regime: Republicans and Nationalists
1. The Republican Parties:
The Republicans represented the main political opposition force to the regime. Their ideology advocated progress, social justice, the development of science, and the extension of education, with a secular nature.
During the reign of Alfonso XIII, there were two major Republican parties:
- a) The Radical Party, led by Lerroux, defined itself as autonomous in the political and socialist in the social sphere.
- b) The Reform Party, created by Melquiades Álvarez and Gumersindo de Azcárate, represented a more moderate Republicanism.
Within the Republican sphere, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), founded by Pablo Iglesias, deserves special mention.
2. Nationalism:
The main representative of Catalan political life since 1901 was the Regionalist League. The Catalan left took longer to organize.
Basque nationalism was completely different from Catalan. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) relied primarily on the ultraconservative petty bourgeoisie of Bilbao.
Galician nationalism was of even less importance; its activity at the beginning of the century was limited to the promotion of Galician culture and language. It was not until 1918 that nationalist claims became significant, with the Assembly of the Irmandades da Fala, which a year later became the Partido Nazonalista Galego.
2. The Bankruptcy of the Political System (1914-1923):
This second phase of the reign of Alfonso XIII began with the outbreak of the First World War.
Spain before World War I
1. Neutrality and the Division between Allied Supporters and Germanophiles:
The Spanish Government decided to maintain neutrality in the conflict. However, the consensus on neutrality did not correspond at all with a similar consensus regarding sympathy for the contestants. Spanish public opinion was divided between Allied supporters and Germanophiles, who engaged in lively controversy.
The vast majority of intellectuals and those on the left more or less sided with the Allies. Supporters of the right leaned towards the Central Empires, seen as genuine representatives of the values of order and authority.
2. The Economic Euphoria and its Consequences:
The First World War turned many countries into importers. Spain’s neutrality earned it spectacular growth in foreign demand for its goods. But the increase in exports caused an inflationary process and even shortages of some products, including several necessities.
Big businesses did not pass on wage increases, so workers lost purchasing power as prices rose.
The General Crisis of 1917
This crisis had various manifestations, caused by different reasons. All were a reflection of widespread discontent that ran across a broad social spectrum.
1. Rise of the Military Juntas of Defense:
Defense Juntas were assemblies that emerged to defend the interests of their members. Their creation was due to discomfort caused by two issues:
- a) The loss of purchasing power of their salaries.
- b) The patronage of the Ministry of War in its promotion policy.
For these reasons, they rejected a new government measure that sought to require officers to pass aptitude tests for promotion. From that moment, the conflict escalated:
- April 1: The Chief Executive resigned due to his inability to dissolve the Juntas.
- May 2: The Captain General of Catalonia arrested the ringleaders of the movement because they refused to dissolve.
- June 1: The military rebellion began with the submission of the Manifesto of the Juntas to the Government.
Alfonso XIII’s support was crucial, and the new government finally recognized them. In this military rebellion, we highlight two facts:
- a) The propensity of the monarch to tilt in favor of the military in cases of conflict.
- b) The revitalization of the military’s role outside the barracks and battlefields.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly:
The crisis of the turn-party system led to increases in political opposition. The initiative here came from the regional league, led by Cambo, who called the Catalan parliament in Barcelona an illegal assembly. It was agreed to ask the Government the convening of a Constituent Cortes with a double mission:
a) Breaking the cacique outdated and political system of the Restoration.
b) Define a new state organization that would recognize the autonomy of Catalonia.
The movement is broken up by three circumstances:
a) The refusal of the military juntas of Defense to work with Catalan nationalists, republicans and socialists.
b) Differences and distrust among the assembly members themselves:
“The Catalan nationalists aspired to autonomy.
“The Republicans and the Socialists appeared to conceive more fundamental social transformations.
c) Participation of the Catalan Cambo in the new coalition government on 1 November.
3. Outbreak of the strike is general:
In early 1917, the UGT and the CNT had held discussions to prepare a general strike against the political regime. The general strike was called earlier than expected.
· The governments of concentration and the inability of inner renewal
The Conservative Government managed to dismantle detail the various movements that occurred during the summer of 1917. The latest political experiment was the formation of two consecutive concentration governments.
The political system was in the process of internal decay for several reasons:
a) The old parties were split into multiple factions and lacked real political agenda.
b) The system was unable to renew itself and to integrate the new social and political forces.
c) The king was becoming increasingly reluctant to open democratic regime.
• The social unrest and the effects of the Russian Revolution
The need to maintain production explains that employers during that period were more prone to negotiation to confrontation with the workers.
This resulted in spectacular growth of the working membership of trade unions. The triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution breathed a remarkable enthusiasm for labor organizations.
1. Doctoral Thesis in Andalusia:
In Andalusia, the unrest had been kept at very low levels since the beginning of the century until 1917. Between 1918 and 1920 saw a phase of revolutionary activity caused by multiple factors, called Doctoral Thesis.
The social revolution ended in 1920, following the declaration of war and the ensuing repression.
2. The escalating violence in Catalonia:
In Catalonia continued growth of the CNT continuous, current emerging as the anarcho-syndicalist union against the current. Strikes, sabotage and attacks were followed continuously.
The answer given by the Catalan employers before those incidents also marked by its hardness. It also performed a real state terrorism, to serve the employer, with the application of the law known as leakage. The climate of violence in Catalonia acquired a disturbing intensity.
3. The Communist International and the division of socialism:
In 1919 he founded the Third International or Communist International, which sought to bring together all labor organizations to extend the Russian revolutionary experience worldwide.
In 1920 a group of Young Socialists decided to become Communist Party of Spain (PCE). The Communist International imposed a series of conditions to join:
a) The rejection of socialism and parliamentary reform.
b) A party disciplined organization.
c) The subordination of the national strategies of the workers’ parties to the priority concerns of the Russian Revolution.
Under these conditions, the CNT decided not to join. The PSOE majority decided to stay outside, but a minority group broke away and founded the Spanish Communist Workers Party, which merged with the Communist Party of Spain.
· Military failure in Morocco: Annual disaster (1921)
The agreement between Spain and France in 1912 had become the catchment areas of both countries shared a Protectorate Morocco. Included an area much smaller and poorer than the French control of these territories had more disadvantages than advantages:
a) very mountainous territory.
b) The roads were scarce and difficult.
c) The economic wealth was limited to the iron mines in the mountains of the Rif.
d) The population Rif was very warlike and was fragmented into tribes.
The territory was divided into two military commands which were separated by the Bay of Alhucemas. To complicate everything finished in 1921, the Commander of Melilla, Silvestre, made a mistake, and he undertook a campaign to achieve Alhucemas, but his recklessness led to the defeat of Annual.