Ricardo Macias Picavea & Miguel Primo de Rivera: Biographies
Ricardo Macias Picavea
Ricardo Macias Picavea (Santoña, Cantabria, June 17, 1847 – Valladolid, May 11, 1899) was a Spanish writer, journalist, and philosopher belonging to the Regenerationism movement.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1863 in Valladolid and then studied Law and Philosophy at the Universities of Valladolid and Madrid. However, he did not complete these studies due to a fundamental disagreement with the education systems. In 1874, he became an Institute Professor, teaching Latin and Geography, and obtained a Ph.D. in 1876. His life remained centered in Valladolid, where he developed his work as a High School Teacher, intellectual, and writer. A disciple of Julian Sanz del Rio, whom Macias met at the University of Madrid, he was influenced by Krausism, though not strictly a Krausist, and by Nicolás Salmerón, which explains his progressive Republicanism. Macias developed and disseminated his thoughts at the local, provincial, and regional levels, from his base in Valladolid. By 1876, he was oriented towards Positivism. He participated in the administrative reform of the army but not in the 1868 revolution against Isabel II. Alongside the Marques de Sandoval, he reformed public education and also participated in the educational reform of 1884 with Don Alejandro de Groizard. In 1885, he served on the Board of Directors of the new Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad.
Work
He served on the Valladolid City Council as a Republican from his election as councilor in 1891 until his voluntary departure in 1895, in reaction to what he called the accommodation of Republicanism to the Restoration. Macias defended an organic model of society that reaffirmed the fundamental role of intermediate bodies (family, town, province, region, and corporations) against Rousseauian individualism. He advocated for land reform and recommended civil disobedience. He also defended Darwinism against attacks from Neo-Catholics.
His work The National Problem: Facts, Causes, Remedies (Madrid, 1899), aligns with the Regenerationist movement, whose most prominent figure was Joaquín Costa. It takes a critical approach to the prevailing political caciquismo and exposes the sham democracy implemented by Cánovas. It also includes an analysis of the education system. Costa’s diagnosis is summarized as Oligarchy and Despotism.
Alfonso XIII de Borbón
Alfonso XIII de Borbón (Madrid, May 17, 1886 – Rome, February 28, 1941) was King of Spain from his birth until the proclamation of the Second Republic on April 14, 1931. He assumed power at the age of 16, on May 17, 1902.
During his reign, Spain faced four significant issues that would hinder the liberal monarchy: the lack of genuine political representation for many social groups, the dire situation of the working classes, especially rural women, the problems arising from the Rif War, and Catalan nationalism, fueled by the powerful Barcelona bourgeoisie. This political and social turbulence prevented the Turnista parties from establishing a true liberal democracy, leading to the establishment of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, which the monarch accepted. Following this political failure, the king urged a return to democratic normalcy with the intention of restoring the system. However, he was abandoned by the entire political class, who felt betrayed by his support for Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship.
He left Spain after the municipal elections of April 1931, which were interpreted as a plebiscite between monarchy and republic.
Life and Reign
He was the posthumous son of Alfonso XII and Maria Cristina of Habsburg. His mother acted as regent during his minority, between 1885 and 1902.
Spain experienced social unrest in many major cities during the first two decades of the twentieth century. One of the most significant took place in 1909 in Barcelona and became known as the Tragic Week. One of the factors that triggered it was public discontent with the war in Morocco. In that year, the Moroccan conflict had escalated, becoming a major national problem.
During World War I, as the monarch of a neutral country, he organized a valuable initiative. In 1921, following disastrous military operations, there was a collapse of the military command in Melilla (the Annual Disaster). The impact on public opinion led to a highly critical sentiment towards the policy pursued in Morocco and, in general, towards the entire political system of the Restoration, already shaken by the general strike of 1917. An investigation was conducted into the events (with the Picasso Report), which apparently revealed serious responsibilities involving high government positions, but the report was never made public.
In this context of political and social crisis, the Captain General of Catalonia, Miguel Primo de Rivera, led a military coup on September 13, 1923, which was endorsed by Alfonso XIII, who entrusted him with the formation of a government. Primo de Rivera formed a government that he called a Directory, initially composed exclusively of military personnel (Military Directorate) and later (1925) including civilians (Civil Directory). During the dictatorship, the War of Morocco ended with the landing at Al Hoceima in 1925, which allowed the final Spanish conquest of the Rif in 1927.
Alfonso XIII dismissed Miguel Primo de Rivera’s government on January 29, 1930, and appointed General Dámaso Berenguer as chairman of the Council of Ministers, with the intention of returning to constitutional rule.[2] This new period would soon be known as “the Dictablanda”, in contrast to the previous dictatorship.
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja (Jerez de la Frontera, January 8, 1870 – Paris, March 16, 1930) was a Spanish military officer, politician, and dictator. He was the 2nd Marquis of Estella, the 7th Count of Sobremonte, and a Grandee of Spain.
Chief Military Directory
With the approval of King Alfonso XIII and the support of much of the business community, the Catholic Church, the military, and conservative forces in general, Primo de Rivera led a military junta that took control of all branches of government.
Primo de Rivera proclaimed his inspiration from the ideals of the regenerationist movement of the 19th century (like Joaquín Costa), aiming to restore social order and eliminate caciquismo.
His dictatorship, although formally modeled on Mussolini’s fascism, was less totalitarian and fundamentally conservative.
During the first phase of the dictatorship (the Military Directorate, between 1923 and 1925), he persecuted anarchists (whose union, the CNT, was outlawed) and communists (who had split from the Socialist Party and joined the Third International), suppressed the Commonwealth of Catalonia (the first administrative body covering all of Catalonia since the 18th century), eliminated political parties, created a single party, the Patriotic Union (1924), reinforced state protectionism for domestic industry, encouraged the construction of large public works, and banned the use of regional languages in public events.
After coming to power, he abandoned his previous contrary stance and strengthened the Spanish presence in Morocco with a military victory (the Alhucemas landing) that ended years of permanent wars and difficulties, such as the “Annual Disaster” of 1921, for which he had wanted to hold the military and the king himself accountable, and which ultimately led to the coup of 1923.
The Alhucemas landing (1925) was part of a combined operation with the French army to crush the rebellion of the Rif tribes. Although it contradicted the Marquis’s previous ideas, as he had opposed the African adventure, it was a success that inspired Primo de Rivera to institutionalize a lasting dictatorship.
The Civil Directory
The Military Directorate gave way to the Civil Directory (1925-1930), and a National Assembly was appointed (1927) to prepare a draft Constitution (1929). This mock Parliament, however, only served to expose the divisions that existed among the dictatorship’s followers: the Catholic conservatives, the authoritarian corporatists attracted to fascism, the military, and the opportunists.
The divisions within the dictator’s ranks and the strained relations with the king, who had not authorized the Civil Directory, made it impossible to address the rise of the opposition, which was increasingly united and mobilized against the threat of the regime’s perpetuation. Socialists, Republicans, and left-wing intellectuals joined in the campaign against the dictatorship, resigning from their positions after the Pact of San Sebastián, which also threatened to drag down the monarchy that had tolerated it. Students and workers demonstrated against the regime; even the military were plotting against Primo de Rivera (the failed conspiracy against him took place in 1926 and was known as the Sanjuanada).
Finally, unauthorized by the king and the military high command, and with his health declining, Primo de Rivera resigned on January 28, 1930, and went into exile in Paris, but not before recommending to Alfonso XIII some names of soldiers who could succeed him (including the Catalan-born General Dámaso Berenguer, who assumed the interim presidency, in a period called the ‘Dictablanda’).