Spanish Nationalism & 20th Century Political Shifts

Posted on Jan 16, 2025 in History

Basque and Galician Nationalism

Basque and Galician nationalists focused their efforts on the cultural field.

  • Basque: They were fighting for the recovery of the community, which was in crisis on account of industrialization.
  • Galician: They sought to dignify the roots of a peasant culture. Galician nationalism did not achieve a significant presence in political institutions during the Restoration.

Catalan Nationalism

Catalan nationalism developed an active presence in parliament and even in several governments of the monarchy. Its proposal was to modernize politics in a developed society of Spain, led by an industrial and commercial bourgeoisie. The leader of this political option was Francesc Cambó, whose strategy rested on two pillars:

  1. The assertion of autonomy for Catalonia.
  2. Conservative and elitist reform, but effective administration of the state.

Lliga Regionalista was founded in 1901 to end the hegemony of the dynastic parties in Catalonia.

Crisis of 1917

The year 1917 is a symbolic date in which it became apparent that the crisis of Spanish liberalism was such that it suggested a clear alternation. Three processes influenced this:

  1. Political problems that had been incubating since long before.
  2. The juncture of economic expansion.
  3. The social unrest that was causing the World War.

In the summer of 1917, three conflicts came together: social, political, and military.

Balance of the Crisis

The balance of the triple crisis of 1917 seemed to decide three basic facts:

  1. Party government could no longer continue the fiction of the turn.
  2. Reformism was overwhelmed by the danger of social revolution.
  3. The army advanced in their participation in politics since the pressure of the boards led to the overthrow of the government.

This coalition, headed by Socialist Azaña, was maintained until the end of the summer of 1933. It was the most stable government of the Republic and responsible for the principal reform measures. Key fields included:

  1. Public works policy.
  2. Cultural and educational policy.
  3. Budget balance and economic sanitation.
  4. Social legislation and the Law of Contracts.

Land Reform

There were two major options to address the land problem:

  1. Carry out a technical reform that achieves higher productivity.
  2. Engage in social reform with a major redistribution of land.

The land reform of the Republicans had already begun with the interim government taking measures favorable to the tenants, but the core of land reform focused on regions with large landowners. One of the causes of the problem lay in the unequal distribution of Spanish agricultural land. A group of technicians developed the Agrarian Reform Law. This law became the subject of a parliamentary debate and was not approved until September 1932. The reform consisted of a policy of expropriation of farms not directly exploited by their owners. Its implementation was under the Agrarian Reform Institute (IRA). The results of land reform were reduced for several reasons:

  1. The complex process planned to carry out everything.
  2. Strong social opposition in the regions provoked by landowners.
  3. The slowness of the administrative bureaucracy of the IRA.
  4. The contradictions of the political direction of reform.

Azaña Coalition

Azaña became Prime Minister for the first time in October 1931, after the resignations of Alcalá-Zamora and Miguel Maura, caused by the settlement in court to the religious question. In April, Azaña’s government maintained, with the addition of José Giral, one of his first actions was the approval in the courts of the Law to Defend the Republic. The prestige reached by Azaña in parliamentary debates and government performance, as well as the support of the Socialists, led to his election as President. The composition of the government in December 1931 had greater attainment than expected. The center of gravity of the executive was an alliance between the left-wing Republicans and Socialists, parallel to what was happening in several European countries, but the option for the Socialists involved the first split of the old Republican alliance.