Spanish Restoration: Political System and Opposition
The Pact of Pardo and Political Dynamics
When Alfonso XII died in 1885, the two parties signed the Pact of Pardo. Representation in Parliament was divided between a majority for the ruling party, the presence of all heads of tendency of the opposition party and a number of minority members for the rest of the system partidos. Así operation was based on:
- The performance of the Crown as an arbitrator between the two parties.
- The electoral distortion, through the box and rigging.
The introduction of universal suffrage in 1890 never came to implement the democracia. El chieftaincy was the political and social relationship between the chief and his clients, which they exchanged votes for favors. Mª Cristina always respected the decisions of governments, but the Pact of Pardo exacerbated political corruption and distorted the popular will, increasingly outside the parliamentary system.
Between 1885 and 1890, the Liberal party ruled and Sagasta launched a political agenda of openness. Freedom was restored and academic freedom of the press expanded. In 1888, the Civil Code was enacted, establishing a social order based on the primacy of property. In 1890, a new electoral law provided for universal male suffrage.
Between 1890 and 1892, the Conservatives ruled. The most important event of this period was the Tariff Law (1891), which established a strict policy of protectionism during a time of economic crisis in Europe. Sagasta left the government in 1890 due to internal division within the Liberal Party.
Liberals returned to the government in late 1892. Highlights of their mandate included a draft administration reform and the government of Cuba. The Conservative party ruled between 1890-92 and 1895-97, respecting the decisions of the Liberal governments who governed until 1895 and 1897-99. In this decade, new problems arose: the situation of the colonies, social affairs, and the rise of nationalisms.
Opposition to the System
The political system excluded broad political and social sectors of the population. However, until 1902, the opposition did not pose a serious alternative to the regime.
Carlist
The defeat that ended the 3rd Carlist War did not lead to its demise as a political option. The Carlists led to the Catholic Union, which participated in some conservative governments.
Republicans
Republicanism, after the failure of the First Republic, was slow to reorganize and provide an alternative to the system. This was largely due to the fragmentation of the movement for ideological and personal reasons.
The Labor Movement
After the Restoration, the labor movement went underground and split into two streams: socialist and anarchist. Anarchism was reorganized in 1881 with the founding of the Federation of the Spanish Region. After the repression of 1874, Madrid socialism was reorganized around the nucleus of printers and founded in 1879, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), with Paul Church becoming the main leader. In 1888, the General Union of Workers (UGT) was founded in Barcelona. Its creation marked the dividing line between the party (PSOE), with political objectives, and the union (UGT), whose function was to defend workers in capitalist society. The socialist movement was mainly implemented in Madrid, Vizcaya, and Asturias.
Nationalism and Regionalism
Nationalism emerged in Catalonia around intellectuals like Valenti Almirall and Prat de la Riba. In 1892, the Unió Catalanista was created, whose founding program – Bases de Manresa – formed the basis of Catalan nationalism. Essentially a bourgeois movement, the Regionalist League was created in 1901, with Prat de la Riba and Cambó. This party represented the conservative option and modern Catalan middle classes that only condemned centralism. Sabino Arana founded the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in 1895 around a group of Biscay statutory claims, with some very radical proposals in principle.