Spanish Society and Economy (1875-1931): Demographics and Industry

Posted on Oct 23, 2024 in Geography

A Stratified Society

Unequal Society

One of the main features of the society of the former regime was civil inequality. Society was divided into:

Privileged

  • Nobility and Clergy: Possessed most of the land and paid no taxes.
  • Peerage: Lived on rents and accumulated large riches. Enjoyed honorary awards (reserved seats in the church), economic privileges (not involved in public works), and tax exemptions (did not pay taxes and were entitled to charge farmers).
  • Clergy: Lived on the income from the exploitation of their heritage and also the tithe* (a tax on agricultural products consisting of the payment of 10% of the crop that farmers had to give to the church during the Middle Ages and the Old Regime). Not a homogenous group; the higher clergy enjoyed all kinds of luxuries while the lower clergy belonged to ordinary people and led a modest life.

Underprivileged

Formed 90 to 95% of the population, very diverse in both their economy and social situation. They were united by their opposition to the privileged and aristocratic regime, and their demand for civic equality.

  • The Bourgeoisie: Great artisans, merchants, and bankers. This active group had increased their wealth through economic growth in the 18th century but had no political influence and remained marginalized from the circles of power. They hoped to enjoy greater political power and social prestige.
  • The Popular Classes: Manual laborers of the city (small craftsmen, servants, soldiers, etc.)
  • Peasants: The largest group, with harsh living conditions (working the land of privileged groups and paying high taxes).

Nation vs. People

  • Nation: Body of citizen members with restricted voting rights (census suffrage: voting rights for men over 25 years with a certain income level).
  • People: Body of citizen members with universal voting rights (“universal suffrage”: voting rights for men and women over 25 years, later expanded to 21 and 18 years).

The Constitution of 1812

The Constitution is a declaration of rights of citizens: freedom of the press, equality of Spaniards before the law, civil liberty, property rights, the right of petition (which implies the possibility of addressing authorities individually or collectively to complain, question, or request grace), and recognition of all legitimate rights of the Spanish nation. It calls the whole nation citizens of both hemispheres, meaning the American colonies and peninsular territories have the same equalities.

Reorganization of the provincial administration and local municipal life becomes a democratic renewal, establishing the council and the mayors and election of councilors. It also contemplates tax reform and the making public of education, implementing public primary and compulsory education, the creation of a national army and compulsory military service, and establishing a national militia, a civilian body independent of the army responsible for defending the nation and part of the constitution. It establishes equal rights, inviolability of the home, and the freedom to print books of a religious character. In its non-final character, this constitution establishes the principles of a modern society, with rights and guarantees for its citizens.

From the Old Regime to the Bourbon Restoration, there was a metamorphosis of a stratified society into a class society: legal equality, individual freedom, rights, and freedoms, along with industrial development.

Society and Economy (1875 – 1931)

5.1 Demographics

Between 1875 and 1900, the Spanish population grew in number (1/3) but growth remained lower than other Western European countries. Growth was high and fast. At the same time, there was an increase in urban population: more people lived in cities.

5.1.1 Causes of Growth

  • Mortality decline: Because there were fewer wars (only for Cuba and Morocco because Spain did not participate in World War I). In addition, improved hygiene and healthier food contributed.
  • The birth rate remained high.
  • The population growth was, therefore, medium-high.
  • Life expectancy increased. From 34.8 years in 1880 to 50 in 1931. The quality of life significantly increased.
  • Internal migration: Rural to urban areas. This explains the growth of population in cities. These migrations occurred because cities offered jobs and better living standards. Moreover, in the hinterland, there were migrations to the cities of the coast (except Madrid), which led to a depopulation of the interior.
  • Emigration and Return Migration: This time saw the return of people from Cuba and the Philippines after Spain lost these colonies. Although people also emigrated to North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) and South America (Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay).

5.1.2 Relationship Between Population and the Productive Sectors

In Spain, there was a large majority of the population engaged in the primary sector (from 50% to 70%). The number of people dedicated to the secondary and tertiary sectors rose sharply (the tertiary sector increased more than the secondary). The population devoted to the primary sector declined while the secondary and tertiary sectors increased.

In Catalonia, the reasons for population growth and its causes are very similar to the rest of Spain. The process of urban concentration was most visible in the Barcelona area, creating the effect of macrocephaly.

Regarding the evolution of the economic sectors in Catalonia:

  • Reduction of the primary sector, which was larger than in the rest of Spain. It was reduced to 50% of the population.
  • The secondary sector growth was much larger than the tertiary sector growth. The result of the industrialization process. Catalonia was more industrialized than the rest of Spain.

5.2 The Field

Until 1930, over 50% of the Spanish population depended directly on the field. In some regions of Spain, the figure reached almost 80%. The field was the primary sector.

5.2.1 Nineteenth and Twentieth Century

Throughout the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, there were a series of changes that allowed a positive development in the primary sector. They were changes that aimed to increase productivity.

These changes were:

  • Reduction of fallow (guaret): Which consists of leaving land unproductive for regeneration. This land also had to be worked but without planting.
  • Use of chemical fertilizers: Whether natural or industrial. The chemical industry began to sell fertilizers.
  • Increased irrigation: Irrigation canals were built.
  • Technical improvements, mechanization: In the late nineteenth century, the first tractors appeared.
  • Product diversification as suited to the area; specialization by region: For example, in Tortosa and Valencia, orange trees are the main fruit trees. In Aragon, it is preferred to plant almond or olive trees. In Castilla La Mancha, cereals are planted. From the Penedès region come famous wines from the vineyards.
  • Selection of seed: These issues boosted productivity.

5.2.2 Ownership Structure

The ownership structure is split into three:

  • Estates: Large tracts of land owned by the same person. The origin is tradition (heritage) and the confiscation of the nineteenth century. The estates were worked by a large number of rural proletarians: people hired part-time, by the day (laborers) or by the season (seasonal workers) that depended on that job to live (they were tied to the land). Owners (landlords) were of the old nobility, wealthy industrialists, or bourgeois (solicitors, doctors, judges) who lived on the income of the land, but not its production. These owners were of a higher social class and also had political power. The proletarian class also had consciousness, but were a poor class that eventually ended up adopting Marxist or anarchist political ideology. This ideology spread through Extremadura, Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha, and Southern León.
  • Smallholdings: Their origin is the future allocation of land by inheritance; all the children were left the same piece of land. This system is typical of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria. The land was not sufficient to ensure survival, which was one of the causes of emigration from these areas (particularly to America or other areas of Spain: Madrid, Basque Country).
  • Medium Properties: Catalonia and the Levant. The farmer owner, in order to survive, cultivated his own land and also worked land owned by absentee landlords (gentlemen, bourgeois, industrialists). These lands were rented to pages: who could cultivate the land for income paid to the owner: money or income in kind (part of the harvest: parcería).

There were different types of rentals:

  • Anfiteusi: A contract from the Middle Ages in which the owner gives up a portion of land in perpetuity in exchange for a fixed annuity. The contract could be passed down. The contract value also remained fixed over time. This type of contract caused conflicts between the worker and the master.
  • The “Rabassa Morta” (the dead strain): Was a contract lasting as long as the plants, trees, and shrubs that were planted the first year were alive. When they died, the contract ended. This type of contract, in Catalonia, was used for vineyards and eventually became a contract in perpetuity.

5.2.3 Social Tensions and Conflicts in the Field

The owners were a minority. Many were absentees who only wanted to live off their land. Most workers were not landowners but laborers or tenants.

The laborers were conscious of their social class, different from the owners: the owners were wealthy landowners who controlled the political and economic power. The proletarians lived a life of poverty, were illiterate, hungry, and had no hope of escaping their situation because there was no industrialization (there were no alternative jobs to the field). These proletarians adopted Marxist or anarchist political ideology and, therefore, this situation led to conflict between proletarians and owners.

5.2.3.1 Causes of Conflict
  • Poor living conditions of laborers.
  • The owners did not offer better jobs.
  • The government did not implement a true agrarian reform.
  • The influence of the Russian Revolution (1917) in Spain as a model for the workers.

Conflict situations included: strikes, demonstrations at harvest time, burning of crops, farm occupations, appropriation of the harvest, and hunger strikes by workers.

Governments acted to resolve conflicts by sending the Guardia Civil to detain the principal leaders of the revolt, or, in fraught conflict situations, declaring a “state of war” and sending in the army.

These conflict situations led to the radicalization of the labor movement, which grew because they had the slogan “The land for the workers!”; this situation dragged on until the Spanish Civil War. The conflict was harder in Andalusia because the workers’ revolts were more violent.

In Catalonia, this situation led to the problem of the Dead Strain (La Rabassa Morta) in the late nineteenth century. By 1891 came the phylloxera plague, a bacterium that attacks the roots of plants and kills them. The solution was to uproot all the old plants and plant new American plants that were resistant to phylloxera. This acted to break the lease on the Dead Strain. Therefore, the owners wanted to negotiate new leases and the pages wanted to maintain the same conditions. Catalan farmers grouped together, creating a union called “Unió de Rabassaires”.

5.3 Industry

In the early twentieth century, there were three fundamental changes in industry:

  • Electrification: Factories switched from coal and steam to electricity. This change marks the Second Industrial Revolution.
  • Geographical specialization of industrial sectors: For example, in the Basque Country, the steel industry was introduced. In Asturias, coal mining.
  • Diversification of industrial sectors: At first, Spain only had the textile and steel industries. The chemical sector, paper, shipbuilding, transport, and construction gained importance.

Along with these changes came some drawbacks:

  • Difficulty of competing with foreign products: The Spanish industry lacked competitiveness. The reason was the high cost of production.
  • Weak market: The Spanish market tended towards low consumption. Therefore, low demand did not encourage production.

These difficulties caused the vast majority of industrialists to support protectionist economic policies (policies in which the state protects the domestic industry to avoid competition). To achieve this, the government set policies such as tariffs or quotas: limitations on the number of imported products to increase the price of imported products.

In addition, the government intended to encourage exports by lowering production costs: the state gave grants to these companies to lower the price of their products.

5.3.2 In Catalonia

The early twentieth century was a period of economic slowdown. The main problem of the Catalan industry was the high dependence on foreign raw materials, technology, and markets.

Since 1911, Catalonia wanted to break this dependence through electrification (electricity and energy: Second Industrial Revolution) that would wean the factories off the rivers (and would not require industrial colonies to be located next to a river). This measure provided for more diversified industrial sectors: until this moment, the Catalan industries were based on traditional sectors: textiles, cork, and alcohol. Since then, in addition to the textile sector, the machinery sector (land and maritime engineering) and automotive (Hispano-Suiza; cars made by hand) gained importance.

Another important change was in the ownership of Catalan companies. Traditionally, they were family businesses. Many of them became public limited companies (allowing for capital increases and greater turnover): For example, the company ROCA first began making radiators. ROCA became a public limited company and now has companies around the world.