Spanish Society and Economy: Agrarian Reform and Industrialization (1833-1874)
ITEM 10. Society and Economy (1833-1874)
1. Agrarian Transformations
The marginalization of Spain in the industrialization process in Europe is largely explained by the underdeveloped agricultural sector. In part, this was due to the poor quality of most of the farmland and the adverse weather conditions. But it was also due to the form taken by the liberal land reform, which excluded from property access much of Spain, to cultivate more, interested in efficiency. The result was the maintenance of very low yields and poverty of most of the farming population, which represented a poor stimulus for the advancement of industrialization.
1.1. The Liberal Agrarian Reform in Spain
Land reform is part of the liberal substitution of the old regime by capitalist society, which occurred in Spain during the first half of the nineteenth century. During this process, the domains were abolished, as were the jurisdictional rights associated therewith, including tithing, the privileges of the Mesta, and progress towards the consolidation of private ownership of land. In all this, secularization played a major role. This was the seizure by the state of most of the land belonging to the Church and local councils, subject to amortization, to be sold at public auction. Thus was sealed the private ownership of land and vanished forms of ownership, inconsistent with modern economic growth. In exchange for their properties, the Church received significant compensation, and since then, the State included in its budget an item to keep the clergy. Although the deficit of the Treasury was the primary reason for the decision to disentail, many of whom supported the sale of these properties were convinced that liberalization of land ownership would improve the efficiency of agriculture. Therefore, the problems dealt with an operation of this magnitude were not only of a fiscal nature.
1.2. The Stages of the Confiscation
- 1ยบ: The confiscation was initiated in 1798 by Charles IV, bound for the costs of war.
- Second step: It is known as ecclesiastical confiscation. It began in 1836 and was carried out by Finance Minister Mendizabal. Its main objective was to obtain funds necessary to finance the war against the Carlists. At this stage, the property was sold to the regular clergy and, in 1841, the secular church property was disentailed.
- Third stage: The confiscation of Madoz was approved during the Progressive period (1855) and is called the general confiscation. It involved the forced sale, even with compensation, of all property belonging to the state, municipalities, and other less important institutions. Again, one of his main objectives was to raise revenue for the Treasury. But in addition, we attempted to consolidate a pro-middle-class liberal regime and promote the development of the economy through public works and railway construction, for which purpose he devoted a portion of their revenues. The bulk of sales occurred in the decades following the passage of the law.
1.3. Implications of Confiscation
- Results in a change of ownership. 40% of the land changed hands and three-fifths of the church property were sold. But buyers were mostly secular landed aristocracy and clergy, which swelled even more rustic heritage, or traders and industrialists, who saw the ground a sign of prestige and economic stability. Some existing estates dating from this period.
- The economic deterioration resulting for many farmers, since they lost the rights to use the commons. In many areas, there was a proletarianization of large sections of the peasantry. In this regard, in 1860 half of the Spanish employees were day laborers.
- “Emerged a new class of active and enterprising landowners, as expected Mendizabal and Madoz, although it achieved a significant expansion of cultivated area devoted to cereals and in some areas of Valencia, Catalonia, and Murcia, the expansion of cultivation of potatoes and wheat. Many farms also introduced fertilizers, guano from Peru or Chile saltpetre”, resulting in increased productivity.
1.4. Advances in Commercial Agriculture
The modest but sustained growth in agricultural production until the end of the century in Spain was based on increasing the area cultivated and the cultivation of wheat, olives, grapes, and legumes. The grasses were gradually replaced by feed due to the fall suffered by the migratory sheep. Also increased regional specialization: corn and potatoes in the north, sawedo, shrub, and tree crops in the Mediterranean coast (whose products are exported to Europe), and cereal in the rest of the peninsula. From the second half of the nineteenth century on the Mediterranean coast, gradually imposed oriented agriculture marketing, both domestically and for export. Vine crops, citrus, rice, and sugarcane became widespread at this time, along with other products whose cultivation was widespread, such as nuts, olive oil, and esparto. Between 1850 and 1875, Spain had tripled the volume of wine exports to Europe, a fact explained by the ruin of the French vine because of phylloxera. Spain became during the 1870s and 1880s the first world power in wine production. It was at this time that were configured zones based on the monoculture of the vine, the Rioja, Penedes, Jerez de la Frontera, and so on. Other products were the most exported fruit and oil. Apart from the agricultural export-oriented, continued to dominate the traditional cereal crop and much of its production was exported. But the dream of landlords that Spain would become the breadbasket of Europe was thwarted when conflicts end because the price of European grain could not compete with the cereal land French, German, and British.
2. The Beginnings of Industrialization
In nineteenth-century Spain, changes in the secondary sector were important, although they were far removed from those that industrialized countries fully. In the early twentieth century, the Spanish economy was still largely agrarian, unable to compete in the international market, and industry participation in the national income did not exceed one-fifth of the total.
* The Catalan Cotton Industry
The expansion of modern industry in nineteenth-century Spain began in Catalonia with the cotton sector. The importance of this modern textile industry is that since its birth it was a sector dedicated to producing for the market and not for consumption. In the rest of Spain, the industrial activity did not experience the same process of modernization. A mid-eighteenth century in Catalonia was already a major manufacturing dedicated to the production of Indiana (gaily printed cotton fabrics). The first changes started about 1780 when they began to introduce new English spinning machines.
The consolidation of the modern cotton industry had its final momentum after 1802 when denied entry into Spain of cotton yarn, although the initial braking growth seen by the unwinding of the markets during the War of Independence (1808-1814). After the war, the pace of expansion of production resumed quickly, strongly suggests that its primary market was within. Beginning in 1830, and during the following decades, the pace of the textile industry was high, as evidenced by the growth in imports of raw materials. Was installed in 1833 the first steam engine and mechanized enjoyed a good momentum, though it was spinning faster than in the tissue. So while the spindle mechanics had completely replaced the manual, the mechanization of looms was limited and did not reach 50% of the total. One cause of this rapid mechanization of spinning was the relative scarcity of labor derived from the labor market integration of the generation born during the War of Independence. This increased labor costs. The relative cheapening of capital and rising labor costs prompted mechanization. This mechanization has made a substantial reduction in costs and selling prices, which stimulated increased demand.
This phase of growth of the textile sector was interrupted only during the Civil War in the United States (1861-1865) because of the difficulty in procuring raw materials. But from 1874 it began a new phase of expansion that was marked by the mechanization of weaving.