The Restoration in Spain (1875-1931): Politics, Society, and Crisis

Posted on Oct 21, 2024 in History

The Restoration in Spain (1875-1931)

Beginnings of the Restoration (1875-1898)

Overview

  • Commitment of oligarchies to consolidating the liberal state.
  • In Portugal, an agreement between liberals and regenerationists: rotativismo appears, avoiding institutional crises.
  • Redefinition of the ideological left/right.
  • Stable until 1898.

The Party System

  • Conservative Party: Cánovas del Castillo
  • Liberal Party: Sagasta

Pact in 1885 linked to the death of Alfonso XII, who died childless, but his wife was pregnant. Alfonso XIII was born, beginning the regency of Queen María Cristina. Stability until ‘The Disaster of ’98’.

The Turno Político (Bipartisanship)

Caciquismo: Control and repression of social realities.

The turno is equivalent to the Portuguese rotativismo.

The Constitution of 1876

Cánovas’ Principles
  • Hereditary monarchy
  • Bicameral legislature
  • Pragmatism
[1875-1898] Codification Efforts
  • Constitution of 1876
  • Civil Procedure Act 1881
  • Criminal Procedure Act 1882
  • Code of Commerce
  • Civil Code 1889
1876 Constitution

Based on the previous 1845 and 1869 constitutions:

  • 1845: Shared sovereignty (king shares power)
  • 1869: Formal aspects and content

Laws:

  • Freedom of Expression Act 1883
  • Freedom of Assembly 1881
  • Freedom of Association 1887
  • Religious tolerance
  • Census suffrage

The Final Carlist War

Necessity of ending the conflict via the political system.

Causes of Carlist Defeat
  • Recognition of Alfonso XII by Cabrera.
  • Intensified military offensive (Estella and occupation of Toulouse).
Consequences
  • Carlism nourished Catholic traditionalist opposition.
  • Basque Country integrated into the state tax system for recruitment (1876).
  • Carlist theses influenced early formulations of Catalanism.

Opposition to the Regime

  1. Possibilist Democratic Republican Party (Emilio Castelar)
  2. Progressive Republican Party (Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla)
  3. Centralist Republican Party (Nicolás Salmerón)
  4. Federal Democratic Republican Party (Pi i Margall)

Two periods:

  • 1875-1878 “Seclusion”: Subversion, boycotting elections.
  • 1878-1898: Turnout and insurrections leading to 1881.

Socialist Opposition

1879 PSOE, 1886 “El Socialista” weekly, 1888 UGT -> Pablo Iglesias (PSOE)

Party: Internal cohesion, honesty, morality.

Program: Emancipation of the working class, social property, conquest of political power.

Civil Code 1889

Order based on individualist social property and a conservative model of marriage and family.

Uniformity of state law.

Social Issues During the Restoration (1875-1898)

The General Context

  • Repression -> Social policies attempting to improve workers’ conditions.
  • Pope Leo XIII criticizes the exploitation of workers.

Reorganization of the Labor Movement

  • After the Sexenio Democrático, the labor movement was outlawed.
  • Causes of inactivity: International condemnation, censorship, repression.
  • Sagasta comes to power in 1881 (Liberal Party).
  • Government tolerance -> Reorganization.
  • Associations Act 1887: Important working impulse.
  • 1883 Social Reform Commission (bureaucratization): Advisory body, unsuccessful.

Anarchism

  • FTRE (First International) -> Spanish Regional Federation (1881), 50,000 members.
  • Two trends: Anarcho-collectivist and anarcho-communist.
  • Mano Negra (1883): Andalusian anarchists kill peasant landowners.
  • Crackdown on anarchism.
  • 1888: End of the Spanish Regional Federation.
  • 1888: Abandonment of the idea of organization -> “Propaganda of the deed”.

Peasant Insurgency

  • In Jerez (1892), strongly suppressed.
  • Barcelona: Radical anarchism since 1894 = “City of Bombs”.
  • Attacks in Madrid, Bilbao, Valencia, Cádiz, and Barcelona.
  • September 24, 1893: Assassination attempt on Arsenio Martínez Campos (Pauli Pallas).
  • November 7, 1893: Attack on the Liceu, 2 bombs cause 22 deaths and 35 wounded.
  • June 7, 1896: Corpus Christi procession bombing, 6 dead and 40 wounded.
  • August 8, 1897: Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo kills Cánovas del Castillo.

UGT (1888)

  • Union organized by trades.
  • Internationalist action.

Second Stage of the Restoration (1898-1931)

Years of Change (1898-1909)

Impact of the Disaster
  • Real impact: Universal suffrage.
  • Catalan political consolidation.
  • Changes in the policies of popular movements.
  • Reorganization of the labor movement.
  • Factors in the 2nd stage: The Disaster of ’98 disrupts the turno político.
The Disaster’s Impact
  • Loss of the colonial empire.
  • Remain: The monarchy, agricultural recovery, Restoration parties.
  • Features: Emergence of new republican, socialist, and Catalan nationalist parties.
  • Crisis of state power (1901-1923: 32 presidential changes).
  • Generation of ’98: Critical element.
  • New political movement: Regenerationism (revolution from above).
Regenerationism Goals
  • Moralization of public management.
  • Reform of the state.
  • Building wealth.
  • Boosting public education.
  • Renewing the idea of Spain.

Slow Modernization of Society (1898-1931)

Demographics
  • Mortality rate: 1901 – 26%, 1931 – 16.3%.
  • Emigration (1898-1913): 1 million emigrated to France or South America.
  • 1914: Spanish migration to cities.
  • Regional imbalance: 63% illiteracy, 80% in the South.
Rural World
  • Workforce: 85% – 45%.
Industrial World
  • 4 Provinces (Barcelona, Madrid, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa).
  • Catalonia: Textiles, chemicals, food, cement.
  • Basque Country: Coal, smelting, iron and steel, mechanics.
Industrial Milestones
  • 1898-1902: Industrial recovery due to repatriation of colonial capital.
  • 1903-1915: Irregular growth.
  • 1916-1918: Significant growth due to World War I.
  • 1919-1925: Recession and general difficulties.
  • 1926-1931: Strong growth (state commissions large public works).

Cities: Focus of industrial and service activities.

Regenerationism and the Political and Social Crisis

The First Regenerationist Government

Key Figures
  • Francisco Silvela
  • General Polavieja
  • Eduardo Dato
  • Manuel Durán y Bas (All conservatives)
Policies
  • Fiscal policy: Tax increases to pay for the Cuban War.
  • Political system: Turno político, strong party discipline.
  • Results: Favoring caciquismo.

Reign of Alfonso XIII (from May 1902)

Dissolves and suspends the courts, then calls elections, and the other party wins the turno político.

Alfonso XIII made the decision at the Palacio de Oriente.

People around the King: Aristocratic upper classes, church hierarchy.

Alfonso XIII supports Primo de Rivera. At the end of the dictatorship, he fled.

The turno político cracks. Republicans, socialists, and centralist policies appear, affecting the turno.

  • Liberal Party Leader: Segismundo Moret
  • Conservative Party Leader: Antonio Maura

Conservative Hegemony in Regenerationism

Short Government (1903-1904)
Long Government (1907-1909) (appointed by Alfonso XIII)
  • Declares economic recovery.
  • Building industry law.
  • Promotion of maritime communications.
  • Reform of electoral law.
  • Revitalization of local power.

Liberal Hegemony in Regenerationism

End of the turno with the Tragic Week.

Liberal hegemony: February 1910, José Canalejas replaces Moret.

José Canalejas Government
  • Two axes: Reform and openness; repression of worker mobilizations.
  • “Padlock Law”: Separates state and church, monitoring religious orders, and controlling education.
  • Commonwealth project.
  • Canalejas assassinated in 1912 by Manuel Pardiñas.
  • Political crisis of the turno.
  • 1912: Reform Party.

The Tragic Week (1909) and Society up to 1914

Republican and Working-Class Organization. Lerrouxism

From 1902, there are worker unification attempts in Catalonia.

Not created until 1907: Solidaridad Obrera.

Change: Universal suffrage, election results in cities.

Republicanism’s difficulties of adaptation: “The parties are the administration”.

Caciquismo formally appropriates officialdom.

Lerrouxism: Alejandro Lerroux entered politics in 1901. His ideal was based on a very revolutionary republicanism.

Republicanism led by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: Radical and anticlerical.

Anarchism and Socialism Before World War I

  • UGT: Growing in Asturias, Madrid, and Vizcaya.
  • Anarchism is the largest union organizing effort.
  • 1907: First attempt at creating a unified labor organization.
  • 1910: Worker’s congress in Barcelona -> Solidaridad Obrera.
  • Revolutionary syndicalism.
  • Founding of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

The Tragic Week and Repression

  • Spain has no colonies. The army decides to send reservists, but only from Barcelona.
  • July 24: Strike. The day the troops are leaving by boat.
  • Bourgeois women console the soldiers.
  • July 26: Brutal movement against churches. A Marist school for young workers is burned. Macabre and brutal acts. 200 barricades.
  • Ossorio y Gallardo (sent to Barcelona) decides not to crush the uprising and to always act with repression.
  • Repression is swift.
  • Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia is executed.

Consequences of the Tragic Week

  • International campaign: “Maura, no!”.
  • European campaign against the execution of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia.
  • Subsequent government stability (end of Maura).
  • Growth of Catalanism (Enric Prat de la Riba, Commonwealth League).
  • Impact on the labor movement: Repression, expulsion of worker leaders.
  • The labor movement does not diminish.

Consequences of World War I in Spain

Effects of Neutrality (beginning in 1914, Dato)
  • Neutral because it had just fought a war.
  • Lack of foreign policy programs.
  • Expectation of a short war, but it lasts 3 years.
  • Demand for food, manufactured goods, and transport.
Spanish Trade Balance
  • 1913: -230 million pesetas
  • 1917: +589 million pesetas + gold reserves
  • 1918: Return to normal
  • Export premiums (inflation)
  • Purchasing power decreases by 20% from 1916.
  • 1914-1918: Corn +90%, Chips +72%, Rice +98%, Chickpeas +70%.
Sectoral Growth
  1. Growth in mining and northern iron and steel industry.
  2. Growth in processing and manufacturing industries and specialized agricultural products.
  3. Growth in agriculture.

Demographic and Social Effects

  • First third: Demographic growth (World War I years).
  • Redistribution from rural to urban (1916-1930).
  • Decrease in migration (1912-1916).

Cultural and Social Effervescence

  • Public opinion: Daily circulation exceeds 100,000 copies.
  • Ideological division between liberals and conservatives.
  • Mass culture: Film, pocket novels, sports.
  • Bourgeois social elements.
  • Cultural avant-garde: Artistic creation as a revolutionary act.

The Crisis of the Restoration

Political Parties During the War

  • Conservative Eduardo Dato (1913-1915): “Commonwealths Adoption Act”, ruling with the courts closed (due to war).
  • Liberal Count of Romanones.
  • On the left: García Prieto, Santiago Alba.
  • Economic reform plan: Taxes on successful companies.

The Triple Crisis of 1917

  1. Military movement: “Defense Juntas”.
  2. Political movement: “Assembly of Parliamentarians”.
  3. Social movement: “Revolutionary general strike”.
1st Crisis: Military Defense Juntas

“Union of the sword”, officers complaining about lack of merit-based rewards and favoritism.

2nd Crisis: The Assembly of Parliamentarians

With the courts closed due to the military crisis, members hold a meeting in Barcelona:

  • Open a constituent process.
  • Constitutional reform, modernization.
3rd Crisis: Revolutionary General Strike

A means to achieve improved working conditions.

Asturian miners kill owners, take control of municipalities.

Repression by Francisco Franco.

Period of social unrest (CNT emerges, the largest anarchist group in history).

1918: Congress of Sants, for the reorganization of the “Sindicato Único”.

Increased tension due to the 1917 Russian Revolution.

1919: La Canadiense strike in Barcelona paralyzes all public services.

The strike continues, and the employers decide to negotiate with workers.

This creates the pistoleros (gunmen): Red and white.

Start of social war.

1923: A pistolero blanco (white gunman) kills a worker lawyer, Salvador Seguí.

Major government parties form a “national rally”.

  • Antonio Maura, 1918: Regionalist League.
  • Modernization: Parliamentary solution to the military conflict, amnesty for social issues, budget for modernization (fails).

Moroccan Crisis

1921: Disaster of Annual.

Berber leaders unite under Abd el-Krim.

Spanish troops are caught by surprise.

A thorough investigation is launched, and before it concludes, Primo de Rivera stages a coup.