The Restoration in Spain: A Period of Stability and Change
Introduction
General Martínez Campos goes against Serrano for Alfonso XII when they turn 18 in Sagunto. Previously, he had manifested his offer to get the country out of the crisis that led to the republic; Sagunto’s manifesto states that Serrano leaves and Cánovas can already form a provisional government headed by Antonio Cánovas, with two imminent ideas:
- Prepare the return of the new King.
- Constituent elections to choose the courts by universal suffrage.
Thus begins a long period in the history of Spain, which together with the current period is the longest in terms of stability. This is the Restoration period.
The Restoration is a new attempt to create a liberal state in a moderate country. Temporarily, it coincides with the golden age of bourgeois civilization, which dominates all of Europe in this era. It is the era of economic capital, of the political system admitted as the best liberal, but it is also the era of the triumph of cultural values of a satisfied bourgeoisie, due to its success, which becomes the benchmark model. For all this we can say that in the developed Western world, the bourgeoisie becomes the historical system of the West. As in any historical system, the bourgeois triumph also gives rise to a system, a project that is the proletarian revolution. This is how the transfer from a very conservative bourgeoisie to a proletariat is completed.
The Restoration of Cánovas is the attempt to bring the country closer to the political, economic and social situation of Western Europe.
In Europe, there were two models of the State. One, the liberal state based on the English monarchy, reform and continuity, and another, the French Republic based on revolution and rupture.
Cánovas opted for the English model.
Doctrinal and Social Bases
The Restoration as a political system is the work of Cánovas, a politician from the liberal union, conservative. During the Sexenio, he became the main mentor of the legitimists.
Thus, Cánovas prepares the return of Alfonso, placing him as a new figurehead of the system capable of giving the country stability and the capacity for change without revolutionary costs. This capacity must be based on three factors:
- The role of moderator and unifier of the Crown.
- Political bipartisanship.
- The absolute dominance of civil society over the military.
The Cánovas system is the expression of the conservative concept of the liberal state, the result of the interests and values of the dominant bourgeoisie, which seeks above all to ensure its status against the emerging thrust of the proletariat.
The system must be based on several principles of unquestionable acceptance, which must be part of the national consciousness, which he calls the internal constitution of the country. These principles are:
- The Fatherland: an attitude of placing national interests above partisan ones.
- The defense of private property.
- Order and security. Cánovas is more conservative because “order ensures progress.”
- Freedom understood as a conservative model by equal opportunities. The only model of state that can guarantee political stability in Spain is the monarchy, understood as the historical symbol of the nation, alive and moderate.
All political groups that accept these principles have the doors open to the political game, the rest will be excluded. Once these principles are accepted, the rest of the issues can and should be accepted by the dynastic parties.
The system wants to depart from the regime created by Isabel II to avoid the causes of its failure. The errors made by the Isabelino system are:
- Internal wear and tear that meant confronting the system with the two great Isabelino parties, due to the inability of the system to guarantee power to the opposition.
- Permanent intervention of the military in politics to force political changes. The system lost credibility.
Cánovas understood that the first thing to do was the existence of two large liberal parties that, coinciding on the fundamental issues, represent the interests of the entire bourgeoisie. These parties had to alternate peacefully in power.
He creates and presides over the so-called Conservative Party, which represents the interests of large landowners and large businessmen. Its moderate political liberalism comes from the old liberal union and includes non-radical Catholics.
Cánovas himself promotes the creation of the opposition party, the Liberal Party, around Sagasta in 1880. This party brings together the progressive and democratic liberals and the moderate Republicans, depending on experience. It represents the interests of the small bourgeoisie: professionals, merchants, military and bankers.
Both parties represent the Stability-Reform binomial, the need for the system to continue. Both parties are called dynastic.
The system also tries to integrate other political options, without any real aspiration to power, with the objectives of:
- Giving the system the appearance of political pluralism, not only internally but also externally.
- Controlling the power of opposition movements.
After the defeat of Carlism, its members create a more moderate Carlist party that gradually adopts a Catholic conservative character.
It will also allow the existence of a conservative Republican party led by Castelar.
This is complemented by the creation of the UGT in 1885. They were very present in all social assistance commissions, including in 1881 when the system legalizes the PSOE, which becomes the interlocutor of the workers with the ruling bourgeoisie. Although they did not reach parliament until the 20th century.
However, the system never understood anarchism, so they always outlawed it.
Another integration a century later is the Catalanism of Lliga. All these parties have no options to reach power, their political presence will be testimonial and they accept the Constitution that the system tolerates.
Another objective that arises is to ensure civilian control of power. For this, Cánovas believes it is necessary to ensure the rotation. The rotation is very important and is insurance against military coups. It consists of both parties ensuring successive periods of government.
In addition, the constitution will place the king as the supreme head of the army in an attempt to ensure the allegiance of the military commanders to the system, based on the principle of obedience to the command. As a result, the army is separated from the population, and the king has no interest in being a military commander.
The immediate objectives set by the system are three:
- Internal pacification by restoring public and social order. For this, the system does not hesitate to use repression in prisons and on the street against anyone who disturbs it. Any system places order and security before social freedom. To maintain order at all times, it seeks to be the one who is publicly recognized, to act as a mediator in social change. Liberal anti-clericalism is passed to the leftists, so there is a reconciliation between the State and the Church. It is intended that the Church can dedicate itself to the social assistance of the country, preaching resignation towards a change that must come from the State.
- Building the central state, typical of conservative liberalism, a unitary system that suspends all provincial autonomy and opts for a municipal model. The mayors are chosen by the government; because after the defeat of Carlism, Cánovas proceeded to open all the fueros, but in return, he grants the Basque territories the system of concerts. The economic concerts are a self-financing system of these territories, consisting of the assignment of tax collection in that territory in exchange for a quota.