The Rise of Catalan Nationalism and the Renaixença
The Spanish monarchy adopted a constitutional text that established a bicameral system with a clear division of powers: legislative power resided in the courts; executive power in the king, but with ministers appointed by the judiciary. The constitution recognized the rights of citizens.
Shared sovereignty and legislative power: the king and the crown court appointed the executive. A bicameral system was established, with the senate chosen by the king. The state was Catholic and confessional, with universal suffrage and provincial councils. The electoral system was under government control, leading to electoral cheating.
Basque Nationalism:
A reaction against the Carlist movement led to the defense of Basque institutions and the recovery of the Basque language and culture. Socioeconomic and cultural transformation was encouraged by growing industrial zones and immigration. A process of Basque awareness began, identifying the Basque language, traditions, Catholicism, and an idealized ruralism as opposed to an industrialized and Castilianized society. Sabino de Arana established the first nationalist political program, emphasizing the Basque language, Catholicism, and traditions as differentiating elements. He advocated for Basque sovereignty and created the Basque Nationalist Party in 1895, which was conservative and opposed to liberalism, socialism, and industrialization.
Galician Nationalism:
The socioeconomic situation of Galicia endangered the Galician language. Initially limited to intellectuals, Galician regionalism began as a cultural and literary movement seeking solutions to the economic backwardness and cultural decline of Galicia. Key figures included Rosalía de Castro and Manuel Murguía. The movement developed a conservative, traditionalist Catholic ideology, with Alfredo Brañas as its main theorist. In the 20th century, due to the failure of moderate regionalism, a more progressive and militant movement arose, represented by Alfonso Rodríguez Castelao.
Anarchism:
This doctrine gained social acceptance in both rural and industrial centers. Unlike socialism, it rejected participation in politics and believed in direct action organized through trade unions.
Socialism:
In contrast to anarchism, socialism defended political participation. In 1879, Pablo Iglesias founded the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party), which gained its first parliamentary seat in 1910. The worker’s movement only began to oppose the dynastic parties at the beginning of the 20th century due to easily manipulated elections.
The Awakening of National Consciousness:
Catalonia experienced administrative and cultural changes that favored Catalan culture. As Catalonia’s socioeconomic status rose, the bourgeoisie sought to distinguish itself. The intent to recover national identity was challenged by the prevalence of Castilian language and culture. There was no appropriate cultural and linguistic model for the recovery of Catalan as a literary language. The Catalan cultural movement was linked to poetry, utilizing a medieval and archaic language model. This movement, known as the Renaixença, aimed to revive Catalan culture.
Renaixença:
A cultural movement tied to Romanticism, it developed in Catalonia between the 1830s and 1880s. This movement claimed the revival of Catalan as a prestigious literary language and created a collective identity based on the region’s history. The emergence of the Renaixença should be understood within a sociocultural context strongly influenced by Romanticism, which originated in Germany and spread to England and Spain in 1833 after the death of Ferdinand VII. The ideological bases of Romanticism included: the valuation of individualism, the exaltation of freedom, the appreciation of popular and folkloric heritage (especially language), and the research of the national past and its roots. It exalted the spirit of freedom and the national identity of peoples, valuing local languages. “L’Oda a la Pàtria” by Bonaventura Carles Aribau, published in 1833, was the first poem to identify the homeland and language following the Romantic ideal, affirming the existence of a distinct collective identity. Catalan did not regain its status as a literary language and social prestige until the 1840s. The Jocs Florals, a poetry festival that rewarded poetic texts with flowers, was reinstated in 1859.
Critiques of the Renaixença:
In the 1860s and 1870s, linked to major political and socioeconomic changes, the Renaixença was criticized for being limited to literary claims and for its romantic myths and historical themes. It became a vehicle for the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie, which used it to create a distinct identity and defend its economic and political interests. A new generation of intellectuals tried to assimilate the elitist culture of the Renaixença with folk traditions.
Renaixença and Popular Culture:
Popular leaders continued to use Catalan in daily life and publications, while the upper and educated classes were becoming Castilianized. The use of Catalan had strong cultural connotations. When the cultured bourgeoisie used Catalan in poetry with archaic language, it aimed to be cultured and differentiated from the language spoken by most people. The revival movement was rejected by the masses and progressive sectors of cultural and literary life. In the second half of the 19th century, some intellectuals tried to assimilate the Renaixença with popular traditions, creating a more accessible Catalan culture. The creation of Catalan cultural autonomy was promoted through publications like the Renaixença, which recovered Aribau’s poem as the origin of the movement. Patriotic-literary societies were created, and other literary forms appeared. The elitist approach of the Renaixença and popular culture was bridged by choral singing, drama, and the media, which began to spread elements that symbolized Catalan identity.
Catalan Political Settings:
The Renaixença laid the cultural foundations for Catalan identity. However, it wasn’t until the Bourbon Restoration that a proper Catalan political movement emerged. It evolved from federal republicanism to a grassroots conservative movement linked to the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie and the Church.
First Claims: Federalists and Carlists:
In the 1830s and 1840s, the first anti-centralist manifestations emerged, mostly in Barcelona, related to workers’ claims and advocating for democratic federal republicanism. Carlism also had an impact in the countryside. This movement gained support from much of the peasantry, who demanded the restoration of traditional Catalan laws and institutions. After the failures of Carlism, many Carlists shifted towards Catalan conservatism. These claims shared a common denominator: the rejection of a centralized state and the defense of Catalan interests against an inefficient central government unable to solve the economic crisis and social unrest.
Federalism:
This political current gained strength during the Sexenio Democrático (1868-1874) and played a key role in the configuration of Catalan politics. Catalan Republicans organized as a political force in 1868 with the Federal Democratic Republican Party, with prominent figures like Francesc Pi i Maragall and Valentí Almirall. They defended a pro-socialist and anti-centralist ideology against the centralist liberalism of the Democratic Republicans. During the Sexenio Democrático, frustrated federalist insurrections led to the proclamation of a federal republic within the Spanish state. This position distanced Pi i Maragall, who preferred to dismantle the federal system through parliamentary discussion. This led to a separation into two blocks in 1881.
Valentí Almirall and Regionalism:
After the political failures of the Sexenio Democrático and the First Republic, Almirall began to promote a regionalist conception of federalism, criticizing the corrupt politicians and the centralist system of the Restoration. His political thought took shape in 1886 with the publication of “Lo Catalanisme”. Almirall expressed his willingness to integrate all Catalan political forces, both conservative and progressive, into a single block. He aimed to unite Catalan culture and politics. His attempts to integrate manifested in the First Catalanist Congress, with the objectives of defending Catalan civil law, threatened by a national bill, and creating a cultural and scientific center to promote the normalization of the Catalan language. The Second Catalanist Congress criticized the centralist position of the Catalan bourgeoisie and condemned its participation in Spanish parties. It demanded the officiality of Catalan alongside Spanish, the preservation of Catalan civil law, and the recognition of Catalonia as an entity beyond provincial divisions. This discomfort within Catalan society was reflected in a manifesto promoted by Almirall titled “Memoria en defensa dels interessos morals i materials de Catalunya”, known as the Memorial de Greuges. It represented the joint action of the Catalan bourgeoisie within the framework of Catalan politics. However, the most conservative sectors of the Catalan bourgeoisie did not accept Almirall’s theses and split from the Catalanist center, leading to a period of hegemony of Catalanist currents associated with the bourgeoisie and the Catholic Church.