Presentation of the 2nd REpublic (1931-1936)

Here you have the presentation of the period of the 2nd Republic:

 

CÁNOVAS’ SPEECH ON UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE (1888)

El sufragio universal, que es en sí mismo una malísima institución política, una institución incompatible con todo ordenado régimen político, y más si ese régimen es el monárquico, el sufragio universal, aun cuando sea verdad (y sobre todo ha de ser verdad), es incompatible a la larga con la propiedad individual, con la desigualdad de las fortunas y con todo lo que no sea un socialismo desatentado y anárquico. El sufragio universal no puede ser más que un instrumento de socialismo o una farsa vil, y, en estos últimos tiempos, es, bajo ese título postrero, como he juzgado conveniente calificarlo. Cualesquiera que sean los peligros y los inconvenientes del sufragio universal, es inútil discutirlo ahora. ¿Quién piensa, quién ha dicho siquiera que, después de que en España se haya votado una Ley de sufragio universal, las opiniones de las muchedumbres, de los pobres, de los que nada tienen estarán representadas en las urnas electorales? ¿Hay alguien que sospeche esto siquiera? ¿A qué, pues, discutir el sufragio universal? Ya he indicado brevemente a qué consecuencias puede llegar ese sufragio. En otras ocasiones lo he discutido; y, si llegara el caso, como simple tema académico, podría discutirlo de nuevo.                          

Cánovas, 8 de noviembre de 1888

Cánovas del Castillo

Classification
This is an historical primary source text and, besides it is a political and public text, because it is a speech. .
This speech was pronounced by Cánovas on the 8th November 1888 in Seville during the period of the Restoration, period in which the monarchy had been re-established after the Democratic Sexenio. Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, who was a conservative politician, was the main responsible for restoration and the design of a stable and conservative political system, based on the assumption of some principles by the main parties that accepted monarchy and alternated in power.
The intended audience were the deputies of the Parliament.

2. Analysis
The main idea of this text is that Cánovas rejects universal suffrage as political instrument.
I think that the main key word in this speech is “vile farce”, because it is the way, as Cánovas said, he “had judged proper” to describe universal suffrage.
In his speech about universal suffrage Cánovas shows that he is against universal suffrage because it is incompatible with any political regime, with private property and with fortunes’ inequality. Besides, Cánovas said that it is an instrument of socialism and that, even if there was a Universal Suffrage Law, people’s opinions wouldn’t be represented either. When Cánovas gave this speech his party was not in the government and he tried to convince the government in power and the deputies not to approve a Law of Universal Suffrage.

After the Democratic Sexenio, monarchy was re-established and the Bourbons came back to power. Cánovas tried to restore monarchy through a wide consensus, but, Alphonse XII was enthroned violating the law with General Martínez Campos uprising at the end of 1874.

Cánovas was appointed prime minister of the Ministry-Regency, in charge of organizing the political system. Cánovas worked to establish a stable system that avoided the mistakes made in the past, such as preference of the monarch for only one party with exclusion of the opposition from government, constant intervention of the military in politics or the continuous changes in legislation. In this way, a royal order from 1875, established that the army’s role was defending national independence and keeping out from politics.

Cánovas’ desire to respect the law made him call elections to Constituent Cortes in January 1876 with the Sexenio universal suffrage law. The elections were manipulated and Cánovas followers (the alfonsinos), got the majority in both chambers. The draft of the text, approved in June 1876, was written by a group of 39 deputies and it was inspired on conservative liberalism. The monarch was considered to be above the rest of the institution and this Constitution didn’t include any reference to suffrage, but a later law imposed census suffrage.

According to Cánovas, even if universal suffrage was approved, it wouldn’t reflect the opinion of the people, because the manipulation of the elections was one of the pillars of Restoration regime and its objective was not reflecting people’s will, but assuring stability property, order… In that way, the electoral system was based on two parties that could alternate in power.

His model was the British bipartisan system, with two main parties accepting the monarchy and the basic institutions of the State. The Conservative Party was formed around himself and it included former moderates, former members of the Liberal Union and some former Carlists. Its main support came from the big landowners and the upper bourgeoisie. The Liberal Party, formed around Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, included former progressives and, as time went by, it also integrated former members of the Liberal Union, some democrats and conservative republicans. Their main support came from the middle bourgeoisie, small merchants and landowners. Both parties accepted the monarchy, the 1876 constitution, defense of private property and a unitary and centralized State.

As the dynastic parties only represented the interests of a minority of the population, electoral manipulation was the only way to guarantee that they would be elected. The Constitution gave the monarch an arbitrary role in the alternation in power: when the party in the government went through a crisis, the other dynastic party asked the monarch for the decree of dissolution of the Cortes and formed a new government. The new government, without a supporting majority in the parliament, “cooked” the results of the elections. This manipulation had two stages:

With the encasillado (allotting), the minister of Gobernación assigned the deputies who had to be elected in every province, with a majority for his party, and then, his orders were sent to the civil governors, who transmitted the government’s will to the caciques (local political bosses) of every circumscription.
The second stage of the process was called pucherazo (vote- rigging), in which the caciques used all the methods at their reach to assure the votes: they promised favours or jobs, they bought votes, or they manipulated the result in many ways: electoral manipulation was t they included dead people in the electoral roll, moved or hid the ballot boxes..

In this way, the dynastic parties alternated periodically and pacifically in power, depending on their internal stability. The Conservative Party ruled during the first years of the Restoration (1875-1881), most of the times headed by Cánovas. The liberals ruled from 1881 to 1884, but when they started showing signs of disunion, the conservatives came back to power,. But when Alphonse XII died in 1885, the conservatives and liberal reached the conclusion that the liberals had to come back to power in order to avoid a possible destabilization of the system- This agreement was called Pact of El Pardo, and the liberals ruled from 1885 to 1890 (“Long government”).

Besides, during Sagasta’s Long Government, while the liberals were in power, they made several reforms. One of those laws was the Law of Universal Suffrage. When Cánovas gave this speech his party was not in the government and he tried to convince the government in power and the deputies not to pass this law. However, two years later, in 1890, the Law of Universal Suffrage was approved.

3. Conclusion
Universal suffrage was not compatible with the regime Cánovas had designed and Cánovas’ conservative ideology. His aspiration was a stable liberal system, but this didn’t mean democracy.

When the Law of Universal Suffrage was approved during the Long Government in 1890, which gave the right to vote to all men aged 25 and above, electoral roll increased considerably, But the manipulation of the elections continued, although it became more and more complicated in cites. In that way, for example, in 1893, the Republican Union got 34 deputies, mainly in the big cities. However, the fact that most of the voters lived in rural areas, where the manipulation of the elections conditioned the results, made the republican triumph impossible. Besides, during its government, Maura decided not to intervene in the elections, but the caciques client structure showed that it could work even if the government did not intervene manipulating the results.

Besides, universal suffrage was included in the 1812 and 1869 Constitutions as well.

Finally, in 1931, universal suffrage allowed the victory of the republican parties in the 12th April elections and a democratic system began.

Alphonse XIII's reign presentation

Altough I uploaded this presentation to Slideshare, I forgot to embed it. Here you have it:

 

1869 CONSTITUTION

La Nación Española y en su nombre las Cortes Constituyentes elegidas por sufragio universal, deseando afianzar la justicia, la libertad y la seguridad y proveer el bien de cuantos vivan en España, decretan y sancionan (...)

Art. 2º. Ningún español ni extranjero podrá ser detenido ni preso sino por causa de delito.

Art. 3º. Todo detenido será puesto en libertad o entregado a la autoridad judicial dentro de las veinticuatro horas siguientes al acto de su detención (...)

Art 4º. Ningún español podrá ser preso sino en virtud de mandamiento de juez competente (...)

Art. 21. La Nación se obliga a mantener el culto y los ministros de la religión católica. El ejercicio público o privado de cualquiera otro culto queda garantizado a todos los extranjeros residentes en España, sin más limitaciones que las reglas universales de la moral y del derecho. Si algunos españoles profesaren otra religión que la católica, es aplicable a los mismos todo lo dispuesto en el párrafo anterior.

Art. 26. A ningún español que esté en el pleno goce de sus derechos civiles podrá impedirse salir libremente del territorio, ni trasladar su residencia y haberes a país extranjero, salvo las obligaciones de contribuir al servicio militar o al mantenimiento de las cargas públicas.

Art. 32. La soberanía reside esencialmente en la nación, de la cual emanan todos los poderes.

Art. 33. La forma de Gobierno de la Nación española es la Monarquía.

Art. 34. La potestad de hacer las leyes reside en las Cortes.(..)

Art. 35. El poder ejecutivo reside en el Rey, que lo ejerce por medio de sus ministros.

Art. 36. Los Tribunales ejercen el poder judicial.

Classification:

This text is a primary source and a legal text. It’s the 1869 Constitution, which is considered one of the most liberal constitutions made during the 19^th century in Spain. It’s a public document, the author is collective because they are the deputies elected for the Constituent Cortes. The deputies were elected in January 1869 (during the period of the Provisional Government) and there was a majority of progressive, unionist and monarchist democrats. The audience is the Spanish nation.

Analysis:

The main idea of the text is very well represented in the Art.32 (La soberanía reside esencialmente en la nación, de la cual emanan todos los poderes.) and we can see the new organization of the Spanish political system, which seems quite progressive, leaving Isabella II’s moderate system behind. So, it’s clearly a liberal and democratic constitution and if we compare with other European constitutions of the same period it has a wide liberties range.

If we take a look to the articles we can see that most of them talk about liberties given to the citizens. The National Sovereignty idea is very important, which was defended by progressives and democrats, also at the beginning it’s expressed on its constituent character. 

Articles 2, 3, 4 and 26 represent the new liberties that the society will have. Art. 21 (La Nación se obliga a mantener el culto y los ministros de la religión católica. El ejercicio público o privado de cualquiera otro culto … ) maybe we can say that it was made by the progressives and democrats to satisfy the Church and avoid a revolution or conspiracy by its side. Because in this period the State declared freedom of cult, although it had to finance the Catholic clergy, which means that the State committed to maintain the Catholic worship. It was the first time in Spain that the Catholic religion stopped being official and compulsory for the citizens.  

Apart from liberties, it also included the division of powers in the last articles. Art.32 and the Art.35 (El poder ejecutivo reside en el Rey, que lo ejerce por medio de sus ministros.) showed the famous slogan of that period: “The King reigns but does not govern”. So, Monarchy continues to be the type of government, which is also said in the Art.33.

All these articles we have talked about affirm the liberal ideas of the parties which got the majority in the Cortes and had led the Glorious Revolution.

About the historical context, this Constitution was written one year after the Glorious Revolution, started on the 18^th of September of 1868 with an uprising in Cadiz led by different political groups: democrats, progressives, unionists (and the involvement of some members of the royal family, like the Duke of Montpensier). The revolution was against Isabella II, because her government was corrupted and it didn’t respect the Constitution. So the nation was tired of the conservative monarchy. There’re some causes which explain the people’s tiredness. During this time there were economic and political crisis. Isabella II was constantly losing support and only the moderates wanted that the Queen continued in power.The Pact of Ostend, in 1866, was decisive for the Glorious Revolution. It was made by the progressives and the democrats to overthrow the monarchy and call elections to Constituent Cortes. Finally, people formed boards claiming for universal suffrage, national sovereignty and more liberties.

After this event, the moderate troops which supported Isabella II were defeated and this provoked the dethronement and the exile of the queen to France. Then, a provisional government was formed and elections to Constituent Cortes were called. After the debates, the Cortes decided to institute a Democratic Monarchy in which the king reigns but does not govern. Is in this moment when this Constitution was written and it is characterized mainly by the National Sovereignty, Universal Male Suffrage, Declaration of rights and liberties and the division of powers, the king’s power is restricted.

The Provisional Government ordered the dissolution of the revolutionary boards and the disarmament of the Freedom Volunteers. Some economic decisions were also made, trying to solve the crisis. As the Constitution established that the monarchy continued as the form of State but with limited power. General Serrano was appointed Regent and General Prim became prime minister and was elected to look for a new monarch who finally was Amadeus of Savoy, but some days before his arrival, Prim was killed. But there were other problems to develop the Constitution, because the entrance of propagandists of the 1^st International and the beginning of the workers’ organization led people who were against the governments ideas met together to fight for their ideas. For example, the republicans were against the government because of the establishment of the monarchy, and the workers and peasants disagreed with the economic decisions made by capitalism. 

The Constitution was in force until January 1874 when the Bourbons Restoration started with Alphonse XII. 

Conclusion:

As a conclusion we can say that at first glance this text was very important to develop liberalism and to stop with Isabella’s moderate system. But if we take a look in depth we know that society model continued the same because workers and peasants didn’t improve their situation. And because of that, different anarchist and republican groups were formed to a revolution in which the nation has the power. Some of these ideas influenced in the constitutional project of 1873, during the 1^st Republic, but finally it couldn’t come into force. Also many individual rights included in this Constitution were also included in the 1876 Constitution.

UGT-CNT JOINT MANIFESTO

Mas, a pesar de nuestras advertencias serenas, de nuestras quejas metódicas y fundamentadas y de nuestras protestas, tal vez más prudentes y mesuradas de lo que exige la agudeza de los dolores que el país padece, es lo cierto que cada día que pasa representa para el proletariado una agravación creciente de la miseria ocasionada por la carestía de las subsistencias y por la falta de trabajo.

( ... ) El proletariado organizado ha llegado así al convencimiento de la necesidad de la unificación de sus fuerzas en una lucha común contra los amparadores de la explotación, erigida en sistema de gobierno. Y respondiendo a este convencimiento, los representantes de la Unión General de Trabajadores y los de la Confederación Nacional del Trabajo han acordado por unanimidad:

1) Que, en vista del examen detenido y desapasionado que los firmantes de este documento han hecho de la situación actual y de la actuación de los gobernantes y del Parlamento, no encontrando, a pesar de sus buenos deseos, satisfechas las demandas formuladas por el último congreso de la Unión General de Trabajadores, y con el fin de obligar a las clases dominantes a aquellos cambios fundamentales de sistema que garanticen al pueblo el mínimo de las condiciones decorosas de vida y de desarrollo de sus actividades emancipadoras, se impone que el proletariado emplee la huelga general, sin plazo limitado, como el arma más poderosa que posee para reivindicar sus derechos.

2) Que a partir de este momento, sin interrumpir su acción constante de reivindicaciones sociales, los organismos proletarios, de acuerdo con sus elementos directivos, procederán a la adopción de todas aquellas medidas que consideren adecuadas al éxito de la huelga general, hallándose preparados para el momento en que haya de comenzar este movimiento.  

                                                          

Madrid, 27th March 1917

1-DESCRIPTION

We are facing a historical and political text which shows the alliance between the workers´ associations “CNT” and “UGT”. It´s a primary source, published on the March 17^th, 1917 and his audience is the public, but more concretely the Spanish working class.

The text is the manifesto of joining of the CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) and the UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores), the two main workers´ associations that existed in Spain at the beginning of the 20^th century, wich created in 1910 and 1888 respectively.

2- ANALISIS

The main idea of the text is the conviction of the working class to join all his forces in order to fight against the exploitation and the political and economic system of the time.

The text presents the idea that despite the complaints, demonstrations and protests carried out by the trade unions and the working class, each time, the injustices and inequalities of the proletarians become more acute, due to the exploitation, the lack of economic resources and the lack of work.

To understand this in a better way, we should give an overview over the political, economic and social situation in Spain and Europe in the years of the publication of the text:

The beginning of the WWI, and his neutrality, gave to Spain a big opportunity of developing his economy. Spain started exporting huge amounts of products to the countries that participated in the war. But although many producers became rich, the exportation provoked the lack of many products and the increasing of his prices, creating a big inflation that damaged the lower classes. Besides, the workers´ salaries didn´t increased and they lost purchasing power, so the working class and the lower classes in Spain became poorer than at the beginning of the war. Another factor that is important to take into account is the beginning of the Russian Revolution in February 1917, which showed the possibilities of taking the power with the union of the proletariat. This factor, joint with the important situation of economic and social crisis, and the dissatisfaction of many people due to the corrupted political system of the Restoration, provoked the increasing of the members of the workers´ associations and intensified the social conflicts since 1916.

In the text, the CNT and the UGT agree in ally themselves in order to fight against the government, responsible for the exploitation of the working class. One of the reasons for this is that the demands that the last congress of the UGT required to the government in order to improve the working and living conditions weren´t accomplished. This way, the organized proletariat decided to use the instrument of the general strikes for undefined periods of time as the better way of fighting and claiming to improve their living and working conditions and achieve their emancipation.

3- CONCLUSION

This text is important to understand the political and social situation of Spain during the first years of the 20^th century and to understand the political evolution of the subsequent years. The alliance of the CNT and UGT meant the union of all the working class with the two main workers´ associations from different ideologies (Anarchism and Marxism), which provoked the organization of the majority of the Spanish proletariat. The years that followed 1917 are a reflect of the fight of the Spanish labour movement and the euphoria caused in the European proletariat by the beginning and the success of the Russian Revolution, that shows how a well organized working class could take the power in order to emancipate and improve the working and living conditions. After 1917, the protests, demonstrations and general strikes organized by CNT and UGT became usual, and the use of the army and the public order forces to dissolve them caused the increasing of the discontent of workers, that provoked the drift into a turbulent period of violent protests and strong repression, which ended with the coup d´ètat and the subsequent dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera, accepted by the king Alphonse XIII in 1923.

BASES DE MANRESA (1892)

Bases de Manresa (1892)

Bases para la Constitución Regional Catalana:

Base 2ª. En la parte dogmática de la Constitución Regional Catalana se mantendrá el temperamento expansivo de nuestra antigua legislación, reformando, para ponerlas de acuerdo con las nuevas necesidades, las sabias disposiciones que contiene  respecto a los derechos y libertades de los catalanes.

Base 3ª. La lengua catalana será la única que, con carácter oficial, podrá usarse en Cataluña y en las relaciones de esta región con el poder central

Base 4ª. Sólo los catalanes, ya lo sean de nacimiento o en virtud de la naturalización, podrán desempeñar en Cataluña cargos públicos... También deberán ser ejercidos por catalanes los cargos militares que comporten jurisdicción.

Base 6ª. Cataluña será la única soberana de su gobierno interior

Base 7ª. El poder legislativo regional radicará en las Cortes Catalanas que deberán reunirse cada año en una época determinada y en un sitio diferente. Las Cortes se formarán por sufragio entre los cabezas de familia, agrupados en clases según su trabajo manual, carreras profesionales, propiedad, industria y comercio.

Base 8ª. El poder judicial se organizará restableciendo la antigua Audiencia de Cataluña

Base 12ª. Cataluña contribuirá a la formación del ejército permanente de mar y tierra por medio de voluntarios o bien mediante una compensación en metálico, previamente convenida, como antes de 1845

Base 13ª. El mantenimiento del orden público y seguridad interior de Cataluña estarán confiadas al Somatén, y para el servicio activo permanente se creará un cuerpo parecido al de los "Mossos d´Esquadra " o de la Guardia Civil.

Base 15ª. La enseñanza pública, en sus diferentes ramas, deberá organizarse de una forma adecuada a las necesidades y carácter de la civilización de Cataluña

Base 16ª. La Constitución Catalana y los derechos de los catalanes estarán bajo la salvaguarda del Poder ejecutivo catalán.

Manresa, 27 de marzo de 1892. El presidente, Lluís Doménech i Montaner. Los secretarios, Enric Prat de la Riba, Josep Soler i Palet.

 

CLASSIFICATION

·         Primary and written source.

·         Political source.

·         Public document.

·         Context: the text was published in Manresa, town 66 kilometres far from Barcelona, in 1892.

·         Intended audience: everyone interested in politics.

·    Authors: Lluís Doménech i Montaner, Enric Prat de la Riba and Josep Soler i Palet. Doménech i Montaner was a politician and a modernist architect. When he was young he was a member of Centre Català, the progressive and Catalanist party of Valentí Almirall. Then, he opposed Almirall’s progressivism and he was one of the founders of Unió Catalanista, a federation of Catalanist associations, and he became its president. Unió Catalanista was a federation of Catalanist associations opposed to Centre Català, another autonomist party. Prat de la Riba and Soler i Palet were important members of Unió Catalanista.

ANALYSIS

The main idea is that Catalonia should have a regional Constitution to allow the Catalans to decide on their liberties and rights and to increase their autonomy (of Catalonia).

Bases de Manresa is the document where Unió Catalanista defined its program. There they defended the organization of Spain as a confederation of states, political autonomy for Catalonia, the re-establishment of ancient institutions, like the Audiencia and the Cortes and Catalan as the official language, and they also defended the control of education by a Catalan government.

The “Somatén” was a Catalan institution of security. At the beginning, it was only an armed force of civil protection and it usually collaborated with the authorities. During Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, the somatén became one of the régime’s pillars. The somatén was similar to the National Militia. The “Mossos” is a police force that had already existed in the Crown of Aragón.

Bases de Manresa is a Catalanist manifesto. Catalanism had a cultural origin. During the 1830s the Renaixença, a cultural and literary movement, had developed, in the context of Romanticism.

The first party created to defend the Catalan interests was the Lliga Regionalista Catalana, formed in 1901. It was a conservative alternative to the dynastic parties in Catalonia. It was formed by many members of Unió, like Enric Prat de la Riba. It was created because Unió rejected to participate in politics. In the 1901 elections to Cortes the Lliga got 6 deputies and broke the alternation of the dynastic parties for the first time.

The appearance of nationalist and regionalist movements in Catalonia, the Basque Provinces and Galicia was one of the most relevant facts of the Restoration. These movements appeared as a reaction against the State centralization and a political and administrative system that didn’t take the specific cultural and linguistic features of other regions into account. In some way, it was a reaction against Spanish nationalism, which tried to impose a Castilian official culture, ignoring the plural reality of the country.

The Catalanists wanted a similar treatment to the one which had the Basque Provinces. After the end of the Third Carlist War, the fueros of the Basque Provinces and Navarre were abolished, but the Basque Provinces received a special economic treatment with the Basque Economic Agreement (concierto económico), which allowed the Provincial Councils (Diputaciones Provinciales) to collect the taxes directly.

CONCLUSION

The Bases de Manresa can be considered as the precedent of Catalonia’s statutes (the first one during the 2nd Republic).

Catalonia got more autonomy progressively. In 1899, there was a project of administrative decentralization. The Mancomunitat de Catalunya was created in 1913 and it was suspended during Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship. In 1932, during the Second Republic, the Generalitat de Catalunya was restored and the Estatut d’Autonomia was approved. The Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship meant the prohibition of Catalan in the official and educational fields. Political freedom wasn’t recovered until the Transition and the approval of the 1978 Constitution. A new Estatut d’Autonomia was approved in 1979, which recovered the official use of Catalan, and it was substituted later by the 2006 Estatut. This one was modified by the Constitutional Court in 2010 and it is in force nowadays.

In the last years, many Catalan parties have claimed for independence and, with the collaboration of organizations such as the Catalan National Assembly, they have written a Constitution, but it isn’t in force because the central government sent it to the Constitutional Court, which declared it unconstitutional.

Salvador Fuentes Lucas-Torres

CATALANISM AND SPANISHNESS IN PRAT DE LA RIBA’S THINKING (1899)

Catalanismo y españolismo en el pensamiento de Prat de la Riba (1899)

 Enclavada Cataluña en el área geográfica conocida con el nombre de España, somos españoles, del mismo modo que somos europeos por estar comprendida España dentro del continente Europa. Gobernada España por el Estado español, los catalanes somos españoles como miembros de este Estado, como ciudadanos de esta sociedad política

 No somos, pues, enemigos de España, tomada en este sentido (el único real), ni al combatir el Estado español queremos otra cosa que rehacerlo con equidad y justicia y con una organización más adecuada y perfecta, dentro de la cual Cataluña puede encontrar una vida de libertad y de progreso.

La Veu de Catalunya no es ni ha sido nunca separatista, como no lo son ni lo han sido nunca las Asambleas catalanistas: las Bases de Manresa, programa de la gran mayoría de los autonomistas catalanes, son incompatibles con una aspiración separatista. Y esto que decimos ahora lo hemos dicho siempre...

Queremos ver la patria catalana unida con vínculos de hermandad con los demás pueblos de España, formando una familia fuerte y bien avenida, sin Cenicientas explotadas ni herederas altivas.

CLASSIFICATION

·         Primary and written historical source.

·         Political source.

·         Public document.

·         Context: the text was written in Spain in 1899.

·         Intended audience: everyone interested in politics and social affairs.

·         Author: Prat de la Riba was a Catalan politician who belonged to Unió Catalanista, a federation of catalanist associations opposed to Centre Català, another autonomist party. As Unió rejected to participate in politics, Prat de la Riba and other Catalanists created the Lliga Regionalista Catalana, a conservative alternative to the dynastic parties in Catalonia. In the 1901 elections to Cortes the Lliga got 6 deputies and broke the alternation of the dynastic parties for the first time.

ANALYSIS

In this text, Prat de la Riba defends that the Catalans are Spaniards but that they should have more autonomy and contribute less to the regional solidarity.

“La Veu de Catalunya” was a very important Catalanist newspaper that was published in Barcelona from 1899 to 1937. The diary had a double purpose: literary and political purpose. The edition was started by Enric Prat de la Riba, with a mainly political orientation and as a defender of Lliga Regionalista’s program (the Lliga was the conservative alternative to the dynastic parties in Catalonia). The “Bases de Manresa” was the name of Unió Catalanista’s program, where they defended the organization of Spain as a confederation of states, political autonomy for Catalonia, the re-establishment of ancient institutions, like the Audiencia and the Cortes and Catalan as the official language.

When he talks about “Cenicientas explotadas”, he refers to Catalonia because he thinks that Catalonia must give too much money to the central government (he calls them “herederas altivas”).

This document is related to the appearance of nationalist and regionalist movements in Catalonia, the Basque Provinces and Galicia, which was one of the most relevant facts of the Restoration. These movements appeared as a reaction against the State centralization and a political and administrative system that didn’t take the specific cultural and linguistic features of other regions into account. In some way, it was a reaction against Spanish nationalism, which tried to impose a Castilian official culture, ignoring the plural reality of the country.

Catalanism had a cultural origin. During the 1830s the Renaixença, a cultural and literary movement had developed, in the context of Romanticism. Their goal was recovering the Catalan language and culture, but they didn’t have political expectations. The first political approach took place in 1880, when Valentí Almirall, a former federal republican, called the  Catalanist Congress and tried to unify the two Catalanist currents: the republican and progressive current and the literary current, more conservative and apolitical. In 1885 Almirall wrote the Memorial of Grievances (Memorial de Greuges), a document signed by businessmen, industrialists, workers’ delegates, intellectuals and professionals. It denounced the oppression Catalonia suffered due to the centralist policy of the government and claimed for a better treatment for the interests of the rest of the Spanish regions and was presented to King Alphonse XII, but it didn’t have any relevant consequence.

As we have said, Prat de la Riba was a Catalanist man. Catalanism had a cultural origin. During the 1830s the Renaixença, a cultural and literary movement, had developed, in the context of Romanticism. Their goal was recovering the Catalan language and culture, but they didn’t have political expectations. The first political approach took place in 1880, when Valentí Almirall, a former federal republican, called the 1^st Catalanist Congress and tried to unify the two Catalanist currents: the republican and progressive current and the literary current, more conservative and apolitical. In 1885 he founded the Centre Català. Some Catalan people opposed his progressivism and founded Unió Catalanista in 1891.

The first party created to defend the Catalan interests was the Lliga Regionalista Catalana, formed in 1901. As we said, it was a conservative alternative to the dynastic parties in Catalonia. It was formed by many members of Unió, like Enric Prat de la Riba. It was created because Unió rejected to participate in politics. In the 1901 elections to Cortes the Lliga got 6 deputies and broke the alternation of the dynastic parties for the first time.

The Catalanists wanted a similar treatment to the one the Basque Provinces had. After the end of the Third Carlist War, the fueros of the Basque Provinces and Navarre were abolished, but the Basque Provinces received a special economic treatment with the Basque Economic Agreement (concierto económico), which allowed the Provincial Councils (Diputaciones Provinciales) to collect the taxes directly. This especial economic treatment didn’t stop the appearance of a nationalist movement in the Basque Provinces (PNV), clearly pro-independence and with an important racist content initially.

CONCLUSION

Catalonia got more autonomy progressively. In 1899, there was a project of administrative decentralization. The Mancomunitat de Catalunya was created in 1913 and it was suspended during Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship. In 1932, during the Second Republic, the Generalitat de Catalunya was restored and the Estatut d’Autonomia was approved. The Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship meant the prohibition of Catalan in the official and educational fields. Political freedom wasn’t recovered until the Transition and the approval of the 1978 Constitution. A new Estatut d’Autonomia was approved in 1979, which recovered the official use of Catalan and the political institutions, and it was substituted later by the 2006 Estatut. This one was modified by the Constitutional Court in 2010 and it is in force nowadays.  Prat de la Riba’s claims continue to be of current interest, with the present pro-independence process: the same claims (better financing, a federal structure of the State, the feeling of mistreatment…).

Salvador Fuentes Lucas-Torres