19th Century Spain: Republicanism, Carlism, and Nationalism
Republican Ideology in 19th Century Spain
During the nineteenth century, the Republicans remained divided into different trends, with discrepancies, disputes, and harsh personal rivalries between groups and leaders. The Republican mosaic was composed of the possibilistic party led by Castel, the organic federal party led by Figueras, the democratic-progressive federal party led by Margall, the reform party, and the progresista party.
From 1900, new leaders emerged among younger and more radical Republican ranks. Their political language and obsolete ideological proposals were outdated, and they forgot the problems of the Republican peasantry. They had little interest in defending social reforms and disregarded the claims of the working class. For them, the republic symbolized modernity, progress, peace, and happiness, while the monarchy meant backwardness, injustice, inequality, ignorance, and irrationality.
The Republican program included proposals such as the organization of the federal state, compulsory military service, state secularism, unity with Portugal, trial by juries, the eradication of chieftaincy, the democratization of the political system, mixed juries, limiting the working hours of workers, the establishment of public financial subsidies for the needy, the introduction of progressive taxation, and the forced expropriation of land that Republicans did not cultivate.
Only a handful rejected peaceful and legal participation in elections, preferring to remain faithful to the old revolutionary methods, hoping to gain power through armed insurrections. Most sectors and Republican leaders accepted the rules of the political system, acting from equality and integrated into the regime of the restoration.
Carlism After 1876
After the defeats of 1876, Carlism intended to fix resistance in the palace in Venice and Loreadán. Carlism experienced a steep decline due to several causes: the irreversible decline of social support, the emigration of officers to France, the repetition of disputes between internal leaders, the loss of support from the Spanish clergy, and the gradual integration into the Canovist party. Despite this, newspapers continued to express their ideology. In 1902, the first battalions of Madrid youth were created, with only a small sector of militant Catholicism opposing the ongoing restoration.
Catalan Nationalism: 1830-1900
Between 1830 and 1900, there was vigorous hatching of nationalist sentiments across Europe. In Spain, this occurred in Catalonia and the Basque Country. Taking advantage of weak citizens, there were many people who lacked a rooted sense of belonging to Spain. The Spanish patriotism was decreasing as citizens grew tired of chieftaincy, corruption, administrative inefficiency, military service, and lack of schools.
During the nineteenth century, nationalist movements defended the exaltation of a sense of belonging to the same community, aspirations for self-government, cultural elements such as their own language, a distinct history, customs, and unique culture. Catalonia was very important in the past. Catalonia was one of the most developed and industrial regions of Spain. Notable moments of this movement included the appearance of the Renaissance, the creation of the Catalan Center in 1882, and the activity of Enric Prat de la Riba, who participated in the founding of a new autonomist organization called the Catalan Union, leading to the formation of the Regionalist League in 1901.
Basque Nationalism
The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) was founded in Bilbao in 1895 by Sabino Arana. The ideology of the PNV included the defense of separation from Spain, aggressive anti-Spanish radicalism, exaltation of Basque ethnic roots and xenophobia, ultra-Catholic fundamentalism, promotion of Basque traditions in rural areas, and denunciation of the Spanish character of nationalism elsewhere. Galician nationalism and Valencianism developed much slower.