19th Century Spain: Social and Economic Transformations
1. Population Growth in 19th Century Spain
Population growth during the 19th century in Spain was slow due to high mortality rates (29‰ in Europe, 18‰ in Spain). The population increased from 11.5 million in 1800 to just over 18.5 million in 1900. Factors contributing to this slow growth included persistent epidemics like cholera (1853, 1865, and 1885) and influenza (1890), tuberculosis, and livelihood crises. Mortality rates began to decline (14‰) towards the end of the century, alongside a decrease in birth rates. By 1930, the population would reach 23.4 million.
Transoceanic migration significantly impacted demographics, with 1.5 million people emigrating to Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, and Algeria between 1875 and 1915. Emigrants primarily originated from Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Canary Islands, and the Levant, seeking better employment and wage opportunities.
70% of the population resided in towns with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, while only 9% lived in cities exceeding 100,000. The final two decades of the 19th century witnessed a rural exodus towards industrial areas in Catalonia and the Basque Country, and the expanding capital, Madrid. Major urban transformations occurred in large cities, including the demolition of walls and widening of streets, exemplified by Cerdá’s plan in Barcelona, the Salamanca district and Ciudad Lineal in Madrid, and urban development in Valencia.
Regionally, peripheral areas gained demographic weight compared to interior regions, whose share of the national population decreased from 47.5% in 1787 to 30% in 1910. Despite these changes, agriculture remained the primary economic sector for most of the population at the end of the century.
2. From Feudal Estate to Class Society
In 19th-century Europe, including Spain, the old nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie merged, forming the power and financial elite. The transition from a feudal estate society to a class-based system was gradual and uneven.
Elites
- Old Nobility: Despite the abolition of the seigneurial regime and primogeniture, the old nobility retained land ownership, living off their income without contributing to industrial or financial development. They maintained influence in the Senate, Church, and Army. A new nobility emerged from the gentry, high-ranking administration, and military.
- Upper Class: This class comprised rural and urban landowners, businessmen, speculators, and traders. This wealthy bourgeoisie acquired properties through disentailment, profiting from rents, state loans, stock market speculation (particularly railways), and real estate. Business-oriented bourgeoisie emerged in Asturias, Catalonia, and the Basque Country towards the end of the century.
Middle and Lower Classes
- Middle Classes: This small group consisted of medium and small traders, liberal professionals, civil servants, and small urban landowners. Their aspirations included land ownership, social climbing, and ennoblement.
- Lower Classes (Urban): Composed of artisans and wage earners (shopkeepers, domestic servants, approximately 800,000), they mobilized socially and politically during food shortages, protesting against consumption taxes. The proletariat, though a minority, concentrated in Barcelona and Vizcaya in the latter half of the century.
- Lower Classes (Rural): The peasantry, the largest population group, included small landowners, tenant farmers, and laborers. The dissolution of feudal estates did not significantly alter land ownership. Land sales often worsened peasants’ living conditions by depriving them of common land access. In many parts of Spain, liberal land reform resulted in peasants losing traditional land rights.
Rural laborers and servants formed the largest group in 19th-century Spanish society, particularly south of the Tagus. This explains the social unrest, especially among the Andalusian peasantry, during the latter half of the century. Armed uprisings and land occupations, often instigated by Democrats and Republicans advocating social reform, were common.
The Clergy
The clergy’s numbers declined drastically due to confiscations, the abolition of tithes, and the suppression of most religious orders (over 2,000 convents closed). They retained social influence through sermons and confessions, controlled education, and administered most welfare centers. Generally hostile to change, they opposed democracy, liberalism, socialism, positivism, evolutionism, rationalism, and even experimental sciences.
3. The Labor Movement
The labor movement emerged due to insufficient wage increases (30% compared to a 70% price increase), restrictions on the right of association, and poor living conditions. Unionization remained weak until the end of the century. May 1st (International Workers’ Day, established in 1889 by the Second International to commemorate the 1886 Chicago Haymarket affair) began to be observed in 1890.
Protests against machinery and labor injustices, along with the formation of mutual aid societies, occurred in Catalonia and Levante during the first half of the 19th century. However, the creation of the International Workingmen’s Association (First International) in 1864 and the subsequent formation of its Spanish section, spearheaded by Italian anarchist Giuseppe Fanelli, significantly impacted the labor movement. Anarchism gained influence in Catalonia and Andalusia, while Paul Lafargue, Marx’s son-in-law, introduced Marxism, establishing a small group in Madrid that would later become the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).
The division between anarchists and Marxists within the First International led to separate movements with differing interests.
Anarchism
Organized in 1881 as the Spanish Regional Federation (FTRE), anarchism reached 65,000 members within a year. The Black Hand affair and subsequent repression in 1883 weakened the movement. Key figures included Anselmo Lorenzo, Fermín Salvochea, and Ricardo Mella. Estimating their social strength is challenging due to low voter turnout and their cell-based organization. Two main trends emerged: anarcho-syndicalism (operating within the law) and anarcho-communism (with terrorist elements). Anarchist proposals included rejecting state power and institutions, promoting egalitarianism, abolishing money, abstaining from political participation, rejecting religion and the Church, and advocating popular education.
Marxist Socialism
Marxist socialism originated with a group of printers in Madrid in 1879, leading to the formation of the PSOE and the General Union of Workers (UGT) in 1885 in Barcelona, led by Pablo Iglesias. Their platform advocated the liberation of the proletariat, the destruction of capitalism, revolution, the socialization of private property, anti-clericalism, anti-militarism, and opposition to terrorism as a means to achieve power. The PSOE garnered 4,500 votes nationally and 25,000 in Madrid in the 1901 elections. By 1902, the UGT had 30,000 members.