Key Texts in Spanish Liberalism and Republicanism (1868-1931)
Revolutionary Proclamation of 1868 in Cadiz
This text justifies and expresses the revolutionaries’ goals, aiming to establish a provisional government and a political system based on universal suffrage. It details their justifications: corruption, lawlessness, and lack of freedoms. Paradoxically, many signatories were senior political and military figures under Isabella II.
- Constitution: The supreme or fundamental law (or set of laws or principles) of a state. (In Spain, the Cortes of Cadiz).
- Liberals: An ideology emerging in the 18th century, triumphing in the 19th. It advocates national sovereignty, the separation of powers, individual rights, private property, a free market, and free competition.
- Universal Suffrage: A voting system allowing all adult males to participate in elections. Women could not vote until the Second Republic.
Proclamation of the First Spanish Republic
This text recounts Pi i Margall’s proclamation of the First Republic after Amadeo of Savoy’s abdication. Its fundamental objectives are order, justice, and freedom, deemed critical for success.
- Amadeo: Spanish King of Italian origin who ruled during the Sexenio Democrático. His abdication led to the First Republic.
- Republic: A form of government where the head of state is periodically elected, either by citizens or legislative bodies.
- Universal Suffrage: A voting system allowing all adult males to participate in elections. Women could not vote until the Second Republic.
1876 Constitution
This section examines key articles of the 1876 Constitution, grouped as follows:
- Political Principles: The State is confessional; only Catholics may rule (Article 11).
- Individual Rights: Freedom of religion in the private sphere (Art. 11), though officially only Catholicism is recognized. Freedom of expression, peaceful demonstration, association (with some ambiguity about its purposes), and the right to petition individually or collectively (except for the army, which cannot interfere in political life) (Article 13).
- Separation of Powers: Not absolute, as seen in Art. 18. Legislative power is shared by the King and the Cortes, which are bicameral (Congress and Senate) (Article 19).
- State: Often conflated with liberalism. An organization with institutions and boundaries, governed by the will of the people (national sovereignty).
- Constitution: The supreme or fundamental law (or set of laws or principles) of a state. (In Spain, the Cortes of Cadiz).
- Cortes: Representative assemblies or chambers. In the Old Regime, they had a stratified composition and limited functions due to absolutism. After the liberal revolution, they became legislative bodies composed of elected deputies.
1917 Crisis
This fragment is from the manifesto of the 1917 strike conveners (UGT and CNT).
The first paragraph identifies the appeal’s authors.
The second paragraph demands radical political change and seeks support from the Infantry Juntas and the Parliamentary Assembly of Barcelona.
The third paragraph specifies their demands: an interim government and elections to Constituent Cortes, or else the strike continues.
- UGT: Unión General de Trabajadores, a Spanish socialist union founded in 1879 by Pablo Iglesias to improve workers’ living and working conditions. It was used by the PSOE as a political pressure tool.
- CNT: Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, an anarchist union founded in 1911 after the Tragic Week. It advocated anarcho-syndicalism and was a major Spanish union until the Civil War’s end.
- Oligarchies: Literally, rule by the few. Figuratively, the Restoration political system benefited a small social group.
Primo de Rivera’s Coup
This manifesto justifies the coup as a solution to Spain’s problems, blaming politicians and the events of ’98 (lines 1-5). The proposed solution is a provisional military directorate (lines 6-8). It then addresses the war in Morocco, seeking an “early, dignified, and sensible” exit (lines 8-10). The text concludes by again blaming politicians.
- Table of misery and immorality…: Refers to the aftermath of losing the last colonies in 1898, including corrupt political parties, social unrest, and the military disaster in Morocco.
- Military Directory: The first stage of the dictatorship (1923-1925), a government formed by the military. Dynastic politicians were replaced by those aligned with the dictatorship.
- Problem of Morocco: The colonial war against Rif tribes who rejected Spanish rule. Key events included the Tragic Week (Barcelona, 1909) and the Disaster of Annual (1921).
Sandhurst Manifesto
Alfonso XIII asserts his legitimacy as the sole representative of the Crown (lines 1-2) and outlines his ideas. Given the current mismanagement, the solution is a combination of monarchy and reform (as in 1812 or 1840) (lines 2-5). A constitutional monarchy will flexibly solve problems (lines 5-7), based on shared sovereignty between the monarch and the Cortes (lines 7-9). Finally, he declares himself Spanish (unlike Amadeo of Savoy or Charles VII), Catholic (to appease Carlists), and Liberal (to win over former revolutionaries) (lines 9-12).
- Hereditary, constitutional monarchy: A monarchy where the crown is passed down hereditarily, but the monarch’s authority is limited by a constitution. The monarch remains head of the executive and co-legislator.
- Cortes: Representative assemblies or chambers. In the Old Regime, they had a stratified composition and limited functions due to absolutism. After the liberal revolution, they became legislative bodies composed of elected deputies.
- Liberal: An ideology emerging in the 18th century, triumphing in the 19th. It advocates national sovereignty, the separation of powers, individual rights, private property, a free market, and free competition.