Spain Under Primo de Rivera: A Look at the 1923-1930 Dictatorship
Primo de Rivera’s Dictatorship: 1923-1930
The second and final stage of Alfonso XIII’s reign began in 1923 with the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, supported by the king, and ended with the proclamation of the Second Republic on April 14, 1931.
On September 13, 1923, Captain General of Catalonia, Miguel Primo de Rivera, led a successful coup against the government. The government resigned, and the king handed over power to the rebels, consummating the coup, which was received favorably by most of the Spanish.
In the manifesto that Primo de Rivera addressed to the nation, he set out the grounds for ending the political system and building a Directory to restore military order, temporarily, for “the salvation of the fatherland.” He did it in a time of great political instability caused by the self-decomposition of the dynastic parties, the economic and social crisis, public unrest, the gunmen of anarchists and employers, fear of social revolution, Catalan nationalist demands, and the problem of Morocco.
Contrary to the tradition of the nineteenth-century coup, it did not mean a change of government but rather the building of a stable regime, accusing politicians of the traditional liberal parties of all ills, and proclaimed their intention to eliminate elections and Parliament.
On the 15th, Alfonso XIII appointed him chairman of the Council of Ministers with full powers, within the apparent constitutional legality of 1876. However, the suspension of constitutional guarantees, except for the Crown, and the relief of civilians by military authorities (suspension of the activities of political parties and trade unions) marked the end of the Restoration regime and its replacement by the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera (1923-1930).
Domestic Problems
This set up a military dictatorship, conservative in nature, where the army was very important to solve the problems inherited from previous civilian governments. As for public policy, Primo de Rivera harshly persecuted communists and anarchists and quickly restored social peace at the cost of repression. He also proposed to moralize public life. The Board dismissed all local authorities and, within months, developed municipal and provincial statutes that granted financial autonomy to local authorities. The Commonwealth of Catalonia was abolished in 1925. At the same time, he managed to end the war in Morocco, thanks to cooperation with France (Alhucemas landing, 1925).
In 1925, Primo de Rivera tried to institutionalize the regime. He created a party, the Patriotic Union, and replaced the Military Directory with a Civil Directory. To institutionalize and perpetuate the dictatorship in the political arena, he created a National Consultative Assembly (1927) and even drafted a Constitution (1929).
Similarly, in the social sphere, Primo de Rivera developed a populist policy aimed at improving the living conditions of the working classes and thus achieving their adherence to the regime. He created the Corporate Labor Organization and the joint committees (comprising workers and employers) while implementing various measures in favor of the working class (cheap housing cooperatives, social security), and promoted public works and infrastructure development as a further means to reduce unemployment.
On the economic front, the regime launched an expansive economic policy, distinctly interventionist, based on public debt and foreign borrowing. As we have said, large public works began (road infrastructure), river basin authorities were created, and state monopolies on oil (CAMPSA), communications (Telefónica), and air transport (Iberia) were established.
However, the international economic situation would change, determining the final outcome. Expansionary economic policy and the great public works undertaken by the regime had been possible thanks to loans from abroad. The collapse of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929 suddenly cut North American credit, and the economic and financial situation in Spain became untenable. The consequences of this crisis soon became apparent and increased opposition to the regime amid popular discontent. Primo de Rivera, lacking political support and a strong social base, submitted his resignation to the King on January 30, 1930, and went into exile.
During the dictatorship, opposition to Primo de Rivera was growing:
- Intellectuals and Republicans (who had gathered at the Republican Alliance)
- The Liberals, who tried to overthrow the regime with a failed delivery in 1926, known as the “Sanjuana.”
- A section of the Army, the artillery corps, aggrieved by the new merit-based system of war.
- The anarchists, despite repression by the dictatorship in 1927 and from the underground, had founded the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI)
- The socialist PSOE and the UGT union, which since 1928 had broken their collaboration with the regime.
The “Soft Dictatorship”
Although it took the repression of the dictatorship, public opinion did not ingratiate itself with the monarchy. Political monarchists, the republican left, and regionalists signed the Pact of San Sebastián on August 17, 1930. Its purpose was to establish an Executive Committee chaired by Republican Alcalá Zamora, recognize Catalan autonomy, and proclaim the Republic. But the insurrection was anticipated under the insurrection of the military garrison of Jaca on December 12, 1930. It did not succeed, and those responsible, captains Galán and García Hernández, were executed.
Following the government’s failure, Berenguer, the king instructed another officer, Admiral Aznar, to run the country as they prepared the municipal elections for April 12, 1931. This was the first step of the phased return to the liberal parliamentary regime of the Restoration, but it was not possible: the victory of Republican candidates in major cities was understood as a referendum against the monarchy. On April 14, 1931, Alfonso XIII left the country, and the Second Republic was proclaimed.