Spanish First Republic: Causes of Failure & Cantonalism
The First Spanish Republic (February 11, 1873 – January 4, 1874)
Causes of Failure
The First Spanish Republic, established on February 11, 1873, was short-lived, lasting less than a year. From its inception, the new republican regime lacked social and political support. The most powerful social groups, including the bourgeoisie, aristocrats, high clergy, and military officers, were hostile towards the Republic. The new Republican leaders also lacked the capacity to maintain security and public order.
Internal divisions plagued the Republican leadership, with constant personal and ideological clashes between unionists and federalists. In just ten months, four different presidents held office: Estanislao Figueras, Pi y Margall, Nicolás Salmerón, and Emilio Castelar. Their leadership was generally characterized by impotence and an inability to ensure the normal functioning of the state.
Reform Measures
The main reform measures, while well-intentioned, were often inappropriate and failed due to a lack of practicality:
- Abolition of consumption taxes, which was economically unviable.
- Elimination of the *quintas* (military conscription), which antagonized the army.
- Reduction of the voting age to 21.
- Suspension of financial subsidies to the Catholic clergy and complete separation of Church and State, leading to secularism and anticlericalism that alienated Catholics and the Church.
- Abolition of slavery in the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico.
- Preparation of a draft constitution in 1873 to transform Spain into a federal state.
Conflicts and Difficulties
Throughout 1873, the republican regime faced several severe conflicts and difficulties:
- The ongoing economic crisis inherited from 1866.
- Laborers in Andalusia, expecting land redistribution under the Republic, forcibly occupied farms.
- Internationalist anarchist workers expanded their strike activities, fostering a revolutionary climate.
- Two unsuccessful military uprisings against the government, led by General Pavia and General Martínez Campos in 1874, demonstrated the army’s concern about the current situation in Spain.
Cantonalism
Violent and radical cantonalist rebellions erupted in 1873, threatening to break Spanish national unity. The ideology of the cantonalist leaders, many of whom were workers, students, and anarchists, was a confusing mix of uncompromising democratism, utopian federalism, revolutionary egalitarianism, and anti-capitalist workers’ demands.
The insurrection began in the city of Cartagena, Murcia, where an independent regional state, or “Canton,” was established. The movement quickly spread to many other towns in Valencia and Andalusia. These towns proclaimed themselves free and separate cantons. The independent Canton of Cartagena declared war on the central government, some cantons declared war on each other, and others drafted their own constitutions and even minted their own currency.
In some Andalusian cantons, such as Cádiz, monasteries were destroyed, religious holidays were abolished, Catholic processions were banned, and sacred images were removed from buildings and streets.
The Republican government harshly suppressed the cantonalist insurrections militarily. By early 1874, only the Canton of Cartagena remained, successfully resisting until its eventual surrender.