The Political System of the Restoration in Spain
The text was written during the Restoration. The creator of this political system, Cánovas, was a former Union Liberalist. He was a deputy in the Cortes of 1869, and he opposed the Constitution because he found liberty of religious practice unacceptable and because he was against universal suffrage.
Besides being a politician, he was a historian. He admired the English political system and wanted a similar one for Spain: a stable political system, without revolutions, and in which the economy could develop peacefully without significant social upheavals, while maintaining traditions.
The system Cánovas devised worked smoothly until the end of the century, which marks the end of the golden years of the Restoration period. In 1898, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines were lost. The loss of the colonies, known as “el Desastre,” brought a wave of pessimism.
The author of the text, Joaquín Costa, is against the political system of the Restoration because he considers it an artificial system that does not take into account the people’s wishes.
Reasons for Opposition
The caciquismo is the system whereby the governments were able to secure the election of candidates of their choice through their influence over local elites known as caciques.
Cánovas formed the Conservative Party but suggested that a somewhat more liberal opposition be set up. The challenge was taken up by the ex-Progressive leader, Sagasta, who founded the Liberal Party in 1880.
The façade was, therefore, that of British parliamentary democracy. The reality, however, would be very different. From 1875 to 1923, the Conservatives and Liberals decided that in order to ensure stability, they would alternate in power (turno pacífico).
Governments would not, in consequence, be the outcome of free and fair elections, and the system was based on systematic fraud and election-rigging. This involved the operation of a system known as caciquismo. Essentially, this meant that the civil governors in each province, under instructions from the Minister of the Interior, would enter into negotiations with the local bigwigs.
The caciques were the powerful people in towns and villages, such as teachers and doctors. They were told which party they had to vote for, and they imposed it on the peasants. In those places where their influence was not enough, they made pucherazo: taking some votes from one party and giving them to another. This way, they always chose the one who wins.
The system worked well until 1890 because only a fraction of the population voted. Even after the introduction of universal manhood suffrage in that year, caciques were still able to control rural areas, although in the large urban centers, the governments had increasing difficulty getting their candidates elected.
The turn of the century marks the end of the golden years of the Restoration period. The year 1898, in which Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines were lost, is the turning point. This loss confirmed that Spain, once a great imperial power, was now, in military and economic terms, a second-rate nation.
In this period, the Cánovas Restoration began to fall apart, and both the fraud on which the system was based and the monopoly of political power were set under discussion and criticism. In this context, the “Regeneracionista” movement was born. The aims of the movement were the extinction of the oligarchy and caciquismo and the creation of a transparent political system that should be in the hands of intelligent people capable of modernizing the country.