| Hello
and welcome to the history page. Yes, it's still the Spanish Civil War we're dealing
with, and, yes, I do realize that these instalments are stretching on and on like
some interminable history lesson that refuses to end. Unfortunately, I've become
obsessed with the topic and cannot skim over it lightly. Each facet of the story
is like a missing piece to the puzzle of Spain, a country I have lived in for
over two decades but still find unfathomable in many ways. I remember when I first
arrived as a student in 1980. A recently-launched promotional campaign sported
the logo ‘Spain is different', a succinct statement describing the fact that,
although Spain is geographically part of Europe, its cultural heritage diverges
significantly from the rest of the continent. The idea behind the ‘Spain
is different' campaign seemed to be a positive reworking of the old disparaging
quip that Africa started just south of the Pyrenees. I don't suppose I'm getting
anywhere with these ruminations, except to say that in reviewing Spain's recent
history I feel I have found at least one of the connecting threads to its different-ness.
At any rate, interesting as this line of thought may be, it will have to wait
for another day. The decline of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship beckons... A
Few Successes Before plunging headlong into the decline
period, perhaps, in the name of fairness, we should touch on a few of the regime's
successes. Without a doubt, the area of greatest fruition was the economy. Political
analysts however are quick to point out that Spain's prosperity during the years
of the dictatorship (1923-30) was simply a sign of the times: the Roaring Twenties,
a decade in which the whole of the western world was swept up in a tide of spectacular
economic growth. They argue, correctly, that it would have been difficult not
to be carried along on the international currents of progress in operation at
that time. Be that as it may, Primo de Rivera invested
much effort in the modernization of the Spanish economy. To this end, in 1924,
he set up the National Economic Council, a board of technocrats that regulated
the creation of industry in Spain. To the dictator's credit, some of the companies
founded under the aegis of this now-extinct council have survived to the present
day, Telefónica, for example, and the state-controlled petrol monopoly,
CAMPSA. In truth, Primo de Rivera's merit lies less in
the corporatist methods he used to stimulate economic growth than in the commendable
use he made of the revenues thus generated. He stands out as the first Spanish
ruler in many centuries to channel public tax money into building up the country's
infrastructure. Hundreds of schools were built and staffed with qualified teachers,
over five thousand kilometres of railway lines were laid including the first subway
lines in Madrid, and irrigation was made available to vast tracts of farmland. Civil
Liberties Suppressed These material improvements brought
to manifestation Joaquin Costa's regenerationist ideals of "a rich Spain
that eats" and "an educated Spain that thinks". However, Costa
also stipulated that his "new Spain" would be "a free Spain that
governs", not a Spain that was governed. On this third count, Primo de Rivera
did not comply with regenerationist theory in that he had created a Spain that
was held in check by all sorts of arbitrary regulations, often invented for occasions
as they arose. The Catalan language was outlawed, for
example, as were many avenues of Catalonia's cultural expression. Public exhibitions
of sardanas, a circular folk dance that was accompanied by singing, were prohibited
on the grounds that they were politically incorrect. Apparently a certain sardana
that begins, "We are Catalans if you like it or if you don't" was considered
dangerous propaganda against King and Country. At one point, even the Barcelona
Football Club (‘el Barça') was outlawed owing to heated incidents
among spectators in their stadium. Little by little, despite the climate of prosperity,
which, in fact, was particularly favourable in Catalonia, public sentiment began
to sway in favour of a freer form of government, one that allowed for unlimited
cultural and linguistic expression. Opposition Mounts Ironically,
another area in which Primo de Rivera exerted undue authority was in the academic
realm. Despite the fact that he was a champion of public education and that his
rule had not only brought about the steady decline of illiteracy but also subsided
the building of Madrid's university campus, the dictator's interference in university
affairs began to generate virulent resentment between himself and the student
body. Toward the end of 1925, opposition to the regime's unwarranted ‘intellectual
surgery' led students to unite in associations against the dictatorship. By 1927
a central association, the Federación Universitaria, had been formed to
coordinate the various student groups, allowing them to fight in unison against
the shackles of repression. And fight they did. In 1929, in response to an unpopular
measure instituted the year before, an angry mob of students in Madrid stoned
the Iron Surgeon's residence as well as the offices of the regime-friendly newspapers,
ABC and El Debate. As in the football incident, Primo de
Rivera responded by simply closing the university. At this outrage, the professors
joined ranks with their students forming a solid block of intellectual opposition
that lasted not only until the downfall of the dictatorship, but until the downfall
of its enabler, the monarchy. Intellectual currents of republican thought had,
in fact, already coalesced into an anti-regime faction (the Partido de Acción
Republicana) back in 1925, and the university shut-down only served to strengthen
this cause. Armed Uprisings One
of the most surprising elements of plot in Primo de Rivera's downfall is that
the dictator's unbridled authoritarianism even managed to disgruntle several branches
of the armed forces, most notably the Artillery Corps. In 1926, in passive protest
against the new military meritocracy, all the regiments of this nationwide division
holed up in their barracks and refused to come out. With habitual calm, the dictator
dissolved the entire Artillery Corps. Even the King was shocked and promised to
annul the ruling, but never followed through. Two other incidents, both armed
uprisings, aimed not to change the dictator's policies on specific issues, but
to overthrow the General himself. The first of these incidents, known as the Sanjuanada
(1925), occurred in the early years of the dictatorship with the aim of instating
a more representative system of government. The second conspiracy, occurring in
the crucial year of 1929, was known as the Ciudad Real Uprising. Although it failed,
the episode served the ultimate purpose of realigning the loyalties of many key
army figures on the side of the republicans. Closing Readers
will not have failed to notice that several currents of opposition were all coming
to a head at once - in 1929 - which was also the year of the New York stock market
crash. What will happen next? Join us next week as the pace quickens.
Emily Kaufman
emilykaufman@ibizahistoryculture.com
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