Hello and welcome to the
history page. As you will remember from last week, we were in the midst of examining
the social and political climate that led up to the Spanish Civil War, and had
just explained the political hypocrisy of Spain's parliamentary monarchy, headed
by a very young and ineffectual Alfonso XIII. The situation was a classic case
of a country's oligarchy being stronger than its monarchy, whereby true rule
resided in the hands of a limited few. Our instalment ended with the chilling
realization that Spain's attempts at parliamentary liberalism had devolved into
nothing more than legal authoritarianism.
Talk in the
Cafés and Revolution in the Air
Despite the fact that every
thinking adult alive in Spain at that time knew what was going on, efforts to
bring credibility to the corrupt system consistently failed. Those who tried
to change the system from within were denominated regenerationists, while
those who fought to change it from without were called everything from A to
Z. These 'fringe' groups (socialists, anarchists, communists, labour unions,
Catalan activists, etc.) in fact, commanded quite large followings, but were
continually kept on the periphery of political life, and therefore resorted
to the frequent and unfortunate use of violence in order to make their presence
felt.
They must have reasoned that,
since they were denied legal representation within government - and therefore
the right to vote on important issues that affected them - they would cast their
vote in ways that could not be ignored. Today, we would call them terrorists.
But, in the early 20th century, when Spain's parliamentary facade
was nothing short of a brick wall in the path of progress, these political uprisings
and assassinations can perhaps be viewed through the lens of idealism ... or
desperation. Hindsight has shown us that a signature characteristic of all proletariat
freedom fighters is that they strike erratically, blinded by centuries of pent
up rage.
Renovation
Efforts End in Failure
Ironically, it was often
the very individuals who worked most earnestly to solve the country's problems
that were targeted for assassination, further frustrating the peaceful resolution
of these problems. One such case was that of the statesman, Canalejas, a dynastic
liberal who ruled from 1910 - 12. His short-lived government met the country's
complex social and economic issues head on, carefully taking into consideration
the grievances of each disgruntled sector. The assassination of Canalejas in
1912 by an anarchist put an end to the last genuine attempt at renovation within
the parliamentary monarchy.
The Tragic
Week
Another thwarted renovation
attempt occurred three years earlier during the administration of Maura. This
dynastic conservative instituted many excellent and corrective changes, but
also succeeded in turning the volatile region of Catalonia against him, thus
bringing about his own downfall. In an ill-fated response to Spain's colonial
problems in Morocco (where reinforcement troops were needed), Maura, using some
unfathomable logic, decided to call up the Third Brigade. This reserve division
was comprised largely of Catalan men, rather past the flush of youth, many of
whom were married with children to support.
The general sentiment circulating
in Barcelona whispered that, like the War of Cuba, this too was going to be
a war fought by the poor in benefit of the rich. The first sparks of violence
broke out at the city's port in late July of 1909 as the reserve troops embarked
for the front. Over the course of the following week, public unrest escalated
into mass rioting, spreading like wildfire to the surrounding rural areas. A
general strike was declared, leaving the young and the restless (i.e. anarchists
and republican radicals) free to vent their anger on any icon of repression
in their path, mostly religious buildings. The event is remembered in Spanish
History as the 'Semana trágica' ('Tragic Week') and was described by
one eye-witness, Fabra Ribas, in these words:
"When I went out
on the street at 8 o'clock on the morning of 28th July, the city
offered a desolate panorama. Nobody worked; several churches were burning; motley
groups, made up of everything but workers from the unions, ran through the streets;
the railway lines into Barcelona had been cut off and
the shooting continued (...) in short, the situation seemed very uncertain
and in danger of worsening at any moment."
Order was finally restored
on 29th July by the use of military force. The final death toll numbered
100 civilians and five national soldiers. Thirty convents and 58 churches had
been burned down. Maura's government then made the fatal mistake of naming one
man as the sole culprit of the Semana Trágica. F. Ferrer Guardia, a libertarian
and the founder of a secular, rationalist school (La Escuela Moderna)
was sentenced to death on the grounds that his teachings had instigated the
uprising. His execution unleashed a torrent of protests, from both national
and international organizations, and Maura's government toppled.
Significant
Repercussions
As tragic as the events of
the Semana Trágica were, their political repercussions were even more
tragic in that they set the precedent for the habitual use of violence, rather
than peaceful manifestation, as a means of social protest. The event also marked
the departure point for Catalan separatism, when, in the cold, grey dawn of
the morning after, the inhabitants of Barcelona discovered that no other region
in Spain had seconded their objections to the war in Morocco. Finally, the rebellion
opened the floodgates of anti-religious sentiment, almost always coupled (perhaps
fittingly) with incendiary tactics against Church property.
Closing
After
another long decade of political unrest and with the country in a complete shambles,
General Primo de Rivera, the first of Spain's two 20th century dictators,
seized power in 1923, to the immense satisfaction of both the King and the upper
classes. Join us next week as the plot thickens. |