Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-21T16:16:04.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Big Business and the Failure of Right-Wing Catalan Nationalism, 1901–1923

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Joseph Harrison
Joseph Harrison
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The rise of modern Catalan nationalist sentiments dates from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In essence, these sentiments reflected a growing political, intellectual and, to a lesser extent economic resentment within the region of Catalonia against the Restoration regime which was imposed upon Spain in 1875. The breakthrough of Catalan nationalism, or regionalism as it is sometimes called, to become a significant force in Spanish politics followed the victory of four Catalanist candidates in the elections to the Cortes of 1901. Shortly afterwards the groups responsible for that electoral success came together to establish what was, with the possible exception of the Socialists (P.S.O.E.), the first modern political party of Spain, the Lliga Regionalista. Significantly, the foundation of the Lliga marked a turning point in the nature of Catalan nationalism, or at least its dominant strain. Of the four candidates elected in 1901, all for Barcelona seats, three represented economic interests. Indeed, much more than that, they were, or had been, presidents of three of the most powerful big business organisations of the region.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 901 - 918
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 The standard reference on Catalan nationalism is the profoundly hostile account of Venero, M. García, Historia del nacionalismo Catalán (2 vols. Madrid, 1967);Google Scholarsee also Payne, S. G., ‘Catalan and Basque Nationalism’, Journal of Contemporary History, vi (1971), 15–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 An invaluable source on the fortunes of the Lligais I. Molas, Lliga Catalana:unestudide estasiologia (2 vols. Barcelona, 1972).Google Scholar

3 For a left-wing critique of the partido industrial see Maurín, J., Los hombres de la dictadura: Sánchez Guerra, Cambó, Iglesias, Largo Caballero, Lerroux, Melquíades Álvarez (Madrid, 1930),Google Scholar esp. pp. 101–50; and of Oliveira, A. Ramos, Politics, Economics and Men of Modern Spain, 1808–1946 (London, 1946).Google Scholar

4 This is a criticism of the American political scientist Juan Linz, ‘The Party System of Spain: Past and Future’, in Lipset, M. & Rokkan, S. (eds.) Party Systems and Voter Alignments (New York, 1967), p. 219.Google Scholar

5 The latter view is eloquently expressed in the newspaper articles of Gabriel Maura Gamazo printed in La Razz, 7 Aug. 1915 and 25 Sept. 1915.

6 There are two respectable biographies of Cambo; Pabón, J., Cambo (3 vols. Barcelona, 1952–72)Google Scholar and Plá, J., Cambó: materials per una hist`oria d'aquests ultims anys (3 vols. Barcelona, 1928–30).Google Scholar The best account of the events of 1917 is Lacomba, J. A., La crisis española de 1970 (Madrid, 1970).Google Scholar

7 A taste of Catalan business jingoism can be had from the speeches and writings of perhaps their most well-known respresentative, Pedro Bosch y Labrús, Discursos y escritos (Barcelona, 1929), esp. pp. 451, 471, 572 and 641.Google Scholar

8 Vilar, P., La Catalogue dans l'Espagne moderne: recherches sur les fondements economiques des structures nationales (Paris 1962), 147–49.Google Scholar For a history of Catalan business organisation and its preoccupations see the invaluable work Graell, G., Historia del Fomento del Trabajo Nacional (Barcelona, 1911).Google Scholar

9 Graell, op. cit. pp. 55–6. For a description of factory burning in Barcelona in July 1854 see Kiernan, V. G., The Revolution of 1854 in Spanish History (Oxford, 1966), p. 53.Google Scholar

10 Corominas, P., ‘Actividad ecónomica de Cataluña’, in Estasén, P., Cataluña: estudio acerca las condiciones de su engradecimiento y riqueza (Barcelona, 1900), p. 868.Google Scholar

11 Memoria en defensa dels interessos morals y materials de Catalunya (Barcelona, 1885).Google Scholar

12 The bases de Manresa are set out in García Venero, op. cit. 1, 439–46.

13 Tura, J. Solé, Catalanismo y revolution burguesa (Madrid, 1970), p. 59.Google Scholar

14 Harrison, R. J., ‘Catalan Business and the Loss of Cuba, 1898–1914’, Economic History Review, 2nd series, XXVII (1974), 431–41.Google Scholar

15 For the criticisms of the unrepresented middle classes of Spain see Asamblea de las cámaras de comercio de Zaragoza, 20–27 noviembre de 1898 (Saragossa, 1899),Google Scholar and the Revisla Nacional, I (15 04. 1899), 36–7.Google Scholar

16 Their petition in favour of General Polavieja is printed in full in the Madrid newspaper El Imparcial, 9 Nov. 1898.

17 For the full demands of Catalan business see Fomento del Trabajo Nacional, Exposición elevada al presidente del Congreso de los Disputados conmotivo del proyecto de ley de presupuestos para el ejerckio 1899–1900 (Barcelona, 1899).Google Scholar

18 For a history of the taxpayers' strike and shop closures see Arboix, J. de Camps i, El tancament de caixes (Barcelona, 1961).Google Scholar

19 Graell, G., La cuestión catalana (Barcelona, 1902), p. 107.Google Scholar

20 El Trabajo National, 1 Feb. 1909.Google Scholar

21 Cambo, F., Actuatión regionalista: a propósiti de un artículo de don Gabriel Maura y Gamazo (Barcelona, 1915), pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

22 See for instance Viada, M. Viada y, La economía y las finanzas españolas en la postguerra, 1918–23 (Barcelona, 1924), p. 23.Google Scholar Compare the self-congratulatory Mancomunitat de catalunya, L'obra realitzada: anys 1914–1923 (3 vols. Barcelona, 1923).Google Scholar

23 Kischner, F., La influencia de la guerra en las industrias catalanas (Barcelona, 1919), pp. 18–19;Google Scholar Institute de Reformas Sociales, Informatión sobre emigration española a los países de Europa durante la guerra (Madrid, 1919), p. 73.Google Scholar

24 Kischner, op. cit. p. 26; Instituto de Reformas Sociales, op. cit. p. 75.

25 See the brilliantly evocative and self-critical account of Villalbí, P. Gual, Memorias de un industrial de nuestro tiempo (Barcelona, 1923), pp. 104–15.Google Scholar

26 Villalbi, P. Gual, op. cit. p. 104; F. Cambó, L'acciod'estat i L'acció privada en las industries que tienen sobre-producció (Tarrasa, 1917).Google Scholar

27 Kischner, op. cit. p. 25.

28 Ibid. loc. cit.

29 Instituto de Reformas Sociales, op. cit. pp. 76–7.

30 Pabón, op. cit. I, 429–32; Plá, op. cit. III, 25–34; El Trabajo Nacional I Sept. 1915.

31 There is a good deal of literature on the subject of a free port for Barcelona, e.g. Graell, M., Las zonas neutrales: su importancia para Barcelona (Barcelona, 1914); El Trabajo National, 15 Oct. 1914, 15 Nov. 1914, 1 Dec. 1914, 1 Jan. 1915; Boletín de la Cámara de Comercio y Navegatión de Barcelona, Jan. 1915; Economie i Finances, Feb. 1918.Google Scholar

32 El Trabajo National, 17 July 1915, 1 Sept. 1915.

33 Soler, A. Gimenez, Las zonas francos (Saragossa, 1915);Google ScholarCasas, J. Ruis y & Rostoll, M. Trilla y, El plieto de las zonas francos (Saragossa 1915);Google Scholar La Cámara Oficial de Co mercioyde la Industria de Zaragoza, Las zonas neutrales (Saragossa, 1914).Google Scholar

34 Pabón, op. cit. I, 431.

35 An expression of this mentality is to be found in El Trabajo National, 15 Aug. 1915.

36 Ibid. I Dec. 1915; El pensamiento Catalan ante el conflicto europeo (Barcelona, 1915).Google Scholar

37 El Trabajo National, I Nov. 1916, July 1921; Boletínde la Cámarade Comercio y Navegación de Barcelona, Oct. 1917, July 1921; Economia i Finances, 28 Feb. 1918, 10 Nov. 1918, 25 July 1921.

38 Comisión Protectora de la Productión Nacional, Crisis de la productión y del trabajo: informatión realizada en cumplimento de encargo del gobierno (Madrid, 1921), pp. 49–52; Cambó, L'accio d'estat, pp. 15–21; Viada y Viada, op. cit. p. 40.Google Scholar

39 For an earlier expression of the Fomento del Trabajo National's uneasiness about Alba see El Trabajo National, 15 Apr. 1912.

40 For this confrontation as seen from Alba's viewpoint see Venero, M. García, Santiago Alba: monárquico de raz ón (Madrid, 1963), p. 99.Google Scholar

41 For an expression of his economic ideas see Alba, S., Problemas de España (Madrid, 1916,Google Scholar but written in 1902); his plans for 1915–16 are to be found in Un programa económico y financiero (Madrid, 1916).Google Scholar

42 For a right wing criticism of Cambó's ‘Girondin’ stance, nevertheless, see Mazo, M. Burgos y, Vida político española: páginas históricas de 1918 (Madrid, 1918), pp. 106ff.Google Scholar

43 Cambo, F., Vuit mesos at Ministeri de Fomento: mi gestió ministerial (Barcelona, 1919), p. xi.Google Scholar

44 El Trabajo National, March 1918.Google Scholar

45 Cambó, , Vuit mesos, p. xxiGoogle Scholar and Elementos para el estudio del problema ferroviario en España (Madrid, 1918).Google Scholar

46 For wartime worries among Catalan business of the low grade, poor quality and expense of Asturian coal see the Boletin de la Cámara de Comercio y Navegación de Barcelona, Dec. 1915.

47 Average food prices in Barcelona rose from 99.8 in 1914, to 101.8 in 1915, 108.1 in 1916 and 121.2 in 1917 (Feb. 1914 = 100) according to the Institutode Reformas Sociales, Informas de los inspectores del trabajo sobre la influencia de la gverra europea en las industries españolas (Madrid, 1918), I, 146.Google Scholar

48 The annual expenditure of a working class family rose from 1720 pesetas in 1910 to 2099 pesetas in 1914, 2941 pesetas in 1917 and 3443 pesetas in 1919 according to the Institutode Estadistica y Politica Social, Barcelona, Estadísticas sociales: monografía estadistice de la close obrera (Barcelona, 1921), p. 127.Google Scholar

49 Balcells, A., El sindicalismo en Barcelona, 1916–1923 (Barcelona, 1966), p. 15.Google Scholar

50 Buenacasa, M., El movimiento obrero espanol, 1886–1926 (new edn, Paris, 1966), p. 81; Instituto de Estadística y Políitica Social, Barcelona, op. cit. pp. 36–7.Google Scholar

51 Confederatión Regional del Trabajo de Cataluña, Memoria del congreso celebrado en Barcelona los dias 29 y 30 de junio y el I° de julio del año 1918 (Barcelona, 1918).Google Scholar

52 There is an extensive literature on the Canadiense and general strikes, much of which is difficult to obtain. See Madrid, F. de, Ocho meses y un día en el gobierno civil de Barcelona: confesiones y testimonies (Madrid-Barcelona, 1932), pp. 13–23;Google ScholarArmengol, R. Plá y, Impresiones de la huelga general de Barcelona de 24 de marzo al 7 de abril de 1919 (Barcelona, 1930);Google ScholarSana, M. Sastre y, La esclavitud moderna: martirologio socil (Barcelona, 1921), pp. 138–47;Google ScholarSolano, E. G., El sindicalismo en la teoría y en la práclica: su actuacidn en España (Barcelona, 1919), pp. 70–130.Google Scholar

53 Producción: Publicatión de la Federación Patroñal de Cataluna, Feb. 1922.

54 See II Congreso de la Confederatión Patronal Española, Memoria general, Barcelona 20–26 octubre de 1919 (Barcelona, 1919), pp. 81–118.Google Scholar

55 See Expositión que la Federación Patronal de Cataluña ha elevado al Excmo. Sr. Ministro del Trabajo sobre la sindicación profesional (Barcelona, 1922).Google Scholar I was unable to obtain a copy of the standard work of reference on the sindicatos libres, Baratech, F., Los sindicatos libres en España: su origen, su actuación, su ideario (Barcelona, 1921).Google Scholar

56 Cambó, F., La crisi social de Catalunya (Santiago de Chile, 1920), p. 20.Google Scholar

57 The encroachment of the gunmen into the activities of the C.N.T. is brilliantly portrayed in the ‘confessions’ of the syndicalist leader Angel Pestafia, Lo que aprendí en la vida (Madrid, n.d.) pp. 75ff.Google ScholarSee also Brenan, Gerald, The Spanish Labyrinth, An Account of the Social and Political Background of the Spanish Civil War (2nd edn, Cambridge, 1950), pp. 68–74.Google Scholar

58 In May 1921 all the economic societies of Barcelona paid homage to Martínez Anido. Lavish in his praise was Cussó, the president of the Fomento del Trabajo National, who addressed Martinez Anido thus: ‘A firm and energetic man was needed…and this señor Martinez Anido has been’ (El Trabajo National, May 1921).

59 Boletín de la Cámara de Comercio y Navegación de Barcelona, Apr. 1921; El Trabajo National, Apr. 1921; Economia i Finances, Jan. 1921, Feb. 1921.

60 Cabana, F., La banca a Catalunya: apunts per una historia (Barcelona, 1965), pp. 6–89;Google ScholarSardá, J. and Beltrán, L., Els problemes de la banca catalana (Barcelona, 1933), pp. 20–3.Google Scholar

61 For the setting up and financing of C.H.A.D.E. see Pabón, Cambó, II, 221–6.

62 Ministerio de Hacienda, Ordenatión bancaria de Espana: proyecto de ley de don Francisco de A. Cambó sobre régimen ulterior de la banca de emisión y la banca privada (Madrid 1921).Google Scholar

63 El Trabajo National, Aug. 1922.Google Scholar

64 Productión: Publicatión de la Federatión Patronal de Cataluña, June 1923

65 For the ‘patriotic document’ of the Fomento del Trabajo National pledging their unqualified support for Primo see Teresi, J. G. CeballosEconomía, jinanzas, cambios: La realidad ecorwmica y financiera de España en los treinta arws del presente sigh, V (Madrid, n.d.) PP 74–7.Google Scholar

66 Payne, S. G., Politics and the Military in Modern Spain (Stanford, 1967), pp. 194–5Google Scholar