The tragic week : a study of anti-clericalism in Spain, 1875-1912

The National Crisis EVEN before the War of 1898 the urban worker had begun to demand representation in the Restoration Settlement. 1 Reinforcing his demand for implementation of the Universal Suffrage Law of 1890 was a major socioeconomic development: the first authentic industrialization of Spain, carried out during the Restoration years (1876-1898), had concentrated workers in cities where they were accessible to politicians eager for their votes, and to labor organizers. This phenomenon was particularly marked in the region of Catalonia and to a lesser degree in Vizcaya and Asturias.Fearing that this organized urban labor force might play an active and disruptive force in politics as it had during the First Republic (1873-1874), Catalan and Basque businessmen did not openly work for the protective laws that they needed but instead quietly negotiated compromise legislation with the agrarian-oriented governments in Madrid. The defeat of 1898, however, left businessmen no alternative: publicly they demanded drastic general reform legislation because of the imperative need to pay for the war and to re-establish Spanish prestige by stabilizing the peseta on the world market. In Catalonia particularly, cotton manufacturers experimented with mobilizing workers in political reform movements but turned almost immediately to working as a pressure group in competition with the Army and the Church in order to secure compensation for their losses in the colonies. Professional politicians, engaged in intraparty conflicts for the vacant posts of party leader, competed for the support of these interest groups; more tentatively, they appealed for worker support. The weight of political power is clear from the fact that the worker and the peasant bore the brunt of both the fiscal reforms and the industrial readjustment in the following decade. \* These practices were very similar to those of professional politicians in Italy during the Giolittian era who, in collaboration with industrialists and landowners, attempted to prevent workers and the lower middle class from gaining control of the political parties (Arcangelo William Salomone, Italy in the Giolittian Era: Italian Democracy in the Maying, 1900-1914, 2 ed. [Philadelphia, i960], introductory essay by Gaetano Salvemini, pp. xviii-xix). Although the purpose was different, the cacique practices also resembled those of contemporary American political bosses who incorporated the waves of immigrant workers in the cities into the two-party system. Preface Contents Introduction Part One. The Social and Political Milieu in Spain: 1875-1909 CHAPTER I. The National Crisis CHAPTER II. The Clerical Problem and the Politicians CHAPTER III. Reforms versus "Clericalism" in the Government of Antonio Maura Part Two. The Catalan Problem in the Framework of National Politics CHAPTER IV. The Region and Its Politics CHAPTER V. Personalities and Forces for Revolution CHAPTER VI. The Governor and the Terrorists CHAPTER VII. The Struggle for the Masses CHAPTER VIII. Mounting Tension: Plans for a General Strike Part Three. The Prelude to the Tragic Week May to July 1909 CHAPTER IX. Public Opinion and the "Moroccan Adventure" CHAPTER X. From Street Demonstrations To General Strike Part Four The Tragic Week CHAPTER XI. Events: July 26 Through August 1, 1909 CHAPTER XII. The Tally Sheet CHAPTER XIII. Francisco Ferrer: "Author and Chief of the Rebellion" Part Five. Conclusions CHAPTER XIV. National Consequences of the Tragic Week: 1909-1912 CHAPTER XV. The Function of Anticlericalism in Spanish Politics Chronology Bibliography Notes Index CHRONOLOGY: 1833 - 1913 BIBLIOGRAPHY NOTES Index The Tragic Week, as it is known in Spanish history, took place in Barcelona from July 26 through July 31 in 1909. Starting as a general strike in protest against conscription for an unpopular war in Morocco, it became a rebellion in which workers burned over 80 churches and other religious establishments. This study examines the socioeconomic factors underlying anticlericalism in general as well as this manifestation of it, traces the events of the Tragic Week hour by hour, and then discusses the far-reaching consequences of the uprising. Among other important findings, the author shows that the Barcelona workers did not rebel spontaneously but were organized by the Radical Republicans.