Catalan Political Configuration: 19th Century Demands

The Configuration of Catalan Politics in the 19th Century

During the six democratic years, there was an awakening of national consciousness in the form of Catalan anti-centralist popular movements, stimulated by the social problems of industrialization. Until the restoration of the Bourbons, a Catalan nationalist political movement did not articulate itself.

The First Demands: Federalists and Carlists

In the 1830s and 1840s, the first anti-centralist demonstrations occurred. Protests were more related to socio-political wings. Most occurred in urban areas, linked to the claims of workers who advocated for democratic federal republicanism. We can mention the rebellions against Espartero in 1842-1843. The incidence of Carlism in the rural world was the most cohesive of the peasantry, who claimed traditional Catalan laws. After the failures of Carlism, many Carlists moved towards a conservative Catalan stance. Federalism was the political power that gained more strength from the democratic administration and played a decisive role in Catalan politics. Between 1869 and 1873, during the democratic administration, federal insurrections took place in order to proclaim a republic within the federal Catalan state of Spain.

Valenti Almirall and Regionalism

After the failures of politics and administration of the first democratic republic, Almirall issued a regionalist idea of federalism, criticizing centralism and the corrupt political system of the restoration. Almirall aimed to integrate all Catalan political forces, both conservative and progressive, into one block. He won the politicization of Catalan. Integrative attempts were made in the Catalan Congress (1880), with the objectives of Catalan civil law. This first congress gave rise in 1882 to the Catalan Center. Its goal was essentially patriotic: the defense of Catalan particularity, avoiding political ascription. The II Catalan Conference (1883) criticized the centralist position of the Catalan bourgeoisie. It also claimed co-official status for Catalan and Spanish, the preservation of Catalan civil law, and the recognition of Catalonia as an entity apart from the overall provincial divisions.