Liberal and Moderate Political Parties: History & Ideologies

Liberal and Moderate Political Parties

The establishment of the liberal state brought about the existence of representative bodies. Political parties remain the instruments to provide representatives to these institutions. The great restriction of voting rights and the lack of parliamentary tradition disenfranchised the vast majority of people in party politics. This caused a militarization of political life.

Party leaders were senior military officers appearing throughout politics, a strain of the "swords": Espartero, Narváez, O'Donnell, Prim, Serrano, Pavía... In the context of the Carlist civil war, the division of the Liberals ended, and the Liberal Triennium commenced in two groups: Moderates and Progressives.

The Moderates

The Moderates, a heterogeneous group, formed around the oligarchies of the country: high bourgeoisie, aristocracy, high clergy, large industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, and financiers. They defended property rights and guaranteed a conservative agenda:

• Shared sovereignty between the courts and the crown.
• Rejection of reforms that questioned their properties.
• Limitation of individual rights, especially freedoms of the press and opinion.
• Confessional state: exclusive to the Catholic religion and economic support of the church by the state.
• Census suffrage, economic protectionism, and the predominance of indirect taxes.
• Designation of municipalities by the central government.
• Abolition of the national militia.

This program resulted in the formation of the Council Law of 1845 and the Electoral Act of 1846. Its main leaders were Martínez de la Rosa, Narváez, Bravo Murillo, and Francisco Alejandro Mon.

The Progressives

The Progressives ran a heterogeneous group that predominated in the middle and petty bourgeoisie, average or below in the army and the urban middle classes generally, and sectors of industrial and financial bourgeoisie, whose common denominator was the spirit of reform. Notable progressive ideas included:

• Limited national sovereignty without limiting the power of the crown.
• Religious freedom and reducing the influence of the clergy.
• Census suffrage and popular election of mayors and municipal councilors in the militia.
• Defended universal male suffrage, freedom of conscience, and free universal primary education.