Spanish Political System Decomposition: 1917 Crisis

The Decomposition of the Spanish Political System

The decomposition of the Spanish political system was an ongoing process. The monarchy was increasingly discredited, as King Alfonso XIII showed little respect for the operation of the constitution. He frequently exercised political interference on the parties. The decomposition process can be explained by these key factors:

• The Moroccan War
• Institutional instability (distortion of the electoral system)
• The social question, which refers to the struggle of workers to improve their living and working conditions. The trade unions UGT (socialist) and CNT (anarchist) reached a combined membership of two million. The rise of social struggles went hand in hand with increasing political opposition, especially in cities.

The Crisis of 1917

During the First World War (1914-1918), Spain remained neutral. Public opinion was divided. Democratic public opinion was sympathetic to the Allies, while conservatives were sympathetic to the Central Powers (Germany and Austria). Spanish neutrality affected the country in the following ways: industry and agriculture became suppliers to the belligerent countries. This led to the expansion of the Spanish economy and the modernization of industry, resulting in the enrichment of a minority. However, from 1916 onwards, an inflationary process was unleashed, entailing a significant increase in the cost of living and unrest among the masses. This became one of the causes of the crisis of 1917.

The Triple Crisis of 1917

The crisis of 1917 virtually eliminated the system of restoration and dealt a final blow to the monarchy. It was a triple crisis that occurred on three levels:

• The military problem: Specified in the so-called Juntas.
• The political-institutional problem: Specified in the Parliamentary Assembly.
• The social problem: Specified in the Revolutionary General Strike.

These three problems converged in 1917.

The Juntas

The military problem consisted of the formation of so-called Juntas by military professionals. The Board of Defense was a kind of official union that sent letters to the government protesting their professional status and the age of military equipment. They complained that the Africanist military officers were promoted based on war merits. The King personally resolved the military problem by negotiating with the military representatives of the Defense Science Board. This was a step towards the disrepute and weakness of the government, which was then the Liberal Party. Following this, the Spanish officer corps was divided into two camps: the Africanists and the reformists. The Africanists emerged strengthened from the crisis.

The Parliamentary Assembly

The Parliamentary Assembly was a call made by the Catalan deputies Cambó and Prat de la Riba to all parliamentarians in the country. They requested a meeting to propose two demands to the nation: to call the Constituent Cortes to decide the form of state (monarchy or republic) and the creation of an autonomous status for Catalonia. The Catalan deputies of the Regionalist League, the State House Republicans, Catalan and Basque nationalists, and socialists favored this assembly. The government banned the assembly. Before the ban, the Catalan nationalists of the Liga withdrew from the call. The assembly was held, but the political crisis continued.

The Revolutionary General Strike

The basis of the strike was the social problems caused by the high cost of living. It was a joint call by UGT and CNT. Among the claims was also the request for a Constituent Cortes. The anarchists, who were apolitical, retreated from the call. The strike was held in the summer of 1917 and was partially successful in the industrial cities and among railroad workers. The government decided to use the army and declared a state of war. This led to dozens of victims, and the strike committee was sentenced to death. The vilification continued despite the government's efforts to end the strike.