Spanish Restoration Politics: Parties & Nationalist Movements

The Conservative Party in Restoration Spain

Initially called the Conservative Liberal Party, it was led first by Cánovas del Castillo (until his death in 1897) and later by Francisco Silvela. This party brought together moderate liberals, members of the Liberal Union (like Cánovas himself), progressives (such as Francisco Romero Robledo), and even traditional Catholics (like Alejandro Pidal). Politically, the Conservatives were positioned on the moderate right.

The Liberal Party in Restoration Spain

Founded in 1880 as a merger party, it was led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta and represented the liberal left within the Restoration system. Sagasta was an old progressive who had led the Constitutionalist Party during the monarchy of Amadeo I. He had not collaborated with the First Republic and was head of state when the military coup occurred in Sagunto. He accepted the Constitution of 1876 and attracted conservatives disenchanted with Cánovas's politics, as well as former Democrats and progressives from the Democratic Sexenio.

Key Government Initiatives

• Approval of liberalization measures.
• Approach to social issues and reconciliation of labor relations.
• Resolution of the debate between advocates of protectionism and free trade, with the eventual adoption of protectionist measures.

Antidynastic Movements

The Carlists

The Carlists continued to oppose the established monarchy.

The Republicans

The Republicans were marginalized within the system and remained very disjointed after six years of democratic experience. Emilio Castelar led a group open to possibilities, which collaborated with Sagasta's party. The group led by Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, however, organized a military coup that failed miserably in 1886. For his part, Nicolás Salmerón led the group of those who wanted a unitary republic, while the faction of Francesc Pi i Maragall aspired to a federal republic.

Catalan Political Nationalism

It emerged during the Six Democratic Years through federalism, which asserted a Cataluña integrated into a federated Spanish state. Already during the Restoration, the former Republican Valentí Almirall founded the Centre Català in 1882 to unite all Catalan nationalists. However, other writers and thinkers favored a traditionalist, rural, and illiberal form of Catalan nationalism.

The Unió Catalana (1891) attempted to unify all trends around the nationalist bourgeoisie, enlightened and conservative, and promoted the Bases de Manresa in 1892. This document provided the first explicit program of Catalan nationalism and included a draft Statute of Autonomy that was conservative and traditionalist.

However, the first major Catalan nationalist party, the Lliga Regionalista, led by Enric Prat de la Riba and Francesc Cambó, was not formed until 1901.

Basque Political Nationalism

It defended lost privileges and rejected the process of industrialization because it fractured and eroded traditional Basque society. Thus, originally, Basque nationalism identified capitalism with Spanish centralism and viewed immigrants or the 'model' as responsible for the degeneration of the Basque 'race' due to intermarriage.

These ideas were identified with a line of Catholic and anti-liberal thought that was summarized in the slogan "God and Old Law". The ideologist of Basque political nationalism was Sabino Arana, founder of Buru Bizkai Batzar (or Bizkaia Provincial Council).

Since 1898, Basque nationalism ranged from radical independence to the integration of an autonomous Basque Country within Spain.