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60-776: In March 1930, it organized the Galician Republican Federation with the support of the Radical Republican Party and the Radical Socialist Republican Party . Represented by Casares Quiroga, it was a signatory of the Pact of San Sebastián . The Radicals left the Galician Republican Federation following the proclamation of the Republic although the FRG continued to exist until 1932. The federation won 16 seats in

120-441: A juerga of dancing, drinking and love-making with gypsies. He would be observed almost alone in the streets of Madrid, swathed in an opera cloak, making his way from one café to another, and on returning home would issue a garrulous and sometimes even intoxicated communiqué -- which he would often have to cancel in the morning." Between 1909 and 1923, Primo de Rivera's career blossomed, but he became increasingly discouraged with

180-406: A Manifesto explaining the coup to the people. Resentful of the parliamentarians' attacks against him, King Alfonso tried to give Primo de Rivera legitimacy by naming him prime minister. In justifying his coup d'état , Primo de Rivera announced: "Our aim is to open a brief parenthesis in the constitutional life of Spain and to re-establish it as soon as the country offers us men uncontaminated with

240-451: A clique of Africanist generals close to King Alfonso XIII . The coup enjoyed the acquiescence of the monarch, and Primo de Rivera was ensuingly tasked to form a government. He thereby proceeded to suspend the 1876 constitution and establish martial law. His dictatorial rule was marked by authoritarian nationalism and populism. Primo de Rivera initially said he would rule for only 90 days; however, he chose to remain in power, heading

300-629: A faction out of the party, taking with him twenty of the PRR's hundred deputies. They would soon merge with the right wing of the old Radical Socialist Republican Party to form the Republican Union . The walkouts left the remainder of the PRR even more inclined to concession with the religious right. Lerroux's rump PRR remained in government with the conservative-liberals and the CEDA for 1935. The party, already heavily weakened, made increasing policy concessions to

360-535: A government excluding the Socialist Party and including the centre-left and centre-right republican parties. The government proved unable to command sufficient confidence in the Cortes, with the result that snap elections were held in which the PRR emerged the strongest single group in parliament with 102 deputies. Lerroux again formed a government, this time of the various conservative-liberal centre-right parties, but

420-757: A military directorate. In December 1925, after the Alhucemas landing ended Rifian anti-colonial resistance, he installed the Civil Directory . From 1927 a policy of public spending on infrastructures was pursued and state monopolies such as oil company Campsa were created. Once economic tailwinds diminished, he lost the support of most of his generals, and he was forced to resign in January 1930 amid increasing inflation and civic unrest, dying abroad two months later. Some of his children, such as José Antonio and Pilar , went on to become fascist leaders. Miguel Primo de Rivera

480-675: A role as junior officer in the colonial wars in Morocco, Cuba and the Philippines. He then held several important military posts including the captain-generalship of Valencia , Madrid and Barcelona . He showed courage and initiative in battles against the Berbers of the Rif region in northern Morocco, and promotions and decorations came steadily. Primo de Rivera became convinced that Spain probably could not hold on to its North African colony . For many years,

540-673: A splinter from earlier Radical parties, it initially played a minor role in Spanish parliamentary life , before it came to prominence as one of the leading political forces of the Spanish Republic . The Radical Republican Party was founded on 6 January 1908 in Santander by the Lerrouxist wing of the Republican Union , which splintered in disagreement from Nicolas Salmerón 's policy of alliance with Catalan regionalists . Initially, its structure

600-408: A supreme directorate of eight military men, with himself as president. He then decreed martial law and fired civilian politicians in the provinces, replacing them with middle-ranking officers. When members of the Cortes complained to the king, Alfonso dismissed them, and Primo de Rivera suspended the constitution and dissolved the legislative body. He also moved to repress separatists, who wanted to make

660-543: A viable, legitimate political system to preserve and continue his reforms. He seems to have sincerely wanted the dictatorship to be as brief as possible and initially hoped that Spain could live with the Constitution of 1876 and a new group of politicians. The problem was to find new civilian leadership to take the place of the military. In 1923, he began to create a new "apolitical" party, the Patriotic Union (UP), which

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720-709: The 1931 election . Santiago Casares Quiroga was a cabinet minister in republican governments between 1931 and 1933. In 1932, the Argentine section of ORGA led by Ramón Suárez Picallo participated in the foundation of the Partido Galeguista led by Castelao . Following the dissolution of the FRG in 1932, the ORGA became known as the Galician Republican Party until it merged with the Acción Republicana and

780-509: The Pact of Biak na Bato . in 1898 he watched the humiliating defeat in the Spanish–American War , bringing a close to his nation's once-great empire . That loss frustrated many Spaniards, Primo de Rivera included. They criticized the politicians and the parliamentary system which could not maintain order or foster economic development at home, nor preserve the vestiges of Spain's imperial glory. Primo de Rivera went to Madrid to serve in

840-614: The Radical Socialist Republican Party in 1934 to form the Republican Left ( Izquierda Republicana ). This article about a political party in Spain is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Radical Republican Party The Radical Republican Party ( Spanish : Partido Republicano Radical ), sometimes shortened to the Radical Party , was a Spanish Radical party in existence between 1908 and 1936. Beginning as

900-595: The Radical Socialist Republican Party , since it was eager to maintain close links with the socialist movement. The three organisations were the main participants in the Provisional Government that formed after the abdication of Alfonso XIII in April 1931. The legislative elections of June 1931 returned the PRR as the second-largest parliamentary group, after the Socialists. The Radical Republicans generally supported

960-534: The elections of 1936 , it chose to ally for electoral lists with the parties of the religious and monarchist right, and many of its own local branches and voters abandoned it and migrated to other parties believed to better represent the spirit of Radical Republicanism: Portela Valladares's Party of the Democratic Centre on the centre-right, Martinez Barrios's centre-left Republican Union , or Manuel Azana's left-wing Republican Left . The PRR garnered just 1% of

1020-662: The Azaña government in December 1931, and the Radical-Republicans would act as the principle opposition group. That de facto placed the party on the centre-right, and it worked alongside the conservative-liberal republican parties of Melquiades Álvarez , Santiago Alba , Ortega y Gasset , and Alcalá Zamora . After the fall of the Azana government in September 1933, Lerroux was asked to form

1080-530: The Basque provinces and Catalonia independent from Spain. Despite some reservations, the great Spanish philosopher and intellectual, José Ortega y Gasset , wrote: "The alpha and omega of the task that the military Directory has imposed is to make an end of the old politics. The purpose is so excellent, that there is no room for objections. The old politics must be ended." Nevertheless, other intellectuals such as Miguel de Unamuno and Vicente Blasco Ibáñez criticized

1140-546: The CEDA. It was fatally damaged by the revelations of two corruption scandals, known as the Nombela and Straperlo affairs, in the autumn of 1935. This led to the downfall of Lerroux as premier, though members of the PRR itself remained in the subsequent cabinets headed by two independents considered to be philosophically close to Radical-Republicanism, Joaquin Chapaprieta and Manuel Portela-Valladares . The party did not recover. In

1200-541: The Cortes called for an investigation into the responsibility of King Alfonso XIII and the armed forces for the debacle. Rumors of corruption in the army became rampant. On 13 September 1923, the indignant military, headed by Captain General Miguel Primo de Rivera in Barcelona, overthrew the parliamentary government, upon which Primo de Rivera established himself as dictator . In his typically florid prose, he issued

1260-566: The French and Spanish to unite to crush the defiance in 1925. He went to Africa to help lead the troops in person, and 1927 brought victory to the Franco-Spanish forces. Primo de Rivera also worked to build infrastructure for his economically backward country. Spain had few cars when he came to power; by 1930, and Rivera aimed to expand this . The Barcelona Metro , started many years earlier, opened in 1924. His economic planners built dams to harness

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1320-613: The Ministry of War with his uncle. Renowned for his amorous conquests, he reverted to the carefree days of his youth in Jerez. Then in 1902, he married a young Hispano-Cuban, Casilda Sáenz de Heredia. Their marriage was happy, and Casilda bore six children before her death in 1908, following the birth of Fernando. He later was sent on a military mission to France, Switzerland, and Italy in 1909. The British historian Hugh Thomas says: "He would work enormously hard for weeks on end and then disappear for

1380-604: The Radical Republicans went underground. As an end to the dictatorship came in sight, the party began to prepare for a return to constitutional normality. In 1926, it initiated the Republican Alliance , an umbrella organisation of various republicans hoping to push for a republican regime once the dictatorship ended. The Alliance excluded the Socialist Party ; in 1928, the Radical-Republicans' left wing split to found

1440-514: The Socialists and entered legislative elections solely alongside other 'national' (non-regionalist) republicans though the electoral failure of 1916 put an end to this bloc. During the final decade of the Restoration, the Radical Republicans continued to possess a modest parliamentary representation, with Lerroux enjoying a certain prestige as the chief figure of Spanish republicanism. That came to end with Miguel Primo de Rivera 's coup in 1923, and

1500-622: The Spanish Resistance against Napoleon Bonaparte. The young Miguel grew up as part of what Gerald Brenan called "a hard-drinking, whoring, horse-loving aristocracy" that ruled "over the most starved and down-trodden race of agricultural labourers in Europe." Studying history and engineering before deciding upon a military career, he won admission to the newly created General Military Academy in Toledo , and graduated in 1884. His army career gave him

1560-556: The Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona military regions, distinguishing himself as a voice in favour of military withdrawal from Africa. During the crisis of the Restoration regime, specifically upon political turmoil in the wake of setbacks in the Rif War and the ensuing spillover of the enquiries of the Picasso file , Primo de Rivera staged a military coup d'état on 13 September 1923 with help from

1620-519: The army had called up conscripts to fight in the Second Rif War in Morocco, Radical republicans and anarchists in Catalonia had proclaimed a general strike. Violence had erupted when the government declared martial law. Anticlerical rioters had burned churches and convents, and tensions grew as socialists and anarchists pressed for radical changes in Spain. The government proved unable to reform itself or

1680-462: The artillery corps, it provoked hostility and opposition. Troubled by the regime's failure to legitimize itself or to solve the country's woes, the king also began to draw away. Alfonso, who had sponsored the establishment of Madrid's University City , watched with dismay as the country's students took to the streets to protest the dictatorship and the king's support for it. A clandestine pamphlet portrayed Alfonso as Primo de Rivera's dancing partner. Yet

1740-503: The composition of the congress was such that he could not govern without either the republican left, few in number and fragmented, or the powerful bloc of the religious right, the CEDA. Over the next year various governments dominated by Radical-Republicans were toppled before the cabinet was finally extended to include the CEDA, a move that prompted the October Rising of 1934 . The increasing preference of Lerroux's wing to cooperate with

1800-507: The early 1930s, as with most of the Western world during and after the Great Depression , Spain fell into economic and political chaos. Alfonso XIII appointed General Dámaso Berenguer , one of Primo de Rivera's opponents, to govern. This government promptly failed in its attempt to return to ordinary constitutional order. Different presidential candidates attempted to restore the legitimacy of

1860-509: The early 1930s, the original Radical Republican Party had been pushed from the left to the centre and the centre-right, preferring to make alliances with anti-socialist and nationalist parties of the liberal and religious right. That process (see sinistrisme ) was broadly similar to the path taken in France by the antisocialist anticlericals known as the National Radicals . In its early years,

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1920-411: The elaboration of a constitutional draft. On 10 October 1927, with the king in attendance, he opened a National Assembly . Although they met in the Cortes chamber, members of the regime-appointed assembly could only advise Primo de Rivera. They had no legislative power. In 1929, following guidance from the dictator, the assembly finally produced a new constitution draft. Among its provisions, it gave women

1980-664: The fortunes of his country. He was wounded in action in October 1911 in the Kert campaign while leading the infantry regiment San Fernando as Colonel. Having returned to Spanish Morocco , he was promoted to brigadier general in 1911, the first graduate of the General Academy to receive such a promotion. Yet social revolution had flared briefly in Barcelona , during the Tragic Week of 1909. After

2040-576: The government had tried without success to crush the Berber rebels, wasting lives and money. He concluded Spain must withdraw from what was called Spanish Morocco if it could not dominate the colony. He was familiar with Cuba and the Philippines with the latter as an aide-de-camp during the Philippine Revolution against Emilio Aguinaldo and became a hostage along with Filipino exiles in Hong Kong after

2100-594: The hydroelectric power of rivers, especially the Duero and the Ebro, and to provide water for irrigation. For the first time, electricity reached some of Spain's rural regions. The regime upgraded Spain's railroads, and this helped the Spanish iron and steel industry prosper. Between 1923 and 1927, foreign trade increased 300%. Overall, his government intervened to protect national producers from foreign competition. Such economic nationalism

2160-419: The increased taxes resulting from economic expansion. Unemployment largely disappeared. But Primo de Rivera brought order to Spain with a price: his regime was a dictatorship. He censored the press. When intellectuals criticized the government, he closed El Ateneo, the country's most famous political and literary club. The largely anarchist National Confederation of Labour (CNT) was decreed illegal and, without

2220-439: The king did not have determination to remove Primo de Rivera. On 26 January 1930, the dictator asked the military leaders if he still had their support. Their lukewarm responses, and his recognition that the king no longer backed him, persuaded him to resign two days later. Primo de Rivera retired and moved to Paris, where he died a month and a half later at the age of 60 from a combination of fever and diabetes on 16 March 1930. In

2280-663: The loyalty of the armed forces. Alfonso XIII went into exile on 14 April 1931, not formally abdicating until 1941 in favour of his son, Juan de Borbón . The act ushered in the Second Republic . Two years later Primo de Rivera's eldest son, José Antonio , founded the Falange , a Spanish fascist party. Both José Antonio and his brother Fernando were arrested in March 1936 by the republic, and were executed in Alicante prison by Republican forces once

2340-476: The military Directory and replacing it with civilians. Still, the Constitution remained suspended, and criticisms of the regime grew. By summer 1926, former politicians, led by conservative José Sánchez-Guerra y Martínez , pressed the king to remove Primo de Rivera and restore constitutional government. To demonstrate his public support, Primo de Rivera ordered the UP to conduct a plebiscite in September. Voters could endorse

2400-465: The monarch, who had discredited himself by siding with the dictatorship. Eventually, municipal elections were called for on 12 April 1931. While monarchist parties won in the overall polls, republican candidates commanded the majority in urban centres, winning the elections in 41 provincial capitals including Madrid and Barcelona. In April 1931, General José Sanjurjo informed the King that he could not count on

2460-490: The nation and frustration mounted. After 1918, post- World War I economic difficulties heightened social unrest in Spain. The Cortes (Spanish parliament) under the constitutional monarchy seemed to have no solution to Spain's unemployment, labor strikes, and poverty. In 1921, the Spanish army suffered a stunning defeat in Morocco at the Battle of Annual , which discredited the military's North African policies. By 1923, deputies of

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2520-452: The original constitutional bill that provided for an integral, unitary state but with allowance for devolved regions. The party, however, greatly diverged from the republican parties to its left on certain constitutional questions, notably over unicameralism, the dissolution of the religions congregations and the legal provisions for the socialisation of property. These disagreements led the two PRR ministers, Lerroux and Martínez Barrios, to quit

2580-595: The party was heavily anchored in Lerroux's fiefdom of Barcelona, which rendered difficult the task of creating either a social-democratic political movement or a regionally-focussed Catalanist Radical movement. In 1910 , the Radical-Republicans first entered parliament, via an electoral bloc with socialists and other Radicals and republicans, known as the Conjunción Republicano-Socialista (Republican and Socialist coalition). From 1914 to 1916, it broke with

2640-509: The permission of the two most reactionary forces in the country—the Army and the Church." Primo de Rivera dared not tackle what was seen as Spain's most pressing problem, agrarian reform, because it would have provoked the great landholding elite. Writes historian Richard Herr, "Primo was not one to waken sleeping dogs, especially if they were big." Primo de Rivera chiefly failed because he did not create

2700-475: The reason why the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Workers' General Union (UGT) were quick to cooperate with the government and its leaders affiliated themselves with the committees mentioned before. Individual workers also benefited because the regime undertook massive public works. The government financed such projects with huge public loans, which Calvo Sotelo argued would be repaid by

2760-474: The regime and were exiled. The dictator enjoyed several successes in the early years of his regime. Chief among them was Morocco, which had been festering since the start of the 20th century. Primo de Rivera talked of abandoning the colony altogether, unless sufficient resources were available to defeat the rebellion, and began withdrawing Spanish forces. But when the Moroccans attacked the French sector, they drove

2820-414: The regime or abstain. About a third of those able to vote declined to go to the polls; despite this, The New York Times called the result "a record vote", noting that the turnout was four times higher than any Spanish election until then. Other media were more critical: The Advocate called the vote "a farce". Nevertheless, buoyed by his victory, Primo de Rivera decided to promote a body tasked with

2880-425: The religious right over the fellow secular Radicals of the republican left caused concern among many members of the party. A series of concessions to the CEDA led several of the party's most prominent figures to abandon it in protest between October 1933 and October 1934. Most significantly, the schism of April 1934 had the party's second figure, the former interior minister and prime minister Diego Martínez Barrios, led

2940-421: The rich could cope with more easily. This led to a huge income disparity between the wealthy and working classes in Spain at the time. Despite his paternalistic conservatism , Primo de Rivera was enough of a reformer and his policies were radical enough to threaten the interests of the traditional power elite. According to British historian Gerald Brenan , "Spain needed radical reforms and he could only govern by

3000-440: The right track. Others were enraged that the parliament had been brushed aside. As he travelled through Spain, his emotional speeches left no doubt that he was a Spanish patriot. He proposed to keep the dictatorship in place long enough to sweep away the mess created by the politicians. In the meantime, he would use the state to modernize the economy and alleviate the problems of the working class. Primo de Rivera began by appointing

3060-460: The support of the PSOE, the general strikes organised by the organisation were dismantled violently by the army. To suppress the separatist fever in Barcelona, the regime tried to expunge Catalan culture. It was illegal to use Catalan in church services or to dance the sardana . Furthermore, many of the dictator's economic reforms did not actually help the poor as huge public spending led to inflation, which

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3120-439: The vices of political organization." In other words, he believed that the old class of politicians had ruined Spain, that they sought only their own interests rather than patriotism and nationalism. Although many leftists opposed the dictatorship, some of the public supported Primo de Rivera. Those Spaniards were tired of the turmoil and economic problems and hoped a strong leader, backed by the military, could put their country on

3180-412: The vote because Primo de Rivera believed their political views less susceptible to political radicalism. He intended to have the nation accept the new constitution in another plebiscite, to be held in 1930. As the economic boom ended, Spaniards gradually became tired of the dictatorship. The value of the peseta fell against foreign currencies, 1929 brought a bad harvest, and Spain's imports far outstripped

3240-400: The vote, returning a mere six deputies, and several of them abandoned the party in parliament to instead sit among the Democratic Centre group. When the insurrection of July 1936 broke out, the PRR was proscribed, which brought its 30-year history to an end. Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella , GE (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930),

3300-575: The worth of its exports. Conservative critics blamed rising inflation on the government's spending for public works projects. Although no one recognized it at the time, the final months of the year brought the international economic slump which turned into the Great Depression of the 1930s. When Primo de Rivera lost the support of the king and the armed forces, his dictatorship was doomed. The Spanish military had never unanimously backed his seizure of power, although it had tolerated his rule. But when Primo de Rivera began to inject politics into promotions for

3360-612: Was a Spanish dictator and military officer who ruled as prime minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during the last years of the Bourbon Restoration . He was born into a landowning family of Andalusian aristocrats . He met his baptism by fire in October 1893 in Cabrerizas Altas during the so-called Margallo War . He moved up the military ladder, promoted to brigadier general (1911), division general (1914), and lieutenant general (1919). He went on to serve as administrator of

3420-516: Was born into a landowning military family of Jerez de la Frontera . His father was a retired colonel. His uncle, Fernando , was Captain General in Madrid and the soon-to-be first Marquis of Estella . Fernando later participated in the plot to restore the constitutional monarchy in 1875, ending the tumultuous First Republic . His great-grandfather was Bértrand Primo de Rivera (1741–1813), a general and hero of

3480-549: Was formally organized the following year. Primo de Rivera liked to claim that members of the UP were above the squabbling and corruption of petty politics, that they placed the nation's interests above their own. He thought it would bring ideal democracy to Spain by representing true public opinion. But the UP quite obviously was a political party, despite the dictator's naive protestations. Furthermore, it failed to attract enthusiastic support or even many members. On 3 December 1925 he moved to restore legitimate government by dismissing

3540-795: Was largely the brainchild of Primo de Rivera's finance minister, José Calvo Sotelo . Spain benefited from the European post-World War I boom, but the gains were concentrated with the wealthy. The tranquility was, in part, due to the dictatorship's ways of accommodating the interests of Spanish workers. Imitating the example of Benito Mussolini in Italy, Primo de Rivera forced management and labor to cooperate by organizing 27 corporations (committees) representing different industries and professions. Within each corporation, government arbitrators mediated disputes over wages, hours, and working conditions. This gave Spanish labor more influence than ever before and this might be

3600-440: Was loose enough and its Radicalism broad enough to contain many different tendencies, notably a Radical-Socialist left wing led by Alvaro de Albornoz , a centrist wing led by Diego Martínez-Barrio and a right wing led (from 1910) by Alejandro Lerroux . Over time the left factions periodically splintered off to form more socially-progressive Radical parties such as the Radical Socialist Republican Party in 1928. Consequently, by

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