| The Dictatorship under Miguel Primo de Rivera 1923 - 1930. |
Introduction. Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Am I mad? These are the words the Spanish King Alfonso XIII pronounced in the early hours of September 13th 1923 after receiving a telephone call from his Captain General in Barcelona, Miguel Primo de Rivera, informing him that an insurrection had taken place in Spain. Whether the King’s remarks are true or not has been discussed by historians ever since without coming to a genuine conclusion. On the other hand, the King’s full approval of the coup d’état has never been in question. A couple of days following the uprising a French journalist interviewed the King who explained with euphoria that he had now obtained godly powers to govern Spain. After a couple of weeks, however, these powers from heaven became somewhat stressful and he subsequently returned to the society garden parties and polo matches in Santander leaving the running of the country to his Dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. Miguel Primo de Rivera. Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, Marques of Estella, was born at Jerez de la Frontera in 1870. He came from an old Andalusian family of landowners. Jerez de la Frontera is renowned for its beautiful horses, attractive women and tasty wines. Primo de Rivera was a great lover of all three products from his native land, the latter two with some excess. Like many other men in his family he took up a military career and served his country in both Cuba and Morocco with great success. He finally reached the top ranks to become a Captain General. His personality was generous, spontaneous, outspoken and trusting. There was always the Primo touch to whatever he was doing and history has given him a bit of a “Del boy” image. He built up, over the years, an impressive CV of eccentrics but he was not a fool. The dictatorship was only intended to last 3 months when it, in fact, lasted just over 6 years. These years were entirely directed by Primo de Rivera himself and have, until recently, been regarded as a parenthesis in modern Spanish history. This concept has now been challenged with a new picture emerging. If we look at history as a chain of events, the link preceding the dictatorship is named the Restoration. In order to appreciate the events which took place during the dictatorship as well as their impact upon Spanish history a closer look at the era of the Restoration is helpful. The Restoration. The Restoration signifies the return of the Bourbon dynasty on the Spanish throne after the fall of the First Republic in 1874. On 12th January 1875 Alfonso XII, the son of Isabel II, entered the capital to the enthusiastic cheers from the Madrid people. Alfonso had been educated at Sandhurst in England and matters concerning the armed forces were his main passion in life. He suffered from poor health and died suddenly in 1885, from a chest infection, at the age of 27 leaving the reins of Spain to his wife, Maria Cristina from Austria, who became Queen Regent. Both Alfonso and Maria Cristina never mixed with or influenced the political life at the time. The Constitution of 1876 was supposed to give Spain a stable and just political platform from which to tackle its immense difficulties. Instead the country was subjected to a sort of democracy manipulated by a succession of conservative, under the name of moderados, and liberal governments. There were 44 of them over a period of 37 years. Corruption, fraud and vote rigging, formed an integral part of everyday political life. Even the church became involved in the spectacle in order to gain advantages from the confusion. A poster at the time shows a priest approaching two of his parishioners saying: “I hope you voted for my candidate in the election”! The laconic answer from one of them was: “My Lordship, not once but four times”! Caciques. The most destructive of all institutions during the Restoration was that of Caciques. The word comes from the native Indians in America and means Chief. Gerald Brenan has, in his book “The Spanish Labyrinth”, given a detailed account of how this system functioned in Spain. The practices varied from region to region and I shall therefore only give a brief summary of its principal components. In medieval times most land was owned by the nobilities and the church. It was leased to a few people for a small amount of money to be used for agriculture. As the years elapsed the land was either bought or confiscated by the leaseholders who gradually gave up farming to move into urban communities where they became wealthy absent landowners. Managers or caciques controlled, mostly with brutality, the mass of labourers who worked the land for little reward and lived in misery. Elections were masterminded by the caciques to make sure that the landowners’ interests were guaranteed. The institution of caciques acted as a malicious cancer in Spain’s political system. It should be pointed out that in the North i.e. Catalonia and the Basque countries, the situation was better with freehold farmers or an amicable relationship between the parties involving leased land. The War in Morocco. Spain’s imperial powers had been on a slippery slope for centuries and finally hit the ground in 1898, with the loss of its last colonies including Cuba and the Philippines, in a humiliating war against the US. The blow to the nation was more of a moral issue than a practical one, except for Catalonia where influential business men, over the years, had maintained close trade links with Cuba. For the Spanish people it was a loss of identity realizing that they were now just a poor country on the European continent. Some compensation came at the Algeciras Conference in 1906 when Spain and France were entrusted with the control of Morocco. Spain’s protectorate was made up of the northern coastal strip excluding Tangier and was much smaller than that of France. It is rumored that Britain did not trust France to be too close to Gibraltar! In Morocco, a country with very poor infrastructures lived restless Berber tribes who soon started a guerrilla war against Spain. This soon developed into a cowboy and Indian battle where the Spanish army was often defeated and lacked the ability to be in charge of the situation. The loss of lives as well as a huge defence budget, made the war in Morocco very unpopular on the domestic front as well as within parts of the armed forces. Only a section of the army, referred to as Africanistas, was prepared to continue against the desire of general opinion.
King Alfonso XIII. At the 16th gun salute on 17th May 1886 the crowds outside the Royal Palace in Madrid went wild with joy. A King had been born. 15-gun salutes signified the birth of a baby girl; 21-gun salutes a baby boy. Maria Cristina, the Queen Regent, was pregnant when her husband, Alfonso XII, died. The general sentiment at the time was that Spain might again be able to look forward to a stable monarchy. The baby boy was brought up by his doting mother in a stuffy but secure court atmosphere. Like his father, who he of course never met, he developed a keen interest in the army and military matters. At the age of 16, in 1902, the boy became King under the title Alfonso XIII. The new King undertook to observe the Constitution but he had a taste for power and soon tried all the tricks he could imagine to rule the country in his own way. 1906 saw the King married to Victoria Eugenia, a grandchild of Queen Victoria. The marriage led Alfonso into the high society life, where he subsequently developed a playboy image. The King’s constant interference in politics and defence caused him gradually to lose his credibility and the confidence of the nation. The ultimate blunder came in 1921 at Annual in Morocco when a small force of Berbers ambushed a Spanish column, under the command of General Silvestre, and killed 10000 soldiers in the process. General Silvestre, who had been appointed by the King, against the advice of the recognised military command, promptly committed suicide. A parliamentary enquiry was established with the objective to determine, among many other matters, the King’s involvement in the catastrophe. The findings were to be made public by the end of September 1923. No wonder that Alfonso was in high spirits when the uprising was announced. Needless to say the report of findings was never issued! The Uprising. Why have there been so many military insurrections in Spain over the last 150 years? Until recently, the answer can, to some extent, be found in the organization of the armed forces. At the top of the ranks were a number of Captain Generals each responsible for a region, where they turned into virtual warlords by getting absorbed in businesses outside their jurisdiction. It ought to be mentioned that the military had become a state within the state with officers transformed into bureaucrats rather than being soldiers. Furthermore, there were no civilian watchdogs against corruption or waste. Every now and then, when the country transgressed from the military’s endorsement, a process was instigated in order to correlate matters back to status quo. Consultations, among high ranking officers as well as trusted civilians, took place to ensure that a planned uprising had enough consensuses to be successful. At the point of action a selected General made an official announcement or in Spanish “El grito”. In the summer of 1923 the coup d’état was in the final stages of preparations before its execution. When Primo de Rivera made his “grito”, on 13th September, he had by then undergone a rigorous selection process in immense secrecy. Why Primo de Rivera and not any of the other equally competent Captain Generals? The answer may be found in Catalonia, where he was posted and had intermingled in the political life. Catalonia was at the time a region on the boiling-point with civil disturbances and political unrest. An independent Catalonian state had become a likely reality, not only a dream, in the minds of many Catalans. Catalan businessmen were, on the other hand, against the prospect of losing Spain as a single market and began to conspire with Primo de Rivera with the intention of bringing to an end any plans for independence. In return they would help him in his nationwide political ambitions. An arrangement was concluded which they later came to regret deeply. In the wake, after the initial proclamation, everything fell into place satisfactorily for the Dictator. There was no opposition to a radical change, which was generally accepted as inevitable by the nation as a whole. The public opinion was positive. Primo de Rivera, as well, made no secret of how to handle any opposition to his military dictatorship. His words were: “Today we are resolved on moderation, but, on the other hand, we shall not shrink from bloodshed”. This never happened. The Dictator. In November 1923 Primo travelled officially with King Alfonso to Italy. At a state banquet Alfonso presented him to King Victor Emmanuel of Italy as “My Mussolini”. But Primo de Rivera was no Mussolini and never introduced any fascist trimmings into his governance. He was jovial but also tough with a deep sense of carrying out a mission to alter Spain into his own, sometimes vague, personal dreams. With an impulsive character this often resulted in bewildering situations. Being a widower Primo did not have any matrimonial responsibilities. He enjoyed spending his evenings in dingy bars and cafes discussing politics over a glass of brandy and in the early hours of the morning return back home, slightly intoxicated, to draft an official decree to be issued the next day, only to be cancelled on the following. In spite of many volatile incidents constructive progress was achieved in various important areas. Military Dictatorship. The Dictatorship, as it happened, was divided into two periods. The first, the Military Dictatorship, lasted from the uprising to January 1926. At this point in time the Dictator decided, against public opinion, to transform his governance into a permanent institution. Promised elections never happened. The Civil Dictatorship, which lasted up to January 1930, was to become Primo de Rivera’s Achilles heel and a tragic end to his professional as well as personal life. Principally, there were few practical differences between the two periods, however, the main achievements occurred during the Military Dictatorship. Public Works. Primo de Rivera needed to kick start the Spanish economy and for this purpose he borrowed money to finance public works. The interest, to pay for these loans, was to be funded by a new invention; income tax. The public was aghast!! Perceived by our contemporary beliefs this is a prudent practice, which is accepted in modern western economies. In times of economic downturn, as at that moment, the approach helps to reduce unemployment and social hardship. These were precisely the Dictator’s objectives. The public works were mainly concentrated round hydraulic constructions and improved road networks. The quality of roads was enhanced remarkably by being asphalted which indirectly resulted in an increase of four times the number of cars. Tourism was encouraged by establishing a network of government hotels called “paradores”. There were even rumours that the Dictator managed to get the trains running on time. Exhibitions in Seville and Barcelona were the crown jewels of public works. The initial objective of reducing unemployment was achieved but the state deficit went up by 35% between 1923 and 1930. This, in the end, curtailed Primo de Rivera’s ambitions to solve social and economic issues by public spending. The dictatorship’s economic policies followed a pattern of centralisation and state interference. Corporately managed initiatives were promoted, instead of a free market economy, resulting in a few producers controlling the supply of essential products. This was a plain scenario for corruption and favouritism. Two large enterprises, which are still with us today, were established in conjunction with foreign investors. They are Telefonica, in telecommunications, and CAMPSA for petroleum products. Unfortunately, agriculture did not attract the same business interest and continued to operate with its archaic methods. Social Reforms. One of Primo’s most popular actions was to improve the efficiency of the Civil Service. By regulating the work, which had been extremely lax, and introducing proper time keeping the output could be measured and evaluated against accepted economic standards. Efficiency improved, leading to higher productivity. Due to the fact that parliamentary democracy was, by default, put on ice the caciques were contained within their rural communities without the power to influence national politics. The Dictator tackled their remaining powerbase by dissolving local governments and placing them under military supervision. Without disappearing all together, the caciques’ power base was substantially reduced. Primo de Rivera respected the workers’ right to strike, unlike the dictatorship in Italy under Mussolini. In line with this principle he also accepted the socialist trade union UGT (Union General Trabajadores) and invited its leader Francisco Largo Caballero, originally a plasterer who later became Prime Minister, to cooperate in his social crusade. Through this and other means the numbers of strikes were brought down from 458 in 1923 to just 96 in 1929. Other socialist organizations, initially, maintained an unholy dialogue with the dictatorship which later worked in their favour at the birth of the Second Republic. On the other hand the anarchist movement, popular in the poorest areas, was banned from the political stage and driven underground. Women’s status in the urban society improved and a minority no longer stayed at home, solely to handle domestic chores, but ventured into the profane world of having a good time. They would smoke, dance to the craze of Charleston and even drive cars. Relationships of love were promoted in contrast to the duty of being a housekeeper. Of course only a few women, within the urban upper class, enjoyed these privileges. This also meant a gradual integration into the labour market. But the poor were not ignored by Primo. He introduced affordable housing and expanded pension benefits for the elderly. The health service improved in line with the guidelines for a welfare state. One of the results from the social reforms was an increase in the population by over 2 million in one decade, mainly due to a fall in the mortality rate. The benevolent dictator certainly had an utopian society on his mind. Education. In Spain, at the time and mostly in rural areas, may be up to 80% of the population did not receive a proper education or schooling which resulted in backwardness and ignorance. Here Primo took on an enormous task but managed, against all odds, to increase, according to records available, the number of state schools by 6000. The pupils studied, besides reading and writing, Spanish history including the virtues of the imperial monarchy and the Catholic faith. All education was conducted in Castellano or ordinary Spanish. However, on top of all this patriotism, generally referred to as La Pateria, was to be found some practical subjects like hygiene, the love of trees, flowers and animals. Today we recognise the latter as environmental issues. In a way, against his own background and habits, Primo tried to change the basic way of life. One change, which has remained up to present time, is the protection of horses, by padding, at bullfights. The Happy 1920’s. During the dictatorship a strict press censorship existed. At the end of Primo’s tenure this took undignified forms by e.g. opening private letters and spying on innocent individuals. But it was not all trouble and strife, and the Spanish people, mostly the upper and middle classes, enjoyed the bonanza of the Happy 1920’s. A media used extensively by the Dictator himself was a new invention, the radio. Besides political propaganda the listeners could enjoy light music in the form of Zarzuelas or comic operas. The entertainment most favoured by the masses was the cinema, dominated by American films. Great film stars, like Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, managed to visit their fans in Madrid. The construction of new cinema buildings resulted in a new Art Deco architecture. Spain in the 1920’s had more cinemas than France. A Spanish cinematographic industry grew up with film director Luis Buñuel leading the creation of national productions like An Andalusian Dog. However, it was in literature and art that Spanish culture leaped forward with a new generation of talents coming of age. Federico Garcia Lorca moved his audiences with his masterpieces in poetry and drama portraying Andalusian folklore. The sentiments of an Andalusian village became embedded in Juan Ramon Jimenez’s book Platero y yo. Here the author takes his donkey Platero for walks in his village, Moguer, reflecting about the mysteries of life. Salvador Dali shocked the world with his surrealistic art and Pablo Picasso confused the same audience with his cubic style. Oddly enough books and paintings were never censored and flourished during the dictatorship, and so did sport! Up to the 1920’s sport in Spain had mainly been an exclusive past time for the social elite` in the form of tennis and polo. Athletics and boxing entered the stage but the sport which conquered the masses was called football. Spain has never looked back on something which has, over the years, developed into a national hysteria. In Madrid the team Real Madrid was born. The contemporary intellectuals formed an important body that, through aggro or support, could influence the regime’s directions. Miguel de Unamuno and Jose Ortega y Gasset were the most influential academics at the time and were regarded, with much respect, as political philosophers. This is a vague reference to our modern spin doctors. Unamuno took, straight away, a fierce dislike to the Dictator, reflected in the statement: “When Spain needed an iron surgeon, they got a quack dentist”. For such impertinence Miguel Unamuno was sent to the Canarias Islands for repentance. Primo de Rivera was a benevolent dictator and during his time in power not one of his opponents, and they were numerous, was executed. Jose Ortega y Gasset was a master of sweeping statements. His most quoted one is: “Every Spaniard is born with a gene which tells him, I will do it my way”. Ortega y Gasset, who leaned towards elitism in his approach to politics, first warmed towards Primo, offering him advice, only later to become one of his most ardent critics. His publications hit the university campuses, like burning cannon balls, to ignite discontent and rebellion among the students. Morocco. It was in Morocco that Primo de Rivera encountered his greatest success. The war was going from bad to worse for Spain and a local Berber tribe leader, Abd-el-Krim went from victory to glory. The Dictator decided against a strong army opposition, mostly the Africanistas, to cut the losses and ordered a withdrawal of the troops to the coast away from the Rif Mountains. There were heavy losses. It was at this point the Berbers, being over-confident, made a fatal strategic mistake. They attacked France. The two colonial armies, in a joint effort, crushed the Moroccans. The turning point came in September 1925 at Alhucemas, where Spanish troops landed on the beaches under the command of General Sanjuro, and managed to penetrate inland for the final victory. Spain’s colonial ambitions had once again been aroused with Primo de Rivera being acclaimed as the Raging Bull. May be a bit over the top but an issue which had divided Spain over two decades had come to an end. The Civil Dictatorship. The Patriotic Union. Had Primo de Rivera retired at this point in 1925, he would have gone down in history as a successful statesman. Instead he decided to make his dictatorship permanent by creating his own party or assembly, the Patriotic Union. This party, being the only one, came to signify the centralization of power to Madrid. Initially, established in the spring of 1924 the party was a typical one party state creation. The Patriotic Union, in conjunction with a new constitution, was to immortalize the dictatorship but instead it came to signify the Dictator’s betrayal of the people following his original promise to introduce parliamentary democracy as early as possible. The constitution was never approved so therefore never become effective. Primo’s sole function was to have been that of an Iron Surgeon i.e. to sort out the problems and then leave. When the nation realized that this was not going to happen, Primo’s popularity sunk rapidly. The Monarchy, the Church and the Armed Forces. In reality Primo de Rivera was handcuffed by the Monarchy, the Church and the Armed Forces by the virtues of his origins and the terms of reference relating to his position. Primo’s relationship with the King was respectful but distant. Alfonso was happy as long as nothing upset his society enjoyments and his royal outlook on life. He expressed disgust over parliamentary democracy and any movements in that direction by Primo would have resulted in a veto. The Dictator appeased the Church by divine statements and giving concessions to the clergy. The rhetoric, to boast his military image, was charged with patriotic praise, glorifying the Castilian culture, including the concept of a corporate state. Here, Primo de Rivera’s basic ideology was to clamp down on any separatist movements. His actions were mainly directed against Catalonia. Catalonia. Primo de Rivera had come to head the uprising with the help of Catalan businessmen. These men did not wish for a separate Catalan state, for commercial reasons, but nevertheless felt a passion to promote the Catalan way of life with its distinct features. In this respect the Dictator revoked on all his promises with Draconian measures. Fines and arbitrary arrests became daily events. The Catalan language was forbidden and even the typical Catalan folk dance sardana was made illegal. Opposition to the curtailment of freedom and civil liberties resulted in university unrest which gradually spread all over the country. The Dictator’s personal life. Primo de Rivera was a hard worker and after a stint of long hours he packed his bag to spend a weekend with friends, men and women, locked up at a country estate. These were the days before paparazzi, with mega tele-lenses, so we can only imagine what went on behind closed doors. Come Monday, Primo was refreshed ready for another day’s work. But Primo was not a healthy man as he suffered from diabetes and was requested, by his medical doctor, to keep a strict diet. This was easier said than done for a man of excesses, who at night used to sneak to the servants’ kitchen to feast. Next day the doctor often had to comfort ‘a very sorry for himself’ dictator. Resignation and Death. Perhaps, the most damaging incident of all, on the personal front, was that of the mahogany girl, La Caoba. La Caoba was a luxury call girl who had got herself involved in drugs and was subsequently arrested. She pleaded release, and obtained it, from Primo who overturned the Supreme Court and sacked the judge. The nation was scandalized. With poor health and Spain in uproar Primo de Rivera sent, in desperation, a telegram to his fellow Captain Generals, on 26th January 1930, asking them to confirm their confidence in his governance. Their answers were negative. King Alfonso was furious, over this breach of royal protocol, and summoned his Dictator for a showdown: “You owe your position to the grace of the King and not to the Army. Consider retirement”. On 28th January Primo announced over the radio: “After many long working days, it is time to have a rest”. He travelled to Paris, where he died a bitter man only a month and a half later. What was the cause of death! Probably a broken heart, as the great love of his life, Spain, had deserted him. The Dictatorship under General Berenguer. “What will happen next”? King Alfonso was confused how to proceed. An interim solution was found in the appointment of another general, Berenguer, to fill the gap after Primo de Rivera. But General Berenguer did not possess the same visions as his predecessor although he was hard working and conscientious. His reaction to the appointment was to compare Spain with a bottle of champagne, with the cork ready to pop. Somehow, he did not have to wait long. The King’s popularity had plummeted to the extent of no return and simultaneously the republican movement had grown in strength to turn into a force to be acknowledged. The King in an attempt to save the monarchy called for municipal elections to be held on 12 April 1931. The result was an overwhelming disappointment to him. Out of 50 major town or cities, 46 voted for a republic. Alfonso turned to the head of the armed forces, General Sanjurjo, only to be informed by him: “I cannot guarantee that the soldiers will leave the barracks to defend the monarchy”. In a moment of apathy the King’s only comment was: “I had the impression of calling on an old friend and finding him dead”. The mood in Madrid was tense, like in Prague in 1989, with people gathering outside the Royal Palace. Emotions were at the point of boiling. For his own safety Alfonso XIII left Spain, with his family, on 14th April never to return as king. The Second Republic was a reality, leaving the Spanish version of Pandora’s Box wide open. Epilogue. The Dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera is somewhat of a mystery. The man himself had a Jekyll and Hyde personality with Mr. Bean in the middle. He had no experience as a senior politician prior to becoming dictator and never assumed the mantle of a fitting statesman. His Falstaffian behavior was at its best amusing and at its worse embarrassing. His background was that of a country aristocrat combined with a professional career as an officer. Still, he managed to alter the course of history in a profound manner. It has been said that Primo de Rivera’s greatest achievement was the Second Republic. This should not be regarded as a tongue in cheek statement but a genuine appreciation of the man’s accomplishment. The change from the 19th century Restoration democracy to the 20th century Republican democracy could not have taken place without Primo de Rivera’s political as well as social changes. Somehow his reign became a catalytic converter for the transformation of Spain into the modern world. Many of his social changes would not be introduced again until after 1975 with our present welfare state. The autocratic side of the dictatorship would be copied and pasted by Francisco Franco at the end of the Civil War in 1939. Rather than being a parenthesis in history, the dictatorship should be regarded as a breaking point between two or more diverse political systems. Primo’s son Jose´ Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was the leader of the Spanish Falange party before the Civil War, tried to endorse his father’s legacy. In many ways he followed in his father’s footsteps as far as promoting his political views with a Bohemian flair. Jose´ Antonio was murdered soon after the outbreak of the war in 1936. Gerald Brennan has bestowed on Primo de Rivera, as a man, an accurate as well as romantic tribute: “His greatness – for he had a kind of greatness - came from being a typical Andalusian, drawn larger than life”. Copyright: Björn E. Engström.
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