Jump to content

Maurism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio MauraandAntonio Goicoecheain a Maurist meeting (April 1917).

Maurism(MaurismoinSpanish) was aconservativepolitical movement that bloomed inSpainfrom 1913 around the political figure ofAntonio Mauraafter a schism in theConservative Partybetweenidóneos('apt ones') andmauristas('maurists'). Its development took place in a period of crisis for the dynastic parties of theSpanish Restorationregime.[1]The movement, which fragmented in several factions in the 1920s, has been portrayed as a precursor of the Spanishradical right.[2]

History

[edit]

The 1913 refusal by Antonio Maura to accept the terms of theturno pacífico(the alternation in government between the two major parties in the Restoration two-party system) and assume the presidency of the Council of Ministers led to a schism in the Conservative Party between idóneos (supporters ofEduardo Datoand dynastic normality) and the followers of Maura,[3][4]leading to the establishment of a new movement,maurismo.[5]In October 1913 a seminal speech byÁngel Ossorio y Gallardodelivered in Zaragoza gave birth to the so-calledmaurismo callejero('street Maurism').[6][7]This side of Maurism became active in street politics using popular agitation, even physical violence.[8]

Bottle of "AnísMaura ", promoted by the Maurist Youth.[9]

Maurism, aside from the figure of Antonio Maura, was partially inspired by historianGabriel Maura[10](son of Antonio Maura), and received some influences from the ideas of French monarchistCharles Maurras—Maura and Maurras wrote to each other—andAction Française.[11]However, Antonio Maura never got to lend support to the radical side of the movement created around him.[12]Other notableMauristaswereJosé Calvo Sotelo,José Félix de Lequerica,Fernando Suárez de TangilandCésar Silió.[13]Miguel Ángel Perfecto identified three inner factions within the movement: thesocial Catholicone of Ossorio, the liberal-conservative strand ofGabriel Mauraand the neoconservatives of Goicoechea.[2]Additionally, the followers ofJuan de la Ciervawithin the Conservative Party, as they drifted away from the orthodoxy ofEduardo Dato,ended up orbiting around authoritarian stances close to Maurism, but they did not merge into the organizational structure.[4][2]

Conference byGabriel Mauraorganised by the Maurist Youth in theWestin Palace Hotel(March 1917).

The social strata prevalent among mauristas, whose first National Assembly was held in January 1913, were young people from the aristocracy and the wealthy middle classes.[14][15]The movement built up its own organic structure and related media, created Maurist circles and even worker associations and presented candidates for local and general elections.[16]Maurists were noted for the wide dissemination of their propaganda, embracing the catch-phrase "¡Maura Sí!"('Yes to Maura!').[17]Attempts were made to reach capture working class support but these did not succeed as it was perceived as too middle class and establishment-minded, with republican groups managing to mobilise the workers much more successfully.[18]

Presenting itself as an antithetical to the Restoration regime instituted byAntonio Cánovas del Castillo(canovismo), Maurism tried to lead a conservative modernization, endorsing aninterventionist,nationalistandcorporativeideological project.[19]It has been characterised as aregenerationistmovement.[20]It shared with that movement the belief that defeat in theSpanish–American Warhad been the fault of a political system that was rife with incompetence and corruption, with Maurism prescribing the imposition of a new patriotic system from above by elites.[21]Another feature of Maurism was confessional Catholicism.[22]The movement's social action could be described aspaternalist,with a tutelary function of the upper classes over the lower ones.[23]DuringWorld War I,Maurists largely supportedGermanophilestances, although Maura himself defended neutrality and Ossorio endorsedGermanophobia.[24]

Maurist meeting in the Teatro de la Comedia, Madrid (March 1917).

In the 1917 Madrid local elections nine Maurist councillors were elected. At this election non-dynastic unconventional candidates (Maurists and the republican-socialist coalition) took marginally more seats than the candidates elected by the traditional Restoration parties.[25] The 1919 Maura cabinet, that included three Maurists, Goicoechea, Silió and Ossorio,[26]was a window of opportunity for Maurism but it ended up in failure.[27]Maura had become aware of the difficulties in fulfilling the Maurist agenda without the support of the dynastic forces.[28]Since then the movement shifted towards fragmentation.[27]

In the 1920 election to the Cortes the Maurist fraction only got 22 members of the parliament.[29]Two "antagonistic" factions split from Maurism.[30][31]In one side the scion led byÁngel Ossorio y Gallardo,supportive of social Catholicism andChristian democracy,founded thePartido Social Popularin 1922. On the other sideAntonio Goicoechealed ananti-liberalandauthoritarianscion,[32]vouching for an "organic democracy", concept later advanced byFrancoism.[33]In 1922 the Maurists aroundManuel Delgado Barretoand the journalLa Acciónlooked toItalian Fascism.[34]Goicoechea insisted on a proclaimed popular support in Spain for the rise of "aMussolini"in the country.[35]The very vagueness that underpinned Maurism, which insisted on a "revolution from above" but left the interpretation of this vague concept up to individual adherents, has been characterised as encouraging this factionalism and preventing it from fully emerging as a coherent ideology.[36]For his part Maura never addressed these issues, preferring to remain an aloof figurehead rather than seeking to lead an organised political movement.[36]

Maurists such asJosé Calvo Soteloand Goicoechea gave support after theSeptember 1923 Primo de Rivera coup d'etat[es]to thelatter's dictatorship— whose coming was cheered by the overwhelming majority of the Maurists —[37]and they would finally participate inRenovación Española('Spanish Renovation') during theSecond Republic.[38]José Luis Rodríguez Jiméneznotes that Maurism added at some point the "Neither Right Nor Left" rhetoric, identified by the author as a feature of a drift fromliberal conservatismtowards authoritarian conservatism.[39]

References

[edit]
  1. ^González Cuevas 2008,p. 31.
  2. ^abcPerfecto 2012,p. 60.
  3. ^Romero Salvadó 2002,p. 28.
  4. ^abAvilés Farré, Elizalde Pérez-Grueso & Sueiro Seoane 2002,p. 236.
  5. ^Marín Arce 1997,p. 130;González Hernández 1989,p. 19;Payne 1999,p. 19.
  6. ^Hernández Burgos 2011,p. 197.
  7. ^Cabo, 2009 & Miguez,p. 90.
  8. ^Avilés Farré, Elizalde Pérez-Grueso & Sueiro Seoane 2002,p. 239.
  9. ^Bunk 2008,p. 18.
  10. ^Pasamar Alzuria 1993,pp. 207–208.
  11. ^González Cuevas 1990,p. 353;Blinkhorn 2003,p. 122.
  12. ^Payne 1999,p. 20.
  13. ^González Cuevas 2008,p. 41.
  14. ^González Calleja & Souto Kustrín 2007,p. 78.
  15. ^González 1988,p. 148.
  16. ^Rodríguez Jiménez 2006,p. 227;Tuñón de Lara 1976,pp. 75–76.
  17. ^González 1988,p. 149;Perfecto 2012,p. 60–61.
  18. ^Romero Salvadó & Smith 2010,pp. 18–19.
  19. ^González Cuevas & Montero 2001,p. 43.
  20. ^Tusell & Avilés 1986,p. 361.
  21. ^Preston 1981,p. 333.
  22. ^Rodríguez Jiménez 2006,p. 227.
  23. ^González 1988,pp. 148 y 155.
  24. ^Fuentes Codera 2013,p. 71.
  25. ^Romero Salvadó 2002,p. 215.
  26. ^Gómez Ochoa 1990,p. 242.
  27. ^abPayne 1999,p. 19.
  28. ^Gómez Ochoa 1990,p. 243.
  29. ^Álvarez Delgado 2003,p. 80.
  30. ^González Calleja & Souto Kustrín 2007,p. 79.
  31. ^Gil Pecharromán 1993,p. 247.
  32. ^Marín Arce 1997,p. 130;Gil Pecharromán 1993,p. 247;Payne 1999,pp. 19–20;Blinkhorn 1990,p. 122.
  33. ^Rodríguez Jiménez 2006,p. 228.
  34. ^González Calleja 1998,p. 509.
  35. ^Rodríguez Jiménez 2006,p. 239.
  36. ^abQuiroga & Arco 2012,p. 9.
  37. ^Ben-Ami 1980,pp. 124–125.
  38. ^Preston 1995,p. 13.
  39. ^Rodríguez Jiménez 2009,p. 32.

Bibliography

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maurism&oldid=1193610202"