Primo de Rivera
PRIMO DE RIVERA WHAT happens in Spain is now interesting to people who, twenty years ago, hardly realized that such a thing as the peninsular monarchy was in existence. No doubt this rise to...
...But this, like most of his official deeds, will eventually not redound to his dishonor.onor...
...It came into office peacefully, just as Primo de Rivera himself rose into authority as calmly as a fly settles on a window pane on a languid summer day...
...Only coming months can prove whether the acceptance of sops in the form of increased clerical salaries for political support was wise or ominous...
...But those activities of the dictator which must be described as sheer flub-dub have been evident enough and have bred a vast amount of talk...
...Something was done to amortize the national debt, to secure protection for domestic industries and to improve the system of transportation...
...Primo de Rivera has perhaps unwittingly aided this awakening...
...Three years later, however, the march toward progress was halted...
...Observers generally agree that there has been a notable awakening of public opinion throughout the peninsula, that this opinion is far less radical than has sometimes been imagined, but that the drift is plainly away from class privileges and autocracy to an overt democracy...
...No power is mighty enough to aspire to change the order of things, and the great bulk of thoughtful citizens are anxious to maintain the peace...
...It is still too early to judge the effectiveness of Primo de Rivera's policy...
...It was at this time that King Alphonso decided that a modified form of Fascismo would be desirable for Spain...
...Catalonian separatism, which had seriously threatened Spanish unity during several years, was coaxed into quiescence by favoring the province above all others...
...On the whole, even Primo de Rivera's enemies will grant that he worked at the task assigned with gen-, uine intelligence...
...Business competition having been restored throughout Europe, Spanish exports began to fall off, commercial credit expanded steadily and the peseta proved meat for speculative activity...
...It is, for the moment, necessary to observe that nothing has really been settled...
...More important still was the military collapse in Morocco, thousands of lives having been lost due to manifest blunders in leadership...
...Thus his censorship of the press and his usurpation of the right to use space in all journals to express his point of view eventually reared up against him an almost unanimously hostile newspaperdom...
...As many of the aspects of Fascismo as could be imported into Spain were more or less deftly introduced...
...The situation of the Church merits careful watching...
...The country is ruled by such authority as a few relatively small groups are able to brew in unison...
...King Alphonso is not merely disliked by most of these but (what is much more important) believed totally incompetent...
...The National Assembly was abolished and a promise to give the country a new constitution, free from parliamentary flaws, was issued...
...In 1920 the total result could have been gauged according to two sets of phenomena: the rise of the peseta, and the vast increase of scholarly concern with Spanish art, customs and civilization...
...Accurate figures are not available, and interpretations of those which have been published differ...
...Despite all the efforts made under the dictatorship to secure unanimous Catholic support, there are many-and not the least able-who have joined Antonio Maura and Sanchez Guerra in openly demanding a new order...
...It was then decided to use the army as a supporting wall and to select for the captain's post Primo de Rivera, an excellent soldier who had ruled Barcelona during times of disorder and was a convinced antagonist of the liberals...
...Whether or not the motive was fear lest his own share in the blame for the mishaps in Africa would be discovered and used to promote rebellion, or anxiety regarding the spread of communism owing to industrial recession, the King persisted in his plan...
...Clever men who had something to say found other platforms, equipped with really majestic sounding-boards...
...We think that Spain earnestly desires to get on with its ruling house, but that it is also profoundly dissatisfied with Alphonso XIII...
...All this has been most interesting to watch, and the reporters of the world have sent reams of copy from Madrid...
...Several organizations-notably the National Economic Council-were created to deal with basic industrial problems...
...The resignation of the dictator testifies primarily, we think, to his inability to unify public opinion in Spain...
...No doubt this rise to prestige has been caused in part by the war, which brought the greatest neutral nation in Europe compliments from both sides and a considerable increase in revenue...
...Two-thirds of the population is practically illiterate, bound to the soil and indifferent to political events...
...And the universities have, as everyone knows, been the scene of constant public protests...
...The dictatorship was offered to Antonio Maura, leader of the reactionary conservatives, who declined and avowed his disapproval of the dangerous venture...
...The present government is necessarily a matter of form...
...But what has been the final outcome...
...It has been alleged that there is a real power behind the throne-General Anido, one of the strictest disciplinarians among Spanish military men- but there is little evidence in support of the assertion...
...The army is divided in sentiment, as both the nearly successful rebellion of Ciudad Real and Primo de Rivera's futile appeals to the generals prove...
Vol. 11 • February 1930 • No. 15
