Maurism (Maurismo inSpanish) was aconservative political movement that bloomed inSpain from 1913 around the political figure ofAntonio Maura after a schism in theConservative Party betweenidóneos ('apt ones') andmauristas ('maurists'). Its development took place in a period of crisis for the dynastic parties of theSpanish Restoration regime.[1] The movement, which fragmented in several factions in the 1920s, has been portrayed as a precursor of the Spanishradical right.[2]
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 Dato and 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 Gallardo delivered 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 "Anís Maura", 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 notableMauristas wereJosé Calvo Sotelo,José Félix de Lequerica,Fernando Suárez de Tangil andCésar Silió.[13] Miguel Ángel Perfecto identified three inner factions within the movement: thesocial Catholic one of Ossorio, the liberal-conservative strand ofGabriel Maura and the neoconservatives of Goicoechea.[2] Additionally, the followers ofJuan de la Cierva within 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]
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,nationalist andcorporative ideological project.[19] It has been characterised as aregenerationist movement.[20] It shared with that movement the belief that defeat in theSpanish–American War had 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 supportedGermanophile stances, 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 Popular in 1922. On the other sideAntonio Goicoechea led ananti-liberal andauthoritarian scion,[32] vouching for an "organic democracy", concept later advanced byFrancoism.[33] In 1922 the Maurists aroundManuel Delgado Barreto and the journalLa Acción looked 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]
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Fuentes Codera, Maximiliano (2013). "Germanófilos y neutralistas: proyectos tradicionalistas y regeneracionistas para España (1914-1918)".Ayer.91 (3). Madrid: Asociación de Historia Contemporánea y Marcial Pons Ediciones de Historia:63–92.ISSN1134-2277.
González Cuevas, Pedro Carlos; Montero, Feliciano (2001). "Los conservadores españoles en el siglo XX". In Antonio Morales Moya (ed.).Las claves de la España del siglo XX. Vol. 4. pp. 39–62.ISBN84-95486-25-3.
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Marín Arce, José María (1997). "El conservadurismo liberal de Sánchez Guerra". In Javier Tusell Gómez; Feliciano Montero García; José María Marín Arce (eds.).Las derechas en la España contemporánea. Barcelona and Madrid: Anthropos y Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. pp. 129–152.ISBN84-7658-524-1.
Romero Salvadó, Francisco J.; Smith, A. (2010).The Agony of Spanish Liberalism: From Revolution to Dictatorship 1913–23.Springer.
Quiroga, Alejandro; Arco, Miguel Ángel del (2012).Right-Wing Spain in the Civil War Era: Soldiers of God and Apostles of the Fatherland, 1914-45. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 9.
Rodríguez Jiménez, José Luis (2009). "¿Qué fue ser de derechas en España? conservadurismo liberal, derecha autoritaria, derecha franquista (y un epílogo)".Bulletin d'histoire contemporaine de l'Espagne (44):21–58.ISSN0987-4135.
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