ABSTRACT
Florencia Peyrou (Chapter 23) considers the development of a republican political culture in Spain noting its resemblance to those of France, Italy and Portugal and with British radical/Chartist movements. We can best understand this movement by situating it within the ‘European democratic universe’. Republicanism articulated a culture of progress and citizenship, as well as political struggle between absolutism and liberty. Republicanism varied in its potential radicalism, having a strong moral code and a changing relationship to radical political economy. The class fraction it represented, the middle and lower middle classes, was one that was frequently excluded from the political system. As it expanded, republicanism was also able to attract a mass social base, developing an extensive network of athenaeums and press outlets. However, the failure of the First Republic was partly caused by deep divisions which continued during the Restoration with four distinct republican parties competing. Yet an incremental growth in republicanism was still possible, finally achieving political power in 1931.
