José Canalejas Méndez

José Canalejas Méndez

José Canalejas Méndez (born July 31, 1854 in Ferrol , † November 12, 1912 in Madrid ) was a Spanish politician and Prime Minister of Spain (Presidente del Gobierno) .

biography

Studies, career and publications

The son of a railway engineer started after the acquisition of university entrance qualification ( baccalaureate ) at the Instituto San Isidro de Madrid to study law and the philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid , which he in 1871 and 1872 with the promotion for Doctor graduated. He then applied for an assistant professorship, but failed because of the opposition within the university and then renounced a career as a law professor. Instead, he became a lecturer in literature and philosophy. He was also the author of:

• " Programa de un curso de Principios Generales de Literatura ... para el curso 1872 a 1873 ", 1873 (program of a course on the basic principles of literature)
• " Apuntes para un curso de literatura latina ", 1874 (Notes on a course on Latin literature , 2 volumes)

Later, like his father, he began a career with the Madrid - Ciudad Real - Badajoz ( Ferrocarriles de Madrid a Ciudad Real ya Badajoz ) railway company, where he rose to General Secretary and represented them as a lawyer in proceedings against other railway companies. A staunch supporter of democracy , he founded the liberal daily “Heraldo de Madrid” in 1890 .

MP

Canalejas Méndez began his political career as a member of the republican-oriented Progressive Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista) . After the re-establishment of the monarchy (Restauración borbónica) , however, he joined the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta . For this he was elected for the first time as a member of parliament (Congreso de los Diputados) on August 21, 1881 , where he alternately represented the interests of the constituencies of Soria , Cádiz , Alicante , Madrid, Ciudad Real and La Coruña until his death . In 1883 he was State Secretary in the office of Prime Minister Sagasta for some time.

Minister and President of Parliament

On June 14, 1888, Sagasta appointed him to a government for the first time as Ministro de Fomento (Development Minister ) . On December 11, 1888, he took over the office of Minister for Appeals for Mercy and Justice (Ministro de Gracia y Justicia) in this government and held this office until January 21, 1890. During this time, the reform of the Civil Code (Código Civil) took place . Sagasta appointed him Minister of Finance (Ministro de Hacienda) in his fifth cabinet on December 17, 1894 , which he was a member of this time until the end of Sagasta's tenure on March 23, 1895.

Concerned about the political development in what was then the colony of Cuba, he went to Cuba in 1897 to get first-hand information. His great interest led him to join the army as a volunteer despite his age of 43, his mandate and his previous ministerial work. As a soldier, he was awarded the Cross of the Military Order of Merit (Orden del Mérito Militar) for his bravery during combat operations . After his return to Spain, he reported his impressions to Prime Minister Sagasta and asked him to grant the colony a certain autonomy . Ultimately, however, the Spanish-American War from April to August 1898 led to the occupation of Cuba, Puerto Rico , Guams and the Philippines by the USA and to the loss of Spain's last important colonies .

From March 19, 1902 to May 31, 1902, as Minister of Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Public Works (Ministro de Agricultura, Industria, Comercio y Obras Públicas) he was again a member of the last government led by Sagasta. During this time he ordered the establishment of the Labor Office (Instituto de Trabajo) .

After the death of his sponsor Sagasta on January 5, 1903, he succeeded him as chairman of the Partido Liberal . As such, he pursued a predominantly left-wing liberal policy, which provided for a defense of democratic ideas and a separation of church and state.

Canalejas was elected President of the Congress of Deputies on January 19, 1906 as successor to Antonio Aguilar Correa and held this office until March 30, 1907.

Prime Minister

As the successor to Segismundo Moret Prendergast , he was finally appointed Prime Minister of Spain (Presidente del Gobierno) by King Alfonso XIII on February 9, 1910 . He held this office until his death on November 12, 1912.

Due to parliamentary majorities, he had to reshuffle his cabinet in January and April 1911, and from June 29, 1911 to March 12, 1912, he also took over the office of Minister for Appeals for Mercy and Justice. In addition, he was from July 17 to August 6, 1911 also acting Minister of the Interior (Ministro de Gobernación) during the absence of the incumbent. He was also President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during this time .

During his reign he pushed ahead with extensive reforms: In addition to the abolition of excise taxes and the introduction of general military service , the establishment of new orders of priests was restricted by the so-called Padlock Act (Ley de Candado) and thus indirectly restricted the power of the Catholics Church .

Together with King Alfonso XIII. he visited Morocco in 1911 , where he ordered the occupation of Larache , Asilah and Alcazarquivir in response to the French occupation of Fez . The negotiations with France that began afterwards eventually led to the conclusion of the Treaty of Fez and the establishment of a French and a Spanish protectorate after his death . In addition, in recognition of the support of the German Reich, he gave privileges for the export of ore from the Melilla region to the Mannesmann works .

He also introduced reforms of social legislation and, with the support of Enric Prat de la Riba, began an attempt to solve the so-called Catalonia question by founding a community for Catalonia (Mancomunitat de Catalunya) . In order to restore public order, he felt compelled to put down the republican revolt, which was triggered by the mutiny on the frigate Numancia on August 2, 1911, the events of Cullera of September 1911 and the railway strike of 1912.

He failed to carry out the political reforms expected of him to dissolve the oligarchy dominated patronage system ( caciquismo ), the introduction of a true democracy and a change in the electoral law. On November 12, 1912, he was murdered by the anarchist Manuel Pardiñas Serrano in the Puerta del Sol , which led to a serious crisis within the Liberal Party. The new party chairman was Segismundo Moret Prendergast , who was defeated by him in 1903 when he was elected chairman.

Honorary positions

Tomb of José Canalejas in the Panteón de Hombres Ilustres , Madrid

The recognized legal scholar and gifted speaker was President of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation (Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación) from 1893 to 1894 and 1903 to 1905 .

He was also a member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas from March 13, 1900 , where he took the armchair (Sillón) 15 until his resignation on June 28, 1910 . Finally, in the year of his murder, he was appointed a member of the Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), whose chair R he occupied.

swell

Web links

Commons : José Canalejas Méndez  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Biography on the homepage of the Spanish Prime Ministers ( Memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
• Biography (spanish)
• The cabinets during the reign of Alfonso XII. (1874-1884 - La Restauració)
• The cabinets during the reign of Maria Christina of Austria (1885-1902 - La Restauració)
• The governments during the reign of Alfonso XIII. (1902–1931)
• Newspaper article about José Canalejas Méndez in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of Members of Parliament from 1810 to 1977
2. ↑ Real Decreto de 24 de julio de 1889, disponiendo la publicación en la Gaceta de Madrid de la edición reformada del Código Civil
3. ↑ List of Ministers for Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Public Works ( Memento of May 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
4. ^ Presidents of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate from 1869 to 2008
5. ↑ Ralph Uhlig: The Interparliamentary Union 1889-1914: Peacekeeping Efforts in the Age of Imperialism (=  Studies on Modern History . Volume 39 ). Franz Steiner Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-515-05095-7 , ISSN  0178-8310 , p. 113 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
6. ^ Sasse, Dirk: French, British and German in the Rif War 1921–1926 , 2006, p. 215, ISBN 3-486-57983-5
7. ^ "For jihadist, read Anarchist," article in The Economist, Aug. 18, 2005
8. ^ Presidents of the Royal Academy of Law and Legislation in the 19th Century ( Memento of July 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
9. ^ Presidents of the Royal Academy of Law and Legislation in the 20th Century ( Memento of July 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ Members of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas - Armchair 15 ( Memento from September 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
11. ↑ Members of the Real Academia Española - Sillón R ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Segismundo Moret Prendergast	Prime Minister of Spain 1910–1912	Manuel García Prieto