Cantonalism
The cantonalism is a political movement in Spain , which seeks the nation-state in quasi-independent cantons divide. Based on a radically understood federalism with clear borrowings from the ancient Greek polis , independent cities or cantons formed from cities should join together on a federal basis. Cantonalism had a great influence on the Spanish labor movement , especially the anarchist sections of it.
As a historical phenomenon, cantonalism appeared twice as a defining moment on the political stage. First during the First Spanish Republic in 1873, when in the form of a Revolución Cantonal in the areas of Valencia , Cartagena , Andalusia , Salamanca , Ávila and Extremadura there were cantonal uprisings with socialist traits and mostly the recognition of law on work , the eight-hour day and the abolition of excise taxes . The movement was suppressed entirely by January 1874. Nonetheless, she helped Francisco Pi i Margall step down as president. The Revolución Cantonal shocked how few years earlier, the Paris Commune equally the national conservative as -liberalen forces. A contemporary quote gives an impression of the feeling of threat that arose among them, but also of the dynamism of the cantonal movement:
“The radicals had discovered that a unified republic was a monarchy in disguise, and to please them, the Cortes had unanimously proclaimed an allied [ie federal] republic without even one of the voters being able to say what was being voted on. But this idiom enchanted the world, it was like being intoxicated, delirious. The rule of virtue and happiness had been established on earth. A Republican denied the designation of an ally by his enemy was offended by a deadly curse. People walked the streets with the words: Salud y republica federal! towards each other. Then hymns of praise were made to the soldiers' sacred indecency and self-importance. What was the 'allied republic'? Some understood this to mean equal rights for the provinces, institutions on the model of the United States, or the abolition of uniform administration, while others thought of the abolition of all authorities, the imminent beginning of the great social settlement. The socialists in Barcelona and Andalusia preached the absolute independence of the congregations and called for the formation of ten thousand independent congregations in Spain which would give their own laws and at the same time repeal the police and the army. It was soon seen that the uprising in the southern provinces was spreading from town to town, village to village. As soon as a parish had issued its pronunciamento , its first concern was to destroy telegraphs and railways in order to cut off all communications with the surrounding area and with Madrid. The most wretched place wanted to cook in its own kitchen. Federalism had given way to a crude, murderous and murderous cantonalism, and bloody Saturnalia was celebrated everywhere. "
Cantonalism manifested itself again clearly during the Second Spanish Republic and during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, and especially as part of the social revolution of 1936, when dozens of local and regional councils were formed that were autonomous from the central government acted and in some cases even declared themselves to be independent states. Asturias and León did this in 1937 with a communication to the League of Nations , as did Catalonia in 1938/39.
Individual evidence
- ^ Translation by R. Eisler, 1911. Quoted from textlog.de , accessed June 6, 2007.