The Catalan Counter-revolutionary Coalition and the Primo de Rivera Coup,1917-23

Abstract

This article focuses on the key role in Catalonia played in the genesis of the military coup by the captain general of Barcelona, Miguel Primo de Rivera, in September 1923. From 1917 the rise of labour agitation and the radicalization of Catalan nationalism precipitated the formation of a counter-revolutionary coalition between the armed forces and right-wing sectors of Catalan society. Along with the military, the coalition took in, on the one hand, the territory’s business, Catholic, Monarchist and regionalist organizations, and on the other, some working-class elements integrated within the Sindicatos Libres. The former championed what we have termed the ‘Catalan road’ to authoritarianism, calling for the construction of independent Catalan institutions in order to deal with the threat of subversion. However, the coalition proved unstable. Divisions opened up between conservative rightists and the radical rightists of the Sindicatos Libres. Moreover, once Primo de Rivera came to power he reneged on his regionalist pronouncements and put in place a centralizing regime. The ‘Castilian road’ to authoritarianism had triumphed.