La Rebelion Cantonal En La Historia de España

von Julián Vadillo Muñoz

224 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

Was cantonalism an eccentric anecdote in 19th-century Spain? Was it an independence movement that threatened the unity of the country? Or was it irrefutable proof that the First Republic was pure chaos? Questions like these, repeated over and over again in textbooks and speeches, have established a biased and simplified view of the cantonal movement. However, rigorous research shows that we are dealing with something much deeper: a key chapter in Spanish political history, with intellectual, social, and cultural roots that go back to the War of Independence and the tradition of the juntas. In La rebelión cantonal en la historia de España (The Cantonal Rebellion in the History of Spain), Julián Vadillo Muñoz dismantles the clichés to present cantonalism in its true dimension: as an expression of a republican political culture that opted for federalism over Bourbon centralism. He analyzes its ideological genealogy from Proudhon and Pi i Margall to the debates of the First Republic, including its connection with the labor movement and other European revolutionary experiences such as the Paris Commune. Far from being a chaotic outburst, the cantons articulated projects of political organization, legal texts, symbols, and democratic practices that sought to transform society "from the bottom up." Their defeat, and the subsequent repression, left an indelible mark on contemporary Spanish political history and explain the debates that we have inherited in subsequent centuries. A precise and necessary journey to understand not only cantonalism, but also the history of democracy in Spain itself.