How deserving was Miguel Primo de Rivera of the moniker “the Iron Surgeon” between 1923 and 1930?

Initially, the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923 was met with enthusiasm from those who saw him as the ‘Iron Surgeon’ that Joaquin Costa had called for, who would “restore and purify Spain”[1] from the previously corrupt and decaying nature of the state. The term was associated with regeneracionismo, calling for “national regeneration from above”[2] and “revolution from above”[3] that would see Primo cleansing Spanish society from the illnesses of social disorder, political corruption and economic backwardness. While he did achieve success during the initial days of his dictatorship, there was a shift in his political ideologies in the latter half of his rule, leading some to question the validity of calling him an ‘Iron Surgeon’.

According to Costa the biggest responsibility for an ‘Iron Surgeon’ was removing “el tumor caciquil from the healthy organism of the nation”[4] in order to allow it to regenerate, a concept that Primo struggled to achieve. As a result, he could not truly be called an ‘Iron Surgeon’ because their eradication from power was central to the progress of the country.[5] Caciquismo refers to a political system that is dominated by local political bosses who put their own personal interests first rather than the interests of the nation. They repressed those who were intelligent and in a position to promote development in important areas, and with their continued presence the regime could not move forward. Under Primo, officers known as Delegados Gubernativos were sent to provinces to supervise and conduct the election of new administrative staff.  Despite the regenerationist aura at the time, many of them soon also began to abuse their power, thus creating a new type of caciquismo instead of getting rid of the old political order. These officers rarely confronted the negative influences of the traditional caciques in the administration sector, on the contrary, they actually established a working relationship together.[6] The liberal intellectual critic Unamuno described the grand regenerating promises of eradicating caciquismo and re-establishing authority as being no more than “diversionary tactics”[7] from the regime’s failure in eradicating continued class inequality and political corruption and was the biggest undermining factor in regards to calling Primo an ‘Iron Surgeon’.  

While Primo changed the name of the political system through his Pronunciamiento, he had not been able to change its nature which continued to promote political corruption. His inability to get rid society of this ‘illness’ was another primary reason that prevented him from being called a true ‘Iron Surgeon’ because little had changed in society. The establishment of the Union Patriotica (UP) as a new party was not regarded as a “regenerationst instrument”[8] but rather as another protective group for the interests of the caciques where they could continue to share the spoils of power with one another. The UP had been formed with the intention to replace the previously corrupted politicians in administrative positions but it merely perpetuated the old problems of the previous system. Primo’s attempts to reform the army caused a quarrel over the promotion for combat merits as against promotion by seniority, another corrupted practice. His political reforms relied heavily on the mobilization of people with good will and intent to ensure the continued running of constitutional institutes throughout the presidential regime but it was difficult to find these ‘new men’. Primo was working with the same materials as before and Spanish characters were tenacious.  

Primo’s military dictatorship lacked the totalitarian objectives and brutal repression of its oppositions that were characteristics of other ruthless dictatorships and the leadership of an ‘Iron Surgeon’. This meant that he was unwilling or unable to annihilate his political oppositions and balance the different interests of the regime against each other, leading him to make conciliatory compromises that pleased no one. Primo attempted to stimulate the local Somaten, an armed militia that could be used as an auxiliary force for the police and the army. According Salvador it was not even a “pale shadow”[9]  of the fascist militia and was only relegated to supplementary duties of policing. There was little bloodshed throughout his regime which was not characterized by extreme violence. When confronted with critics of the regime such as Unamuno, he merely exiled him rather than submitting him to a much more violent fate as was common under other dictators. He preferred to rule by consensus of the people rather than imposing his will upon them. The UP was formed as a ‘mass nationalist movement’ that were supposed to constitute the consensus of the people in regards to his reforms. The final draft of the newly written constitution by the National Assembly favoured a position between an authoritarian and liberal regime which didn’t please anyone. This failure to impose an authoritarian regime eventually led to a growing lack of support from different sectors of society- the Army, the Monarchy and the students -and ended in Primo’s eventual resignation in 1930. At the end of his dictatorship, it was difficult to view Primo as an ‘Iron Surgeon’ because he no longer represented a figure of strong leadership and his dictatorship was disintegrating around him as a result of failing to effectively suppress political opposition. 

Despite his failure in terms of political repression, Primo took strong measures to squash public disorder and in this regard he was able to rule with the firm hand that was expected from an ‘Iron Surgeon’. His motto of ‘Religion, Fatherland and Monarchy’ meant that regionalist sentiments from the Basque and Catalan regions was inconsistent with his view of a ‘Grand Fatherland’, leading to the persecution of those who promoted separatism. The concept of a united nation had strong ties to patriotism which was another main feature of the regeneration movement, suggesting that this was one manner in which Primo was able to modernize the country. The royal decrees of the 14^th and 18^th of September declared a state of war (Guerra de estado)  which legitimized brutal repression against the so called ‘terrorists’ of the regime and allowed him to deal with the perceived threat in a swift and radical manner. Castilian Spanish was to be the only spoken language, no flag other than the Spanish flag was to be flown and most of the cultural centres were shut down.[10] These repressive measures extended into the banning of nationalist political parties, the Basque Country the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV) was outlawed.[11] Even his most hostile critics acknowledged his achievements in ending separatism and reducing the amount of social unrest in relation to those causes.[12] There was no tolerance for those who acted openly against the idea of a united Spain and his harsh responses to those that attempted to oppose him creates one of the strongest arguments that he was deserving of being called an ‘Iron Surgeon’.

Primo is also deserving of the title of an ‘Iron Surgeon’ in his attempts to accommodate the interests of the working class through social reforms and institutionalized labour relations after years of previous class struggle and warfare. His populism and affable personality meant that he was welcomed by the Spanish public who had become tired of the elitism of the previous political members. Primo was personally sympathetic towards the working class, leading him to improve their living as well as working conditions in accordance with the regenerationsit ideals of the time. There was an increase in public spending on education and there was the emergence of public health care. In terms of improving their working conditions Primo pursued an informal partnership with the Socialist trade union federation (UGT), offering them a formal structure for resolving workplace conflict. Labour disputes were settled by the formation of 27 different arbitration committees that had equal representatives of members from the government, employers and workers. It was an effort to replace the violence of class struggle with a cooperative environment in which workers and employers could work together in order to modernize and regenerate the country through their increased workplace productivity. The idea of an authoritarian government working with the left‐wing trade unions of the UGT to develop an institutional structure that allowed both workers and employers to negotiate solutions was an inventive strategy for not only repressing class conflict but also for attempting to resolve it.[13] His social policies were among the greatest inventions of the regime and marked him as being a successful ‘Iron Surgeon’. Due to the improvements of working and living conditions for the working class there were less strikes and social conflicts in comparison to the previous years, instilling a ‘Golden Era’ of peace that lasted practically throughout his regime.

Primo’s principal inspiration in matters of political economy was the regenerationist ideas of Costa and he saw it as his mission as an ‘Iron Surgeon’ to revive and modernize the economy. In the early days he was successful in achieving economic prosperity although some critics disagree as to how much credit his regime and its public‐sector spending deserves for Spain’s participation in the transnational economic boom. There was a huge focus on using public money to improve the infrastructure of the country in terms of rebuilding new roads, repairing and improving the railway system, developing the irrigation systems and bringing electric power to the countryside.[14] These public schemes, seen as the biggest example of public spending in Spanish history created huge employment opportunities and an atmosphere of economy prosperity that had not been enjoyed under the austerity of previous regimes. The initial economic prosperity was not sustained throughout the regime, the trade slump of 1929 and the following worldwide recession meant that at the end of his regime Primo had encountered economic difficulties. The lavish spending on the public sector in the beginning meant that the government had no gold reserves to fall back on. The title of ‘Iron Surgeon’ in terms of economic regeneration can only be applied to the first half of his dictatorship as he was not able to maintain it throughout the entirety of his regime.   

Primo is ultimately undeserving of the title ‘Iron Surgeon’ in regards to Costa’s definition and the themes of regeneracionismo. In many ways the proclamations of his dictatorship was not truly about carrying out a ‘revolution from the top’ in terms of eradicating the caciques but rather about trying to avoid a revolution that could be seen coming from below through conciliatory social policies towards the working class. Maura was correct in his criticism of the regime. While Primo did achieve some success in his earlier days- economic expansion and suppression of regional nationalism- he was not able to sustain its moment and his regime ended in economic difficulties and political uncertainty. Despite his promises as an ‘Iron Surgeon’ to rid society from the illnesses of the previous government, little had changed in the nature of the new political system and society due to the continued presence of political corruption and caciquismo, leading some to see his dictatorship as a failure to regenerate society.

Bibliography:

Books:

 Balfour, Sebastian, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Barton Simon, A History of Spain (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Casanova, Julian and Andrés, Carlos Giles, Twentieth-Century Spain: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Lieberman, Sima, The Contemporary Spanish Economy: A Historical Perspective (London: Routledge, 2013).

 Piro. R. Thomas, Eugenio Noel, Joaquín Costa and the Regenerationism Movement in Spain (PHD, City University of New York: 2012).

Radcliff, Beth Pamela, Modern Spain: 1808 to the present (Chicester: John Wiley & Sons,2017).

  Rial. H. J, Revolution from above: The Pimo de Rivera dictatorship in Spain (London: Associated University Press, 1986).

 Salvado, Francisco, Twentieth-century Spain: Politics and Society in Spain, 1898-1998: European History in Perspective (London: Macmillan, 1999).  

Journals

Shlomo, Ben-Ami,  “The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera: A Political Reassessment”, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 12 (1997), 65-84. 

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[1] Simon Barton, A History of Spain (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 221.

[2] Francisco Salvado, Twentieth-century Spain: Politics and Society in Spain, 1898-1998: European History in Perspective (London: Macmillan, 1999), p.

[3] Sebastian Balfour, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p.188. 

[4] Thomas. R. Piro, Eugenio Noel, Joaquín Costa and the Regenerationism Movement in Spain (PHD, City University of New York: 2012), p 33.

[5] Ibid, p. 34.

[6] J. H. Rial, Revolution from above: The Pimo de Rivera dictatorship in Spain (London: Associated University Press, 1986), p. 81-2.

[7] Julians Casanova and Carlos Giles Andrés, Twentieth-Century Spain: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 90.

[8] Ben-Ami Shlomo, “The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera: A Political Reassessment”, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 12 (1997), 65-84 (p. 70).  

[9] Salvado, Twentieth-Century Spain, p. 57.

[10] Casanova and, Twentieth-Century Spain,  p.88.

[11] Ibid, p. 89.

[12] Ibid, p. 92.

[13] Pamela Beth Radcliff, First edn, Modern Spain: 1808 to the present (Chicester: John Wiley & Sons,2017), p. 151.

[14] Sima Lieberman, The Contemporary Spanish Economy: A Historical Perspective (London: Routledge, 2013) p. 142.