Basilio Álvarez (1877–1943) was a Spanish priest, journalist and politician related to the Galician agrarianist movement. He was deputy by

Ourense Ourense (; es, Orense ) is a city and capital of the province of Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path of the Way of St ...

during the Second Spanish Republic, as a member of the Radical Republican Party.

Biography

Born in

in 1877, was ordained priest in 1902. On 1907 he settled in Madrid, although by 1912 would return to Beiro, Galicia. His career as a religious was characterized by an unorthodox interpretation of the rules of the Catholic Church, where there is no choice of celibacy —but in fact came to have two children. These circumstances, among others, were the reason that between 1914 and 1928 was suspended by the Church. He has been described as a "picturesque" personality. On his journalistic work he collaborated in publications such as ''La Nueva Época'', ''El Eco'', ''Galicia'', ''Acción Gallega'', ''El Parlamentario'' or ''La Zarpa''. He was also director of the Catholic newspaper '' El Debate'' and author of works such as ''El cural rural'' (1904), ''Por los agros celtas'' (1907), ''El libro del periodista'' (1912), ''Abriendo el surco'' (1913), among others. His works and his meetings were in Spanish language. He was one of the founders of the movement

Acción Gallega Acción Gallega (AG, ''Galician Action'' in English language) was one of the most important agrarianist, antiturnista and anti-client politics ( anticaciquismo) political movements in Galicia in the 20th century. With a decidedly antiforal and r ...

, linked to the Galician agrarianist movement. He was known for his criticism of the caciquismo as an agricultural agreement that dominated medieval Galicia known as "

foro Foro ( ar, فورو, ti, ፎሮ) is a town in the Northern Red Sea region (Zoba Semienawi Keyih Bahri) of Eritrea. Overview A small city located near the coast, Foro was built at the confluence of the Haddas, Aligide and Comaile rivers. In t ...

". After 1913 he began to closer his speech to the workers movement and around 1915 Basilio Álvarez proposed collaboration with socialists and republicans. Opposite to

centralism Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...

, advocated a federal structure in Spain. Some have drawn parallelism s between the rhetorical style and language of Álvarez —which has come to be described as "incendiary", "cult", passionate or "Baroque"— with those of Alejandro Lerroux. Basilio Álvarez was a "charismatic orator". In the early 1930s he joined the Radical Republican Party, with which it secured the 1931 deputy act for the circumscription of Ourense. He however left the group in 1935, for to be a member of a party the ephemeral

Manuel Portela Valladares Manuel Portela y Valladares (Pontevedra, 31 January 1867 – Bandol, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France 29 April 1952) was a Spanish political figure during the Second Spanish Republic. He served as the 43rd Attorney General of Spain betw ...

' Party of Democratic Center in 1936. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he went into exile. He died in 1943 in Tampa, Florida.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * 1877 births 1943 deaths People from Ourense Spanish Roman Catholic priests Radical Republican Party politicians Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic Politicians from Galicia (Spain) Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United States {{Galicia-politician-stub