Regenerationism

Regenerationism () was an intellectual and political movement in late 19th century and early 20th century Spain. It sought to make objective and scientific study of the causes of Spain's decline as a nation and to propose remedies. It is largely seen as distinct from another movement of the same time and place, the Generation of '98. While both movements shared a similar negative judgment of the course of Spain as a nation in recent times, the regenerationists sought to be objective, documentary, and scientific, while the Generation of '98 inclined more to the literary, subjective and artistic.

The most prominent representative of Regenerationism was the Aragonese politician Joaquín Costa with his maxim "School, larder and double-lock the tomb of El Cid" (''"Escuela, despensa y doble llave al sepulcro del Cid"''): that is, look to the future and let go of the grand triumphal narrative that begins with El Cid.

Origin

The word ''regeneración'' entered the Spanish language in the early 19th century as a medical term, the antonym of ''corrupción'' (corruption). Over time, it became a metaphor for the opposite of political corruption and a new expression of the longstanding patriotic concern with the decline of Spain, a concern first expressed by the ''Arbitristas'' in the 16th and 17th centuries, then by Enlightenment thinkers and Bourbon reformers in the 18th century, sometimes satirised in the form of so-called ''Proyectismo'' ("Project-ism") attacked by José Cadalso in his ''Cartas marruecas'' ("Moroccan Letters").

However, in the late 19th century, Regenerationism was specifically a reaction against the political system founded by Cánovas under the Bourbon restoration. Under the Cánovas system, alternation between conservative and liberal parties was guaranteed by rigged elections. That made the late 19th century, after the last of the Carlist Wars, a period of an illusory stability sustained on the basis of massive political corruption. That hid, for a time, the misery of the common people, the poor economic distribution of Spain's belated Industrial Revolution, caciquism. Only Catalonia and the Basque Country had seen the sustained rise of an industrial capitalist bourgeoisie (the early industrialization in Andalusia having largely failed). With the end of feudalism and, in particular, the fraud-ridden expropriation of ecclesiastical properties (such as the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal), and the failure of land reform efforts, practically all of Spain's potentially productive farmland was under unproductive use in latifundia (large estates). Wages were low, and many Spaniards were day labourers lived on the edge of hunger.

Regenerationism was strongly influenced by Krausism, the philosophy of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, which proclaimed freedom of conscience. Introduced into Spain by Julián Sanz del Río, Krausism was very influential among liberal reformers in that country throughout the 19th century (combining with positivism in the latter portion of the century). Today, Regenerationism survives mostly as a component of Aragonese nationalism for which it has long provided an ideological foundation.

Magazines

The Regenerationist intellectuals wished to form a new, authentic idea of Spain, to which end they attempted to expose the deceptions of official Spain by disseminating studies in widely circulated magazines. Many of these predated those publications associated with the Generation of '98. The first was the ''Revista Contemporánea'' (1875–1907), founded by José del Perojo. Among its initial collaborators were numerous scholars associated with the Krausist Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institute of Instruction), an independent institution of higher education founded in Madrid in 1876. Among these were Rafael Altamira, Julián Sanz del Río, Rafael María de Labra, and Urbano González Serrano, who imported contemporary European aesthetic and philosophical currents and propagated them within Spain breaking links with Spanish cultural tradition. Another prestigious publication was '' La España Moderna'' (1889–1914). Founded by José Lázaro Galdiano, it sought to be Spain's '' Revue des deux mondes''. Like ''Revista Contemporánea'', it sought to be cosmopolitan, European, and contemporary. Among its collaborators were Ramiro de Maeztu and Miguel de Unamuno. Another Regenerationist magazine was ''Nuevo Teatro Crítico'' ("New Critical Theater"), written almost entirely by literary theorist Emilia Pardo Bazán, who was Europeanist as well as sincerely feminist.

Regenerationist writers

The Regenerationist writers published studies and essays that denounced the corrupt Canovist system. This was given particular evidence and impetus by the defeat of Spain's technically obsolete military in the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Spain lost virtually all that remained of its empire (losing Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and several smaller island possessions).

The way had been somewhat prepared by Lucas Mallada's ''Los males de la patria y la futura revolución española'' ("The ills of the country and the future Spanish revolution", 1890) and Ricardo Macías Picavea's ''El problema nacional'' ("The national problem"), as well as Krausist attacks on illiteracy and official state pedagogy, most notably as led by the Institución Libre de Enseñanza directed by Francisco Giner de los Ríos.

The most important author (and political figure) of this movement was Joaquín Costa.
El “regeneracionismo” de Joaquín Costa.
Jaume Valles Muntadas. El Pais, 17 January 2014 He caused a commotion with his works ''Colectivismo agrario en España'' ("Agrarian Collectivism in Spain", 1898) and ''Oligarquía y caciquismo como la forma actual de gobierno en España'' ("Oligarchy and caciquism