Valentí Almirall i Llozer (;

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, 8 March 1841 – 1904) was a Catalan politician, considered one of the fathers of modern

Catalan nationalism Catalan nationalism promotes the idea that the Catalan people form a distinct nation and national identity. A related term is Catalanism (, ), which is more related to Regionalism (politics), regionalism and tends to have a wider meaning, most pe ...

, and more specifically, of the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

variety.

Biography

Education

Almirall was a student of the School of Fine Arts in

but had to leave after criticising the Professor Claudi Lorenzale. In the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

, he studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

between 1854 and 1857Diccionari d'Història de Catalunya; ed. 62; Barcelona; 1998;

Politics

Almirall was originally a federal republican who campaigned for the

Catalan Countries The Catalan Countries (, ) refers to the territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon ('' La Franja'') and Murcia ( Carche), as ...

to be united to form an administrative entity as a part of a Spanish Federal Republic. He participated in the Glorious Revolution of 1868. His wealth and the little vocation he had as a lawyer pushed him into politics. He participated in the preparation and the facts of the revolution of 1868 in

, directed the newspaper ''El Federalista'' (The Federalist) and collaborated with the ''Federal-Republican Journal'', where he published leaflets quite radical like ''Guerra a Madrid!'' (War with

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

!), ''Bases para la Constitución federal de la Nación Española y para la del Estado de Cataluña'' (Basis for the federal Constitution of the Spanish Nation and for the Constitution of the Catalan State), ''Observaciones sobre el modo de plantear la confederación en España'' (Observations on the way to propose the confederation in Spain). As a republican he declared himself hostile to any kind of agreement with the monarchic and took part in the Tortosa Pact (18 May 1869), signed by representatives of Republican organizations in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

and

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

. Between 1868 and 1881 he was a member of the

Federal Democratic Republican Party The Federal Democratic Republican Party (, PRDF) was a Spanish political party founded in 1868 during the Glorious Revolution that was active until 1912. Its ideology was federal republicanism and progressivism. History In 1868, the left-wing ...

(PRDF). He was the leader of the ''federal intransigents of Barcelona'', a minority group within the federal republicanism, based around the Federalists Club (1868–1869) (of which he was chosen to be the first president) and the newspaper ''El Estado Catalán'' (1869–1870 and 1873). Between 1868 and 1869 he guided the publication of ''El Federalista,'' characterized by the dogmatism, intransigence, maximalism and

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

of its ideas. This movement wanted to transform the centralized and standardizing

Spanish state Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, into a decentralized federal state through a federal revolution from below, emerged from the initiative of the grassroots classes, a revolution that would involve the federal division of Spanish sovereignty between the Spanish historical regions and the government of the federation. From 1869 to 1873 he published a newspaper called ''El Estado Catalan'' and between 1870 and 1874 he led a cultural organisation called ''La Jove Catalunya'' (''The young Catalonia''). In 1880 he founded '' El Diari Català'' (''The Catalan newspaper''), which was the first daily newspaper to be printed in

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

. Soon after he organised the 'Catalanist Congress' which was attended by 1200 people but was criticised by the

Renaixença The ''Renaixença'' (; also written ''Renaixensa'' before spelling standardisation), or Catalan Renaissance, was a romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture through the mid 19th century, akin to the Galician '' Rexurdimento ...

. In 1881 he abandoned federalism because it was too Spanish in his opinion. In 1882 he founded the Centre Català which tried to bring together all the Catalan cultural and regionalist associations under one umbrella organisation. In 1886 he published 'Lo Catalanisme' which criticised federalism. The Valentí Almirall square in

is named after him.

Bibliography

* 'Valentí Almirall' by Antoni Rovira i Virgili (1936)

References

External links

Webpage devoted to Valentí Almirall at LletrA (UOC), Catalan Literature Online)
in Catalan. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almirall I Llozer, Valenti 1841 births 1904 deaths University of Barcelona alumni Politicians from Barcelona Lawyers from Barcelona