They were strange times, times of decadence and exasperation, and also of \u201cDesastres<\/em>\u201d when the 20th century arrived at the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Galicia had suffered from the agrarian crisis at the turn of the century and a spirit of change and renovation was taking form trough the publication of controversial articles in agrarian magazines like \u201cLa Cr\u00f3nica del Trabajo\u201d (1901) and, what could be considered its successor, \u201cPr\u00e1cticas Modernas\u201d (1903). The changes that came with the new century were accompanied by an intellectual movement that could be defined as the Galician version of the Regeneracionista <\/em>current.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 The significance of the economic approach shaped by both publications will have its imprint in the articulation of the theory of Galician nationalism; nationalists, from Pe\u00f1a Novo to Risco, will assume that free trade is \u201cnot only a necessary measure for Galicia but, furthermore, a proof of the superiority of Galician agriculture over the rest of the State\u201d.[i]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 Two keen pens will become the scourge of the Restauraci\u00f3n<\/em> and protectionism. Valeriano Villanueva and Bartolom\u00e9 Calder\u00f3n were the main figures in both magazines and together with Jos\u00e9 Dar\u00edo Fern\u00e1ndez Crespo, among others, will form the generation known as \u201cbetween two centuries\u201d.[ii]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 Even though this group of authors lacked an academic formation in economics, nevertheless they will develop a set of recipes to overcome the shameful backwardness <\/em>of Galicia.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 The fight against protectionism, centralism, despotism, and the dedication to the defense of free trade will become the banner that groups their literature. With a straightforward style and lack of artifices, they will strive to reach as many people as possible. They wanted their magazine to be \u201cgood, practical and economical in order to make it available for all kind of intellects and fortunes\u201d.[iii]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 Livestock and agriculture were the main concern of these authors since they considered those sectors as the base of all economic life. They supported small and medium-sized property owners and condemned that \u201cin Spain the small rural property works, thrives and endures almost in its full extent the burden of the State while the economic interests of the nation are sacrificed for the benefit of the big property, which is at the same level as the farming activity in Morocco\u201d.[iv]<\/a> In their analysis, they showed the dichotomy between the central and southern regions of the Spanish state and the northern regions: big farms, totally unproductive in their opinion, against small proprietors, which they defended. To release the potential of small farms they proposed to free them from the burden of coactive rent extraction:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0[\u2026] let us not try to modify the rural economy, let us leave it alone and let us help the good old villager to improve the performance of his land by instructing him in the technological advances better suited to this country.<\/em>[v]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0James Scott offers a similar view in Two Cheers For Anarchism <\/em>where he states that \u201ca society dominated by smallholders and shopkeepers comes closer to equality and to popular ownership of the means of production than any economic system yet devised\u201d.[vi]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 The fiercest criticism of these authors was directed against State centralism. Bartolom\u00e9 Calder\u00f3n will arrive at regionalism trough a critique of tariffs and he will always maintain a distrustful stance regarding the State:[vii]<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Everything good in Spain is the work of the private citizen; on the other hand, everything that is more or less directly dependent on the State, like public instruction in all its forms, the Army, the Navy and arsenals, the tax collection, and the justice system, displays the most detestable organization and is the focus of the greater abuses. The government did not do, does not do and will not do anything to the benefit of our wretched livestock sector; if, unfortunately, it decides to intervene it will be to make some new mistake, to introduce some new vice and to worsen them, if that is possible.[viii]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0 \u00a0The logic against State centralism was founded on the fact that the political control of the State was in the hands of an oligarchy that benefitted from the artificially prices of cereals, and the existence of an unjust fiscal system that constituted a heavy burden for the Galician economy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 Liberalism and free trade were the big economic bet of this movement. They stated that it was paramount the abolition of tariffs and the specialization of the different territories of the State. In the case of Galicia, this would lead to the abandonment of cereal crops, which was a forced production, since its cost in the domestic market was very high due to the tariff that protected Castilian producers (prices in the international market were surprisingly low), and the specialization in livestock; that logic led them to understand that it was necessary to specialize in the production of those goods in which one is more competitive. This way, only the most capable holdings would survive:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Trade competition, the struggle for life, will give the agriculture in every region the special character that is better suited to their nature and relationships: we will transform our economy in the direction of livestock, whose product we will exchange for cereals, wine, etc. In Castilian markets, in the English market and others [\u2026] Our prosperity will come when we have a political regime similar to those of the northern people (Denmark, England, Holland, etc.) that have a construction similar to ours, or it will never come.[ix]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0The separation and limitation of the State are constant themes in their writings. They thought that the role played by the state organization was inefficient and they prefered to delegate its functions to the actions of civil society.[x]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The political history of Spain has shown, with no exception, that direct intervention of the government has always been calamitous to all industries<\/em>.[xi]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0\u00a0 Despite their broadmindedness and influence in the agrarian movement and the Galician nationalism of the 30\u2019s, the recommendations of these authors seem to have fallen into oblivion in the current fight for the hegemonic discourse. They do not have any political or media resonance. However, when Vicente Risco proclaimed in Theory of Galician Nationalism<\/em> that \u201cGalicia is pro-free trade\u201d he was following the path laid down by \u201cPr\u00e1cticas Modernas\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n Trade freed from all restriction is the only way to achieve the best use of the natural riches of a country, human welfare, and the elimination of international conflicts. Free trade is the international economic formula indispensable for the humanitarian progress of the world<\/em>.[xii]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div> [i]<\/a><\/span><\/strong> FERN\u00c1NDEZ PRIETO, Lourenzo; CABO VILLAVERDE, Miguel: \u201cAgrarismo y regeneracionismo en la Galicia de comienzos del siglo XX. El discurso del regionalismo agr\u00edcola\u201d en: Agricultura y Sociedad,<\/em> n\u00ba86, Mayo-Agosto, 1998, p.155.<\/span><\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>DUR\u00c1N, Jos\u00e9 A.: Agrarismo y movilizaci\u00f3n en el pa\u00eds gallego<\/em> (1875-1912), Siglo XXI, Madrid, 1977, p.119.<\/span><\/p>\n [iii]<\/a><\/strong><\/span> CALDER\u00d3N, B.: \u201cNuestro objeto\u201d, P.M. n\u00ba1, enero de 1903, B. Calder\u00f3n.<\/span><\/p>\n [iv]<\/a><\/span><\/strong> \u201cLa protecci\u00f3n de la rutina\u201d,P.M., n\u00ba63 B. Calder\u00f3n.<\/span><\/p>\n [v]<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>VILLANANUEVA, V.: \u201cEl cultivo del trigo en esta regi\u00f3n\u201d P.M. n\u00ba18.<\/span><\/p>\n [vi]<\/a><\/strong><\/span> SCOTT, James: Elogio del Anarquismo<\/em>, Planeta, Barcelona, 2013, p. 139<\/span><\/p>\n [vii]<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>CABO VILLAVERDE, Miguel: \u201cPensamento econ\u00f3mico e agrarismo na primeira metade do s\u00e9culo XX\u201d en: Documentos de Traballo e Historia<\/em>, n\u00ba3, 1997.<\/span><\/p>\n [viii]<\/a><\/strong><\/span> \u201cLa mejora de la ganader\u00eda y las corridas de toros\u201d (sin firma, pero con toda seguridade autor\u00eda de B. Calder\u00f3n) C.T. n\u00ba18.<\/span><\/p>\n [ix]<\/a><\/strong><\/span> CALDER\u00d3N, B: \u201cNuestro progreso agr\u00edcola depende de nuestra independencia econ\u00f3mica\u201d P.M: n\u00ba116.<\/span><\/p>\n [x]<\/a><\/strong><\/span> FERN\u00c1NDEZ PRIETO, Lourenzo; CABO VILLAVERDE, Miguel: op.cit<\/em>. p. 147.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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