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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
general economic depression, stemming from the end of the fiebre de oro in 1886, which received
its sharpest manifestations in the crises of 1892 and 1898 220 . And if things were bad economically,
they were no better politically; the turno pacífico disintegrated after 1890 and the outbreak of a new
núcleos proletarios de toda España estaban inquietos y dispuestos a la acción. De manera particular,
la cuestión de la Internacional obrera preocupaba, en gran manera, a todos los sectores acomodados
del país, hasta tal punto que, en momentos decisivos, el fantasma de la Internacional acabaría de
decidir a los empresarios y demás núcleos burgueses afines a renunciar a una parte (y la culminación)
de sus vocaciones de clase -la plena conquista del Poder-, para buscar una serie de seguridades
que consiguieran conjurar el hipotético peligro de ser barridos por la organización revolucionaria
de obreros y campesinos » (p. 126). Peter B. Goldman («Historical Perspective and Political Bias:
Comments on Recent Galdós Criticism» AG , 6 [1970], 113-124) observes that the working class
was not yet strong enough to carry out its own revolution: The social revolution of 1936-1937 in
Republican Spain was clearly impossible in Spain during the thirty years following the Revolution
of 1868. Juan Díaz del Moral has reviewed the growth and disintegration of the workers' movement
during the years 1874-1900. He observed that the socialists, who along with the anarchists comprised
by 1936, the vast majority of the workers, did not become even a semblance of an organized group until
1878 when the Socialist Party was secretly founded. In 1888 the socialist-affiliated U.G.T. (Unión
General de Trabajadores) was established. Nevertheless, until 1898 the Socialist Party was unable
to get off the ground as a leading organization of workers. And until 1910, no candidate from the
Socialist Party was elected to the Cortes. On the other hand, the anarchist movement, outlawed in
January, 1874, and suppressed until 1881, flourished during 1881-1882. But this movement began to
break apart after 1882; its disintegration was almost complete by 1888. (p. 114)
220 Jaime Vicens Vives ( Manual de la historia económica de España [Barcelona: Editorial Vicens
Vives, 1967]) observes: « Durante diez años el Estado de la Restauración ha vivido un milagro
económico: un movimiento coyuntural alcista en medio de una depresión general. Cuando ésta cesa,
aquél se desploma. Ello acaece en 1892. En esta fecha se desata una notable crisis, provocada por el
derrumbamiento del mercado exterior del vino y del hierro » and « Respondiendo a las fluctuaciones
de la economía y del signo monetario, la Bolsa conoce una profunda crisis en 1898. La flexión de
las curvas es el signo del malhumor de la burguesía, que ve frustradas sus esperanzas de terminar su
centuria en paz, orden y prosperidad » (p. 675).
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