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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977 As the intimidated Riego organism begins to withdraw in the face of the Morillo organism, Lázaro addresses the crowd: « El orador [Lázaro] continuó su filípica; pero la continuó excitando al pueblo a que no cediera su empeño de verificar la manifestación. y cada palabra suya era como un latigazo que estimulaba a la muchedumbre a seguir adelante » (p. 65). The troops, with weapons and military skill, nevertheless prevent the demonstration from taking place. The means by which this is accomplished once more underlines the power of the spoken word as the idea impelling the group-organism. The officers repeatedly give orders to seize the speaker, thereby recognizing the motivating quality of speech: -¡A ésos que gritan! -dijo el que mandaba el piquete... ( Ibid. ) -¿Quién gritaba? -dijo el capitán-. A los que gritan. Prended a los que gritan... ( Ibid. ) Prended a los que gritan. Este es el predicador. ¡A ése! ( Ibid. ) Lázaro is apprehended and the demonstration ends: « La procesión fracasó. El retrato quedó hecho trizas en medio de la plaza... » ( ibid. ). The portrait of Riego lying in the square while the crowd disperses may be taken as a kind of symbol of the decapitation and death of the Riego organism. The importance of the leader to the life of the psychological crowd, here recognized by <strong>Galdós</strong>, is made explicit by Le Bon: « Si, par suite d'un accident quelconque, le meneur disparait et n'est pas immédiatement remplacé, la foule redevient une collectivité sans cohésion ni résistance » 29 . Freud explains this phenomenon in terms of panic, which is the result of the severance of the libidinal ties between the crowd and the leader, on cone hand, and between each member of the crowd and his fellows, on the other: «Now that he [the individual in the crowd] is by himself in facing the danger, he may surely think it greater» 30 . He gives an example: The typical occasion of the outbreak of a panic is very much as it is represented in Nestroy's parody of Hebbel's play about Judith and Holofernes. A soldier cries out: 'The general has lost his head!' and thereupon all the Assyrians take to flight. The loss el the leader in some sense or other, the birth 29 Ibid. , p. 70 30 Op. cit. , p. 47. 24
Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977 of misgivings about him, brings on the outbreak of panic, though the danger remains the same; the mutual ties between the members of the group disappear, as a rule, at the same time as the tic with their leader. The group vanisher, in dust, like a Bologna flask when its top is broken off. 31 As the action progresses, the King's agents continue their attempts to incite the people against the moderates. On one particular evening many impassioned speeches are delivered at the Fontana de Oro. The audience at the café once more appears to be conceived of as a group-organism: « La Fontana estaba aquella noche elocuente, ciega, grande en su desvarío. Iba a perpetrar un crimen sin conocerlo » (p. 142, my emphasis). Because of his action during the Riego demonstration, we: may consider Lázaro a « familiar idea » in the mind of the Fontana de Oro. He is urged to speak and he complies with great skill. The main thrust of this speech is that the people have become slaves to a privileged class which has arisen from among them. He refers to the moderates or prudentes who are presented by the narrator with great sympathy. As a familiar « idea », Lázaro's speech has a powerful influence on the listeners. A secondary character tells Lázaro: « Esta noche nuestro partido adquiere con la palabra de usted una fuerza terrible » (p. 143). The « fuerza terrible » brought about by Lázaro's oratory will be seen in operation as the fury of the mob is unleashed the following evening. Lázaro, who has political reform through legal means in mind upon making his speech, is shocked to discover that his words have been distorted into an exhortation to liquidate the members of government referred to variously as discretos, prudentes , or servilones . Consequently he warns the men who, are the object of the plot. The mob, the instrument of absolutist conspiracy, swells with misguided exaltados and members of the pueblo, reaching fearful proportions: « todo el largo de la tapia del Príncipe Pío estaba ocupado por el pueblo, y algunos pelotones de gente armada estaban en la Montaña, en la parte contigua a dicha puerta » (p. 171). One member alone of this organism is composed of over three hundred persons: « El callejón de la Cara de Dios contenía más de trescientas personas... » ( ibid. ). This mob, while composed of « personas », is portrayed as one single organism in <strong>Galdós</strong>' vivid description: « Imposible es referir los vaivenes, las convulsiones, los bramidos con que se manifestaba la pasión colectiva del inmenso pólipo, difundido allí, comprimido con estrechez en aquel recinto » (p. 172). The creature, here specifically called an « inmenso pólipo », is seen writhing in « convulsiones » and is heard by its « bramidos »; thus, we are presented by the narrator with visual as well as auditory manifestations of a « pasión » referred to as « colectiva ». The monster's physical 31 Ibid. , p. 49. 25
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