Between Parliamentarism and Insurrection : the Republican Minority in the Constituent Cortes of the Revolution (1869-1871)

Abstract

The republican minority in the Constituent Parliament of the Revolution (1869-1871) developed a strategy to obstruct the initiatives of the government majority –what is called «obstructionism»– and to propagandize and mark leadership and political behavior. The minority used the technical obstructionism taking advantage the parliamentary Regulations with numerous motions of censure and proposals, continuous calls to nominal votes or the «filibuster», amongst other actions. The minority added the physical obstructionism, which consisted to interfere the sessions with screaming, exaggerated applause, discussions or massive dropouts. The obstructionism fueled the antiparliamentarism of the revolutionaries federal and opened a gap that proved unsolvable in 1873. Moreover, the republican minority had three leaderships –Orense, Figueras and Pi y Margall–, that contribute to understanding the search for identity of republicanism in the years followed.