Notes on an Agravian Liberal Mariano Matesanz de la Torre (1867-1945)

Abstract

This article analyses the political trajectory of Mariano Matesanz de la Torre both as a professional politician and as a prominent economic figure. His lengthy political career began under the Restoration system within the ranks of the Liberal Party. Following the rupture of the party during the First World War, he aligned himself with the Santiago Alba faction, before ending up as a democratic «independent» —though closest to the Agrarian Party founded at the beginning of 1934— within the framework of the Se-cond Republic. Although Matesanz never renounced his liberalism, his political roots lay in Castilian agrarianism, a diffuse, and hitherto little stu-died, phenomenon, which, having taken shape during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, permeated the subsequent period right up to the Civil War. Accordingly, this article aims to contribute to a greater un-derstanding of Castilian agrarianism by examining both the political and economic aspects of the career of one of its leading figures: Mariano Matesanz de la Torre.