Democracy without the People

2018 ◽  
pp. 77-98
Author(s):  
Rui Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Top Down ◽  
National Crisis ◽  
Dominant Theme ◽  
The People ◽  
Representative System ◽  
The Revolution

In Portugal, as in Spain, traditions of mixed monarchy made it possible to conceive of ‘democracy’ as an element in the traditional constitution. The revolution of 1820, which instituted a broadly based representative system, reflected confidence in a people who had rallied against Napoleonic invasion, and wide agreement that the king’s absence in Brazil constituted a national crisis. But consensus proved hard to achieve: supporters of liberal solutions divided among themselves; an absolutist coup set the scene for civil war. Ultimately victorious liberals were prompted by their experiences to develop a notably thoroughgoing, top-down version of liberalism. Though distinctions between ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive’ liberals re-emerged, and progressives were sometimes labelled or claimed the name of democrats, in fact, a moderate form of liberalism generally held sway. As embodied in the so-called Regeneration regime, this came to present itself as leading the country towards democracy, but leadership remained the dominant theme.

ABCs of the Revolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-291
Author(s):  
Egor A. Yesyunin
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Development History ◽  
The People ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Revolution

The article is devoted to the satirical agitation ABCs that appeared during the Civil War, which have never previously been identified by researchers as a separate type of agitation art. The ABCs, which used to have the narrow purpose of teaching children to read and write before, became a form of agitation art in the hands of artists and writers. This was facilitated by the fact that ABCs, in contrast to primers, are less loaded with educational material and, accordingly, they have more space for illustrations. The article presents the development history of the agitation ABCs, focusing in detail on four of them: V.V. Mayakovsky’s “Soviet ABC”, D.S. Moor’s “Red Army Soldier’s ABC”, A.I. Strakhov’s “ABC of the Revolution”, and M.M. Cheremnykh’s “Anti-Religious ABC”. There is also briefly considered “Our ABC”: the “TASS Posters” created by various artists during the Second World War. The article highlights the special significance of V.V. Mayakovsky’s first agitation ABC, which later became a reference point for many artists. The authors of the first satirical ABCs of the Civil War period consciously used the traditional form of popular prints, as well as ditties and sayings, in order to create images close to the people. The article focuses on the iconographic connections between the ABCs and posters in the works of D.S. Moor and M.M. Cheremnykh, who transferred their solutions from the posters to the ABCs.

Democracy in Spain

2018 ◽  
pp. 53-76
Author(s):  
Javier Fernández-Sebastián ◽  
Gonzalo Capellán de Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
The People ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Revolution

Spanish traditions of mixed monarchy were revived in the face of Napoleonic occupation, and later championed by opponents of restored autocracy. Discussions of ‘democracy’ as an option for modern Spain were both encouraged and constrained by this setting. Popular support for the absolutist claimant in the civil war of the 1830s set the scene for endorsements of Doctrinaire liberalism, entailing vesting power in the propertied and educated, for the benefit of the people. But sharp differences over how inclusive such a governing class should be encouraged some to argue for something more radically inclusive. A ‘democratic party’ first emerged among left-liberals in the 1840s, persisting as a force in Spanish politics thereafter. During the 1850s and 60s, there were many calls for democracy, variously interpreted. Democracy provided a leitmotif of politics after the revolution of 1868, leading subsequent historians to describe it as having inaugurated a ‘democratic sexennio’.

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