Sufragio universal masculino y politización campesina en la España de la Restauración (1875-1923)

Abstract

The introduction of universal male suffrage arising from the 1890 law not only brought about a great change in the number of voters, but also in the type, since it meant a step forward in the equality of rights for the male population and in opening up the system to democracy. However, the potential this had for transforming voting behaviour and attitudes was damaged by certain sections in the law. Keeping whole districts intact as constituencies until 1923 helped to prolong the practice of patronage and determined the concept heId by agricultural communities of Parliament, and of some politicians. These, rather than being representatives on a national scale, only represented a small district and its collective interests. Thus, the gradual growth in the Involvement of agricultural workers in national politics during the 1890s and the first few decades of the 20th century was not so much the result of a law granting universal suffrage, as their ever-increasing dependency on government decisions and policies regulating the markets, wages and prices for farm produce.