Francesc Macià i Llussà (21 September 1859-25 December 1933) was a Catalan politician who served as the 122nd President of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Politically, it evolved from an initial regenerationism of Spain to the defense of the Catalan Republic, becoming the first president of the restored Generalitat and achieving the first successful establishment of the self-government of Catalonia of Modern history.
Francesc Macià i Llussà was born in Vilanova i la Geltrú, Catalonia. Shortly after the death of his father, when he was 16, he entered the Military Academy of Guadalajara to join the Corps of Engineers of the Spanish Army, specializing himself in bridges, railways and telegraphs.
He requested to be transferred to Cuba but he was send several times to Barcelona, Madrid or Seville, ascending from telegrapher to captain. As an officer in the Spanish army, he positioned himself in favor of its modernization. He achieved the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
In 1887 he was transferred to Lleida, where he met his wife, Eugènia Lamarca, daughter of Agapito Lamarca, with whom he had three children, Joan, Eugènia and Maria.
On November 25, 1905, some Spanish army officers, in retaliation for a joke of the satirical Catalan journal Cu-Cut!, assaulted and destroyed the offices of the magazine, as well as the ones of the Catalanist journal La Veu de Catalunya.
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The Spanish Government responded by creating a Law of jurisdictions for the repression of crimes against the homeland and against the army, which caused various political groups to unite to form Solidaritat Catalana. Macià publicly condemned the military's action. As a result, his officials transferred him to Santoña, Cantabria.
He ran as a member of Solidaritat Catalana in the election of April 21, 1907 for Barcelona and Les Borges Blanques districts, where his family came from. The resounding victory of this formation (41 of the 44 deputies of Catalonia) took him in Santoña. He was re-elected deputy in 1914, 1916, 1918, 1919, 1920 and 1923.
From the Spanish Congress, he began to advocate for the regeneration of Spain, however, during his last years as a politician in Madrid, he moved from Catalan regionalist to left-wing independentist positions.
In 1919 he founded the Federació Democràtica Nacionalista, which proposed a federal or confederal solution for Spain, in which Catalonia would enjoy a high degree of self-government. In 1922, Macià founded the independentist party Estat Català.
This uprising, the aim of which was to achieve the independence of Catalonia, was based in Prats de Molló (Rosselló, southern France). Between 50 and 100 Italian mercenaries, mostly from the Garibaldi Legion that fought in the French Foreign Legion during World War I and exiled to France, were hired by Macià to help on the action. This attempt was aborted by the French Gendarmerie, which was able to abort the complot with the help of Ricciotti Garibaldi jr., a spy of Fascist Italy and grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Macià was arrested and convicted to two months in jail and a fine of 100 Francs. Despite the failure, Macià and his cause became very popular in Catalonia. He left France for Brussels in March 1927.
In April 1930 he returned to Spain after being pardoned; he was briefly exiled again but returned once more in February 1931.
In March 1931 Estat Català joined the Catalan Republican Party of Lluís Companys and the L'Opinió Group of Joan Lluhí to found a new party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, maintaining Estat Català a degree of internal autonomy. Francesc Macià became the leader figure of the new party.
On April 14th, 1931, two days after the Spanish local elections that caused the exile of king Alfonso XIII of Spain and gave the local majority to the Republican Left of Catalonia, and a few hours before the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in Madrid, from the balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat, then the seat of the Provincial Deputation of Barcelona, Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic, expecting that the other peoples of Spain constitute themselves as republics, in order to establish the Iberian Confederation.
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Macià was appointed as acting president of Catalonia. Three days later, the government of the new Spanish Republic sent three ministers (Fernando de los Ríos, Lluís Nicolau d'Olwer and Marcel·lí Domingo) to Barcelona to negotiate with Macià and the Catalan provisional government.
Macià reached an agreement with the ministers, in which the Catalan Republic was renamed Generalitat of Catalonia, becoming an autonomous government within the Spanish Republic.
Macià remained as acting President of the Generalitat. The main task of the provisional Generalitat was to redact the Statute of Autonomy, approved by the Spanish Congress after many modifications on 9 September, 1932.
After the first Catalan parliamentary election on 20 November 1932 when, after a landslide victory of ERC, he was officially appointed President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, mantaining the position until his death in December 1933.
Macià died on 25 December 1933 in Barcelona. His funeral caused a massive demonstration of grief. His remains rest in the Plaça de la Fe, the Montjuïc Cemetery, in Barcelona's Montjuïc hill.
More information: El Nacional
Només us dic que nosaltres volem formar una nacionalitat
lliure i independent per a què aquesta nacionalitat catalana
pugui assistir a la Lliga de les Nacions,
portant allí la seva civilització i la seva cultura.
I’m just telling you that we want to form a free and independent
nationality so that this Catalan nationality
can attend the League of Nations,
bringing there their civilization and culture.
Francesc Macià
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