Word: de
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1920-1929
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Signing. Pen poised, King Alfonso XIII hesitated, last week, over the signing of what is destined to become a historic document. At his side was Lieutenant General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, Marquis de Estella, Grandee of Spain, Dictator under the ample title of President of the Council. His presence seemingly threw a dark shadow over the Spanish crown. The pen descended at the foot of the royal desk. It wrote: "Alfonso...
...kingly king but by a puppet of the Dictator. Moreover, it was signed on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the suppression of the constitution and the virtual abolition of the Cortes (Parliament) (TIME, Sept. 24, 1923). In its implications it is clearly designed to perpetuate the Primo de Rivera régime...
Decree. The nature of the document was a royal decree convoking a National Assembly. It was supposedly the realization of a promise, now almost a year late, made by Dictator Primo de Rivera, to restore parliamentary government to Spain; actually it does no more than centralize the legislature in the hands of Primo himself. Its temper is typical of the revolt against democracy; its obvious aims are to institute a more efficient government, perhaps to emulate the Platonic conception of the state, modified to meet modern needs; but it goes no further than to cloak constitutionality with the mantle...
...will be appointed (not elected) by Primo. The members will be chosen from municipal bodies, from the ultra-conservative Patriotic Union, from representatives of the fields of commerce, science, arts, letters, agriculture, industry. They will have no power to pass legislature, but they may formulate legislative proposals, which Primo de Rivera may accept or reject as he sees...
Crown. Most significant is the suggested legislation concerning the succession to the throne. It is reported that King Alfonso has agreed to empower the National Council (in other words Primo de Rivera) with the right to pick any member of the royal family as heir to the throne...