Entre símbolo de orden y emblema de la dictadura.: La memoria de Emilio Castelar durante la Segunda República

Abstract

The presence of the memory of the First Republic during the Second was overwhelming, and within it, that of its last president, Emilio Castelar, occupied a unique place, not only within republican political cultures but in all segments of the political spectrum, since, to a greater or lesser extent, all of them found in its use some element with which to legitimize their present positions. This article focuses on analyzing those different meanings associated with the memory of the nineteenth-century politician, as well as elucidating which political and social aspects of the Second Republic were addressed through it. To do this, sources such as specialized monographs and books of a popular and/or didactic nature published during those years are used, as well as editorials from the periodic press and speeches delivered inside and outside the Congress by some of the most relevant political actors. All of this, preceded by a quick overview of the image and representations of the Cádiz orator during the Restoration, allows for a mapping of the social uses that the memory of Emilio Castelar had throughout the Second Spanish Republic.