Chapter 153: One Country, One People, One Language

What are considered relatively tough measures?

In practice, it means using powerful laws to strictly unify the languages, scripts, customs, and religious beliefs of all regions in Spain, expelling all heretics who reject Spanish culture, and being ready at any time to fight against radical nationalists in the Catalonia and Basque regions.

If this were in a later era, doing so would certainly be unfeasible. Because by then, nationalism would have taken deep root in people's hearts, and support for ethnic autonomy and independence among Catalans and Basques would be something everyone welcomes.

But in this era, even the concepts of Catalans and Basques are not that clear. Catalan farmers cannot even distinguish what ethnicity they belong to; they only know they live in Catalonia, which is the only proof they are Catalans.

These people, who cannot even distinguish their own ethnicity, naturally cannot support Catalan independence. In reality, most Catalan farmers are very supportive of Spain; those who truly oppose Spain and seek Catalan autonomy and independence are extremely radical nationalists and Republicans, and previously, the Carlists.

These people are, after all, in the minority, and even being a bit radical toward them will not damage the good relationship between the Catalan farmers and the Spanish government.

In fact, beyond the second plan, there is a third, more cruel plan. If the second plan involves using the law for forceful execution, then the third plan is very simple and direct: the military elimination of heretics and alien ethnic groups.

However, it is clearly not yet time to use the third plan, and such cruel measures are completely unnecessary on the Spanish mainland.

After deciding to adopt the second approach, Prime Minister Primo's first step was to contact Luo Si to seek the support of the royal family.

Why seek the support of the royal family? Because the number of media organizations, that is, newspapers, controlled by the royal family is countless, and they can quite effectively improve the public opinion climate in Spain.

Although Luo Si has used various disguises for the newspapers under his control, on the surface, the royal family only controls one newspaper, the Spanish Sun.

But in reality, the number of newspapers controlled by the royal family is at least several dozen, if not a hundred, which has already formed a terrifying scale in Spain.

To a certain extent, this is a good thing for Spain; after all, the previously uncontrolled public opinion environment can be effectively managed, and the news that can be released is all conducive to controlling the situation.

But it is also bad news. Because such means of public opinion are in the hands of the royal family, it is like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the government's head.

Although Prime Minister Primo sees the threat of the royal family controlling public opinion, he does not want to interfere much.

The reason is also simple: the royal family's media empire has already formed a scale and is not so easily restricted.

The government can only support more newspapers that do not belong to the royal family to compete with them, but with the royal family already controlling the majority of newspapers in the Spanish news industry, it is clearly impossible to resist.

News is something that requires credibility more than anything else. Royal newspapers, led by the Spanish Sun, have been rooted in the Spanish news industry for several years, and there have been no major errors in their reporting.

Unless the Spanish government establishes official newspapers, it cannot compete with the Sun in terms of credibility.

But what is the difference between official newspapers and the Spanish government's official statements? Moreover, Prime Minister Primo himself has more considerations.

Prime Minister Primo certainly understands the current power structure of the Spanish government, and he also understands that the Prime Minister's power is greater than the Wang Quan.

Currently, he, Luo Si, and Duke Serrano have a considerable tacit understanding, and the overall situation in Spain is naturally developing in a positive direction.

But if a future Spanish Prime Minister is a power-hungry fellow, or even a mess in terms of national development, it is necessary to balance power early.

Naturally, one cannot openly strengthen the monarch's power, as this would very likely destroy Spain's existing constitutional system and reshape it into an absolute monarchy.

Letting the royal family control public opinion is a better method. Under normal circumstances, this public opinion does not have too much influence on the government. Unless the government itself has major problems, public opinion can only serve to fan the flames.

If there are no sparks to begin with, no matter how much the wind of public opinion fans them, it will have little actual impact on the government.

In February 1873, the Spanish Sun published a piece of news that attracted the attention of a large number of Spaniards; the title of the news was "Un pais, un pueblo, un idioma!" (One country, one people, one language!)

Of course, the report in the Sun was not that direct and blunt, but used a more tactful way to convey the positive changes this system would bring to Spain.

For example, if everyone uses Spanish, communication between factory workers will be simpler and clearer, and factory production efficiency will also increase.

Furthermore, if everyone is Spanish, the government's tax and welfare policies will be more equitable. Everyone is Spanish, so they will naturally enjoy the same tax policies and welfare benefits.

Under the influence of the royal family, this report in the Sun was frantically forwarded and published by other newspapers, and through the royal family's media empire, it quickly sparked discussion among Spaniards.

For most Spaniards, this report did not have much impact on them. After all, they already considered themselves Spanish and spoke Spanish.

But for Catalans and Basques, there was certainly an impact. Although Catalans also speak Spanish, under the insistence of some radical nationalists with ulterior motives, many factories and newspapers in the Catalonia region required employees to communicate in Catalan, and even news was in Catalan.

If the government really made up its mind to completely ban the use of other languages as the report said, and only allowed the use of Spanish in public places, those most severely affected would be these radical nationalists and their plans.

This report only initiated a discussion on ethnic language and religious issues; what actually caused an uproar was Prime Minister Primo's actions.

After this report had fermented for a few days, under the orders of Prime Minister Primo, a member of the Progressive Party submitted the "Proposal on the Comprehensive Unification of Ethnicity, Religion, and Language" to the Spanish House of Representatives.

This proposal cited the benefits of comprehensively unifying ethnicity, religion, and language mentioned in the Sun's report, and stated that only by comprehensively unifying ethnicity, religion, and language could Spain truly become a powerful country.

This proposal quickly sparked heated discussion in the parliament. There was no way it wouldn't be heated; after all, the member who proposed it came from the Progressive Party.

This is the party to which Prime Minister Primo belongs; who would believe that this member did not have Prime Minister Primo's permission when submitting the proposal?

Even thinking about it, this proposal might have been proposed by Prime Minister Primo himself, and this member was merely submitting it on his behalf.

Although there are many conservatives among the members of parliament, the vast majority of members are Spanish. There are very few Catalans and Basques in parliament, and the highest-ranking Catalan among them seems to support the proposal to unify the Spanish nation.

Precisely because of this, the parliamentary discussion was very rapid, and it took only a few days to formulate a freshly baked bill: the "Spanish Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Law."

Its main content includes three points, corresponding to the requirements for the unification of ethnicity, religion, and language.

First, the Spanish nation is the legal designation for all Spanish citizens, and no modifications are allowed. Spaniards are great and supreme, extremely glorious, and a symbol of honor.

Anyone who calls a Spanish citizen by another ethnicity is discriminating against Spanish citizens, violating the legal provisions on the concept of the Spanish nation in the "Spanish Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Law," and will be sentenced to imprisonment and fines.

Second, Catholicism is the state religion of Spain, but the Spanish government also accepts all Christian dogmas.

Only Spanish citizens who believe in Christianity have the right to join the government and parliament at all levels, the military, and other official departments. (Including state-owned and royal enterprises)

Third, on Spanish soil, in any public place, one must and can only use the Spanish language and Spanish script. (Such as schools, government, parliament, hospitals, and train stations)

In some special places, the four languages of English, French, German, and Italian/Russian may be used at discretion, but they must be reported to the local government and may not be used privately.

Government and royal enterprises must use Spanish as the sole language; private enterprises may use other languages, but there will be no tax exemptions.

In other words, if private enterprises want government tax subsidies and exemptions, they must require all employees within the enterprise to communicate in Spanish.

Of course, foreign experts are not included in this scope. This regulation is only aimed at employees with Spanish nationality, and the main purpose is the unification of language.

Although there is no compulsion for private enterprises to use Spanish, those capitalists, for the sake of government tax exemptions and subsidies, will certainly take the initiative to ban other languages within their enterprises.

Private entrepreneurs taking the initiative to do this can also shift the conflict; at least the entrepreneurs will bear part of the hatred, after all, the government did not enforce it, and the corresponding language regulations were formulated by the enterprises themselves.

In fact, when it comes down to it, this bill mainly affects Catalans and Basques.

However, Spain's history is not short, and its history of unification is as long as several hundred years. Over such a long period, although Spain has not completely assimilated the Catalonia and Basque regions, it has made the people in these regions generally use Spanish.

The current resurgence of Catalan and Basque is merely a secret layout by some radical nationalists with ulterior motives.

Most of the public does not reject using Spanish, just as they do not reject being Spanish.

Prime Minister Primo was born in Catalonia, so he is naturally very familiar with the situation in Catalonia. Unifying ethnicity, religion, and language seems difficult, but in reality, it is very easy to achieve.

Especially since some of the radical elements in Catalonia and the Basque country have already been eliminated, it is even simpler to promote the unification of language and ethnicity.

As the saying goes, the grassroots civilians do not have that many bad intentions. They are quite accepting of the big ethnic concept of Spain, and with the overall situation in Spain getting better and better, there is naturally no reason to oppose it.

Although the concept of nationalism had sprouted long ago, it only really began to rise during this period.

In other words, the independence issues of Catalonia and the Basque country, which have plagued Spain for a long time in later generations, were only just beginning at this point in time.

Nationalism that has just begun is destined not to receive the support of the majority of civilians, as the civilians' concept of ethnicity is quite vague.

Currently, there is actually no big difference between Spaniards and Catalans; the biggest difference is actually the place where they live.

The concept of Catalans proposed by some radical nationalists is even more nonsense, because it counts all Spaniards living in Catalonia.

According to reason, the differences between two ethnicities should come from language, culture, and customs, and there should even be relatively obvious differences in diet and other minor aspects.

But the current differences between Spaniards and Catalans are not many. Both sides use Spanish as the main language of communication, their dietary cultures are not much different, and even their appearances are not much different.

On the contrary, the people in the Basque region are quite different from Spaniards, and they are much more difficult to assimilate than Catalans.

For the two regions of Catalonia and the Basque country where nationalism is more serious, Prime Minister Primo also has completely different response attitudes.

Prime Minister Primo was born in Catalonia and has a thorough understanding of Catalonia. Most of the people in Catalonia actually do not have much nationalist sentiment and are relatively supportive of the Spanish government.

As long as there is no instigation from those radical nationalists, it is only a matter of time before Catalonia is completely merged into Spain.

Therefore, regarding the policy toward Catalonia, Prime Minister Primo advocates using legal means to exert influence in a subtle way, and carrying out powerful suppression of some of the more restless radicals.

As for the policy toward the Basque region, Prime Minister Primo advocates more powerful laws and more forceful suppression.

Even when it is determined that the Basque region cannot be assimilated, one should consider using force to compel the Basques to migrate to other regions.

Anyway, the total number of Basques in Spain is only a few hundred thousand, and even if they were all migrated out of the country, the impact on Spain would not be too great.

Even after the Basques are migrated out of the country, the northern region of Spain will be more stable, and the country's development will be more efficient.

Catalans are more numerous than Basques, so when assimilation is possible, it is naturally prioritized.

After all, Spain's own population is not large, and if the population of Catalonia were lost, the hope for Spain's future revival would be even smaller.

Luo Si is also keeping an eye on the parliamentary voting and the final law.

For Luo Si, it is naturally best that Prime Minister Primo can take the initiative to promote the great unification of ethnicity, language, and religion.

Because this matter seems to have a hundred benefits and no harm at present; at most, it will only offend radical Catalans and Basques.

But when nationalism has spread across the globe in the future, will these ethnicities that were once expelled by Spain, or those unified under high pressure, consider the harm this matter brought to them?

Strictly speaking, this could become a stain. Luo Si naturally does not want to bear this stain; after all, as a king under a constitutional monarchy, it is best to keep himself away from a bad reputation, so as to be conducive to the inheritance of the throne and the stability of the royal family's status.

It is no exaggeration to say that once this bill, which was discussed and passed by parliament, is promulgated, it will definitely force tens of thousands of Catalans and Basques to leave Spain or fall under the government's armed suppression.

This is no joke; after the bill is promulgated, the government will definitely execute it more forcefully.

Most of the more radical nationalists cannot survive in such a harsh environment. They will either directly start a rebellion or have no choice but to leave their homes and leave Spain, an environment that is hell for them.

Perhaps to show the outside world his firm attitude, after the House of Representatives completed the first draft of this bill, the cabinet government immediately announced the entire bill and announced that it would be officially implemented nationwide three days after the announcement.

Such a swift speed is somewhat contrary to common sense, because under normal circumstances, a bill would be announced for a period of time to give the Senate enough time to review and make suggestions, and only then would it be submitted to the cabinet government for execution.

Although the actions were somewhat swift and decisive, Prime Minister Primo had already prepared various response measures.

Two formed Spanish divisions are stationed not far from Catalonia and the Basque country, and can head to the two regions along the railway at any time.

According to the current weapons and equipment situation of the Spanish army, even if there were another Carlist rebellion, the Spanish army could solve it calmly.

The artillery equipped by these two divisions is not just for show; even as soon as the army was formed, they began long-term target practice and shelling training.

The number of bullets and shells consumed every day is simply not something the previous Spanish army could imagine. Under the premise of such a powerful supply of bullets and shells, the combat effectiveness of these two full-strength Spanish infantry divisions is naturally constantly climbing.

It might sound a bit exaggerated, but ever since Prime Minister Primo witnessed the training of the two infantry divisions with his own eyes, he has had the confidence to use these two divisions, with a total of 25, 00 soldiers, to resist an attack by 70, 00 soldiers of the previous Spanish local army.

There is no way around it; having fully re-equipped with rifles and significantly increased the number of artillery pieces, he is just that confident.

Moreover, the quality of both soldiers and officers in the existing Spanish army has been improved, which the previous Spanish army did not possess.

The infantry divisions currently being formed are fine, but the two divisions that were formed first have the designations of the Spanish First Infantry Division and Second Infantry Division, and the soldiers are all veterans who were carefully selected and kept.

With the two infantry divisions eyeing them like tigers, let alone dealing with some radical nationalists, even if they were really facing the Carlist rebellion that once swept through several major regions of Spain, Prime Minister Primo would not have the slightest panic in his heart.

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