Educación para la ciudadanía autoritaria. La nacionalización de los jóvenes en la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera

Abstract

This article analyses the Primo de Rivera Dictatorship�s reforms of secondary and university education. The changes aimed at inculcating a series of Spanish nationalist principles among the youngsters. The first part of the article discusses the concept of �authoritarian citizenship� that was used by the regime to indoctrinate pupils. A second section explores the reforms at secondary education level. It focuses on the creation of a single state-approved text book for each course of study and its political impact. The last part deals with the primorriverista reform of the university system, the so-called Ley Callejo, and the revolt it unleashed. Contrary to the thesis of traditional historiography, this paper argues that the regime�s education policies led to a severe clash with the Catholic Church. This conflict over education had catastrophic consequences for the regime. It paved the way for the Social Catholics� withdrawal of support for the Dictatorship and, eventually, to the fall of Primo de Rivera.