The 1899-1901 Catalan Propaganda (Cinderellas) Album History page and the Album stamp issue arrangment, which were in German, have been translated to English to provide background of the movement and stamp issue order in the album:
TRANSLATION OF TITLE PAGE INTRODUCTION:
The propaganda symbols of the separatist movements in Spain, 1899-1901
Given the dilapidated state of the government system, it is not surprising that the healthier parts of the Spanish body politic are striving to break away from it. First and foremost, it is the flourishing region of Catalonia that sees the current constitution as a hindrance to further development and is therefore agitating ever more vehemently for autonomy. The "Unió Catalanista" can be considered the soul of the movement, which is active in the four present-day provinces of the Principality of Catalonia. Barcelona, Girona, Lerida and Taragona are supported by a hundred smaller groups and about twenty newspapers in the Catalan language, all pursuing the same goal.
The latter was already established as a "regional constitution" at a general assembly in 1892 and mainly comprises the following points:
Self-government for Catalonia, appointment of Catalans to all public offices; Catalan as the official language; The Catalans were advised to acknowledge their affiliation with Spain within the framework of a confederation, to recognize the central government as an arbitration body, and finally, to make an annual contribution to the state budget, according to the financial capacity of the regions.
The movement, which plays a significant role particularly in the elections for the Cortes, is not only still ongoing today, but is gaining more importance and strength daily and is likely to have disastrous consequences for Spain in the foreseeable future. government, provided it persists with its previous policies.
More recently, the Committee of the Catalan Union also introduced stamps which, through their use on documents, letters, etc., were intended to attest to membership in or interest in the party, in short, to serve as propaganda for the Catalan cause. The first such stamp appeared on September 22, 1899, and the print run of this stamp, as well as the rapidly successive subsequent issues, quickly sold out.
With the appearance of the first official stamp, a signal was given to stylize political allusions of all kinds, especially to the Catalan situation, in stamp form. Numerous issues appeared from political groups, local committees, associations, or individuals who, although independent of the Union, agitated in its interests.
Since the autonomist aspirations extended not only to Catalonia, but also to the neighboring provinces of Valencia, Aragon, and further to the Basque Province and the Balearic Islands, there was also cause there to issue stamps.
Republicans and Carlists did not hesitate to demonstrate in turn, and finally the mockingbird joined the commotion to cool its snark on all parties in satirical marks.
Fearing damage to its reputation during this stamp issuance frenzy, the Union decided in June 1900 to restrict its own issuance of such stamps so that they would not lose their significance and character. Following this, only three more Union stamps were issued, while the flood of issues outside the Union soon subsided and eventually ceased entirely.
It was no easy task to bring order to this chaos, especially given the objects, some of which are quite difficult to access today. However, with considerable effort and thanks to excellent connections, we succeeded within several years in assembling such a magnificent collection of material that, in our opinion, our cataloging could be considered comprehensive. Due to the extensive nature of the material, we must limit ourselves to a description of the individual types that is as concise as possible, but which should not lack clarity. We believe that, based on our list, it will be easy to arrange a collection of these culturally and historically interesting, almost all artistically executed commemorative stamps in a tasteful and clear manner, provided the following arrangement is followed:
Page 4 of Exhibition Book
I. Catalonische (Catalan) Propaganda
A.) Issues of the Catalan Union
B.) Barcelona Editions
C.) Gerona Edition
D.) Lerida Edition
E.) Taragona Edition
F.) Balearic Islands Edition
G.) Basque Edition
H.) Galician Edition
Although the Basque Province and Galicia do not follow the publication program of Catalan Propaganda, since their goals are similar to those of the latter, they may be included in this group.
II. Autonomy Propaganda
in the provinces of the former kingdom
A.) Valencia Editions
B.) Aragon Editions
III. Don Carlos Propaganda
IV. Republican Propaganda
V. Political Satire Editions
VI. Geographic Propaganda Brands
1. Catalan provinces; 2. Catalan cities; 3. Valencia; 4. Navarre provinces; 5. Spanish provincial cities.
VII. Miscellaneous
Note: These Letters/Numbers listed above are included in the 1899-1901 album pictures shown.
|
Replies: 1,047 / Views: 228,669
Posted 04/23/2026 11:46 am
