Conservative circle

Description of events

Political organization
Date : –
Address : Plaza del Desierto

The parties of the right had an important electoral strength in the municipality of Barakaldo. They held control over a good part of the main public institutions and companies of the Anteiglesia.

All the diversity of this political spectrum was represented in Barakaldo: monarchists, Carlists, conservatives, traditionalists. All of them had some circle or social headquarters in the locality, such as the Conservative Circle itself or the Traditionalist Society. Also, Popular Action, the Patriotic Union (Primo de Rivera’s party), and its successor, the Monarchical Union, of which there was a Circle in the municipality, although we have no record of its location.

The Conservative Circle, created in 1912, brought together the followers of the Conservative Party and had its headquarters in Plaza Vilallonga, popularly known as Plaza de Abajo. According to Mikel Aizpuru, this circle had 153 members in 1924 (vol. I, p.150). Its main leader was Fernando María de Ybarra, belonging to a Biscayan oligarchic family, who became a councilor of Altos Hornos de Vizcaya.

Apart from his business activities, Fernando María de Ybarra was a deputy in the Cortes for the conservative party. In addition, he was named by Alfonso XIII Marqués de Arriluce de Ybarra in 1918. He would die in the Cabo Quilates prison ship, where he had been taken prisoner at the beginning of the war.

SOURCES
AIZPURU, Mikel (2010). Barakaldo, an industrial city: boom and consolidation (1900-1937). Vol. I. Bilbao: Beta III Milenio, DL