From Barcelona to Buenos Aires (1889-1898): Francisco de Paula Oller, Carlist propaganda and the founding of El Legitimista Español

Abstract

In September 1898, the first issue of the Carlist newspaper El Legitimista Español, formally directed by Luis de Mas and inspired, promoted and written by Francisco de Paula Oller, saw the light of day in Buenos Aires. Between 1898 and 1912, a total of 174 numbers of the newspaper hit the streets, sometimes biweekly and other times monthly. Oller was born in 1860 in Barcelona and was a young combatant in the Second Carlist War (1872-1876). Between 1889 and 1892 his company Biblioteca Tradicionalista, which published three newspapers –Lo Crit d’Espanya, El Estandarte Real, La Carcajada– and an almanac, played a very important role in the field of the Carlist press and propaganda. In addition to his incombustible work in the journalistic field, Oller wrote several books, such as Combates del corazón (1884), La España Carlista (1885) or the three volumes of Álbum de personajes carlistas con sus biografías (1887-1890). He arrived in Argentina with his family in 1892, after leaving Barcelona and his businesses. In Buenos Aires, he became a lawyer and carried out extensive publicity activity. The work of Francisco de Paula Oller to articulate Carlist nuclei in South America and to organize the movement in Argentina was quite successful. Oller was also behind a good number of initiatives, controversies and the foundation of the Carlist Youth of the Argentine capital. This article proposes a reconstruction of the life and journalistic and propaganda works of the Carlist publicist Francisco de Paula Oller in the 1880s and 1890s.