Spanish comuneros

The Spanish royal military dictatorship was the first one. It began to be organized as early as the 15th century. It was consistent that it also first encountered serious opposition to its centralization policy.

Spain in the 15th century was an industrial power, that was what enabled the country to conquer South America. The industries were located in cities that consequently had great power. The crisis came to a head in 1520 when the king arbitrarily decided on new taxes without asking what the Parliament thought. On April 15, the artisans of Toledo revolted, deposed the royal officials, and proclaimed a ”municipality”. They demanded a halt to the new taxes, local taxing rights and parliamentary control.

The uprising quickly spread to other Castilian cities, which were united in ever wider alliances. In June, battles broke out between the revolting cities and the king, battles that raged back and forth before the king could finally crush the revolt in 1522.

The defeat of the cities has mainly been explained by the fact that they failed to create an alliance with the peasants, who could therefore be freely mobilized on the side of the nobility and the king. Once the cities were out of the game as a political force, the central state could quickly begin to underdevelop the Spanish economy and rely exclusively on looting in South America.

Reading
Manuel Castells: The city and the grassroots, University of California Press 1983