“Vieja y nueva política” by José Ortega y Gasset

José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) has been one of the most influential men in Spain during the first half of the 20^th century. He was very successful in writing essays and everyone took him very seriously. There is no question that he was a crucial part in the intellectual Spanish community at the time. Many of us can label him as an intellectual elitist, or point out some of his political preferences, but no one can deny how brilliant he was. He wrote an amazingly large number of essays. Some of them are “Meditaciones del Quijote” (1914), “Vieja y nueva política” (1914), “España invertebrada” (1921), “La deshumanización del arte e ideas sobre la novela” (1925), and “La rebelión de las masas” (1929).

“Vieja y nueva política” is a speech he gave on March 23, 1914. Ortega y Gasset started the “Liga de Educación Política Española”, and on this conference he presented it to the public. He basically explains that there are two Españas:

a.     España oficial: He refers to agencies like the Parliament, political parties, Universities, newspapers, etc. This Spain is stuck in the past, and does not understand present times.

b.     España vital:  He means the new generation (though he narrows it to the intellectual community), the new ideas.

On his speech he invites all intellectual to get together under the “Liga de Educación Política Española” in order to start a new way to do politics. Its target is not to be in power, but stimulate a healthy national vitality (a society that is able to express its desires through politics). He considers that changing our society will change the Government. Political parties are one of the obstacles, because they only care about winning the elections. He also explains that the “Liga de Educación Política Española” doesn’t defend any type of government. They only believe in what is efficient. If a specific type of government is not efficient anymore, it has to be changed. That’s why their loyalty is not to the Monarchy or he Republic. They are only loyal to Spain. But surprise, surprise… Ortega believed that Monarchy was the most efficient type of government for Spain at the time.