"Very good," Carlos VII said with a nod, clearly satisfied. The eagerness in his eyes was nearly uncontainable. "Now we wait for those discontented factory owners to reveal themselves—and deal a fatal blow to that fellow Prim, who dares disrespect the Bourbon dynasty.
Only the Bourbons are rightful masters of Spain. The House of Savoy belongs in Italy, not meddling in Iberian affairs."
The situation in Spain had become unmistakably clear. It was widely believed that the capitalists—grasping as tightly to their wealth as to their lives—would never surrender without a fight. For them, no measure was too extreme in defense of their fortunes. And indeed, that proved to be true.
The counterattack from the factory owners and capitalists came swiftly.
On January 19, 1870, the Madrid Workers' Newspaper published an article sharply criticizing the government.
The report carefully avoided any mention of the Labor Law's intent to safeguard workers' wages. Instead, it accused the government of recklessly imposing additional costs on factories and businesses without considering their financial capacity.
Toward the end, the article warned that if the government did not promptly repeal this "misguided" decree, it could lead to widespread bankruptcies among Spanish factories and businesses—triggering mass unemployment and, ironically, harming the very workers the law sought to protect.
On the surface, the argument appeared reasonable. But under scrutiny, it quickly unraveled.
The so-called "extra expenses" were, in reality, the rightful wages owed to workers.
If simply paying fair wages was enough to push a business into bankruptcy, then one had to ask: what was the point of such a business existing in the first place?
Before Carlo's propaganda efforts could mount a response, the capitalists struck again.
On January 20, the widely read Spanish Sun newspaper came under attack. The assailants began by hurling stones and other heavy objects through the office windows, shattering the glass. They then forced their way inside and deliberately damaged parts of the printing equipment.
The brazenness of the attack—and the capitalists' apparent disregard for both the government and the monarchy—left Carlo simmering with anger. More importantly, it strengthened his resolve: big capital had no place in the future ruling class of Spain.
On January 21, the Spanish government quickly passed the Spanish Labor Law bill and announced that its provisions would be strictly enforced from that day forward, requiring all factories and businesses within Spain to pay workers' wages weekly or monthly. Those in arrears would be fined ten times the amount, and in severe cases, the factory or business would be seized.
As soon as this decree was announced, it immediately caused an uproar among the capitalist class.
The capitalists had initially thought Prim and Carlo would back down, but they chose to firmly oppose capitalism instead.
To protect their wallets, the capitalists chose to unite, wanting to emulate the earlier Prim and push for a revolution in the Kingdom of Spain once more.
On January 22, factory owners and business owners around Madrid united incited a portion of workers and radical republicans, and a large-scale protest erupted in the streets of Madrid.
It had to be admitted that the capitalists' brainwashing of the workers was effective. Some workers, hearing in the newspaper that factories undertaking extra expenses would go bankrupt, also began to worry if they would lose their jobs.
Although most workers were rational, a small portion chose to stand with the capitalists under such worries.
After the protest broke out, Prim, while ordering the army to suppress the protest, secretly mobilized troops to control the order in Madrid.
The purpose of these capitalists was certainly not just a protest, and Prim's attention could not possibly be entirely drawn by these protesting crowds.
For Prim, who was skilled in military affairs, these minor moves by the capitalists could not escape his notice at all.
As expected, while the protest was being suppressed, another smaller group of protesters, carrying various weapons and equipment, marched grandly towards the Royal Palace and Parliament.
In the eyes of these capitalists who had participated in previous Spanish revolutions, the revolution was still very simple. They just needed to take advantage of the chaos to occupy the Spanish Royal Palace and the government, and the King and government officials would be easily captured.
They didn't even need to take action themselves; the palace guard and the Spanish army would voluntarily defect to them.
However, when these people grandly approached the Royal Palace, they were completely stunned.
The palace was not in chaos like during the last revolution, and they were not met by defecting Spanish troops.
Looking at the palace guard standing ready in the distance, many in the rebel group swallowed hard, as if they had finally understood the situation.
"By His Majesty's command, if you lay down your arms and surrender now, His Majesty will only pursue the instigators of the rebellion. If anyone dares to take one step forward, it will be considered rebellion against His Majesty and Spain, and you will be executed on the spot!" Captain Ricciotti of the Palace Guard, mounted on a black steed and holding an Italian-made long gun, shouted towards the rebel group not far ahead.
"Don't be fooled by him! No one will forgive us, not even God. Our only choice is to storm the palace and make Spain a true republic! God will protect us!" The leader of the rebel group, seeing the unfavorable situation, quickly incited the crowd's emotions to salvage their rapidly dwindling morale.
"The purpose of the Labor Law is to protect your interests, and those greedy factory owners will not go bankrupt just by paying you your wages. Wake up, my subjects! Look behind you; those greedy capitalists are the enemies of all Spaniards!
In the name of God and in the name of the King of Spain, I guarantee you will not lose your jobs, nor will you be held accountable for what happened today.
You have been deceived, your eyes blinded by wicked capitalists. But now is not the time to confess to God; we need to jointly defeat all the enemies of Spain, that group of insatiably greedy capitalists, and only then can we talk about other things.
Please trust me, for the sake of Spain, please lay down your weapons." Seeing the rebel group's morale begin to waver, Carlo seized the opportunity. He raised his voice and shouted toward the crowd in the distance.
His words struck a chord. Among the rebels, few were truly willing to risk their lives for the sake of the capitalists. Most were workers, driven not by loyalty to their employers but by fear—fear of losing their livelihoods.
But if their jobs could be secured, then why would they oppose the government or the King at all?
As for the radical Republicans, they certainly wouldn't switch sides just because of a few words from Carlo.
However, this was a good thing for Carlo; those who didn't lay down their arms should, of course, be sent to meet God immediately.
After thinking for a moment, many workers were still willing to trust their King. After all, the few things this new King had done since taking office had been good for them. Wasn't that more trustworthy than those capitalists who withheld wages?
With this thought in mind, many of the deceived workers put down their weapons and instinctively distanced themselves from the capitalists' lackeys and the radical Republicans.
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