Clavé’s political facets are of utmost importance to understand the content of the letters he writes at the end of his life. He participated in many committees and political meetings. In September 1868, he was part of the provisional revolutionary committee in Barcelona (he was nominated by the Federalist Club); in November of that same year, he was appointed member of the local republican committee in the Catalan capital and of the electoral committee of the Republican Party. On February 12, 1870, he was elected member of the Federal Republican Party committee in Barcelona, and in March, he was elected for the Party provincial committee.

It is relevant to mention that on May 18, 1869, Clavé participated in the elaboration of the Tortosa Pact, of which he was Vice President. The Tortosa Pact, established at a provincial level, was one of the pacts created after the insurrections of a sector of Spanish republicanism. The idea was, through this pact, to articulate a progressive social project. Clavé was a follower of the ideas of Pi i Margall, with whom, judging by his correspondence, he collaborated very closely. Pi i Margall was the representative of the Federal Democratic Republican Party, a political party with a federalist character. The Federal Republican Party was created following the 1868 Gloriosa revolution. Pi i Margall was the one who conceived the federal ideal that consisted of a republican federation for Spain, together with the so-called republican clubs.

Contrary to the 1869 Constitution which was monarchical, the federal republicans undertook a series of insurrections which led to certain pacts, among them the Tortosa Pact, and the most important of these, the General Pact (signed in Madrid on June 30, 1869) and the creation of the Federal Council. These massive revolts had no military element and were quite spontaneous and disorganized. They were severely repressed by General Prim’s government and led to the suspension of constitutional guarantees.

One of the elements we must note is Clavé’s close collaboration with all the political leaders of the Party: Pi i Margall, Emilio Castelar, Estanislao Figueras and José María de Orense y Barberà. These names appear systematically in the composer’s correspondence, either because of political collaborations or because of their support for the musical activities of the choruses of workers. Clavé’s concern about the “Party” was constant and is particularly evident in his letters. It is crucial to insist on his political commitment, on his active participation in events, revolts, rallies and on the political visibility he had. In this sense, his social ideals were not only discourse but he himself generated and commended his practice.

An activist, Clavé claimed the right to association (he signed the Exposition of the Working Class to the Cortes in 1855), denounced the exploitation and immorality of manufacturers (with the publication of the pamphlet Abajo los ladrones! (Down with the Thieves!) and by actively participating in Barcelona’s radical and progressive revolts in 1854). Several of his political actions led him, in fact, to prison (to the Ciudadela in 1845, to Mallorca in 1856, to El Saladero (Madrid) in 1867). The letters he sent while in El Saladero are available on this site (see “Captivity”). His public denunciations were several, from his denunciation of the repression against the democratic press in May 1856 to his resignation to stand as a candidate in the municipal elections in November 1854 and even to being the spokesman for the Republican demonstration held in Barcelona against the policy of the provisional government and in front of the civil governor on November 2, 1868.