By the end of 1887, the political process of abolition entered its final phase. Afraid of a civil war, sectors of the political and social elite moved to support abolition. The army’s decision to support abolition in October 1887 was decisive, stripping the state of its capacity to keep quashing the movement by force. In February 1888, the Crown and a dissident faction of the Conservative Party followed suit. The new balance of power dismantled the confrontation between the proslavery countermovement and the abolitionists and produced a compromise. Abolition came in May 1888, without indemnification to slave owners, just as the abolitionists had wanted. However, the pro-slavery countermovement managed to block all their other demands, such as social protection and land for former slaves.