Second Republic in Spain

We explain what the Second Republic was in Spain. Also, what were its stages, its characteristics and how was the end of this stage.

What was the Second Republic in Spain?

The Second Republic It was the democratic government regime that was proclaimed in Spain on April 14, 1931 and ended on April 1, 1939.. Its beginning was determined by the triumph of the republican candidates in the municipal elections of April 1931, which forced King Alfonso XIII to go into exile. It is called the Second Republic because there was a first republican experience in Spain between 1873 and 1874.

The Second Republic had a series of stages. During the first stage a provisional government was established and the Spanish Constitution of 1931 was promulgated. The next stage is known as the reformist biennium (1931-1933) and was characterized by the formation of a republican-socialist government that implemented an important reform program.

The radical-cedista biennium (1933-1936) followed, headed by a right-wing government. In February 1936 he triumphed the Popular Front, a left-wing coalition that had to confront the military uprising July 1936 that caused the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
The Popular Front, chaired by Manuel Azaña, governed the republic during the Civil War until the victory of the rebellious or “national” side, led by Francisco Franco, on April 1, 1939. This event marked the end of the Second Republic in Spain.

The proclamation of the Republic and the provisional government (1931)

On April 12, 1931, municipal elections were held that led to the triumph of the republican candidates in the large cities of Spain. This event took place one year after the end of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, which had been supported by King Alfonso XIII, and led to the flight of the king and the proclamation of the Republic on April 14, 1931.

The first republican government was a provisional government chaired by Niceto Alcalá Zamora and made up of left-wing and right-wing republicans.

During this government, reforms were implemented (agrarian, labor, military, educational), a provisional statute for the autonomy of Catalonia was promoted and a few measures were adopted to separate the Church from the State, after manifest opposition from conservative sectors, such as the Cardinal Pedro Segura, and the burning of convents that occurred in May (these events motivated many Catholics to reject the republican government).

Besides, elections were held for Constituent Cortes which, in June 1931, gave the majority to a coalition of republicans and socialists and led to the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic Spanish on December 9, 1931. This constitution established:

• universal male and female suffrage
• the separation of Church and State (especially in education)
• the recognition of autonomy statutes
• broad political and civil rights
• the obligatory and free nature of primary education
• labor protection
• the adoption of the red, yellow and purple flag.

The reformist biennium (1931-1933)

The reforms of the republican-socialist government

Once the 1931 Constitution was approved, the reform biennium began with a government chaired by Manuel Azañapresident of the Council of Ministers, and made up of left-wing republicans and socialists. Niceto Alcalá Zamora was chosen president of the Republic and remained in office until April 1936.

The reforms of the republican-socialist government were implemented in a context of economic difficulties and unemployment. Among the most important reforms were the regulation of labor relations, mixed education, the elimination of religion as a compulsory subject in schools and agrarian reform for the resettlement of landless peasants on large estates.

Some of these measures motivated opposition from conservative sectors (such as businessmen and ecclesiastics) or criticism from worker movements (such as the National Confederation of Labor or CNT). Besides, The failure of the agrarian reform caused the discontent of the peasantry.

In this context, the opposition in the Cortes was led by the Radical Republican Party of Alejandro Lerroux, aligned on the center-right, while the CNT, which brought together a large number of members and was linked to the FAI (Iberian Anarchist Federation ), increasingly expressed his discontent with the republican government.

Social and political tensions

The economic crisis caused strong social tensions since the beginning of the republican-socialist government. Between December 1931 and January 1932, violent clashes occurred between striking workers and the Civil Guard in places such as Castilblanco, Arnedo and Alto Llobregat.

In the Cortes, the opposition of right-wing forces to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and the Agrarian Reform Law provoked an attempt coup d'état led by General José Sanjurjo in August 1932. The coup failed and could not prevent the approval of both laws.

In January 1933 there were the events of Casas Viejas: a anarchist peasant insurrection It was put down by the Assault Guard, leaving a death toll of twenty-six.

The erosion of the republican-socialist government led to the call of new elections in November 1933in which the left was divided and the right, which had organized itself into coalitions, won. Thus began the radical-cedista biennium (1933-1936), in which the Radical Republican Party and the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rights (CEDA) governed.

The cultural life of the Second Republic

During the Second Republic, many intellectuals and artists played a leading role.. Some republican leaders were part of the intellectuality of the time, such as Manuel Azaña or Julián Besteiro, and some thinkers and writers, such as José Ortega y Gasset or Gregorio Marañón, they formed the Group at the Service of the Republic.

As time passed, some intellectuals, such as Ortega y Gasset or Miguel de Unamuno, began to be critical of the republican-socialist government, and the Group at the Service of the Republic stopped functioning at the end of 1932.

Others continued to support the reformist policy of the Azaña government and its program of cultural extension. They were created traveling theater companies, such as La Barraca by Federico García Lorca, to bring the most important Spanish works to various towns.

Also highlighted were the Pedagogical Missions promoted by the government with the aim of bringing traveling libraries, poetry recitals, conferences, reproductions of works from the Prado Museum and film screenings to towns and villages.

During the years of the Second Republic the generation of '27 stood outespecially its poets and playwrights, such as Federico García Lorca, Dámaso Alonso, Pedro Salinas or Rafael Alberti. When the Spanish civil war broke out in 1936, some of these writers remained in Spain, others went into exile, and others, like García Lorca, were murdered.

The radical-cedista biennium (1933-1936)

The rectification policy of the radical-cedista government

After the 1933 elections, Lerroux (leader of the Radical Republican Party) formed a cabinet made up exclusively of members of his party. The CEDA supported the government from the Cortes, so Lerroux, who represented the center-right, was forced to start a rectification policy of the reforms of the previous biennium as claimed by right-wing groups.

This new policy took shape in the paralysis of the reforms initiated:

• The paralysis of agrarian reformwith the consequent expulsion of thousands of day laborers from the lands they had occupied.
• The paralysis of military reform and appointment to key positions of clearly anti-republican military personnel, such as Francisco Franco, Manuel Goded or Emilio Mola. This policy was completed with an amnesty for the participants in the Sanjurjo coup of 1932.
• Conciliation with the Catholic Church.
• The paralysis of educational reforms, especially with the stagnation of the school construction program and the cancellation of mixed education. An attempt was also made to reform the Constitution to allow religious orders to teach again, but the project did not prosper.
• The confrontation with peripheral nationalismsthrough a brake on the Basque Statute of Autonomy project, presented by the PNV (Basque Nationalist Party), and confrontations with the Generalitat Catalan, chaired by Lluís Companys, leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

The radicalization of political confrontation

In a context of international economic crisis and the triumph of extremism in Europe, with the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933 and the consolidation of Joseph Stalin's dictatorship in the Soviet Union (USSR), the political struggle became radicalized in Spain. and led to a polarization between the “right” and the “left”.

Right:

• The CEDAdirected by José María Gil Robles, It brought together the Catholic middle and popular classes. The Youth of Popular Action (JAP), the party's youth organization, had fascist-inspired features.
• Spanish Renewalthe party led by José Calvo Sotelo, grouped together monarchists with increasingly extremist and antidemocratic positions.
• The Spanish Falange, directed by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, It merged in 1934 with the National-Syndicalist Offensive Boards (JONS) of Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. The political core of fascist ideology in Spain was thus constituted.

Left:

• The Republican Left Manuel Azaña grouped the center-left that had opted for a policy of reforms and alliances with the labor movement.
• The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party)the largest labor party, was led by a group of leaders at odds with each other. Indalecio Prieto represented the most moderate wing and Francisco Largo Caballero the most radical wing of the party. In general, the PSOE experienced a radicalization process in these years. The UGT (General Union of Workers) was the union organization linked to the PSOE.
• The PCE (Spanish Communist Party) followed the new guidelines of the Comintern and sought an alliance of all the forces of the left and the center-left against fascism after the German experience and the rise of Hitler in 1933.
• The CNT It was still linked to revolutionary action, although it had been dismantled after the failure of an insurrection that began in Zaragoza and spread to other regions of Spain in December 1933.
• The Republican Left of Catalonia, directed by Lluís Companys, It turned to the left due to the continuous confrontations between the Catalan Generalitat and the right-wing government of the Republic.

The October Revolution of 1934

The growing tension between the two political poles culminated with the entry of three CEDA ministers into the government in October 1934. This remodeling of the government was interpreted by the left as the announcement of the imminent triumph of fascism in Spain.

The left (PSOE, UGT, CNT, PCE), increasingly radicalized, called for a general strike against the government. The result was uneven depending on the areas:

• In Madridthe movement failed. The government quartered the troops and detained the main socialist and communist leaders.
• In BarcelonaCompanys (president of the Generalitat) led an insurrection with pro-independence overtones. The revolt was quickly repressed by the army.
• In Asturiasthe general strike triumphed and led to a revolution organized by the UGT and the CNT. The persistence of the insurrection led the government to opt for repression. The one in charge was the Legion, an elite military force led by General Franco.

The balance of the Revolution of October 1934 was the following: more than 1,300 dead, twice as many wounded and thirty thousand arrested, among them Companys, Azaña (who had not supported the uprising) and the main leaders of the PSOE.

The government's reaction was to tighten its policy: The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia was suspended and a new Agrarian Reform Law was drafted, which in practice was a counter-reform.

However, the dissension in the government was growing. The differences between the Radical Republican Party and the CEDA were increasingly evident. The extremist orientation of the CEDA was clear with the appointment of soldiers opposed to the republic in key positions in the army structure. For example, Franco was appointed chief of the General Staff.

The final crisis came with a corruption scandal that affected senior government officials: the “black market scandal”. Lerroux and the Radical Republican Party fell into total discredit. The appearance of new scandals precipitated the calling of new elections to the Cortes in February 1936.

The elections of 1936 and the Popular Front (1936-1939)

In an environment of growing radicalization, the following candidates were presented in the February 1936 elections:

• The Popular Front: an electoral pact signed in January 1936 by the Republican Left, PSOE, PCE, POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya. This pact brought together all the left. Even the CNT tacitly supported this coalition.
• The coalition of right-wing groups: It was formed by the CEDA and Renovación Española, and went to the elections with a program based on fear of social revolution. The Falange and the PNV were presented separately.

The victory went to the Popular Frontwhich based its triumph on the cities and provinces of the south and the periphery. Meanwhile, the right triumphed in the north and interior of the country.

After the elections, Manuel Azaña was appointed president of the Republic. The objective was for Indalecio Prieto, from the moderate wing of the PSOE, to occupy the head of the government. However, the division within the PSOE led to the formation of a government chaired by Santiago Casares Quiroga and made up exclusively of left-wing Republicans, without the participation of the PSOE. The new government was born weakened.

The new cabinet quickly began a series of reforms:

• The broad amnesty for all those convicted after the October Revolution of 1934.
• The reestablishment of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.
• The removal from Madrid of the generals suspected of coup plotting. Franco, Mola and Goded were assigned to the Canary Islands, Navarra and the Balearic Islands.
• The resumption of agrarian reform. This measure was quickly overwhelmed by the action of day laborers who began to occupy farms.
• The processing of new autonomy statutes. The Statute of Galicia was approved in a plebiscite in June 1936, and that of the Basque Country was practically completed in July 1936.

Meanwhile, the social atmosphere was increasingly tense. The left worker had opted for a revolutionary stance and the right sought to put an end to the democratic system.

Since April, street clashes have taken place between Falangist groups and socialist, communist and anarchist militias.

On the other hand, the military conspiracy against the Popular Front government advanced. On the one hand, there was a political plot made up of the main party leaders: Gil Robles, Calvo Sotelo and José Antonio Primo de Rivera. On the other hand, the number of generals involved grew: Franco, Goded, Joaquín Fanjul, José Enrique Varela, among others.. General Emilio Mola, stationed in Pamplona, He became the head of the conspiracy, called “the director” of the coup. Very soon contacts began with Benito Mussolini (leader of fascist Italy) and Hitler.

He July 12, 1936 was murdered by right-wing extremists Lieutenant José del Castillo, an officer of the Assault Guard. The answer came the next morning with the assassination of José Calvo Sotelo, monarchist leader, by a group of security forces.

The Casares Quiroga government did not take measures, despite continuous warnings from labor organizations, and On July 17, 1936, the army of the Moroccan protectorate began the rebellion against the government of the Republic. The partial victory of the coup d'état triggered the civil war (1936-1939). The victory of the rebels on April 1, 1939 marked the end of the Second Republic.

References

• Carr, R. et al. (2022). Spain. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/
• Gonzalez Calleja et al. (2021). The Second Spanish Republic. Third edition. Past and Present.
• Jackson, G. (2013). The Spanish Republic and the Civil War. Criticism.
• López Villaverde, AL (2017). The Second Republic (1931-1936). The keys to the first Spanish democracy of the 20th century. Flint.