Azaña’s 1931 Speech: Secularism and Spanish Republic

Azaña

The text is a speech with political content, by Manuel Azaña (Prime Minister and President of the Republic, who at the moment of doing this speech was War Prime minister of the provisional government) before the Spanish Constituent Assembly of 1931, arising from the June 1931 elections. The text is from the fall of 1931 and addressed to the deputies of the Cortes.

The intention is to defend a secular state, and to argue that regime change must address the deep problems of the country, the oligarchic rule of the people, concentrated ownership, and the role of the church. This text is included in the 1931 Spanish Constitution.

First, the author states in his speech that we are in a revolution that began with the fall of the biggest responsibility for the misfortunes of Spain, the king, and the proclamation of the Republic. Secondly, the social problem arising from the land, the third and fourth problems are autonomous and religious, because the problem must be solved by the separation of State and Church.

The historical problem of this paper is, firstly, the establishment of autonomies and the problem of land reform, and secondly, that of church-state relations, defending the choice of secularism with the full separation of the two agencies.

Alfonso XIII appointed General Berenguer as head of government. Its stated goal was the return to constitutional rule in 1876. Conservative and liberal politicians refused to participate in government; only some members of the financial oligarchy and caciques were willing to cooperate.

Throughout 1930, the opposition to the King was growing, even among monarchists, many of whom publicly stated “no king monarchists” and others pleaded for a Republic. Right-wing Republican politicians joined from the “shift,” such as Alcalá Zamora and Miguel Maura. The left-liberal Republicans were grouped with Azaña as the main leader. Nationalists also joined, who saw in the Republic the possibility of achieving autonomy statutes. So did the labor movement. Students and intellectuals held strikes and demonstrations against the Berenguer government. Finally, republicanism began to take shape among the younger military.

It resulted in a military coup on December 15, but three days earlier, Berenguer announced his decision to hold elections and attempted to promote a monarchist party to win, but very few were willing to cooperate with the king. Berenguer resigned on Feb. 14. The new head of government was Admiral Aznar. On April 12, municipal elections were held, and the results triggered within hours the king’s abdication and the declaration of the Second Republic.

On the morning of April 14, Republican committee members arrived at the revolutionary Puerta del Sol, where they took possession of the government of the country and proclaimed the Republic. That night, Alfonso XIII left the country from Cartagena, bound for Marseilles.

The men who formed the Provisional Government represented all the progressive forces in the country. The Government decided to tackle a number of problems through ministerial decrees, as they proceeded to call elections to parliament. Largo Caballero, Minister of Labor, took the first steps of labor reform. The government promoted education legislation and created new teaching posts, began a program of building schools, and founded the Pedagogical Missions Board. It also launched the Provisional Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. Macià was President of the Generalitat.

Anarchists and socialists were divided between those who wanted to give the Government time and those who demanded rapid and radical changes.

On the right, government decrees drew opposition from landlords, employers, and much of the military. But the most serious conflict was caused by the confrontation between the Church and the new regime.

The situation in May resulted in the burning of convents. The hostile attitude of the Church to the Republic had attracted the old anticlericalism. The burning of convents was used by the propertied classes, which made the “defense of religion” an effective anti-Republican propaganda weapon. The situation went quite normally, and on June 28, elections were held in the constituent Cortes, who defeated the Republican-Socialist coalition.