Political Parties in Spain: A Look at the Republican Era
Republican Action: Led by Manuel Azaña. The political agenda included:
Modernizing the country by driving a complete reform of the structures.
Strengthening democratic institutions.
To achieve these two objectives, Azaña made a pact with the PSOE, implementing reforms focusing on agriculture,
Health, education, armed forces, and granting regional autonomy. They had supporters in the middle classes
of cities. Later, it merged with the Socialist Radical Party to form the Republican Left.
· Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) was the strongest party with the largest number of voters in the Republic, including military workers, intellectuals, and workers. This diversity led to two trends: a radical revolutionary trend led by Largo Caballero and a moderate trend led by Indalecio Prieto. Communist Party of Spain (PCE) was a political force with a pro-Soviet revolutionary character, created from a Scione PSOE minority with limited electoral support. They held positions in Republican administrations and were hostile to those they accused of being fascists. Their leaders were Dolores Ibarruri and Jose Diaz. · Anarchists (CNT). They rejected parliamentary democracy and political action, favoring revolution to end social inequality and exploitation of workers. They continuously provoked strikes, armed insurrections, and clashes with security forces and right-wingers.
· Nationalist parties – the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV). Ideology still maintained an ultra-Catholic, racist, and xenophobic stance. Jose Aguirre became the first president of an autonomous Basque government in 1936.
· Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC). Created in 1931 by merging the Estat Catalá and Partit Republica, it had a leftist ideology and then shifted to the Regionalist League to become the dominant force in Catalonia. After the adoption of the Statute of Autonomy in 1932, Francesc Macià and Lluís Companys were presidents of the Generalitat. – Catalan League: was displaced by the ERC, losing its importance and undergoing a rightward shift, as part of the electoral coalition of the Catalan front of the Ordre with CEDA, traditionalists, and Lerroux in 1936.
· Party galegos. Grew in 1931 with a leftist ideology and autonomy, its biggest name was Alonso Castelao.
Right-wing parties.
National · Offensive Boards (JONS): Founded in 1931, following the typical pattern of European fascist parties. Their leaders were Redondo, Jose Antonio Giron Velasco, and Ramiro Ledesma.
· Spanish Falange: founded in 1933 by Primo de Rivera, and among their members were writers, artists, and intellectuals (Ridruejo, Peter Cain, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester …). It received great support from the working classes.
In 1934, both parties united to form the Spanish Falange and JONS, although they remained a minority group (10,000 soldiers). They were funded by the monarchists to destabilize the republican regime, and during the Civil War, they became the cornerstone on which Franco built his politics, becoming a single party after the conflict.
Rights Party.
· Community Traditionalist Carlist, composed of former members and organized according to armed militias prepared to engage in any violent overthrow of the Republic. Its focus is Navarre.
FREE Auto-Renew Spanish: founded in 1933 by ultra-conservative monarchists who rejected liberal democracy. They also favored overthrowing the republican regime but not by force. Most of its leaders belonged to the landed aristocracy, finance, and industry. Its members included Maeztu, Pem, and José M ª José Calvo Sotelo.
· Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right (CEDA): The right-wing party was the most important and numerous. Its supporters were primarily Catholics in the urban middle classes and the medium and small landowners. It was led by José Maria Gil Robles, an authoritarian politician whose program was based on:
üDefense of Catholicism and the church.
üOpposition to civil marriage and divorce.
üRejection of any reform.
üRejection of any grant of autonomy to Catalonia and the Basque Country.
Center Party.
· Radical Republican Party: Directed by Alejandro Lerroux, its political program was based on the cessation of any socio-economic reform, curbing the spread of socialism, and defending public order. Its supporters were in the urban middle classes.
Left Party.