Popular Front Victory & 1936 Coup in Spain
The 1936 Elections and the Path to Civil War in Spain
The need to join forces against the conservative government led to the elections of February 16, 1936. Multiparty alliances disappeared, forming two clearly antagonistic blocks: the leftist parties, grouped in the Popular Front, and the right-wing coalitions.
The Popular Front and the Right-Wing Coalitions
The Popular Front’s program focused on uniting the left, regardless of their differences, to oust the conservatives from power and relaunch the reform measures of the Republic, which were threatened by the previous government. The right-wing matches consisted of different coalitions formed by CEDA, monarchists, and traditionalists. However, the right failed to compile a single candidacy for all of Spain and draft a common electoral program.
In the elections, the Popular Front won 48% of the votes, the right-wing coalitions secured 46.5%, and the center obtained only 5.4%.
Consequences of the Popular Front’s Triumph
The triumph of the Popular Front led to the reorganization of the Republic. Manuel Azaña was named President of the Republic and Casares Quiroga, Chairman of the Executive. The government resumed the reform process, decreed amnesty, required companies to readmit many workers laid off after the strikes of October 1934, restored power to the Government of the Generalitat, and started negotiations for the approval of a Statute of Autonomy for the Basque Country.
To stop rumors of a coup, some of the generals most prone to conspiracy were transferred. However, the new government found no calm. Some employers closed factories, industrial capital was expatriated, and the most radical leftist parties and unions launched a popular mobilization.
There was an atmosphere of street confrontation between the uniformed patrols of the Spanish Falange and leftist leaders. Public disorder and violence led to a climate of tension that some military figures did not fail to take advantage of.
The Military Uprising
In March, a group of generals agreed to an uprising that would restore order, with the support of the Spanish Military Union (UME). General Emilio Mola (“The Director”) was the real inspiration behind the coup until July 1936. On June 5, he issued a proclamation. His plan consisted of organizing a simultaneous declaration in all possible military garrisons with the support of right-wing political forces. Once the national movement triumphed, a Board of Directors would be formed to set decree-laws that would be validated in the future by a Constituent Parliament elected by suffrage. However, he did not specify the nature of the Parliament or the suffrage. What was clear was that the first decree-laws would be against the Constitution of 1931 and all that it represented.
The military pronouncement would have to be hard, and the objective was to establish a new regime, but the proclamation did not specify its nature. The CEDA desired a return to the Alfonsine monarchy; the Falange, a fascist regime in the Italian style; and the Carlists, the introduction of the “traditional monarchy.”
The conspiracy process accelerated when, on July 12, Lieutenant Castillo of the Republican Assault Guard was assassinated. The next day, a group of his colleagues, acting on their own, arrested the right-wing deputy Calvo Sotelo.