Spain’s Second Republic: From Inception to Civil War
The Proclamation of the Second Republic
From the resignation of Primo de Rivera in January 1930 until the proclamation of the Second Republic on April 14, 1931, attempts were made to return to a liberal, constitutional, and parliamentary regime. Berenguer and Aznar succeeded each other, tasked by the king with forming governments to restore the parliamentary system. This period was popularly known as the Dictablanda.
Dynastic parties had few supporters of the monarchy, as most had joined the Pact of San Sebastian in August 1930, which favored the proclamation of a Republic. The pact involved Republican politicians, Socialists, and the Catalan left. The signatories sought to promote a revolutionary political movement that, through an armed insurrection supported by popular mobilization, would overthrow the monarchy and establish a Republic. This movement failed, as the military uprising in Jaca was suppressed and the general strike was never convened, but it did not prevent the growing discontent against the regime.
A significant group of intellectuals also showed their support for Republicanism, and even the military lost its cohesion in favor of the monarchy (as seen in the Jaca uprising), while social issues became increasingly complex.
Overwhelmed by the political situation, the government failed to adequately address the economic issues, with the first signs of the global economic crisis that began in 1929 becoming apparent.
As it was necessary to call elections to resolve the situation created by the state of emergency of the dictatorship, it was decided to start with municipal elections and leave the more significant general elections for later. On April 12, 1931, municipal elections were held. While the monarchist parties won overwhelmingly in rural Spain, in large cities, where the vote was free, victory went to the parties that had signed the Pact of San Sebastian. Given these results, and to avoid a civil confrontation, Alfonso XIII fled the country, leading to the establishment of a new regime: the Second Republic, which was greeted with enthusiasm and hope by large sectors of the population.
In the absence of a party that had clearly won the election, it was decided to create an interim government supported by a large number of parties and chaired by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, who represented the conservative Republican choice. This government, in addition to solving the immediate problems of public order caused by clerical or attempted uprisings for the independence of Catalonia, called constituent elections, which were won by the Republican-Socialist coalition.
The Reform Biennium (1931-1933)
Once the Constitution was approved, Alcalá-Zamora was confirmed by the courts as President of the Republic, and Manuel Azaña formed a government. Azaña would remain in the executive branch for two years, supported by his party in coalition with the Socialist Party. Thus began a biennium marked by deep, leftist political reforms that attempted to address the main problems of the country, although sometimes they remained only as projects.
The government’s aim was to transform the old structures of Spain based on the restoration of centralism, the chief, and the great weight of conservative forces (the Church, army, large landowners).
Land reform was intended to solve major social problems by transforming the Spanish agrarian structure. The main objective was to eliminate unproductive estates, which would be expropriated with compensation, and to foster the growth of small landowners. The Institute of Agrarian Reform was created to implement the redistribution of land, but the actual results were modest, partly due to a lack of funds to cover expropriation plans and the bureaucratic complexity of the system.
The problem of autonomy reached a solution within the constitutional framework when, in 1932, Catalonia achieved a wide range of autonomy thanks to the Catalan Statute. Catalonia had its own government and parliament, which controlled important sectors such as education, finance, and transport. Public policy, international relations, and the military were left to the central government.
The religious issue worsened during this period, resulting in clear hostility between the government and the Church. Examples of confrontation occurred with the ban on religious orders from teaching, the elimination of the budget for worship and clergy by the state, and the law of divorce. This led to the politicization of the Church and the radicalization of anti-clerical sectors.
Military reform sought to create an army loyal to the regime and more effective. It aimed to reduce the number of officers by facilitating the withdrawal, in good condition, of those who were hostile to the Republic and to enhance the non-commissioned officer corps.
Social policy was aimed at mitigating the effects of the economic crisis with employment laws (the right to strike, unemployment insurance, social security) to improve the living conditions of the working class.
Soon, Azaña’s government began to face opposition from both the army and royalist forces (the pronouncement of General Sanjurjo in Seville, 1932) and from the more radical workers’ forces who considered the reforms insufficient (the anarchist uprising at Casas Viejas, Cádiz, 1933). Given the number of difficulties and rising tensions, the government resigned, and the President dissolved Parliament and called elections for November 1933.
The Biennium of the Right (1934-1936)
In the 1933 elections, Lerroux’s Radical Party and the CEDA (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing groups) of Gil Robles were victorious. This opened a period characterized by the implementation of a conservative policy that was in charge of limiting, if not eliminating, the scope of the reforms outlined in the previous biennium.
The new center-right orientation that characterized the successive governments headed by Lerroux eased tensions between the Republic and the Church and the Army, but differences grew with nationalist forces, and social conflicts increased.
In this context, the October 1934 revolution stands out. It began with a general strike called by the UGT (Socialist trade union) in protest against the counter-reformist work of the executive and the entry into it of three CEDA ministers.
The President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Lluís Companys, took the opportunity to proclaim the Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic. This move was opposed by the anarchist movement, which was very strong in Catalonia, and was easily suppressed by the Republican government, which suspended the Statute of Catalonia.
The revolution triumphed in Asturias due to the union of the three main labor forces (Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists), who created a revolutionary commune that controlled the mining area and Oviedo. To quell the revolt, the army, led by General Francisco Franco, was mobilized, and harsh repression was organized.
The biennium ended due to the discredit that enveloped the Radical Party following a series of corruption scandals. Given the upcoming elections, the Republican parties of the left, Socialists, and Communists united to form an electoral coalition called the Popular Front. The right-wing parties did not unite before the call to the polls: CEDA, the fascist Spanish Falange, and the National Bloc of Calvo Sotelo, which gathered various monarchist and conservative sectors, were the main forces.