The Second Spanish Republic: From Democracy to Civil War
The Second Spanish Republic
Proclamation and Early Challenges
The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed on April 14, 1931, amidst a strong democratic spirit but also an economic crisis. Electoral reform was crucial. The old law, dominated by oligarchies, was replaced to ensure fair elections for the Constituent Assembly. Universal suffrage, including women’s right to vote, was a key achievement. The Constitution promised self-government, leading to Catalonia’s autonomy in 1932 and the Basque Country’s eventual statute (delayed by the Civil War).
Constitution and Political Landscape
Parliament’s primary task was creating a constitution, a significant innovation. The executive became subordinate to Parliament. Political parties emerged across the spectrum: the Progressive Republican Party, the Conservative Party, CEDA, the Radical Party, and the Agrarian Party on the right; the PSOE, PCE, POUM, FAI, and CNT on the left. The Republic’s proclamation triggered crises, including resignations over secularism and power struggles between radicals and socialists.
Political Instability and Social Change
CEDA’s electoral victory in 1933 led to a right-wing government, but threats emerged from both left and right. The 1934 revolution in Asturias and Catalonia, along with the Casas Viejas incident, highlighted this instability. New elections in 1936 brought a leftist coalition, the Popular Front, to power, reinstating suspended reforms.
A significant social change occurred. The right aimed to consolidate a liberal democratic regime, while the left sought a social revolution. The bourgeois oligarchy lost its grip on governing bodies. The peasantry, the largest segment of the population, actively sought land reform. The proletariat, facing unemployment and poverty, hoped for a socialist revolution through unions like UGT and CNT. Religious and petty bourgeois unions also played a role.
Economic Crisis and the Road to War
The agrarian situation remained unresolved, hampered by landed oligarchies and the global economic crisis. Industrial stagnation further exacerbated the situation. By 1936, the economic oligarchies, alienated from power, turned to fascism and the army. The coup of July 17, 1936, starting in Melilla, plunged Spain into Civil War.
Civil War and Revolution
The war divided Spain into loyalist and rebel factions. A revolutionary process unfolded on both sides. The CNT and POUM aimed to dismantle the republic, while the PCE and PSOE sought to preserve it. Militias, crucial in resisting the fascists, were unwilling to fight for a bourgeois republic. The PCE, seeking Western democracies’ support, initiated a counter-revolution against the POUM and CNT, culminating in the May 1937 conflict.
The Republican government faced continuous crises, even with anarchist participation. The rebel side underwent a fascist revolution under Francisco Franco, who consolidated power and purged extremists. Franco’s forces controlled agricultural Spain, a crucial advantage in the protracted war.