The Second Spanish Republic: Social and Political Upheaval (1931-1936)
The Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936)
Social and Political Upheaval
Social Problems
The Crisis of ’29 severely impacted Spain from 1930 onwards. The Republic faced a deeply unfavorable economic situation, leading to rising unemployment, business closures, and widespread social conflict. The government, with Largo Caballero (head of the UGT) as Minister of Labor, enacted legislation to protect workers.
In agriculture, a decree compelled landowners to hire local laborers, preventing wage deflation.
A labor contract law established collective bargaining, the right to strike, and paid vacations. Another law created binding arbitration through mixed juries of employers and employees to resolve labor disputes.
Agrarian Reform
The Republic’s Agrarian Reform Law aimed to reshape the Spanish countryside socially, politically, and economically.
- Social Objective: Provide land to farmers, fostering support for the Republic and mitigating social unrest.
- Political Objective: Diminish the power of large, often monarchist, landowners opposed to the Republic.
- Economic Objective: Boost agricultural production and farmer incomes, stimulating industrial and commercial growth. Expropriated lands, managed by the Agrarian Reform Institute, were to be transferred to peasant collectives or individual farmers.
Results were limited, with few settlements and expropriations. Right-wing parties and anarchists opposed the reform, the former deeming it too radical, the latter inadequate.
Political Reorganization
Azaña’s reforms, including the Religious Congregations Act, Military Reform, and Agrarian Reform Law, provoked strong reactions from the right. Many Catholics, even Republicans, felt uneasy. Monarchists increasingly adopted anti-democratic stances. New organizations emerged, such as Spanish Action, promoting the monarchy as a defense against social revolution.
In late 1932, the CEDA (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rights), a traditional Catholic right party led by José María Gil Robles, was formed. The following year, the Alfonsist Renewal Spanish party, led by Calvo Sotelo, openly advocated for a coup. Carlists joined the Traditionalist Communion and formed an electoral pact with the Alfonsists to unite royalist forces.
National Socialist and fascist factions created the JONS (Juntas of the National Syndicalist Offensive) in 1931, which later merged with the Spanish Falange. Founded in 1933 and led by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the Falange promoted anti-democratic ideology and fervent Spanish nationalism.
Discontent among conservative groups, fueled by Catalan autonomy, religious and military reforms, strikes, and civil unrest, resonated within sections of the army. In 1932, General Sanjurjo’s coup (the sanjurjada) to shift the Republic rightward failed.
Workers and Social Conflict
Social conflicts persisted from the Republic’s proclamation. Resistance to reforms led to polarization and extreme positions, particularly within the anarchist CNT (National Confederation of Labor) and the socialist UGT (General Workers Union).
The Communist Party of Spain gained ground in Extremadura, Andalusia, Asturias, and Catalonia.
Left-wing polarization sparked armed conflicts between workers, peasants, and public order forces. The former grew impatient with the Republic’s perceived inaction in implementing its own reforms. Riots, involving deaths, aimed to seize town halls, burn land registries, occupy farms, collectivize property, steal crops, and declare libertarian communism, causing widespread destruction in Andalusia, Extremadura, and La Mancha. Brutal repression often resulted in farmer deaths, exemplified by the Casas Viejas massacre in Cadiz, the political responsibility for which lay with the government. This event severely damaged the Reform Biennium.
The Republic of the Right (1933-1936)
Throughout 1933, the Republican-Socialist coalition government weakened, losing the trust of some middle classes due to harsh police measures. Azaña resigned, the President dissolved Parliament, and elections were called for November 1933.
This period, known as the Republic of the Right, lasted from December 1933 to February 1936. The November 1933 elections saw victory for center-right parties, including Lerroux’s Radical Party and Gil Robles’ CEDA, promising constitutional review and legislative reform.
Despite being the largest party, the CEDA was not asked to form a government. The left and the President accused the right-wing coalition of anti-republican, fascist, and totalitarian tendencies. Alcalá Zamora entrusted the executive to Lerroux’s Radical Party.
On October 5, 1934, the inclusion of three CEDA members in the cabinet triggered the October Revolution.
Lerroux’s governments initially pursued moderate reform, but after the October Revolution, adopted more conservative and Catholic policies.
The October Revolution of 1934
Stalled reforms and the economic crisis fueled social unrest and radicalized the PSOE and UGT. Largo Caballero’s socialist left advocated for social revolution, rejecting collaboration with bourgeois republicans. Indalecio Prieto’s moderate sector favored joining left-wing Republicans to stabilize the Republic and pursue further reform.
The 1933 elections and the right’s entry into government signaled to the left the Republic’s demise and the rise of a fascist dictatorship. When CEDA ministers joined the cabinet, the socialist left, along with anarchists and communists, launched an armed insurrection and a general strike.