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The republican government
The Republican government granted autonomy to the region of Catalan. This lead to the right side not being happy as they felt threaten by Spain's overall power. -
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The Left Republic
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Primo’s Labour Arbitration Scheme
▪ Primo’s Labour Arbitration Scheme was extended and improved with the help of the UGT
- The UGT trebled its membership during this period -
The Agrarian Reform Law
The Agrarian Reform Law allowed the state to nationalise (control) the latifundia (large areas of land owned by the wealthy) and then hand them over to the peasants
- however, compensating the landowners was complicated and expensive, and
- not everyone in the government agreed on the plan to take over the latifundia;
- so, it was never implemented on a large scale.
- As a result it angered the landowners and disappointed the peasants too. -
another PM
Niceto Zamora elected president of the Second Spanish Republic. -
The Jesuits
The Jesuits were no longer allowed to operate as a religious group
- the state withdrew subsidies to the Church
- civil marriage was permitted
- divorce was allowed and
- Prime Minister Azana, well-known for being direct and honest (or insensitive and arrogant, depending on your perspective), said “all the convents in Madrid are not worth the life of a single Republican”. -
the officer corps
▪ Half of the officer corps were made to retire at full pay (leaving little money for social reform);
- Azana told the army they had no right to challenge the government;
- a military revolt by General Sanjuro in 1932 was crushed -
The government
▪ The government’s decisions led to the foundation of the right-wing Catholic CEDA party
- led by Gil Robles.
- At the same time a fascist party – the Falange (Phalanx) - was established by the son of Primo de Rivera, Jose Antonio. -
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The Right Republic “Two Black Years”
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government
▪ In 1933 government troops shot dead anarchist prisoners in Cadiz.
- This created a crisis that led to elections being called for November 1933. -
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The Countdown to War
▪ In 1936 an election was called
▪ A Popular Front of Communists, Socialists, Republicans and Separatists was formed to oppose the government. -
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Socialists
▪ The socialist UGT called a general strike among the proletariat
▪ The fascist Falange started to grow dramatically
▪ Most seriously, the army began plotting to overthrow the weak new government..
- The leader of the plot was General Mola.
▪ On the 13th of July the monarchist politician, Calvo Sotelo, was assassinated by Republican police (revenge for the murder of one of their men by a Falangist).
- The military now had the perfect excuse to make their move.
- Their revolt began on the 17th o -
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Government
In 1934 opposition to the government exploded into violence in the Asturias Uprising, an anarchist miners’ revolt
- lasting two weeks which was only stopped after much fighting by the troops of General Franco
- Franco became known as the "Butcher of Asturias".
- Mass arrests followed (even Azana was briefly arrested),
- left wing newspapers were closed and
- the Catalan Autonomy Statute was suspended -
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The republic
The Asturias Uprising was “a watershed in the history of the Republic” (a quote from the historian, Knight) because it led to more extreme politics:
- It pushed the Left (especially the UGT of Caballero) towards a revolution, and
- Convinced the Right that the Fascism promoted by Rivera’s Falange was the only way to control the workers. -
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Spain
▪ The international situation strongly influenced the development of opposite ideas in Spain:
- the growing power of Fascism and Communism in Europe convinced many on both sides of politics that moderate politics would mean disaster. -
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right wing
▪The right wing formed the National Front.
▪Increasing tension meant that the Left now regarded the Right as Fascists; the Right regarded the Left as Communists. -
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Right wing
▪ A right-wing coalition government had power after the elections.
- It reversed the process of reform and cancelled the measures against the Church
- The period from 1933 to 1935 became known as the “two black years” by those on the Left, who became divided between
- socialists (led by Prieto ) who wanted to work with the coaltion and
- the UGT (led by Caballero ) who wanted violent opposition to it -
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Spain
▪ The Popular Front won only slightly more votes than the National Front, but
- the voting system made this into a large majority of seats in Parliament.
▪ However, Caballero’s socialists, still bitter about the failures of Azana’s earlier government, refused to join.
- This weakened not only the government but also the Left wing of Spanish politics as a whole.
▪ Despite these problems, the new government immediately reintroduced the reforms of the 1931-3 government -
A pact
An electoral pact is signed by the Socialist Party and Communist Party. -
PM
President Niceto Alcalá Zamora appoints Manuel Azaña as prime minister.