The Spanish Second Republic

1. (1931-1939)
THE SPANISH SECOND REPUBLIC

2. CONTENTS
• Alfonso XIII’s fall and the beginning of the Second Republic.
• The Constitution of 1931 and the “Bienio Progresista”
(1931-1933).
• The “Bienio Reaccionario o Radical-Cedista” (1933-1936).
• The “Frente Popular” (1936)

3. • The birth of the Second Republic was the key moment
in modern Spanish history.
• The democratic project that the Republic was based
on aroused great hopes in the nation.
• Nevertheless, five years later the country plunged
itself into a gory civil war.
• The debate over the reasons for the failure of the
Republic continues to be one of the most important
debates in Spanish historiography today.

4. ALFONSO XIII’S FALL AND THE BEGINNING OF
THE REPUBLIC.
Puerta del Sol, Madrid, 14 April 1931

5. • After Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, Alfonso XIII ordered the
general Dámaso Berenguer to form a new government. It was
in January-February 1931.
• The objective was to return to the Constitution of 1876.
• Some months before, the Pacto de San Sebastián was signed
in August 1930: Republicans, Socialists and Left Catalanists
wanted to finish with the monarchy.
Dámaso Berenguer Pacto de San Sebastián

6. • It was a time of world crisis and the social tension became
higher.
• The government of Admiral Aznar (Feb-Apr 1931) convened
municipal elections to be celebrated on 12th Apr 1931.
• On those elections: victory of the Republicans in the most
important cities.
• The Republic was declared on 14 April 1931.

7. Alfonso XIII, tras desembarcar en Marsella, al inicio de su exilio

9. Mapa de los resultados en capitales de provincia

14. Llegada del Gobierno Provisional, para la apertura
de las Cortes Constituyentes, 14 de julio 1931

15. • The provisional government will have to face several
problems:
• Tense social environment
• Delayed modernization.
• Critical situation of farm workers (jornaleros).
• Debt and world crisis.
• Strong oligarchy supported by local landowners, the Army and the
Church.
• The old sentiment of anticlericalism was flourishing once again and, in
May 1931, various churches and convents were burned.
• Nationalism.
• Educational delay.
• Misgivings (untrust) about the new regime.

16. • First measures of the Provisional Government:
• Call for elections to Cortes Constituyentes.
• Alcala Zamora interviews Macià (Catalonia) to recognize
the central authority.
• Decrees to address urgent issues:
• Largo Caballero: on work in the countryside.
• M. Domingo: on education.
• M. Azaña: about the Army.

20. • In June of 1931, a republican-socialist
coalition triumphed in the elections of the
parliamentary Courts.
• The new Constitution, passed in December
1931, reflected the ideas of the majority of
the Parliament.

21. • Features of the Constitution of 1931:
• Popular sovereignty.
• Spain was defined as a workers’ republic.
• Male and female universal suffrage.
• Important bill of rights:
• Freedom of meeting, association, and expression.
• Civil rights: divorce, the insurance of the equality of
legitimate and illegitimate children.
• Right to education.
• Division of powers, with preponderance of the Cortes:
• Legislative: Cortes unicamerales.
• Executive:
• President of the Republic: with limited powers.
• Head of Government (Jefe de Gobierno).
• Judicial: Courts of Justice.
• Secular state with separation of church and state. Absolute
freedom of worship
• Regions were allowed to establish their own Home Rule
(“Estatutos de Autonomía)

23. • A Republican-Socialist government is created, presided
over by Manuel Azaña.
• Niceto Alcalá Zamora was the President of the Republic.
Niceto Alcalá Zamora
Presidente de la República
Manuel Azaña
Presidente o Jefe del Gobierno

24. • RELIGIOUS ISSUE:
• Church was linked to the state and the dominant groups.
• Wealth and influence in teaching.
• Opposition to the Republic.
• Popular hostility and anticlericalism of the most radical
forces caused the burning of convents and churches (May
1931).
• The most controversial articles of the Constitution are:
• The separation of church and state.
• Freedom of worship.
• Divorce.
• Secularism in teaching.
• The budget of the clergy was extinguished.

27. • REGIONAL ISSUE:
• Catalan and Basque nationalism wanted an answer.
• The Constitution speaks of integral state and autonomy of
municipalities and regions.
• Huge opposition to the approval of the Catalan statute,
which could only be approved after the uprising of the
general Sanjurjo (August 1932).
• The Basque and Galician statutes will be approved during
the Civil War.

29. • AGRARIAN REFORM:
• This reform attempted to redistribute the ownership of
land by permitting day labourers to become
landowners.
• This greatly alarmed many landowners even though in
practice very few plots of land were actually
redistributed among day labourers

31. • SOCIAL ISSUE:
• Need for a land reform (reforma agraria) and an
improve of the situation of the working class.
• Largo Caballero took first steps: 8-hour day, extension
of agricultural leases, obligatory cultivation of land,
hiring laborers (jornaleros) obligation of the
municipality.
• Nationalize public services.
• After the uprising Sanjurjo, Basic Law of Agrarian
Reform.
• The slow pace of agrarian reform: land occupation
and violent demonstrations.
• Hard Intervention of public forces: Slaughter of Casas
Viejas, January 1933.

33. En total 28 muertos. Excepto tres miembros de la fuerzas de orden público, todos
estaban relacionados de una forma u otra con el movimiento campesino
anarquista.

34. • ARMY REFORM:
• Need to reform and modernize the Army.
• Azana measures (Oath of the Constitution, reduction of
military jurisdiction, annulment of the promotions of the
dictatorship, creating Assault Guard) displease the militar.
• The military tried to take over power by a failed coup led
by General Sanjurjo in 1932.
• The repression of the uprising allows the adoption of the
Statute of Catalonia and the Basic Law of Agrarian Reform,
with opposition from the right.

35. En el centro, José Sanjurjo en Melilla, con
Franco (a la dcha. del todo), en 1922.

36. • EDUCATION REFORMS:
• More than 10.000 schools were created.
• The budget for education increased more than a 50%.
• Mixed groups (girls and boys).
• Non-religious education.
• Programs to extent theatre in the rural environment.
• Programs to learn about our heritage: museums…

38. Las Misiones Pedagógicas de la Segunda República española: un proyecto de educación
popular.

40. • El fin del bienio reformista:
• A principios de 1933 se produce un giro hacia la derecha
por:
• La mala situación económica
• La violencia
• Frustración y desencanto de la clase trabajadora.
• Errores del Gobierno:
• Posponer las transformaciones económicas a las
puramente ideológicas.
• Olvidaron transformar España lentamente y bajo el
consenso

44. BIENIO RADICAL-CEDISTA

45. • Elections in November 1933: the government called for
elections in which the conservative forces— such as the
Lerroux´s Radical Party and Gil Robles´ Spanish Confederation
of the Autonomous Right (Confederación Española de
Derechas Autónomas: CEDA)—came out on top.
• After the elections, Lerroux, leader or the Republican Radical
Party formed a government that needed the parliamentary
support of the CEDA, the main party on the right.

48. • The new executive began a policy to reverse the reforms
from the previous two years:
• It stopped the agrarian reforms, with the consequent
expulsion of the few day labourers (jornaleros) who had
occupied lands through these reforms.
• It halted the military reforms and promoted clearly anti-
Republican figures into important military positions.
These figures included Franco, Goded, and Mola.
• Political concessions to the Catholic Church
• The government confronted Catalan and Basque
nationalism. It rejected a project of Basque Country home
rule in 1934 and clashed with the Catalonian Generalitat,
(Catalan regional government).

50. • Revolution in October 1934:
• Polarization of the country between "right" and "left“.
• Most left-wingers considered the CEDA’s presence in the government
as the preface to a victory of fascism, since the CEDA’s youth
organization displayed an almost fascist propaganda in the country.
• The most radical left parties and groups convene a general strike (that
ended in an armed uprising) against the government, but it only had
success in Asturias.
• The General Franco ended the uprisings in Asturias.
• Consequences:
• There were 1.500-2.000 deaths, double the number of wounded,
and 30,000 arrests made (among them were Companys and Azaña,
who had not even supported the uprising, as well as the main
leaders of the PSOE such as Prieto and Largo Caballero).

54. • Shortly afterwards, various corruption scandals in 1935 led
Lerroux´s government to call for another elections in
February of 1936.
• Polls brought a win of the Popular Front (“Frente Popular”),
a leftist coalition of parties, led by the Republican Manuel
Azaña.

58. • The Popular Front, a coalition that brought together the
forces of the left, won the elections of February 1936. The
militant anarchist came out to vote in large numbers, which
they had not done in 1933.

59. • Manuel Azaña was named President of the Republic and
formed a government which was presided over by Casares
Quiroga and which consisted exclusively of leftist
republicans. The most moderate sector of the new
government was the Popular Front.
• Socialists and Communists remained excluded from the
government.

62. • The new government passed an amnesty of the thousands of prisoners
detained in the aftermath of the 1934 uprising.
• The new government brought back the agrarian reform, reestablished
the Catalonian Home Rule, and they began the debate over new
autonomy statutes of Galicia and the Basque Country.
• Meanwhile, the social environment was becoming more and more tense.
• The workers on the left had taken on a more revolutionary slant and the
right was seeking a way to carry out a military coup that would put an
end to the democratic system.
• The moderates and the democrats were trying to maintain a
constitutional and democratic regime but found that they were quite
helpless in fighting the current that was carrying the country towards
civil war.
• From the month of April onwards, a number of violent clashes took place
on the streets.
• Meanwhile, a great section of the military plotted against the Republic.
The democracy lived its last few days in Spain.

63. • From the month of April onwards, a number of violent
clashes took place on the streets.
• Meanwhile, a great section of the military plotted against
the Republic. The democracy lived its last few days in
Spain.