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and welcome to the history page. Our examination of Spain’s Second Republic
has brought us to the dark moment when, in November of 1933, the country’s
extreme right gained a majority of seats in parliament. In view of the fact that
numerous factions of the Spanish right were monarchical fascists who publicly
debunked the concept of republican government, their presence in parliament was
little more than a charade, albeit effective enough in it’s dismantling of
the recent liberal reforms. Indeed, as we shall see, the participation of certain
reactionary parties (e.g. CEDA and FE de la JONS) in the republican law-making
process was undertaken purely as means to ‘undo the damage’ wrought
during the Reformist Biennium. One instance of fascist thought,
scathingly expressed by José Antonio Primo de Rivera (son of the former
dictator), and defined parliamentary procedure with these words: “that farce
of ballots introduced in a glass urn (…) when the noblest fate of any urn
is to be broken.” Likewise, José Antonio (habitually referred to by
his first name to distinguish him from his father) considered the entire democratic
system to be “bureaucratic, hypocritical and inoperative”, and ridiculed
politicians for wasting their time “wading through paperwork, spreading electoral
propaganda, dozing off in the seats of Congress, adulating voters, tolerating
their impertinence only for the sake of their votes; bearing humiliation and vexation
from those who, owing precisely to the nearly divine function of governing, should
instead obey [the ruler].” Here, at least, was one politician who did not
mince his words. José Antonio’s paramilitary activities eventually
led to his execution in the early months of the Civil War, after which time he
was referred to by his followers as “The Absent One”. But
we are getting ahead of ourselves. Our first task this week is to determine why,
after two years of steady progress in the direction of social justice, the liberal
factions of the Republic lost the backing of the electorate. For, at this juncture,
the government changeover involved no treachery or foul play. The conservatives
were voted into office as fairly and squarely as the liberals had been before
them. Azaña’s Downfall The
primary factor in the withdrawal of voter support for Azaña’s liberal
coalition (comprised of republicans, socialists and a few communists) was a rash
of anarchist insurgence that erupted in the beginning of 1933. As we have observed
in pervious instalments, despite the many agrarian reforms instituted at the legislative
level, in actual practice, conditions remained as dismal as ever for the great
majority of field labourers. Impatient for real change, small groups of anarchists
in Catalonia, Levant and Andalusia rose up in protest. One insurrection in particular,
‘The Tragedy of Casas Viejas’ turned large portions of public opinion
against Azaña. Obviously, the right wing was already opposed to the Reformist
Biennium; it was the increasing opposition from within the ranks of the left wing
that delivered the death blow to all that Azaña and his ministers had worked
to build up. Casas Viejas Casas
Viejas was a village in Cadiz, located within a large latifundium. Because the
owner of the estate allowed only one third of the arable land to be cultivated,
some 500 peasants were reduced to joblessness and hunger season after season.
On 11th January 1933, the country folk took matters into their own hands and proclaimed
a state of libertarian communism. The takeover was utterly pacifistic and none
of the local oligarchy was hurt, outraged, no doubt, but unharmed. Although the
mayor surrendered peacefully, the guardia civil refused to accept the situation
and telegraphed to the nearest village for reinforcements. It was not until these
arrived that the situation became violent. Some of the insurgents fled and others
holed up while the guardia civil registered the village, house by house, for arms.
In one of the houses lived an aging anarchist who refused to open the door, whereupon
an all-night crossfire broke out between the refugees and the law. At dawn, the
guardia burnt down the house, killing those who remained inside. The captain of
the reinforcement brigade then ordered the execution of fourteen prisoners who
had been taken from other houses. The political implications
of Casas Viejas were enormous. Faith in the new regime plummeted as people began
to fear that the repressive forces of State were as ruthless as in the days of
the monarchy. It was widely felt that, given the small, isolated, almost naïve
nature of the uprising, the situation could have been dealt with much less brutality,
possibly even without the loss of life. Despite the government’s punitive
measures against the officials responsible for the massacre, confidence in the
Azaña administration fell steadily over the following months. In September
1933, Azaña was ousted from office and general elections were called for
19th November. New Parties Coalesce In
the months after the Casas Viejas incident, the Spanish right moved quickly into
high gear. During the course of 1933, three new conservative parties were formed,
all of which would significantly alter the course of the times, either through
direct participation in parliament or, like the Falangist party, through paramilitary
activities. It is not my intention to delve too deeply into the political manoeuvrings
of the Republic, although a brief rundown of the three new parties is crucial
to understanding how the right suddenly gained ascendancy over the left. Monarchists Renovación
Española was founded in February 1933 by monarchists who advocated the
reinstatement of Alfonso XIII. The party’s platform rested on the defence
of large landowners (the grandees) as well as the upper spheres of the bourgeoisie
that were linked to the Crown. One of its stellar members, José Calvo Sotelo,
former Minister of Internal Revenue during the monarchy, had fled the country
when the Republic was proclaimed, but returned in 1934 when the new conservative
government granted amnesty to all political enemies of the Republic. Although
he was a staunch monarchist, Calvo Sotelo also sympathized with the fascist movement,
both within Spain and abroad. His assassination in July 1936 marked the start
of the Civil War. Catholics Far
and away, the most influential party in the Black Biennium was CEDA (Spanish Confederation
of Autonomous Rightists). Founded in March 1933, its leader, José María
Gil Robles, was the lawyer of the Jesuit order, a job he eventually combined with
his post as Minister of War (1935-36). CEDA operated in conjunction with the Catholic
newspaper, El Debate, for which reason its propaganda base reached broad sectors
of the population. Gil Robles was basically unconcerned with whether the Spanish
government assumed the form of a monarchy or a republic. What mattered to him
was that the interests of the Church, and the traditional morals which it upheld,
should be safeguarded against the progressive secularization of State. This ‘political
non-definition’ enabled CEDA to capture votes from numerous quarters, including
monarchists, landowners and the common man. Fascists The
fascists of Spain organized under the banner of the Falangist party, founded by
José Antonio in October 1933. We have already divulged a few titbits of
his ideological doctrine, to which we can add that he did not, in fact, believe
in political parties at all as he felt them to be “just a lot of liberal
talk”. Instead, he upheld “natural units, the family, the, the municipality,
and the [labour] corporation”. Opposed as equally to capitalism as he was
to socialism and Marxism (which he dismissed as too international), his great
ideal was national-syndicalism, a system whereby all antagonistic interests within
society would be mediated by a paternalist government. Like Mussolini’s Italy
and Hitler’s Germany, José Antonio advocated a highly centralized
State, governed by a single leader, and based on the principles of authority,
discipline and strict social hierarchy, in a word: totalitarianism. The
Falangist party was made up primarily of students from the most conservative ranks
of the urban middle-class. Like the brown-shirts in Germany and the black-shirts
in Italy, Spanish Falangists banded into paramilitary assault groups, and wore
blue shirts when patrolling the streets. Another common ground shared with German
Nazism and Italian Fascism was a reductionist view of history in which the authority
of State rested on past splendour. José Antonio held Castile to be the
crown of Spanish civilization, culture and language, and, like his father before
him, rejected any type of autonomy (cultural, political, linguistic or otherwise)
on the part of the peripheral regions despite his own - Andalusian origin. Closing Although
we could go on forever analyzing the fascist movements of the 1930s, we will bring
our instalment to a close for today. Join us next week as we go on to explore
the popular backlash against the new government’s policies, manifested most
clearly in the Revolution of October (1934). Until then, have a good week.
Emily Kaufman
emilykaufman@ibizahistoryculture.com
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