Asturian Workers Alliance
120-451: [REDACTED] Spanish Republic [REDACTED] Belarmino Tomás [REDACTED] Ramón González Peña [REDACTED] Ramón Álvarez Palomo [REDACTED] Alejandro Lerroux [REDACTED] Diego Hidalgo [REDACTED] Eduardo López Ochoa [REDACTED] Francisco Franco [REDACTED] Juan Yagüe The Asturian miners' strike of 1934 was a major strike action undertaken by miners in Asturias against
240-568: A Proletarian Revolution and instituted a local government in the territory. The rebellion was crushed by the Spanish Navy and the Spanish Republican Army , the latter using mainly colonial troops from Spanish Morocco . The war minister, Diego Hidalgo wanted Francisco Franco to lead the troops against the rebellion but Spain's president, Alcalá Zamora , opted to send general Eduardo López Ochoa to Asturias to lead
360-646: A general strike , armed insurgency and declaration of a Catalan State in Catalonia during the Revolution of 1934 on 6 October 1934. The predominantly left-wing Generalitat of Catalonia led by President Lluís Companys declared the Catalan State in reaction to the inclusion of the right-wing CEDA party in the Spanish Republican government of Alejandro Lerroux . Companys declared
480-399: A "strong and disciplined state." General Sanjurjo would be the head of this new regime, due to being widely liked and respected within the military, though his position would be a largely symbolic due to his lack of political talent. The 1931 Constitution would be suspended, replaced by a new "constituent parliament" which would be chosen by a new politically purged electorate, who would vote on
600-690: A Catalan State within a "Spanish Federal Republic" in Barcelona with support from a general strike called by the General Union of Workers . General Domènec Batet declared martial law and the Spanish Army attacked the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya and other government buildings in Barcelona, causing Companys to surrender on the morning of 7 October. Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy
720-578: A Nationalist assault in November 1936, and frustrated subsequent offensives against the capital at Jarama and Guadalajara in 1937. Soon, though, the rebels began to erode their territory, starving Madrid and making inroads into the east. The north, including the Basque country, fell in late 1937, and the Aragon front collapsed shortly afterward. The bombing of Guernica was probably the most infamous event of
840-486: A civil war. The involvement of forces of public order and a lack of action against the attackers hurt public opinion of the government. No effective action was taken; Payne points to a possible veto by socialists within the government who shielded the killers who had been drawn from their ranks. The murder of a parliamentary leader by state police was unprecedented, and the belief that the state had ceased to be neutral and effective in its duties encouraged important sectors of
960-589: A decision from the revolutionary Committee. Under pressure from extremists, the Committee decided to condemn them to death. Thirty four priests, six young seminarists with ages between 18 and 21, and several businessmen and civil guards were summarily executed by the revolutionaries in Mieres and Sama , 58 religious buildings including churches, convents and part of the university at Oviedo were burned and destroyed. The same day, large groups of miners advanced along
1080-405: A democratic force. It called for the revision of the republican constitution, with the aim to create a new regime and defend "Christian civilization" from leftism and Marxism. Its leader, José María Gil-Robles, declared his intention to "give Spain a true unity, a new spirit, a totalitarian polity..." and went on to say "Democracy is not an end but a mean to achieve the conquest of the new state. When
1200-545: A few of them firing pistols, yet they were soon rounded up by security forces. In the north there were revolutionary strikes in mining areas and clashes with the security forces that left 40 people dead, but the revolt was ended with the arrival of troops and the Spanish air force launching bomb attacks. This left Asturian strikers to fight alone. Anarchist and communist factions in Spain had called general strikes . However,
1320-607: A general stoppage in Madrid , other strikes did not endure. This left Asturian strikers to fight alone. Miners in Asturias occupied the capital, Oviedo , killing officials and clergymen. Fifty eight religious buildings including churches, convents and part of the university at Oviedo were burned and destroyed. The miners proceeded to occupy several other towns, most notably the large industrial centre of La Felguera , and set up town assemblies, or "revolutionary committees", to govern
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#17327943708031440-649: A government which excluded CEDA and was dominated by his Radical Republican Party (RRP), which came second place with 102 seats. Lerroux resigned in April 1934 to be replaced by Ricardo Samper , a member of the RRP and one of his chief lieutenants. A summer of strikes and social conflict led Gil Robles to withdraw CEDA support from the Samper government and demand participation in government. President Niceto Alcalá Zamora , unwilling to call new elections, instructed Lerroux to form
1560-478: A government. Instead he invited the Radical Republican Party 's Alejandro Lerroux to do so. Despite receiving the most votes, CEDA was denied cabinet positions for nearly a year. After a year of political pressure, CEDA, the largest party in the congress, was finally successful in forcing the acceptance of three ministries. However the entrance of CEDA in the government, although being normal in
1680-467: A landslide victory for republicans. Two days later, the Second Republic was proclaimed, and King Alfonso XIII went into exile. The king's departure led to a provisional government of the young republic under Niceto Alcalá-Zamora . Catholic churches and establishments in cities like Madrid and Sevilla were set ablaze on 11 May. In June 1931 a Constituent Cortes was elected to draft
1800-479: A leading role, giving instructions from Madrid, that does not mean he took part in the illegal repressive activities. According to Tussell it was López de Óchoa, a republican freemason who had been appointed by President Zamora to lead the repression in the field, who was unable to limit bloodshed. In the days following the strike, Spain's prime minister, Lerroux, was widely seen as the country's "savior". In turn, groups of socialists, anarchists and communists put forth
1920-542: A new Parliament of Catalonia , which were won by the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), with Francesc Macià becoming President of Catalonia . In January 1933, the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany was met with anxiety by the Spanish left. Catalonia saw the formation of the Alianza Obrera [ es ] (Workers' Alliance), an anti-fascist organisation among whose aims
2040-697: A new constitution, which came into force in December. The new constitution established freedom of speech and freedom of association , extended suffrage to women in 1933, allowed divorce, and stripped the Spanish nobility of any special legal status. It also effectively disestablished the Roman Catholic Church , but the disestablishment was somewhat reversed by the Cortes that same year. Its controversial articles 26 and 27 imposed stringent controls on Church property and barred religious orders from
2160-508: A new government, which was announced on 4 October 1934 and included three CEDA members. Left-wing republicans denounced the "betrayal" of the Republic and the General Union of Workers (UGT), a powerful Marxist trade union , called a general strike . On 5 October, the general strike began in places across Spain including Madrid , Seville , Córdoba and Zaragoza . There was fighting in some places, including Mondragón and Eibar in
2280-409: A number of captured priests, businessmen and civil guards were summarily executed by the revolutionaries in Mieres and Sama . This rebellion lasted for two weeks until it was crushed by the army, led by General Eduardo López Ochoa . This operation earned López Ochoa the nickname "Butcher of Asturias". Another rebellion by the autonomous government of Catalonia, led by its president Lluís Companys ,
2400-438: A parliamentary democracy, was not well accepted by the left. When the plans to invite members of the right-wing CEDA into government were leaked, the political left was distraught. The left tried to reach a common formula of protest but were hampered because the formation of a new government was the result of a normal parliamentary process and that the parties coming to government had won the previous year's free elections. The issue
2520-413: A police truck. His body was dropped at the entrance of one of the city's cemeteries. According to all later investigations, the perpetrator of the murder was a socialist gunman, Luis Cuenca, who was known as the bodyguard of PSOE leader Indalecio Prieto . Calvo Sotelo was one of the most prominent Spanish monarchists who, describing the government's actions as Bolshevist and anarchist, had been exhorting
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#17327943708032640-670: A policy of non-interventionism, as exemplified by the actions of the Non-Intervention Committee . Imposed in the name of neutrality , the international isolation of the Spanish Republic ended up favouring the interests of the future Axis Powers . The Siege of the Alcázar at Toledo early in the war resulted in the rebels winning after a long siege. The Republicans managed to hold out in Madrid, despite
2760-629: A revolutionary strike action was seen in Málaga the same year. A Catholic church in Zaragoza was burnt down in 1933. In November 1932, Miguel de Unamuno , one of the most respected Spanish intellectuals, rector of the University of Salamanca, and himself a Republican, publicly raised his voice to protest. In a speech delivered on 27 November 1932, at the Madrid Ateneo, he protested: "Even
2880-551: A sign reading "This is the butcher of Asturias." The eight martyrs of Turon were venerated on 7 September 1989, and beatified by Pope John Paul II . Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (Spanish: República Española ), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (Spanish: Segunda República Española ), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic
3000-448: A socialist party moderate. The rifles had been landed by the yacht Turquesa at Pravia , north-west of Oviedo; Prieto swiftly fled to France to avoid arrest. Other weapons came from captured arms factories in the region and the miners also had their dynamite blasting charges, which were known as "la artillería de la revolución." Plans to subvert police and army units failed as these groups, even those with leftist sympathies, refused to join
3120-436: A variety of propaganda justifying the rebellion and representing the suppressing as a martyrdom. In the armed action taken against the uprising, some 1,500 miners were killed, with another 30,000 to 40,000 taken prisoner and thousands more became unemployed. The repression of the uprising carried out by the colonial troops included looting, rape and summary executions . Lisardo Doval , a civil guard commander and major-general,
3240-507: Is actually disputed, as some have suggested that as many as a million people died. Over the years, historians kept lowering the death figures, and modern research concluded that 500,000 deaths were the correct figure. On 17 July 1936, General Franco led the Spanish Army of Africa from Morocco to attack the mainland, while another force from the north under General Emilio Mola moved south from Navarre. Military units were also mobilised elsewhere to take over government institutions. Before long
3360-644: Is located, local unions gathered small weaponry in preparation for the strike. It began on the evening of 4 October, with the miners occupying several towns, attacking and seizing local Civil and Assault Guard barracks. At dawn on 5 October, the rebels attacked the Brothers' school in Turón . The Brothers and the Passionist Father were captured and imprisoned in the " House of the People " while waiting for
3480-424: Is often considered the catalyst for the further political polarisation that ensued. The Falange and other right-wing individuals, including Juan de la Cierva , had already been conspiring to launch a military coup d'état against the government, to be led by senior army officers. When the antifascist Castillo and the anti-socialist Calvo Sotelo were buried on the same day in the same Madrid cemetery, fighting between
3600-602: Is unforgivable. The argument that [the conservatives] tried to destroy the Constitution to establish fascism was, at once, hypocritical and false. [With the rebellion], the Spanish left was without even the shadow of moral authority to condemn the rebellion of 1936 ". The majority vote in the 1933 elections was won by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA). President Alcalá-Zamora declined to invite its leader, Gil Robles, to form
3720-501: The 1933 elections was won by the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA). In face of CEDA's electoral victory, president Alcalá-Zamora declined to invite its leader, Gil Robles, to form a government. Instead he invited the Radical Republican Party 's Alejandro Lerroux to do so. Despite receiving the most votes, CEDA was denied cabinet positions for nearly a year. After a year of intense pressure, CEDA,
Asturian miners' strike of 1934 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3840-588: The Basque Country . There were also clashes in Madrid, but in general, planned uprisings failed to materialise or were quickly put down, and members of the Spanish military and of the Guardia Civil did not, as hoped, join the rebels. Outside of Catalonia, the only significant military action took place in Asturias where, in the early hours of 6 October, activists took hold of Avilés , Gijón and
3960-862: The Italian military intervention in Spain and the German involvement in the Spanish Civil War ), and neighbouring Portugal gave the rebels was much greater and more effective than the assistance that the Republicans received from the USSR, Mexico, and volunteers of the International Brigades . While the Axis powers wholeheartedly assisted General Franco's military campaign, the governments of France, Britain, and other European powers pursued
4080-514: The Police Assault Guard and fascist militias broke out in the surrounding streets, resulting in four more deaths. The killing of Calvo Sotelo with police involvement aroused suspicions and strong reactions among the government's opponents on the right. Although the nationalist generals were already planning an uprising, the event was a catalyst and a public justification for a coup. Stanley Payne claims that before these events,
4200-661: The Reformist Biennium , Manuel Azaña 's executive initiated numerous reforms to what in their view would modernize the country. In 1932 religious orders were forbidden control of schools, while the government began a large-scale school-building project. A moderate agrarian reform was carried out. Home rule was granted to Catalonia , with a local parliament and a president of its own. Soon, Azaña lost parliamentary support and President Alcalá-Zamora forced his resignation in September 1933. The subsequent 1933 election
4320-472: The University of Oviedo . In the occupied areas, the rebels officially declared a proletarian revolution and abolished regular money. The rebellion was crushed by the Spanish Navy and the Spanish Republican Army , the latter using mainly Moorish colonial troops from Spanish Morocco . In 1935, after a series of crises and corruption scandals, President Alcalá-Zamora , who had always been hostile to
4440-489: The encyclical Dilectissima Nobis . The legislative branch was changed to a single chamber called the Congress of Deputies . The constitution established legal procedures for the nationalisation of public services and land, banks, and railways. The constitution provided generally accorded civil liberties and representation. The Republican Constitution also changed the country's national symbols. The Himno de Riego
4560-579: The 1933 election and its entry into government on 4 October 1934. In addition, the rejection by the Constitutional Court of Spain of the emancipatory Crop Contracts Law land reform passed by the Parliament of Catalonia on 14 April 1934, which protected the tenant farmers and granted access to the land they were cultivating, was seen as a direct attack to both social progress and Catalan self-government, thus rising tensions. On 5 October
4680-728: The 1936 elections were rigged. This view has been criticised by Eduardo Calleja and Francisco Pérez, who question the charges of electoral irregularity and argue that the Popular Front would still have won a slight electoral majority even if all of the charges were true. In the thirty-six hours following the election, sixteen people were killed (mostly by police officers attempting to maintain order or intervene in violent clashes) and thirty-nine were seriously injured, while fifty churches and seventy right wing political centres were attacked or set ablaze. The right had firmly believed, at all levels, that they would win. Almost immediately after
4800-639: The 1936 elections. On 7 January 1936, new elections were called. Despite significant rivalries and disagreements, the socialists, Communists, and the Catalan-and-Madrid-based left-wing Republicans decided to work together under the name Popular Front . The Popular Front won the election on 16 February with 263 MPs against 156 right-wing MPs, grouped within a coalition of the National Front with CEDA, Carlists , and Monarchists. The moderate centre parties virtually disappeared; between
4920-573: The Barcelona city hall and the Generalitat. Fighting continued until 6 am, when Companys surrendered. Companys and his government were arrested, as well as Manuel Azaña despite his having taken no part in the events; he was released in December. Some towns, such as Sabadell, remained loyal to the Catalan State until 10 October. The Statute of Autonomy was suspended indefinitely on 14 December, and all powers that had been transferred to Barcelona were returned to Madrid. In June 1935, Companys
Asturian miners' strike of 1934 - Misplaced Pages Continue
5040-612: The February 1936 elections, a group of Guardia de Asalto and other leftist militiamen mortally shot the opposition leader José Calvo Sotelo on 12 July 1936. This assassination convinced many military officers to back the planned coup. Three days later (17 July), the revolt began with an army uprising in Spanish Morocco , followed by military takeovers in many cities in Spain. Military rebels intended to seize power immediately, but they were met with serious resistance as most of
5160-541: The Inquisition was limited by certain legal guarantees. But now we have something worse: a police force which is grounded only on a general sense of panic and on the invention of non-existent dangers to cover up this over-stepping of the law." In 1933, all remaining religious congregations were obliged to pay taxes and banned from industry, trade and educational activities. This ban was forced with strict police severity and widespread mob violence. The majority vote in
5280-595: The Moors, because he regarded left-wing workers with the same racialist contempt he possessed towards the tribesmen of the Rif ." Franco, visiting Oviedo after the rebellion had been put down, stated; "this war is a frontier war and its fronts are socialism, communism and whatever attacks civilization in order to replace it with barbarism". The right-wing press portrayed the Asturian rebels in xenophobic and anti-Semitic terms as
5400-450: The Spanish left had rejected "legal processes of government" and revolted against the possibility of a right-led coalition, even though they would later use the "legality" argument to condemn the July 1936 coup was against an elected government. Historian Salvador de Madariaga , a supporter of Manuel Azaña , and an exiled vocal opponent of Francisco Franco asserted that: "The uprising of 1934
5520-462: The advantage of liberty." In June 1936, Miguel de Unamuno , disenchanted with the unfolding of the events, told a reporter who published his statement in El Adelanto that President Manuel Azaña should commit suicide as a patriotic act. On 12 July 1936, Lieutenant José Castillo , an important member of the anti-fascist military organisation Unión Militar Republicana Antifascista (UMRA),
5640-495: The anarchist-controlled seaport towns of Gijón and Avilés arrived in Oviedo to request weapons to defend against a landing of government troops. Ignored by the socialist UGT-controlled committee, the delegates returned to their town empty-handed, and government troops met little resistance as they recaptured Gijón and Avilés the following day. On the same day, the cruiser Libertad and two gunboats reached Gijón, where they fired on
5760-513: The army to intervene, declaring that Spanish soldiers would save the country from communism if "there are no politicians capable of doing so". Prominent rightists blamed the government for Calvo Sotelo's assassination . They claimed that the authorities did not properly investigate it and promoted those involved in the murder whilst censoring those who cried out about it and shutting down the headquarters of right-wing parties and arresting right-wing party members, often on "flimsy charges". The event
5880-589: The centre of Oviedo , as well as Guardia Civil barracks in mining areas, beginning the Asturian miners' strike of 1934 and the " October Revolution ". Following the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, a Statute of Autonomy established Catalonia as an autonomous region , but it was passed only after two important concessions that kept control of taxation and education vested in Madrid. Elections were held in November 1932 to
6000-487: The civil guards, Moroccan Regulares and the Spanish Legion were accordingly organized under General Eduardo López Ochoa and Colonel Juan de Yagüe to relieve the besieged government garrisons and to retake the towns from the miners. During the operations, an autogyro made a reconnaissance flight for the government troops in what was the first military employment of a rotorcraft . On October 7, delegates from
6120-505: The conflict assumed the dimension of a war of religion, and military authorities increasingly deferred to the Church and to the expression of Catholic sentiment. However, Mola's program was vague and only a rough sketch, and there were disagreements among coupists about their vision for Spain. Franco's move was intended to seize power immediately, but his army uprising met with serious resistance, and great swathes of Spain, including most of
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#17327943708036240-424: The country. The revolt was remarkably devoid of any particular ideology. The major goal was to put an end to anarchical disorder. Mola's plan for the new regime was envisioned as a "republican dictatorship", modelled after Salazar's Portugal and as a semi-pluralist authoritarian regime rather than a totalitarian fascist dictatorship. The initial government would be an all-military "Directory", which would create
6360-416: The coup, though it seems Mola did not envision the mass atrocities and repression that would ultimately manifest during the civil war. Of particular importance to Mola was ensuring the revolt was at its core an Army affair, one that would not be subject to special interests and that the coup would make the armed forces the basis for the new state. However, the separation of church and state was forgotten once
6480-427: The elections, Lerroux's group fell from the 104 representatives it had in 1934 to just 9. American historian Stanley G. Payne thinks that there was major electoral fraud in the process, with widespread violation of the laws and the constitution. In line with Payne's point of view, in 2017, two Spanish Scholars, Manuel Álvarez Tardío and Roberto Villa García, published the result of a research where they concluded that
6600-761: The faculties of power in Catalonia, proclaims the Catalan State of the Spanish Federal Republic, and in establishing and fortifying relations with the leaders of the general protest against Fascism, invites them to establish in Catalonia the provisional Government of the Republic, which will find in our Catalan people the most generous impulse of fraternity in the common desire to erect a liberal and magnificent federal republic. An hour later, General Batet declared martial law . He moved against trade union and militia headquarters, both of whom surrendered quickly, then brought light artillery to bear against
6720-655: The failure of the Asturias miners' uprising, led to a more radical turn by the parties of the left, especially in the PSOE (Socialist Party), where the moderate Indalecio Prieto lost ground to Francisco Largo Caballero , who advocated a socialist revolution. At the same time, the involvement of the Centrist government party in the Straperlo and Nombela scandals deeply weakened it, further polarising political differences between right and left. These differences became evident in
6840-467: The fulfillment of the Constitutional mission of the first legislature, the second one had been a simple bid to trigger early elections. The right reacted as if radical communists had taken control, despite the new cabinet's moderate composition; they were shocked by the revolutionary masses taking to the streets and the release of prisoners. Convinced that the left was no longer willing to follow
6960-525: The general strike was declared in various Catalan towns, among them Sabadell , Vilanova i la Geltrú , Granollers , Mataró or Badalona . Crowds of workers and peasants claimed for the proclamation of the Catalan Republic, a move that was approved by the city councils of some of the afformentioned towns, which proceeded to hoist the estelada (Catalan pro-independence flag) and the red flag from their balconies. The general strike in Catalonia
7080-536: The government before the outbreak of the Civil War. The Constitution guaranteed a wide range of civil liberties, but it opposed key beliefs of the right wing, which was very rooted in rural areas, and desires of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, which was stripped of schools and public subsidies. The 1931 Constitution was formally effective from 1931 until 1939. In the summer of 1936, after
7200-455: The government deposed and creating a provisional government of a federal Spanish republic in Barcelona. In fact, Azaña met with the Catalan committee of his Republican Left party and it was agreed to oppose any such action. He then left his hotel and stayed with a friend. Companys telephoned Domènec Batet , the military commander of Barcelona, to ask him to put his forces at the disposal of
7320-460: The government forces in an effort to limit the bloodshed. Soldiers from the Civil Guard , colonial troops, and the Spanish Legion were dispatched under López Ochoa and Colonel Juan Yagüe to relieve the besieged government garrisons and to retake the towns from the miners. The brevity of the confrontation led historian Gabriel Jackson to observe "every form of fanaticism and cruelty which
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#17327943708037440-402: The government, called for new elections, instead of inviting CEDA, the party with most seats in the parliament, to form a new government. The Popular Front won the 1936 general election with a narrow victory. The Right accelerated its preparations for a coup, which had been months in the planning. Amidst the wave of political violence that broke out after the triumph of the Popular Front in
7560-452: The hospital to a safer location but was twice prevented from doing so by large hostile crowds. A third attempt was made under the pretence that Ochoa was already dead, but the ruse was exposed and the general was taken away. Paul Preston states that an anarchist dragged him from the coffin in which he was lying and shot him in the hospital garden. His head was hacked off, stuck on a pole and publicly paraded. His remains were then displayed with
7680-409: The idea of rebellion by army officers against the government had weakened; Mola had estimated that only 12% of officers reliably supported the coup and at one point considered fleeing the country for fear he was already compromised, and had to be convinced to remain by his co-conspirators. However, the kidnapping and murder of Sotelo transformed the "limping conspiracy" into a revolt that could trigger
7800-588: The immediate future. The suppression of the Asturias rebellion re-enforced political backing between the Republican right and the national army, a dynamic described by Calvo Sotelo as "the backbone of the Fatherland." When the Popular Front was formed in 1936, one of its proposals was to free all those who were imprisoned for taking part in the Asturias rebellion; this proposal angered the Spanish right, who regarded freeing those who had violently revolted against
7920-557: The increasing popular opposition, the Radicals and Socialist majority postponed the regular elections, therefore prolonging their way in power for two more years. This way the republican government of Manuel Azaña initiated numerous reforms to what in their view would "modernize" the country. Landowners were expropriated. Autonomy was granted to Catalonia, with a local parliament and a president of said parliament. Catholic churches in major cities were again subject to arson in 1932, and
8040-413: The issue of republic versus monarchy. Certain liberal elements would remain, such as separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion. Agrarian issues would be solved by regional commissioners on the basis of smallholdings, but collective cultivation would be permitted in some circumstances. Legislation prior to February 1936 would be respected. Violence would be required to destroy opposition to
8160-476: The largest party in the congress, was finally successful in forcing the acceptance of three ministries. However the entrance of CEDA in the government, although being normal in a parliamentary democracy, was not well accepted by the left. The Socialists triggered an insurrection that they had been preparing for nine months. A general strike was called by the UGT and the PSOE in the name of the Alianza Obrera . The issue
8280-708: The leader of the Oviedo Revolutionary Committee was sentenced to death but was reprieved one year later. Gonzáles later served as the president of Unión General de Trabajadores , in which he was in conflict with Largo Caballero . He was also a Member of Parliament and was the Minister of Justice from 1938 to 1939. After the Spanish Civil War González Peña went to exile in Mexico , where he died on 27 July 1952. Franco
8400-418: The left's newspapers were closed, as they were owned by the parties that had promoted the uprising. Hundreds of town councils and mixed juries were suspended. Prison torture continued to be prevalent and widespread in the aftermath of the protests. There were no mass killing after the fighting was over. All death sentences were commuted aside from two: army sergeant and deserter Diego Vásquez, who fought alongside
8520-437: The legally elected government as an indicator that the Spanish left would not respect constitutional government and the rule of law. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , López Ochoa was in a military hospital in Carabanchel and was awaiting trial, accused of responsibility for the deaths of 20 civilians at a barracks in Oviedo . Given the violence occurring throughout Madrid , the government attempted to move Ochoa from
8640-434: The main cities remained loyal to the Republic. An estimated total of half a million people would die in the war that followed. During the Spanish Civil War, there were three Republican governments. The first was led by left-wing republican José Giral (from July to September 1936); a revolution inspired mostly by libertarian socialist , anarchist and communist principles broke out in its territory. The second government
8760-420: The main cities, remained loyal to the Republic of Spain. The leaders of the coup (Franco was not commander-in-chief yet) did not lose heart with the stalemate and apparent failure of the coup. Instead, they initiated a slow and determined war of attrition against the Republican government in Madrid. As a result, an estimated total of half a million people would die in the war that followed; the number of casualties
8880-529: The miners attempted to impose order on the areas under their control, and the moderate socialist leadership of Ramón González Peña and Belarmino Tomás took measures to restrain violence. However, a number of captured priests, businessmen and civil guards were summarily executed by the revolutionaries in Mieres and Sama. The government in Madrid was now facing a civil war and called on two of its senior generals, Manuel Goded and Francisco Franco , to co-ordinate
9000-429: The miners, and a worker known as "El Pichilatu", who had committed serial killings. Little effort was made to suppress the organisations that had carried out the insurrection, resulting in most being functional again by 1935. Support for fascism remained minimal, while civil liberties were restored in full by 1935, after which the revolutionaries had opportunity to pursue power through electoral means. Ramón Gonzáles Peña ,
9120-426: The monarchy or a dictatorship like that of Miguel Primo de Rivera , and hardened the most radical left in its belief that a fascist danger was rising and a revolution necessary. The rebels had stockpiled rifles and pistols, leading to general Emilio Mola calling them the "best armed" of all the leftist insurrections of interwar Europe. Most of the rifles came from a shipment of arms supplied by Indalecio Prieto ,
9240-466: The mountainous Spanish terrain. Compounding economic woes was Spain's low export rate and heavily domestic manufacturing industry. High levels of poverty left many Spaniards open to extremist political parties in search of a solution. Events of 6 October [REDACTED] Generalitat of Catalonia (self-proclaimed Catalan State ) [REDACTED] Spanish Republic The events of 6 October ( Catalan : Fets del sis d'octubre ) were
9360-523: The new government which involved the CEDA , from October 4-19. The strike and subsequent demonstrations eventually developed into a violent revolutionary uprising in an attempt to overthrow the conservative regime. The revolutionaries took over Asturias by force, killing many of the province's police and religious leaders. Armed with dynamite, rifles, and machine guns, they destroyed religious buildings, such as churches and convents. The rebels officially declared
9480-471: The new republic. Batet was non-committal. At 8 p.m., Companys appeared on a balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat to proclaim the " Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic," told the crowd that " monarchists and fascists " had "assaulted the government", and went on: In this solemn hour, in the name of the people and the Parliament, the Government over which I preside assumes all
9600-526: The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , it became largely irrelevant after the authority of the Republic was superseded in many places by revolutionary socialists and anarchists on one side, and Nationalists on the other. With the new constitution approved in December 1931, once the constituent assembly had fulfilled its mandate of approving a new constitution, it should have arranged for regular parliamentary elections and adjourned. However, fearing
9720-422: The participation of the left in the revolt: "The uprising of 1934 is unforgivable. The argument that Mr Gil Robles tried to destroy the Constitution to establish fascism was, at once, hypocritical and false. With the rebellion of 1934, the Spanish left lost even the shadow of moral authority to condemn the rebellion of 1936." The suspension of the land reforms that had been attempted by the previous government, and
9840-449: The post-election environment could become violent and was trying to quell the perceived leftist threat. Valladares resigned, even before a new government could be formed. However, the Popular Front, which had proved an effective election tool, did not translate into a Popular Front government. Largo Caballero and other elements of the political left were not prepared to work with the republicans, although they did agree to support many of
9960-423: The professional Army of Africa had much of the south and west under the control of the rebels and by October 1936, Time Magazine declared that "façade of the Spanish Republic was crumbling". Bloody purges followed in each piece of captured "Nationalist" territory in order to consolidate Franco's future regime. Although both sides received foreign military aid, the help that Fascist Italy , Nazi Germany (as part of
10080-457: The proposed reforms. Manuel Azaña was called upon to form a government before the electoral process had come to an end, and he would shortly replace Zamora as president, taking advantage of a constitutional loophole: the Constitution allowed the Cortes to remove the President from office after two early dissolutions, and while the first (1933) dissolution had been partially justified because of
10200-441: The publicized killings but that confirmed prevalent instances of beatings and torture. The political right demanded severe punishment for the insurrection, while the political left insisted on amnesty for what they viewed as a labour strike and political protest that got out control. The government response in the aftermath of the rebellion varied in tact and strategy. The government suspended constitutional guarantees and almost all of
10320-414: The ranks of educators. Scholars have described the constitution as hostile to religion, with one scholar characterising it as one of the most hostile of the 20th century. José Ortega y Gasset stated, "the article in which the Constitution legislates the actions of the Church seems highly improper to me." Pope Pius XI condemned the Spanish government's deprivation of the civil liberties of Catholics in
10440-482: The rebel's armed conflict killed between 50 and 100 people and that the government conducted up to 100 summary executions, while 15 million pesetas were stolen from banks, most of which was never recovered and would go on to fund further revolutionary activity. Due to martial law and censorship, little or no information was officially made public; a group of Socialist deputies carried out a private investigation and published an independent report that discounted most of
10560-433: The rebels were able to seize the city's arsenal gaining 24,000 rifles, carbines and light and heavy machine guns. Recruitment offices drafted all workers between the ages of eighteen and forty for the 'Red Army'. Thirty thousand workers had been mobilized for battle within ten days. In the occupied areas the rebels officially declared the proletarian revolution and abolished regular money. The revolutionary soviets set up by
10680-409: The rebels. Most planned armed revolts involving militiamen did not go ahead and the others were easily crushed by the authorities. A " Catalan State ", proclaimed by Catalan nationalist leader Lluis Companys , lasted just ten hours, and despite an attempt at a general stoppage in Madrid , other strikes did not endure. In Madrid, strikers occupied the ministry of the interior and a few military centres,
10800-429: The restoration of democracy in Spain, the government-in-exile formally dissolved the following year. On 28 January 1930, the military dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera (who had been in power since September 1923 ) was overthrown. This led various republican factions from a wide variety of backgrounds (including conservatives, socialists and Catalan nationalists) to join forces. The Pact of San Sebastián
10920-441: The results were known, a group of monarchists asked Robles to lead a coup, but he refused. He did, however, ask prime minister Manuel Portela Valladares to declare a state of war before the revolutionary masses rushed into the streets. Franco also approached Valladares to propose the declaration of martial law and calling out of the army. This was not a coup attempt, but more of a "police action" akin to Asturias , as Franco believed
11040-431: The right to join the rebellion. Within hours of learning of the murder and the reaction, Franco , who until then had not been involved in the conspiracies, changed his mind on rebellion and dispatched a message to Mola to display his firm commitment. Three days later (17 July), the coup d'état began more or less as it had been planned, with an army uprising in Spanish Morocco , which then spread to several regions of
11160-416: The road to Oviedo , the provincial capital. With the exception of two barracks in which fighting with the garrison of 1,500 government troops continued, the city was taken by 6 October. The miners proceeded to occupy several other towns, most notably the large industrial centre of La Felguera , and set up town assemblies, or "revolutionary committees", to govern the towns that they controlled. Taking Oviedo,
11280-436: The rule of law and that its vision of Spain was under threat, the right abandoned the parliamentary option and began to conspire as to how to best overthrow the republic, rather than taking control of it. This helped the development of the fascist-inspired Falange Española, a National party led by José Antonio Primo de Rivera , the son of the former dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera , although it only received 0.7 percent of
11400-668: The strikes immediately exposed differences on the left between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)-linked Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), which organised the strike, and the anarcho-syndicalist trade union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). As a result, the strikes failed in much of the country. In several coal mining towns in Asturias, where the Central Asturian Carboniferous Basin
11520-577: The suppression of what had become a major rebellion. Goded and Franco recommended the use of regular units of colonial troops from Spanish Morocco , instead of the inexperienced conscripts of the Peninsular Army. War Minister Diego Hidalgo agreed that the latter would be at a disadvantage in combat against the well-organised miners, who were skilled in the use of dynamite. Historian Hugh Thomas asserts that Hidalgo said that he did not want young inexperienced recruits fighting their own people and he
11640-530: The time comes, either parliament submits or we will eliminate it ." The CEDA held fascist-style rallies, called Gil-Robles " Jefe ", the equivalent of Duce , and claimed that the CEDA might lead a "March on Madrid" (similar to the Italian Fascist March on Rome ) to forcefully seize power. The fact that this force won a relative majority in the congress, made many republicans fear a return to
11760-469: The tools of a foreign Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy. Franco believed the government needed to reprimand the rebels, otherwise it would only encourage further revolutionary activity. Historians have often regarded Asturias as the "first battle" or "prelude" of the Spanish Civil War. The left's leaders would never publicly admit to wrong-doing in the turn to mass violence in Asturias, though they would accept that they could not use such methods to obtain power in
11880-447: The towns that they controlled. Thirty thousand workers were mobilized for battle within ten days. In the occupied areas the rebels officially declared the proletarian revolution and abolished regular money. The revolutionary soviets set up by the miners attempted to impose order on the areas under their control, and the moderate socialist leadership of Ramón González Peña and Belarmino Tomás took measures to restrain violence. However,
12000-621: The votes in the election. By July 1936, the Falange had a mere 40,000 members among millions of Spaniards. The country quickly moved towards anarchy. Even the socialist Indalecio Prieto , at a party rally in Cuenca in May 1936, complained: "we have never seen so tragic a panorama or so great a collapse as in Spain at this moment. Abroad Spain is classified as insolvent. This is not the road to socialism or communism but to desperate anarchism without even
12120-670: The war and inspired Picasso's painting . It was used as a testing ground for the German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion . The Battle of the Ebro in July–November 1938 was the final desperate attempt by the Republicans to turn the tide. When this failed and Barcelona fell to the rebels in early 1939, it was clear the war was over. The remaining Republican fronts collapsed, and Madrid fell in March 1939. The Second Spanish Republic's economy
12240-437: The workers at the shore. Bombers also attacked coalfields and Oviedo. After two weeks of heavy fighting (and a death toll estimated between 1,200 and 2,000), the rebellion was suppressed. General López Ochoa ordered the summary executions of six legionnaires and Moroccan colonial troops for raping, torturing, and murdering prisoners, some of whom had been hacked to death. Historian Javier Tusell argues that although Franco had
12360-484: Was also suppressed and was followed by mass arrests and trials. With this rebellion against an established political legitimate authority, the Socialists showed identical repudiation of representative institutional system that anarchists had practiced. The Spanish historian Salvador de Madariaga , an Azaña supporter and an exiled vocal opponent of Francisco Franco, is the author of a sharp critical reflection against
12480-480: Was called by the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the name of the Alianza Obrera . The rebellion developed into a bloody revolutionary uprising , aiming to overthrow the republican government. Armed revolutionaries managed to take the whole province of Asturias , killing policemen, clerics, and businessmen and destroying religious buildings and part of
12600-481: Was convinced that the workers' uprising had been "carefully prepared by the agents of Moscow", informed by material he gathered from the Entente Anticommuniste of Geneva. Historian Paul Preston wrote: "Unmoved by the fact that the central symbol of rightist values was the reconquest of Spain from the Moors , Franco shipped Moorish mercenaries to fight in Asturias. He saw no contradiction about using
12720-581: Was established as the national anthem, and the Tricolor , with three horizontal red-yellow-purple fields, became the new flag of Spain. Under the new Constitution, all of Spain's regions had the right to autonomy . Catalonia (1932), the Basque Country (1936) and Galicia (although the Galician Statute of Autonomy could not come into effect due to the war) exercised this right, with Aragon , Andalusia and Valencia , engaged in negotiations with
12840-686: Was led by the PSOE's Francisco Largo Caballero . The UGT, along with the National Confederation of Workers (CNT), were the main forces behind the social revolution . The third government was led by socialist Juan Negrín , who led the Republic until the military coup of Segismundo Casado , which ended republican resistance and ultimately led to the victory of the Nationalists. The Republican government survived in exile and retained an embassy in Mexico City until 1976. After
12960-461: Was mostly agrarian, and many historians call Spain during this time a "backward nation". Major industries of the Second Spanish Republic were located in the Basque region (due to it having Europe's best high-grade non-phosphoric ore) and Catalonia. This greatly contributed to Spain's economic hardships, as their center of industry was located on the opposite side of the country from their resource reserves, resulting in immense transportation costs due to
13080-585: Was organised by the Alianza Obrera, working alongside the Escamots (squads), a paramilitary adjunct to the ERC. Josep Dencàs , the Catalan minister of security, in theory had 70,000 armed Escamots at his disposal, but they were ill-prepared for the fighting. Companys was thought to be having talks with former left-wing Spanish prime minister Manuel Azaña , who had gone to Barcelona, with a view to declaring
13200-454: Was preparation for a revolution to establish a " federal " Spanish republic. When Macià died at Christmas, Lluís Companys was elected president of Catalonia a week later on 1 January 1934. The ERC won the Catalan election of 1934, bucking the trend in Spain where a shift to the right was the norm. The implementation of the Statute of Autonomy was seen to be threatened by the CEDA success in
13320-515: Was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII . It was dissolved on 1 April 1939 after surrendering in the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco . After the proclamation of the Republic, a provisional government was established until December 1931, at which time the 1931 Constitution was approved. During this time and the subsequent two years of constitutional government, known as
13440-507: Was responsible for many of these repression strategies. According to Hugh Thomas , 2,000 people died in the uprising: 230-260 military and police, 33 priests, 1,500 miners in combat and 200 individuals killed in the repression. Among those killed, journalist Luis de Sirval was a well-known opponent of tortures and executions, eventually being arrested and killed by three officers of the Legion. Stanley Payne , an American historian, estimates that
13560-415: Was shot by Falangist gunmen. In response, a group of Guardia de Asalto and other leftist militiamen led by Civil Guard Fernando Condés, after getting the approval of the minister of interior to illegally arrest a list of members of parliament, went to right-wing opposition leader José Calvo Sotelo 's house in the early hours of 13 July on a revenge mission. Sotelo was arrested and later shot dead in
13680-549: Was suspended while Companys and his government were imprisoned until the left-wing Popular Front government came to power in 1936. The 1933 general election of the Second Spanish Republic , left-wing parties lost heavily, and the newly formed conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA), led by José María Gil Robles , became the largest party with 115 seats in the Cortes Generales . Nevertheless, incoming prime minister Alejandro Lerroux formed
13800-542: Was that the Left Republicans identified the Republic not with democracy or constitutional law but with a specific set of left-wing policies and politicians. Any deviation, even if democratic, was seen as treasonous. The inclusion of three CEDA ministers in the government that took office on 1 October 1934 led to a country wide revolt. A " Catalan State " was proclaimed by Catalan nationalist leader Lluis Companys , but it lasted just ten hours. Despite an attempt at
13920-457: Was that the Left identified the Republic not with democracy or constitutional law but a specific set of policies and politicians, and any deviation was seen as treasonous. That triggered revolutionary strikes and uprisings occurred in Asturias and in Catalonia as well as small incidents in other places in Spain, all a part of the Revolution of 1934 . On the other hand, CEDA could hardly be seen as
14040-572: Was the key to the transition from monarchy to republic. Republicans of all tendencies were committed to the Pact of San Sebastian in overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a republic. The restoration of the royal Bourbons was rejected by large sectors of the populace who vehemently opposed the King. The pact, signed by representatives of the main Republican forces, allowed a joint anti-monarchy political campaign. The 12 April 1931 municipal elections led to
14160-501: Was to characterise the Civil War occurred during the October revolution and its aftermath: utopian revolution marred by sporadic red terror; systematically bloody repression by the ‘forces of order’; confusion and demoralisation of the moderate left; fanatical vengefulness on the part of the right." The revolt has been regarded as "the first battle of" or "the prelude to" the Spanish Civil War . According to hispanist Edward Malefakis ,
14280-491: Was wary of moving troops to Asturias leaving the rest of Spain unprotected. In 1932, Manuel Azaña had also called the Tercio and the regulares (colonial troops) from North Africa to join in the suppression. The war minister, Diego Hidalgo, wanted Franco to lead the troops but President Alcalá Zamora selected General López Ochoa , a Republican, to lead the government forces in order to minimize possible bloodshed. Soldiers from
14400-531: Was won by the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA). However the President declined to invite its leader, Gil Robles , to form a government, fearing CEDA's monarchist sympathies. Instead, he invited the Radical Republican Party 's Alejandro Lerroux to do so. CEDA was denied cabinet positions for nearly a year. In October 1934, CEDA was finally successful in forcing the acceptance of three ministries. The Socialists triggered an insurrection that they had been preparing for nine months. A general strike
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