Agrarian, Labor, Military, Religious, and Educational Reforms in Spain

Agrarian Reform

The Agrarian Reform was initially applied in 1932 to the estates of southern Spain. It was later extended to the whole country. Small and medium landowners strongly opposed the reforms, which were implemented very slowly. The central government reform was not satisfactory for anyone.

Labor Reforms

These reforms were the work of Largo Caballero. They created a new framework for relations between employers and workers and established a labor law for the agricultural sector. The main measures were:

• The Law of Labor Contracts
• The Law of Mixed Juries
• The Law of Municipal Terms
• The Law of Compulsory Tillage
• The Law of Accidents in the Field
• The imposition of an eight-hour workday in agriculture

Other reforms, such as the Worker Intervention Law and the creation of unemployment insurance, could not be approved.

Military Reform

These reforms were carried out by Azaña. Their objectives were:

• To reduce the excessive number of officers
• To reorganize the administration and teaching scales of the military
• To modernize and bring the military under civilian jurisdiction

Religious Reform

The goal was to completely separate church and state, depriving the church of functions considered to belong to the state. This involved:

• The creation of an independent, secular state
• The Divorce Law
• The Law of Religious Congregations
• The Law of Secularization of Cemeteries, turning them into civil cemeteries

Religious education ceased to be compulsory in schools, and crucifixes and other religious symbols were removed.

Educational Reforms and Cultural Policy

This area was overseen by Fernando de los Rios. The goal was to imitate the French model by creating a unified, public, secular education system with free primary education. Co-education of boys and girls was also introduced. These reforms included:

• Banning religious associations from exercising education
• Training of teachers and school construction
• Allocation of scholarships for needy and capable students
• In-service training and addressing the pedagogical needs of teachers

In terms of cultural policy, reforms included:

• Dissemination of books
• Construction of public libraries in small towns, schools, and municipalities
• Creation of educational missions to extend culture to the most neglected rural areas

Market experiments were carried out to socialize culture in rural areas and among workers.