The Pact of San Sebastian and the Second Spanish Republic

The Pact of San Sebastian and the Republic

The Pact of San Sebastian refers to the historic agreements reached on August 17, 1930, in San Sebastian. Representing Republicans from across Spain, the meeting aimed to negotiate the establishment of a republic and abolish the Bourbon monarchy.

Conservative Republican Leadership

Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, along with Miguel Maura and the Liberal Republican Right party, represented the conservative republican faction in the Pact of San Sebastian. Their goal was to promote a popular movement to topple the monarchy and establish the Republic. This pact led to the creation of an executive committee responsible for directing republican action in Spain, with Alcalá-Zamora elected as its chairman.

Manuel Azaña Díaz: A Central Figure

Manuel Azaña Díaz (January 10, 1880 – November 4, 1940) was a pivotal statesman of the era. He served as the President of the Government (1931–1933 and 1936) and eventually became the second and final President of the Second Spanish Republic (1936–1939).

Key Political Organizations and Parties

• ORGA (Autonomous Galician Republican Organization): Founded in autumn 1929 in La Coruña, this Galician republican and autonomous party was led by Santiago Casares Quiroga and involved the Irmandades da Fala.
• POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification): Founded in 1935, the POUM was a Spanish revolutionary Marxist party. Opposed to orthodox Marxism-Leninism, it was close to Trotskyism but influenced by left-wing communism.
• FAI (Iberian Anarchist Federation): Founded in 1927 at El Saler beach, Valencia, the FAI united the Portuguese Anarchist Union and the Spanish National Federation. It maintains an Iberian scope and remains part of the International Federation of Anarchists today.
• EAJ-PNV (Basque Nationalist Party): Founded in 1895 by Sabino Arana, the Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea is a democratic Basque nationalist party. It was established to defend Basque identity, the recovery of traditional rights (fueros), and the independence of a "Basque confederation," though figures like Ramón de la Sota later steered it toward regional conservatism.