Spain's Republican-Socialist Coalition: Crisis and Conflict (1931-1933)

The Republican-Socialist Coalition: Challenges and Decline

The proclamation of the Republic aroused high hopes among the masses for changes in the distribution of income and wealth. However, it also caused fear and mistrust among landowners and businessmen, whose investments were critical for increased production and employment.

An Economic Downturn

The regime change coincided with the most severe phase of the global economic slump, which began with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929. The crisis reverberated more strongly in Spain than in other Western countries, paralyzing emigration to America, a common escape valve during global crises. During the Republican era, the international crisis worsened traditional problems within the Spanish economy, such as agricultural unemployment and unequal land distribution. These chronic issues were exacerbated by the Republican administration's economic policy.

Private investment experienced a spectacular collapse, especially until November 1933, when the coalition of Republicans and Socialists was defeated in elections. The government opted for a policy to reduce public expenditure to curb the deficit inherited from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and achieve balanced budgets, but this had disastrous repercussions.

Social Conflict Intensifies

The slow pace of reforms and the resulting disenchantment provoked the impatience of the workers, given the very high unemployment rates. The revolutionary will of leftist parties and unions intensified the fighting. The CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) seized the opportunity to promote its revolutionary agenda through labor disputes (general strikes) and peasant uprisings, aiming to destroy the existing bourgeois order. In 1933, organizations like the *Federación Internacional de Trabajadores*, the UGT (led by Largo Caballero), and the Communist Party also intensified their activities.

Strikes, insurrections, and land occupations were steadily increasing. In 1932, anarchists led a rebellion of miners and peasants in Catalonia, followed by similar uprisings in Andalusia in 1933. These conflicts sometimes resulted in the deaths of peasants, as tragically seen in Casas Viejas (Cadiz) and Castilblanco. This led to a significant erosion of government credibility, as it was discredited by the harsh police measures taken to establish public order. The crisis was used by all sectors opposed to the Republic to try to end the Republican-Socialist coalition.

The Reorganization of the Right

Republican reforms, including the autonomy of Catalonia, agrarian, religious, and military changes, along with the ongoing social conflict, deeply displeased economic, social, and ideological elites, such as the Church and large landowners. The center-right Radical Party reorganized around Alejandro Lerroux. The CEDA (Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas), founded in 1933, quickly gained a significant number of participants and a prominent leader in José María Gil Robles.

Additionally, groups like *Renovación Española* (led by José Calvo Sotelo), the *Comunión Tradicionalista* (Carlists), and especially the fascist groups *JONS* (Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista) and *Falange Española* (though initially minority movements) conducted intensive agitation against what they perceived as the advancement of Marxism and the danger of a Bolshevik revolution.

In August 1932, General Sanjurjo staged a coup d'état aimed at shifting the Republic to the right, but it failed miserably. In 1933, the *Unión Militar Española* (UME) was created as an underground organization of right-wing, anti-reform military officers, which would become actively involved in the coup of July 1936.