Biennium Reform in Spain (1931-1933): Social, Educational, and Military Changes
Biennium Reform (1931-1933)
The period between December 1931 and September 1933 is called the Biennium Reform. During this period, a government presided over by Azaña, composed mainly of Left Republicans and Socialists, pushed a program of widening and deepening the reforms initiated during the Provisional Government. These reforms were considered essential to modernize society and the state. Some of these measures conflicted with the interests of privileged groups (Church, Army, and landowners).
A. The Social Reform
During the years 1932 and 1933, the Government continued its program of labor reforms initiated during the interim period. The Employment Contracts Act and the Mixed Juries Act were approved.
B. The Educational Reform
The Minister of Education, Fernando de los Rios, tried to implement a unified education system that was public, secular, and free, at least for primary education, and included coeducation of boys and girls. The secular state was manifested in the elimination of religious instruction in schools and the removal of religious symbols.
C. The Military Reform
The government deepened the reforms initiated during the period of the Provisional Government. Templates were streamlined, and the preparation and supply of Army material was modernized. Above all, the Minister of War, Azaña, attempted to strengthen the authority of the state against the Republican Army.
D. The Religious Question
The Republic proposed to limit the influence of the church in Spanish society and to secularize social life. The Establishment Clause of the state and the separation of State and Church put an end to a long understanding between state and church, and a secular state emerged: “Spain was to be Catholic.” The Church and most Catholics considered these measures an attack on religion and became the greatest enemies of the republican regime.
E. The Agrarian Reform
The agrarian reform improved labor conditions but did not solve the ancient problem that affected the Spanish countryside: the ownership structure, i.e., the unequal distribution of land, large estates, and landless farmers (laborers). In August 1932, the so-called Basic Law of Agrarian Reform was approved, which created high expectations among the landless and concern among owners. The Act provided for compensation for expropriation of large estates that were not directly cultivated by the owners, uncultivated land, irrigated land, as well as thirteen other categories.
F. Autonomy
The Constitution of 1931 recognized the right of access to autonomy for regions with nationalist sentiment within a comprehensive state. The nationalism in Catalonia and the Basque Country were the first to start the process of autonomy. In Catalonia, the Provisional Government recognized an autonomous government (Generalitat) and promised to pass in Parliament a Statute of Autonomy for the region after a referendum. In the Basque Country, the autonomy process followed a different path. The nationalists, grouped around the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the Carlists, met in Estella (Navarra) in 1931 and produced a draft Statute of Autonomy (Estatuto de Estella), similar to the Catalan one. The Statute of Autonomy granting was opposed by the right and the army, who felt that the unity of Spain was threatened.
The End of the Biennium Reform: The Crisis of the Government of Azaña and the 1933 Elections
Azaña’s reformist policy caused discontent in many sectors of the population, both on the left, particularly anarchists, and on the right, especially the Church and the Army, and led to a political and social polarization of Spain. A military conspiracy was launched from the triumph of the Republic and was promoted by General Sanjurjo, one of those affected by the reform of Azaña. In August 1932, he led a coup in Seville (known as the Sanjurjada). Sanjurjo failed and was arrested, sentenced to death, and then pardoned by Alcala-Zamora, after which he went into exile in Portugal. The public, the press, the leftist parties, and even the right, which claimed more order, attacked the government, whose image was badly damaged. The Socialists withdrew their support from the Government of Azaña, and he was in the minority. Alcala-Zamora dissolved the Parliament and called elections for November 1933.