Spanish Second Republic: Constitution and Reforms (1931-1933)
Key Political Players
Communist Party of Spain (PCE)
Revolutionary, pro-Soviet, and numerically insignificant, as it only received 400,000 votes in the 1933 elections.
Anarchists
Indifferent to democratic republican legality and always willing to engage in insurrection and revolutionary confrontation against law enforcement.
National and Regional Parties
- Basque Nationalist Party: Catholic and conservative. Jose Antonio Aguirre, one of its most prominent leaders, became the first president (Lehendakari) of the Basque government in 1936.
- Galicianist Party: Left-leaning autonomist party.
- Catalan League: Conservative.
- Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya): A radical leftist and nationalist party that dominated the Catalan political scene. Led by Francesc Macià and Lluís Companys, both of whom served as presidents of the Generalitat.
The 1931 Constitution
In June, elections were held for the Constituent Cortes through universal male suffrage. Women could run for office, and two female deputies were elected for the first time in Spanish history. Left-wing republicans and socialists won an overwhelming victory. The following month, a committee was tasked with drafting the constitution. It consisted of 15 members and was presided over by Jiménez de Asúa, a jurist and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), who defined the new constitution and the left.
Key Aspects of the 1931 Constitution
a) Female Suffrage: The recognition of women’s right to vote was completely new and had not even been recognized in countries like France.
b) Autonomy: One or several neighboring provinces with common historical and cultural characteristics could claim a Statute of Autonomy.
c) The Question of Religion: The Republican state declared itself secular, eliminated all economic aid to the Catholic Church, and forbade religious orders from teaching.
d) Civil Rights: The unlimited recognition of individual rights was complemented, for the first time in Spanish constitutional history, with a series of social rights related to work, education, health, and decent housing.
e) Limits on Private Property: The possibility of expropriation and nationalization of properties on the grounds of public interest was incorporated.
f) The New Organization of Power: Legislative power resided in a unicameral parliament. The President of the Republic, elected by the deputies and not directly by voters, was the head of state. Their mandate, without the possibility of re-election, lasted six years.
The Republican-Socialist Biennium Reforms (1931-1933)
A coalition government was created to address Spain’s serious unresolved problems.
A) Military Reform
The necessary transformation of the armed forces was driven by a double objective. Firstly, Manuel Azaña aimed to bring the military under civilian control. Secondly, he sought to reduce the number of officers from 21,000 to 8,000 to align with the country’s real needs and budgetary capacity.
B) Educational Reform
Since the Constitution had declared primary school compulsory, free, and coeducational (the latter causing a scandal among the right-wing), the Republican-Socialist government increased funding for education by 50%, built 13,500 schools to combat illiteracy, improved secondary education, and enhanced research at the university level.