What factors shaped public
opinion and attitudes
towards the Second
Republic (1931-1936) in
Spain?
Basic history: what happened in the Second Republic?
After the Primo de Rivera regime fell in 1929,
there was a transitional dictablanda (General
Balaguer) and in April 1930 elections were
held. Landslide Republican victory, King
Alfonso XIII expelled. 14th April 1931: Republic
declared. Provisional government: President
Niceto Alcalá Zamora. Prime Minister Manuel
Azaña. Republican-Socialist coalition.
Provisional until passing of the constitution in
December.
REPUBLICAN SYSTEM: The President is the Head of State, elected and
with the capacity to make certain decisions. Prime Minister head of
executive power and stands alongside legislative power and judicial
power. They are elected in different elections and may not be from the
same party. Unicameralism
Political and Social Problems in the Second Republic
Overview: lack of constitutional guarantees, great
number of landless, impoverished farmworkers (after
failed agrarian reform), low wages and poor living
conditions for more than 4 million urban workers, lack of
interregional integration (disparate degrees of
modernisation and peripheral nationalism)
1931 Constitution
Pledged to establish universal suffrage (including
women), curb the privileges of the Church and the
army, give, after approval from central government,
statute of autonomy to regions (Cataluña), carry out the
much awaited agrarian reform, legalise divorce and civil
marriage, establish unicameralism