economically.
Part III
Dilemmas of Contemporary Spain
Provincial divisions of modern Spain
9
A Republic... without Democrats?
Had anyone reading this book been in Madrid or Barcelona on the evening of April 14, 1931, or the day following, the scenes of jubilation, accompanied by the general absence of violence, would have convinced him that the new Republic was welcomed by the vast majority of Spanish society. A logical corollary might be that the latter possessed the civic maturity and responsibility to enable a twentieth-century democracy to function successfully. But, as everyone knows, this did not prove to be the case.
There remain certain standard explanations for the failure of the Republic. For the Left, this stemmed from the unremitting hostility of the Right, which refused to accept "reforms." For the Right, it resulted from the violence and extremism of the Left, aided and abetted by Moscow, which never intended to practice democracy. For more than a few professional scholars, it stemmed from the civic immaturity and polarization of Spanish society, influenced by the European conjuncture. In fact, these various explanations should not be seen as mutually exclusive, for there are elements of truth in all of them. The factors involved will be taken up in the succeeding chapters, but any reexamination of the problems of the Republic must begin with the republicans themselves.
There is no doubt that by 1931 a large part, probably the majority, of Spanish political opinion wished to see the inauguration of political democracy, even though such an interest was not shared by at least a large minority of political opinion. This was partly the result of the six and a half years of direct dictatorship — something never seen before in Spanish affairs — which "inoculated" a sizable part of political opinion against authoritarian solutions. Another fundamental factor was the revolution of rising expectations wrought by the transformation of Spanish society in the 1920s. During those years the rhythm of economic growth, social and cultural transformation, and expansion of education was the most rapid in all of Spanish history to that time. This resulted in greatly heightened expectations of change and improvement, both among the lower classes and among much of the middle classes as well. The experience of the Republic cannot be understood without keeping in mind this background of rapid and sweeping transformation. The standard image of "backward Spain" is not incorrect, for the country remained underdeveloped in comparison with northwestern Europe, but it altogether fails to capture the pace of change and the sociocultural dynamism at work from the late 1920s on. The most important conditioning factor was not the influence of "underdevelopment" but rather the profound psychological effects of rapid change and the ways in which the country was ceasing to be merely underdeveloped. All this led to greatly increased expectations, not merely in the political realm but also in social and economic affairs.
A basic problem was that political society had not naturally evolved through reformism into democratic practice, but had lost contact with its own parliamentary traditions — thanks to the hiatus of the dictatorship. A new democratic republic was being attempted ab ovo with new leaders and mostly new political organizations, all something of a leap in the dark.
With the exception of the Radical Republican Party of Alejandro Lerroux, the republican parties of 1931 were of comparatively recent creation, as indeed some of the leaders themselves were recent converts to republicanism. Several of the key moderate figures, such as Niceto Alcalá-Zamora and Miguel Maura, became republicans only in 1930, and most of the other republican parties had been formed only in recent years. Moreover, most of the new leaders had little political experience, so the depth of their commitment to democracy could only be demonstrated
Part III
Dilemmas of Contemporary Spain
Provincial divisions of modern Spain
9
A Republic... without Democrats?
Had anyone reading this book been in Madrid or Barcelona on the evening of April 14, 1931, or the day following, the scenes of jubilation, accompanied by the general absence of violence, would have convinced him that the new Republic was welcomed by the vast majority of Spanish society. A logical corollary might be that the latter possessed the civic maturity and responsibility to enable a twentieth-century democracy to function successfully. But, as everyone knows, this did not prove to be the case.
There remain certain standard explanations for the failure of the Republic. For the Left, this stemmed from the unremitting hostility of the Right, which refused to accept "reforms." For the Right, it resulted from the violence and extremism of the Left, aided and abetted by Moscow, which never intended to practice democracy. For more than a few professional scholars, it stemmed from the civic immaturity and polarization of Spanish society, influenced by the European conjuncture. In fact, these various explanations should not be seen as mutually exclusive, for there are elements of truth in all of them. The factors involved will be taken up in the succeeding chapters, but any reexamination of the problems of the Republic must begin with the republicans themselves.
There is no doubt that by 1931 a large part, probably the majority, of Spanish political opinion wished to see the inauguration of political democracy, even though such an interest was not shared by at least a large minority of political opinion. This was partly the result of the six and a half years of direct dictatorship — something never seen before in Spanish affairs — which "inoculated" a sizable part of political opinion against authoritarian solutions. Another fundamental factor was the revolution of rising expectations wrought by the transformation of Spanish society in the 1920s. During those years the rhythm of economic growth, social and cultural transformation, and expansion of education was the most rapid in all of Spanish history to that time. This resulted in greatly heightened expectations of change and improvement, both among the lower classes and among much of the middle classes as well. The experience of the Republic cannot be understood without keeping in mind this background of rapid and sweeping transformation. The standard image of "backward Spain" is not incorrect, for the country remained underdeveloped in comparison with northwestern Europe, but it altogether fails to capture the pace of change and the sociocultural dynamism at work from the late 1920s on. The most important conditioning factor was not the influence of "underdevelopment" but rather the profound psychological effects of rapid change and the ways in which the country was ceasing to be merely underdeveloped. All this led to greatly increased expectations, not merely in the political realm but also in social and economic affairs.
A basic problem was that political society had not naturally evolved through reformism into democratic practice, but had lost contact with its own parliamentary traditions — thanks to the hiatus of the dictatorship. A new democratic republic was being attempted ab ovo with new leaders and mostly new political organizations, all something of a leap in the dark.
With the exception of the Radical Republican Party of Alejandro Lerroux, the republican parties of 1931 were of comparatively recent creation, as indeed some of the leaders themselves were recent converts to republicanism. Several of the key moderate figures, such as Niceto Alcalá-Zamora and Miguel Maura, became republicans only in 1930, and most of the other republican parties had been formed only in recent years. Moreover, most of the new leaders had little political experience, so the depth of their commitment to democracy could only be demonstrated
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