Topic 1: Years of Reform 1931-33

Question 1

What were the main industrial reforms?

Answer 1

• enforcing salary increases
• legal entitlement to 7 days paid leave
• working day restricted to 8 hours- unless overtime paid
• freedom to strike without fear of dismissal

Question 2

What were the intentions behind the industrial reforms?

Answer 2

• Spain’s industrial development was weak from rural and agrarian infrastructure
• need to revitalise and invest in Spain’s industry
• productions and exports of iron and steel suffered due to falling demand in national markets from Depression

Question 3

What were the consequences of the Industrial reforms?

Answer 3

• Azana’s refroms angered traditional elite
• failed to satisfy anarchists and communist
• reform and strikes led to an increase in right-wing supporters
• lack of employments led to poverty anf therefore strikes and protests

Question 4

Industrial reforms: when and where were the strikes and protests?

Answer 4

• in Basque in 1931
• police responded violently

Question 5

Did the Industrial reforms improve the lives of the poor?

Answer 5

• failed
• urban poverty ongoing from the Great Depression
• in Madrid the boom came to an end which led to a rise in unemployment

Question 6

What were the main agricultural reforms?

Answer 6

• maximum 8 hours working day
• legal right to overtime pay
• small tenant farmers could no longer be evicted from their farms

Question 7

What were the intentions behind the Agricultural reforms?

Answer 7

• socialist hoped the reform would help with rural poverty
• gvt ministers believed modernising agriculture was a step towards the reform of the whole economy

Question 8

Who introduced the Agricultural reforms?

Answer 8

Largo Caballero
socialist minister of labour

Question 9

Agricultural reform laws: Law of municipal boundaries

Answer 9

• 1931
• landowners had to employ workers from local areas- instead of cheaper, migrant workers

Question 10

Agricultural reform laws: Law of Obligatory Cultivation

Answer 10

• 1931
• aimed to increase employment by forcing landlords to use their land for growing crops
  -workers now had legal rights

Question 11

Consequence of the 1931 Agricultural reform?

Answer 11

legal position of workers proved unpopular with landowners- many ignored rules put in place

Question 12

What happened if the Agricultural reforms were ignored?

Answer 12

• agricultural workers could join FNNT
• FNNT helped workers defend rights

Question 13

Agricultural reform laws: Agrarian Reform Law

Answer 13

• 1932
• aimed at adressing problem of rural inequality through redistribution of land
• law allowed them to keep 23 hectares of land, anything over was redistributes to peasant farmers

Question 14

Agricultural reform law: why did the Agrarian Reform Law fail?

Answer 14

• acted slowly/ lacked funding
• had budget of only 50 million pestas
• gvt had now way of supporting new rights- e.g. 8 hr days

Question 15

Consequences from Agrarian Reform law?

Answer 15

• criticism from FNNT agricultural union
• socialists and UGT became radical- wanted new reforms that would lead to genuine redistribution of land

Question 16

Consequence from Agrarian Reform Law- CEDA?

Answer 16

• led to creation of CEDA
• claimed reforms would drive down price of wheat- plunge small farms into deeper poverty

Question 17

Main reforms of the army?

Answer 17

• officers requires to take an oath of loyalty to Spanish Republic
• between 1923-30 officers convicted of crimes were arrested
• officers allowed to take early retirement with full pay

Question 18

Why were the army reforms made?

Answer 18

• reduce the political impact military had
• reduce size of military
• removing conservative from the army and supporters of its old leader
• cost of army was too expensive

Question 19

What were the consequences of the army reforms?

Answer 19

• support for Second Republic was weakened
• vast removal of officers did not remove all officers in support of the former ideologies

Question 20

Give and example of why the Second Republic was weakened?

Answer 20

• right-wing newspapers presented the reforms as a campaign to ‘crush the army’
• this presented the gvt changes as an attempt to ruin the army

Question 21

What were the successes of the Army reforms?

Answer 21

• 40% of officers went into early retirement which removed a lot of right-wing people
• army’s structure had been reorganised for a more a more sustainable army force

Question 22

What were the reforms of the church?

Answer 22

• Article 3- clarifies Spanish state had no official religion
• Article 26-ensured the state no longer gave economic aid to church
• Article 44- gave state right to take away the property of the church

Question 23

Why were the Church reforms made?

Answer 23

• members of provisional gvt believed there needed to be a change in the relationship between the church and the gvt
• church held too much authority over people

Question 24

What were the consequences of the Church reform?

Answer 24

• catholic-right angered by Article 3- Spain had always been a Catholic country
• Niceto Alcala-Zamora resigned in 1931 as gvt supported anti-clerical policies
• right-wing parties came together to plan to reverse anti-clerical policies as they were heading in a radical way

Question 25

What were the successes of the Church reforms?

Answer 25

- separated form the state - used money usually given to church to increase teachers wages - built 7,000 schools in the first year - introduces travelling school- schools went to rural areas

Question 26

What were the Catalonian Self Governance Reforms?

Answer 26

- 1931 plebiscite was held to see if Catalonia should hold self governance - this led to the passing of the Catalan Statute - Catalonia could form its own parliament and pass its own laws

Question 27

What is a plebiscite?

Answer 27

- a vote for ordinary people - everyone can vote

Question 28

What was the Catalan Statute?

Answer 28

- 1932 - Catalonia permitted to be an autonomous region

Question 29

What was the intention behind the Catalonian reform?

Answer 29

- establishment of more autonomy - Azana passed Statute to gain more support from Catalonia- wealthy region

Question 30

What were the consequences of the Catalonian Self Governance reform?

Answer 30

- Spanish Nationalists and army saw it as a threat to the unity of Spain - Azana'z gvt would fall so more moderate coalitions would attemot to undo previous reforms

Question 31

When was the attempted military coup?

Answer 31

August 1932

Question 32

What was the attempted military coup?

Answer 32

- led by General Sanjuro - military uprising from right-wing - failed to seize Madrid

Question 33

How did the gvt respond to the attempted military coup?

Answer 33

responded with limited force and let the uprising collapse on its own

Question 34

Why was there an attempted military coup?

Answer 34

- right-wing response to Azana's reforms - reforms of the Church granted Catalonia autonomy- angered army

Question 35

When was the Casas Viejas Massacre?

Answer 35

January 1933

Question 36

What was the Casas Viejas Massacre?

Answer 36

- peasants in poorest parts of Spain began peaceful protests - Civil Guard opened fire on unarmed protesters and burned down their huts - gave bad look for the gvt

Question 37

Why did the Casas Viejas Massacre happen?

Answer 37

- wave of protests and strikes by left against Azana's gvt - problems of povrty in countryside - farm labourers had not been paid and gvt were not enforcing landlords to pay

Question 38

Consequences of the Casas Viejas Massacre?

Answer 38

- gvt brutally repressed - left lost faith in Azana's gvt - led to collapse of gvt in 1933 - loss of votes for PSOE in 1933 elections