Topic 1: Years of Reform 1931-33 Flashcards
What were the main industrial reforms?
- 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
What were the intentions behind the industrial reforms?
- 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
What were the consequences of the Industrial reforms?
- 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
Industrial reforms: when and where were the strikes and protests?
- in Basque in 1931
- police responded violently
Did the Industrial reforms improve the lives of the poor?
- failed
- urban poverty ongoing from the Great Depression
- in Madrid the boom came to an end which led to a rise in unemployment
What were the main agricultural reforms?
- maximum 8 hours working day
- legal right to overtime pay
- small tenant farmers could no longer be evicted from their farms
What were the intentions behind the Agricultural reforms?
- socialist hoped the reform would help with rural poverty
- gvt ministers believed modernising agriculture was a step towards the reform of the whole economy
Who introduced the Agricultural reforms?
Largo Caballero
socialist minister of labour
Agricultural reform laws: Law of municipal boundaries
- 1931
- landowners had to employ workers from local areas- instead of cheaper, migrant workers
Agricultural reform laws: Law of Obligatory Cultivation
- 1931
- aimed to increase employment by forcing landlords to use their land for growing crops
-workers now had legal rights
Consequence of the 1931 Agricultural reform?
legal position of workers proved unpopular with landowners- many ignored rules put in place
What happened if the Agricultural reforms were ignored?
- agricultural workers could join FNNT
- FNNT helped workers defend rights
Agricultural reform laws: Agrarian Reform Law
- 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
Agricultural reform law: why did the Agrarian Reform Law fail?
- acted slowly/ lacked funding
- had budget of only 50 million pestas
- gvt had now way of supporting new rights- e.g. 8 hr days
Consequences from Agrarian Reform law?
- criticism from FNNT agricultural union
- socialists and UGT became radical- wanted new reforms that would lead to genuine redistribution of land
Consequence from Agrarian Reform Law- CEDA?
- led to creation of CEDA
- claimed reforms would drive down price of wheat- plunge small farms into deeper poverty
Main reforms of the army?
- 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
Why were the army reforms made?
- 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
What were the consequences of the army reforms?
- support for Second Republic was weakened
- vast removal of officers did not remove all officers in support of the former ideologies
Give and example of why the Second Republic was weakened?
- 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
What were the successes of the Army reforms?
- 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
What were the reforms of the church?
- 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
Why were the Church reforms made?
- 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
What were the consequences of the Church reform?
- 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
What were the successes of the Church reforms?
- 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
What were the Catalonian Self Governance Reforms?
- 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
What is a plebiscite?
- a vote for ordinary people
- everyone can vote
What was the Catalan Statute?
- 1932
- Catalonia permitted to be an autonomous region
What was the intention behind the Catalonian reform?
- establishment of more autonomy
- Azana passed Statute to gain more support from Catalonia- wealthy region
What were the consequences of the Catalonian Self Governance reform?
- 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
When was the attempted military coup?
August 1932
What was the attempted military coup?
- led by General Sanjuro
- military uprising from right-wing
- failed to seize Madrid
How did the gvt respond to the attempted military coup?
responded with limited force and let the uprising collapse on its own
Why was there an attempted military coup?
- right-wing response to Azana’s reforms
- reforms of the Church granted Catalonia autonomy- angered army
When was the Casas Viejas Massacre?
January 1933
What was the Casas Viejas Massacre?
- 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
Why did the Casas Viejas Massacre happen?
- 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
Consequences of the Casas Viejas Massacre?
- 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
