José
Giral
was
born in Spain in 1880. He became professor
of chemistry and was a leading figure in the Republican
Union Party. In 1931 he was appointed as Minister of the Navy.
On 15th January 1936, Manuel
Azaña helped
to establish a coalition
of parties on the political left to fight the national elections
due to take place the following month. This included the Socialist
Party (PSOE), Communist Party (PCE),
Esquerra Party and the Republican
Union Party.
The Popular
Front, as the coalition became known, advocated the restoration
of Catalan autonomy, amnesty for political prisoners, agrarian reform,
an end to political blacklists and the payment of damages for property
owners who suffered during the revolt of 1934. The Anarchists
refused to support the coalition and instead urged people not to vote.
Right-wing groups in Spain
formed the National Front. This included the CEDA
and the Carlists. The Falange
Española did not officially join but most of its members
supported the aims of the National Front.
The Spanish people voted
on Sunday, 16th February, 1936. Out of a possible 13.5 million voters,
over 9,870,000 participated in the 1936
General Election. 4,654,116 people (34.3) voted for the Popular
Front, whereas the National Front obtained 4,503,505 (33.2) and the
centre parties got 526,615 (5.4). The Popular Front, with 263 seats
out of the 473 in the Cortes
formed the new government.
The Popular
Front government immediately upset the conservatives by realizing
all left-wing political prisoners. The government also introduced
agrarian reforms that penalized the landed aristocracy. Other measures
included transferring right-wing military leaders such as Francisco
Franco to posts
outside Spain, outlawing the Falange Española
and granting Catalonia political and administrative autonomy.
As a result of these measures
the wealthy took vast sums of capital out of the country. This created
an economic crisis and the value of the peseta declined which damaged
trade and tourism. With prices rising workers demanded higher wages.
This led to a series of strikes in Spain.
On
the 10th May 1936 the conservative Niceto
Alcala Zamora was
ousted as president and replaced by the left-wing Manuel
Azaña.
Soon afterwards Spanish Army officers, including Emilio
Mola,
Francisco
Franco, Gonzalo
Queipo de Llano and
José
Sanjurjo,
began plotting to overthrow the Popular Front government. This resulted
in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
on 17th July, 1936.
President Manuel
Azaña appointed
Diego Martinez Barrio as prime minister
on 18th July 1936 and asked him to negotiate with the rebels. He contacted
Emilio
Mola and
offered him the post of Minister of War in his government. He refused
and when Azaña
realized that the Nationalists
were unwilling to compromise, he sacked Martinez Barrio and replaced
him with Giral. To protect the Popular Front government, Giral gave
orders for arms to be distributed to left-wing organizations that
opposed the military uprising.
Members of the Socialist
Party were unhappy with the appointment of Giral as they considered
him not radical enough to lead the Popular
Front government during a civil war. Unable to rally enough political
support Giral resigned on 4th September and was replaced by Francisco
Largo Caballero.
Giral continued in the government as minister without portfolio.
When Juan
Negrin became prime minister he appointed Giral as his minister
of foreign affairs. In this post he concentrated on obtaining aid
from the Soviet Union.
Giral was forced
to flee from Spain when General Francisco
Franco and
the Nationalist Army took control
of the country in March 1939. José
Giral died
in 1962.
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