The Republican Union Party
(RUP) was formed and led by Diego Martinez
Barrio. In January 1936, he helped Manuel
Azaña
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 RUP, Socialist
Party (PSOE) and the Communist Party
(PCE).
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 RUP won 37 seats and
Diego Martinez Barrio became speaker in
the Cortes. The Popular
Front government immediately upset the conservatives by releasing
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.
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