Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

In October 1934 the coal miners of Asturias rose up against the Spanish government and for two weeks not only held off the army units sent to crush them, but created their own embryonic “socialist republic.” The Asturian uprising was part of a far wider domestic and international crisis that marked a decisive step towards Civil War (1936–9) . The rise of fascism internationally was an important factor in the radicalization of the Spanish workers' movement. In particular, much of the powerful Socialist Party (PSOE), frustrated by the sabotage of reform and under pressure from its rank and file, turned sharply left. This radicalization was symbolized by the transformation of the once-cautious trade union leader, Francisco Largo Caballero, into the leader of the socialists' erstwhile revolutionary left. With the rise of Hitler in January 1933, an armed uprising a year later by the Austrian socialists in response to the formation of the Dollfuss government, despite its defeat, inspired anti-fascists in Spain. “Better Vienna than Berlin” became their watchword. Spain's main conservative party in 1933, the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomos (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rightist Groups) (CEDA), despite its supposed commitment to democracy, was increasingly sympathetic to the Nazis. The right won the election in November 1933 due to the changing alliances of the center ... log in or subscribe to read full text