Political Instability/Social Unrest 1936

• The creation of a new Popular Front government failed to end political instability. Rather, political division continued to deepen. Some on the left renewed their calls for a social revolution, while RW opposition to the new government became increasingly violent.
• The extreme left was motivated to exact vengeance against landlords and employers who has used the RW government to exploit and suppress workers. The FNTT encouraged peasants who had been victims of eviction to undertake illegal occupation in order to reclaim land. On 25th March 1936, 60000 peasants in Extremadura seized 3000 farms. Instead of stopping this, Azana legalised the peasant's actions, enraging landlords.
• The increased militancy of the left was also due to worsening conditions caused by poor harvests. Almost constant rain between December 1935 and March 1936 had severely damaged crops. Poor harvests meant even lower living standards for peasants and continued unemployment.
• LW militancy increased conservative fears of social revolution, which were further fuelled by the militant rhetoric of the more LW elements of the PSOE. Caballero advocated social revolution, which although was far from reality, alarmed conservative opinion.
• The Popular Front government was weakened by the refusal of Caballero and his supporters in the PSOE to participate in the cabinet. The PSOE refused to enter on the grounds that any coalition government would dilute the social reform agenda that the PSOE wished to pursue. Also, the animosity between two leading Socialists, Caballero and Indalecio Prieto, resulted in Caballero's supporters vetoing Prieto's appointment as PM in May 1936. This weakened the government as it confirmed the right's view that the left was ineffectual and divided.
• In April 1936 there were important changes at the top of government. Azana replaced Alcala-Zamora as president and Santiago Casares Quiroga became the new PM. The appointment of Azana as president was seen by the right as the first step towards the establishment of a Marxist regime in Spain.
• Within the cities, the UGT and CNT continued to organise strikes to protest against low wages. The strikes often led to violent clashes between the Falange militia and striking workers.
• On the streets RW militants frequently used violence to provoke LW reprisals in order to add to claims of LW lawlessness and the powerlessness pf the Popular Front government. The RW argued that the new government had lost control of the country.
• RW propaganda focused on the dangers of a Marxist revolution and the break-up of Spain if the Popular Front remained in power. This was taken up by RW press and was often exaggerated, as was the danger of a LW revolution.
• Gil-Robles used his position in the Cortes to make inflammatory speeches about the LW revolution, arguing a RW uprising was the only way to save Spain. According to him, there had been 300 large-scale strikes, 269 murders and 251 destroyed churches. Although these statistics were inflated, they served their purpose and created panic for the middle class. Gil-Robles wanted a military takeover and used this to justify a military uprising that was already being planned. He was negotiating with leading figures in the army/Falange to create an alliance to support a new authoritarian government.
• Gil-Robles publicly abandoned democracy in May 1936. He argued that democracy in Spain had led to a complete breakdown of law and order. Therefore, he claimed that the only way to prevent a communist takeover was to create a strong and fascist regime with the support of the Falange and army.