1.2.4 Reaction and Repression

• Reforms Popular With the Left:

  1. Legalisation of divorce
  2. Legal protection of civil rights
  3. Separation of the Church from the state
• Left-Wing Response to the Reforms:

  1. The FNTT, UGT and CNT organised strikes in protest at the slow pace of change
  2. As the PSOE used the police and Civil Guard to break up strikes, unions became more radical
  3. The left became more divided
• Right-Wing Response to the Reforms:

  1. Azana had alienated landowners, the army and the Church who all feared a social revolution
  2. Landowners refused to acknowledge the reforms
  3. Jose Sanjurjo organised an uprising in Seville which failed
• In protest of landowners and the inaction of the government, agricultural workers staged a general strike in Salamanca in December 1932. Salamanca was brought to a standstill for 10 days before it was broken by government forces
• In January 1933, workers living in Casas Viejas, who were so poor they lived in mud huts, began a peaceful protest to resolve poverty in the region. The Civil Guard opened fire on the unarmed protesters and burned their homes, which anarchists blamed on the government
• Azana's government collapsed at the end of 1933 after the left lost faith in the government and accused him of ignoring the interests of the working class