Radical Republican Party (Spain)

The ideology of radical Republicans, based on vague principles and a leader’s inclination toward populism, has significantly shifted from the initial violent anti-clericalism and radicalism to partnership with right-wing Catholic monarchists . So, in 1909, a group of supporters of the Radical Republican Party, the so-called “young barbarians” ( Spanish jóvenes bárbaros ), took an active part in the anti-militant uprising in Catalonia , known as “Tragic Week”, accompanied by anti-clerical actions, in particular, the burning of churches and monasteries. In 1934 - 1935, Lerrus became closer to the Spanish Confederation of Independent Rights ( Spanish: La Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas, CEDA ), during the Civil War, supported General Francisco Franco , twice forming a government with the participation of members of this party.

Kingdom of Spain

The Radical Republican Party was founded in 1908 in Santander ( Cantabria ) by journalist Alejandro Lerrus Garcia . He and his supporters quit the Republican Union of Nicholas Salmeron after she joined the Catalan Solidarity coalition, which was unacceptable to Lerrus, who was an implacable opponent of Catalanism, a movement to assert the political, linguistic and cultural identity of Catalonia and the territories where it is widespread Catalan language . Despite its rejection of Catalan nationalism, which gained popularity in the 1900s and 1920s , Lerrus and the Radical Party founded by him enjoyed the greatest success precisely in Catalonia, primarily Barcelona, ​​competing with the nationalist autonomists from the local Regionalist League . Over time, the party managed to achieve dominance in municipal politics in Barcelona, ​​even despite numerous allegations of corruption against its leader.

In contrast to the Catalan parties, the radicals paid more attention to working-class voters and their interests. Lerrus’s skills in mobilizing the lower classes earned him the nickname “Emperor Paralello” ( Spanish: El Emperador del Paralelo , along the avenue known for its nightlife and separating the respectable areas of the city from the working suburbs. Traditional Republicans were always skeptical of the Lerrus radicals, including, suspecting that his activities were funded by the dynastic Liberal Party , as a way to distract the working class from anarcho-syndicalism .

The election of the Congress of Deputies on May 8, 1910 was the first for the new party. The radicals took part in them as part of the Union of Republicans and Socialists coalition, which also included the Republican Union, Republican federalists and socialists , and was headed by its famous writer and publicist Benito Perez Galdos . ^[4] The coalition won 10.3% of the vote, winning 27 seats. The Lerrus radicals were able to get 8 seats in the lower house of parliament, most of all succeeding in Barcelona and Valencia, where they acted in alliance with Republican-autonomous writers and politicians Vicente Blasco Ibáñez .

Before the 1914 election, Lerouss concluded the so-called Pact of San Gervasi with the federalist nationalists . ^[5] The Republican coalition created by two parties won 11 seats, of which 5 were taken by radicals. In 1916, the Republican coalition took part in new elections , having managed to get 6 seats, of which 5 were again taken by the radicals.

In the run-up to the 1918 election, Alvaro de Albornos (leader of the newly founded Republican Federation) and Melkiades Alvarez (head of the moderate Republicans ) initiated the creation of the Left Alliance coalition ( Spanish Alianza de Izquierdas ), which also included the radical republicans of Lerrus, the federal Republicans , Republicans - Autonomists , Catalan Republicans and Socialists , as well as a number of independent Republicans and Catalan Republican nationalists. ^[4] For the first time since 1898, the Republicans went to the polls on a single list, which, however, did not bring them much success. The left alliance was able to only slightly increase the number of republican deputies, from 33 to 35. For the radicals, the 1918 elections were the most unsuccessful in history, bringing them only 2 mandates.

The elections of 1919 and 1920 became more successful for the radicals. In 1919, the Lerouss party won 4 seats in the lower house of the Spanish parliament , and in the next 1920 already 8 seats (three of them were taken by the allies of the radicals from among independent Republicans). The 1923 election became less successful for the party, it won 7 seats, of which three were taken by the allies of the radicals from among independent Republicans. These elections were the last for the party under the Bourbons . On September 13, 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera carried out a coup d'etat with the consent of King Alfonso . During the dictatorship, the party went underground.

In 1929, the left wing of the radicals split off, forming the Republican Radical Socialist Party .

Second Republic

At the end of the reign of Alfonso XIII , marked by a deep crisis of the Spanish monarchy , the radicals were one of the parties to the Pact in San Sebastian, whose members formed the Republican Revolutionary Committee, led by Niseto Alcalá Zamora , ^[6] which, according to historians, became the central event of the opposition of the monarchy Alfonso XIII ", ^[7] . In 1931 , after the abdication of the king and the proclamation of a republic in Spain, the committee became the first provisional government of the Second Republic. ^[8] Radicals of Lerrus also participated in his work. In the first elections in the history of the Second Republic on June 28, 1931, the radicals were able to win 90 seats and became the second force after the socialists in the Constituent Assembly.

During the discussion of the new constitution, the Radical Republican Party generally supported the draft submitted by the Constitutional Commission, in particular, the provision of autonomy to the regions. At the same time, the radicals opposed the unicameral parliament , calling for the Senate to be preserved as a representative of the public interests and the specific interests of the regions, and did not approve the dissolution of religious orders and the state’s right to socialize ( socialize ) property without paying compensation. ^[9]

In December 1931, Lerrus left the center-left cabinet of Manuel Asagni Diaz and in 1932-1933 led the center-right parliamentary opposition, having managed to attract a number of moderate right-wing politicians and conservatives, including, for example, the conservative republican Santiago Alba, a former activist Dynastic Liberal Conservative Party .

Opposition growing in parliament led to the resignation of Asagni, and on September 12, 1933, the Spanish government led Alejandro Lerrus for the first time. His attempt to create an office on the basis of a large coalition with the participation of representatives of the radical socialists , Catalan regionalists , the Republican action of the Galician autonomists and left-wing radical socialists failed. The new head of the Council of Ministers was Lerrus ally Diego Martinez Barrio , but his cabinet was de facto technical at the time of the early elections.

Triumph of the Radicals

The November 19, 1933 election brought CEDA conservatives first place, marking the beginning of the so-called “conservative biennium” (1933–1935). The Radical Republican Party, with the slogan “Republic, order, freedom, social justice, amnesty” ( Spanish República, orden, libertad, justicia social, amnistía ), ^[10] again took second place, increasing its representation in parliament to 102 seats . This success enabled the President of Spain, Niseto Alcalá Zamora and Torres, to entrust the formation of the new government to Alejandro Lerrus, and not to the right-wing monarchists, despite the fact that they won the election. From December 16, 1933 to December 14, 1935, six radical offices were replaced, four of which were headed by Lerrus himself. They were all center-right and supported by Jose Maria Gil-Robles , leader of the Spanish Confederation of Independent Rights (CEDA), whose representatives were twice included in the government. Also, the cabinet of the radicals included ministers from right-wing liberals , landowners , right-wing Galician autonomists and radical democrats who split from the Lerrus party.

The amendment of the Radical Party caused discontent among a number of its members. So she left Clara Campoamor Rodriguez, one of the first three Spanish women deputies. ^[11] In April 1934, a group of MPs from the left wing of the RRP, led by former Prime Minister Diego Martinez Barrio (later president of the Spanish Republic in exile ) left the party, disagreeing with cooperation with the right. On May 16, they founded the Radical Democratic Party , which in September 1934 teamed up with a number of other republican groups to create the liberal centrist party, the Republican Union .

The entry of CEDA members on October 4, 1934 into Lerrus’s III cabinet provoked mass protests by left-wing Republicans, dissatisfied with the “conservative turn”. The most significant were the pan-Spanish mass strike, which went down in history as the October Revolution of 1934 , strike of the Asturian miners , which grew into an anti-government uprising, and the events of October 6, 1934 ) (an attempt to proclaim the Catalan state as part of the Spanish Federal Republic). Authorities eventually managed to suppress mass protests. The chairman of the Catalan government, Lewis Compans and Jover, was arrested and the Statute on the Autonomy of Catalonia was suspended. The rebellion of workers in Asturias was crushed by troops under the command of General Francisco Franco.

Straperlo and Party Crash

The end of the “conservative biennium” was laid in the autumn of 1935, when the “roulette scandal” broke out . It turned out that the authorities allowed three Dutch entrepreneurs Strauss, Perel and Lovann (the first letters of their names, Stra uss, Per el and Lo wann history and received the second name - “Straperlo Scandal” ^[12] ) to open a casino with roulette , despite the fact that Spanish laws prohibited gambling roulette. According to Strauss, in exchange for permission, he and his business partners pledged to transfer 25% of the profits personally to Alejandro Lerrus, 10% to his party member, Alcald of Barcelona Joan Pich and Pon, and 5% each Aurelio Lerrus (nephew of Alejandro Leruss), Miguel Galante and the journalist Santiago Vindelle. In addition, Joan Peach and Pont made a commitment to pay 100,000 pesetas to Interior Minister Rafael Salazar Alonso. As a result, Leruss had to resign. An office was formed led by non-partisan Joaquin Chapapriet and Torregross, however, the basis of the new government was still the members of the RRS and CEDA.

In November 1935, after Lerrus resigned, another corruption scandal erupted, which went down in history as the “ Nombel Case "( Spanish: Asunto Nombela ). Colonel Antonio Nombela accused a number of radical leaders, primarily Deputy Prime Minister Moreno Calvo, of Compañía de África Occidental compensation fraud. This second scandal was used by CEDA leader Gil-Robles as an excuse to stop supporting the coalition government with radicals led by Chapaprieta, hoping that the president would be forced to transfer the right to form a new cabinet to the right. But Alcalá Zamora refused to give power to the party, which did not proclaim its allegiance to the Republic, and entrusted the post of prime minister to liberal Manuel Portele and Valladares. The new cabinet, too, turned out to be center-right and did not receive the confidence of the parliament, so Alkala Zamora decided to dissolve the parliament and call early elections.

On February 16, 1936, early elections were held . A confident coalition of the left and liberals of the Popular Front won them, winning 240 out of 473 seats. Radicals of Leruss, unable to justify themselves in the eyes of the voters after corruption scandals, ^[13] were able to get only 8 seats. ^[fourteen]

After the electoral failure, the Radical Republican Party virtually ceased to exist, losing influence and supporters.

• Santos Juliá Díaz. La Constitución de 1931 .-- Iustel (Madrid), 2009 .-- 519 p. ISBN 978-84-9890-083-5 (Spanish)
• Julián Casanova. República y guerra civil. Vol. 8 de la Historia de España. - Crítica / Marcial Pons (Barcelona), 2007 .-- 526 p. ISBN 9788484328780 (Spanish)
• Nigel Townson, (2002). La República que no pudo ser. La política de centro en España (1931-1936) .. - 2002 .-- 536 p. ISBN 84-306-0487-1 (Spanish)