The Revolution of 1934 (Spanish: Revolución de 1934), also known as the Revolution of October 1934 or the Revolutionary General Strike of 1934, was an uprising during the "black biennium" of the Second Spanish Republic between 5 and 19 October 1934.
The Revolution of 1934 was triggered by anxiety of the Spanish political left after the 1933 general election and entry of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the Spanish government in September 1934. Most of the events occurred in Catalonia and Asturias, and were supported by many Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and General Union of Workers (UGT) members, notably Largo Caballero, as well as members of the National Confederation of Workers (CNT). The uprisings were repressed by Spanish government forces and defeated within two weeks.
At least 2,000 people were killed during the Revolution of 1934 in the initial uprisings and their suppression. Historians have argued that the revolution increased antagonism between the political right and left, and was one of the causes for the later Spanish Civil War.
Background
1931 election
The Second Spanish Republic was established in 1931 amidst growing political instability and radicalization in Spain. The inaugural 1931 general election saw a landslide victory for the republican, the centrist, and the socialist parties. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Radical Republican Party (PRR), a socialist and a revolutionary party, respectively, the parties with the most votes, formed a "Radical-Socialist" government. The new Spanish Constitution of 1931 and government were both overtly left-wing in nature. This was welcomed by Spain's poor with enthusiasm, hoping that it would finally lead to reforms and an improvement in their living conditions after decades of stagnation. Many laws were soon passed to reduce poverty and improve labor rights. However, over the next two years, tensions between the PSOE and PRR caused the Radical-Socialist government to collapse and trigger a general election.
1933 election
The 1933 general election resulted in a centre-right majority: the Spanish right saw large gains while the left saw large reduction of their vote share. The centrists, although their share was reduced, held enough votes to remain in power. The PSOE went from the largest party to the third-largest having lost 56 seats in the Congress of Deputies. The surprising results of the election were a combination of various factors, including anti-Catholic laws and violence, the effective organization of the political opposition, and abstention from the election by members of the powerful anarchist trade union the National Confederation of Labour (CNT). The political party with the most votes was the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA), which united a number of centre-right and far-right parties under its umbrella, and campaigned hard against the more controversial laws and actions of the Radical-Socialist government. President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora decided not to invite CEDA leader José María Gil-Robles to form a government, possibly because his party had not yet adhered to the republican system. Instead, Alcalá-Zamora invited the PRR leader Alejandro Lerroux to do so, in what author Hugh Thomas called a "weakening of the democratic process." CEDA supported the multi-party government for nearly a year without being a part of it, despite being the largest single party in parliament. On 26 September 1934, after a year of intense pressure, CEDA was finally successful in forcing Lerroux to give three ministries to the party.
The inclusion of CEDA into the Spanish government was not well accepted by the left, who accused Alcalá-Zamora of handing over the Republic to its enemies, and viewed the CEDA as a signal of the advance of fascism in Spain. They appealed to the cases of Engelbert Dollfuss becoming Chancellor of Austria in 1932 and Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany in January to justify the use of force for defensive purposes. However, historian Salvador de Madariaga, himself a supporter of Manuel Azaña and an exiled vocal opponent of Francisco Franco, asserted that: "The argument that [Gil Robles] tried to destroy the Constitution to establish fascism was, at once, hypocritical and false". The issue was that the left identified the Republic not with democracy or constitutional law, but with a specific set of left-wing policies and politicians. Any deviation, even if democratic, was seen as treasonous. The "founding fathers" of the Republican system had conceived the new democracy as belonging to them, and were more concerned with the radical reforms which in their view were necessary than with pluralism and freedom. The Socialists triggered an insurrection that they had been preparing for nine months. A general strike was called by the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the PSOE in the name of the Alianza Obrera, 'Workers' Alliance'.
Preparation
Spain had been subject to constant clashes in the form of small incidents and short general strikes, which allowed the revolutionary movement to arrive on the eve of October in the fullness of its strength, with great confidence and extraordinarily united. Many left-wing and far-left organizations, either endorsed or tolerated by the Republican government, were well-organized and prepared for such an action. They had a considerable stock of rifles and pistols on them. Most of the rifles came from a shipment of arms supplied by Indalecio Prieto, a socialist party moderate, on the yacht Turquesa at Pravia, north-east of Oviedo. Prieto swiftly fled to France to avoid arrest. Other weapons came from captured arms factories in the region and the miners also had their dynamite blasting charges, which were known as "the artillery of the revolution."
Asturias
The rising in Asturias was well prepared with headquarters in Oviedo. In several mining towns in Asturias, local unions gathered small arms and were determined to see the strike through. Fighting began on the evening of 4 October, with the miners occupying several towns, attacking and seizing local Civil Guard and Assault Guard barracks.
At dawn on 5 October, the rebels attacked the Catholic Brothers' school in Turón. The Brothers and the Passionist Fathers were captured and imprisoned in the "House of the People" while waiting for a decision from the Revolutionary Committee. Under pressure from extremists, the Committee condemned them to death. 34 priests, six young seminarians aged 18 to 21, and several businessmen and Civil Guards were summarily executed by the revolutionaries in Mieres and Sama. 58 religious buildings including churches, convents, and part of the University of Oviedo were burned and destroyed. The same day saw columns of miners advancing along the road to Oviedo, the provincial capital of Asturias. Taking Oviedo, the rebels were able to seize the city's arsenal gaining 24,000 rifles, carbines, and light and heavy machine guns. Recruitment offices demanded the services of all workers between the ages of eighteen and forty for the "Red Army". Thirty thousand workers were mobilized for battle within ten days. With the exception of two barracks in which fighting with the garrison of 1,500 government troops continued, the city was taken by 6 October. The miners proceeded to occupy several other towns, most notably the large industrial centre of La Felguera, and set up town assemblies, or "revolutionary committees", to govern the towns that they controlled.
Within three days, the center of Asturias was in the hands of the rebels. The revolutionary soviets set up by the miners attempted to impose order on the areas under their control, and the moderate socialist leadership of Ramón González Peña and Belarmino Tomás took measures to restrain violence. In the occupied areas, the rebels officially declared the proletarian revolution and abolished regular money.
The Spanish government was now facing a civil war. Franco, already General of Division and aide to Minister of War Diego Hidalgo, was put in command of operations to suppress the violent insurgency. Franco and General Manuel Goded Llopis advised Hidalgo to bring in the battle-tested Spanish Army of Africa, composed of the Spanish Legion and the Moroccan Regulares. Historian Hugh Thomas asserts that Hidalgo said that he did not want young inexperienced recruits fighting their own people, and that he was wary of moving troops to Asturias, leaving the rest of Spain unprotected. Bringing in the Army of Africa was not a novelty; in 1932 Manuel Azaña had also called the Tercio and the Regulares from North Africa. Hidalgo wanted Franco to lead the troops, but President Alcalá-Zamora, aware of Franco's monarchist sympathies, chose General Eduardo López Ochoa to lead the troops against the miners, trusting that his reputation as a loyal Republican would minimize the bloodshed, which turned brutal anyway. After two weeks of heavy fighting done by troops from the Army of Africa with a death toll of 2000, the rebellion was suppressed. As a deterrent to further atrocities, López Ochoa summarily executed a number of Legionnaires and Regulares for torturing or murdering prisoners.
Historian Javier Tusell argues that although Franco had a leading role, giving instructions from Madrid, that does not mean he took part in the illegal repressive activities. According to Tusell it was López Óchoa, a republican, who had been appointed by President Alcalá Zamora to lead the repression in the field, that was unable to prevent numerous atrocities.
According to Hugh Thomas, 2,000 persons died in the uprising: 230–260 military and police, 33 priests, 1,500 miners in combat and 200 individuals killed in the repression. Stanley Payne estimates that the rebel atrocities killed between 50 and 100 people and that the government conducted up to 100 summary executions, while 15 million pesetas were stolen from banks, most which was never recovered and funded further revolutionary activity.
Catalonia
In Catalonia the revolt was triggered by the predominantly left-wing Government of Catalonia led by its president Lluís Companys, who proclaimed the Catalan State. The Catalonian uprising began and ended the same day, it lasted only ten hours, in the so-called "Events of 6 October".
On 6 October, Companys decided to declare the Catalan State within the "Spanish Federal Republic", and numerous heavily armed squads occupied the streets of Barcelona and other towns, supporting the initiative and capturing public offices. Companys appeared on a balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat and told the crowd that "monarchists and fascists" had "assaulted the government", and went on:
In this solemn hour, in the name of the people and the Parliament, the Government over which I preside assumes all the faculties of power in Catalonia, proclaims the Catalan State of the Spanish Federal Republic, and in establishing and fortifying relations with the leaders of the general protest against Fascism, invites them to establish in Catalonia the provisional Government of the Republic, which will find in our Catalan people the most generous impulse of fraternity in the common desire to erect a liberal and magnificent federal republic.
Companys asked Azaña, who happened to be in Barcelona during the events, to lead a newly proclaimed Spanish Republican government, a proposition that Azaña rejected. Lluís Companys also telephoned General Domènec Batet, who was deployed in Catalonia as chief of the IV Organic Division, asking him for support. Batet remained loyal to Madrid and gained some time demanding a written request. While Companys wrote the request, Batet prepared the local Spanish Army, Civil Guard, and Assault Guards for the imminent proclamation. At 9 pm, Batet declared martial law, moving against trade union and militia headquarters, both of whom surrendered quickly, then brought light artillery to bear against the Barcelona city hall and the Generalitat. Fighting continued until 6 am the next day, when Companys surrendered.
In the failed rebellion, 46 people died: 38 civilians and 8 soldiers. More than three thousand people were imprisoned, most of them in the Uruguay steamer, and placed under the jurisdiction of the councils of war.
Although the vast majority of the events happened in Asturias and Catalonia, there were strikes, clashes, and shootings in the Basque country, northern Castile and León, Cantabria, and Madrid.