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SEPTEMBER 19, 1936 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINE
The Background of the Revolution in Spain
DR. McGUIRE, FOR
15 YEARS RESIDENT
THERE, OUTLINES IT
Catholics Influential in Es
tablishment of Republic,
But Radicals Eventually
Repudiated Its Principles
BY THE REV. DR. OWEN B.
McGUIRE, D.D., PH.D.
(From The Sign)
A civil war is raging in Spam and
apparently it will be a fight to a fin
ish. I may say that I did not ap
prove of the action of those who
precipitated this revolt in the army.
But the provocation was very great.
The prime minister from his seat at
the head of the government bench
in Parliament had made the frank
declaration: “Towards the opposition
we must consider ourselves as in the
position of belligerents’’; namely, it
was not a government for the whole
people, nor was it its duty to pro
tect the lives and property of the
majority of the population (the offi
cial returns of the February elec
tions showed a majority of over
200,000 for the Right-Center front),
but to consider them as enemies in
war..
O-
I
13-
NO “FASCIST” REVOLT
a
It is not, accordingly, a Monarch
ist Revolt. The Monarchists were a
small and dwindling minority. It is
not a “Fascist” Revolt. There was
practically no Fascism in Spain.
Primo de Rivera, the late dictator’s
son, had formed a little poltitical
party which he called “The Spanish
Phalanx,” and which was called
“Fascist” by the Marxists. He re
fused to join the Right-Center front
in the elections, and did not have a
solitary organ in the press to support
him (even La Nicion, the daily
founded by his father was support
ing the United Front) and he did
not return one deputy to Parliament.
But the word came long ago from
Moscow: Concentrate on Fascism
and Imperialism (as if the Soviets
were alien to both!).
The primary responsibility for
what is happening in Spain must
be placed squarely on the shoul
ders of the Left-Front govern
ment; namely, on the so-called
Left-Wing Republicans who have
been rotating in office since the
elections cf February. To show
that is the purpose of this arti
cle.
Source of the Spanish Uprising
Communist and Anarchist Outrages Tolerated by the Government Strained Patience
of the People Beyond the Breaking Point
The accompanying article, con
densed from “Spanish Turmoil” in
The Sign, published by the Passionist
Fathers, gives an illuminating back
ground of the trouble in Spain. The
article in The Sign was written by the
Rev. Owen B. McGuire D.D., Ph.D.,
who did his graduate work in Rome
and Innsbruck, Austria, and who was
professor of dogmatic theology at St.
Bernard’s Seminary, Rochester, N. Y.,
for twelve years. In 1916 he went to
Spain, and he has lived there for
seventeen years with the exception of
some summers in the United States
and France. Dr. McGuire is there
fore an authority on the subject of
Spain, the object of his study and ob
servations. The article is reprinted by
permission of the Rev. Theophane Mc
Guire, C. P., editor of the Sign.
ID-
FOUNDING THE REPUBLIC
ID-
Under the Monarchy there had
been two Republican parties, the
Federal and the Radical. The for
mer had been founded at the time
of the first Republic by Salmeron. a
fanatical anti-Christian whose fana
ticism had worked the ruin of that
Republic as the great orator Caste-
lar had to lament bitterly. But this
party was of little importance, in or
out of Parliament. It remained to
the last implacably anti-Christian.
The Radical party was of impor
tance. It had a considerable group in
Parliament, and in some parts of the
country a large following. The par
ty was founded by Tlejandro Ler-
roux, who is still its leader. Since
he came to manhood he has been a
declared atheist and Freemason. He
had understood the impracticability
of the doctrinaires of the first Re
public who had no constructive pol
icy to remedy the ills of the toiling
masses. He accordingly began by
appealing to the “workers”; and in
his younger years as a politician was
considered an extremist and anti
clerical, and, indeed, deserved the
name. But he changed as he ad
vanced.
□ □
^ CATHOLIC REPUBLICANS^
When the Dictator fell there was
general discontent among all classes
of the people and chaos in the gov
ernment. When I went to Madrid
after the change of regime, the edi
tors of El Debate (the great Catholic
daily) told me they were convinced
• as early as 1926 that the Monarchy
was doomed. Many Catholics and
Conservatives of prominence had the
same conviction. Some of them de
clared openly that the only solution
was a democratic Republic. A call
was secretly circulated for a repre
sentative convention of all who
work for the change. In secret con
claves preceding this convention it
was seen that they could not hope
to succeed without the help of the
Socialists and allied Labor Unions.
They saw also that in order not to
alarm the people, who remembered
the atrocities of the first Republic,
they would need to present to the
nation, when the time came to act,
a dignified front from which there
was nothing to fear.
Finally they agreed to join the
movement. A convention was held
at San Sebastian in August, 1930
All parties agreed on what has be
come known as “the pact of San Se
bastian.”
A Revolutionary Committee was
elected- which would become the
Provisional Government if they suc
ceeded. The composition of this
Committee is worth noting. There
were two professed Catholics. Al
cala Zamora and Miguel Maura.
Dr. McGuire in his article demon
strates that Catholics were leaders in
the movement for a Republic; two
Catholics, Alcala Zamora and Miguel
Maura, were members of the Revolu
tionary Committee which sought to
replace the monarchy by a republic
and were jailed with the other mem
bers of the committee, who became
the government pro tem. when the
monarchy finally fell; Ossorio y Gal
lardo the ablest jurist in Spain and a
Catholic, was chairman of the com
mittee of jurists appointed to draft
the constotutkm of the Republic, and
El Debate, the Catholic Daily, urged
support of the Republic as the only
barrier between the country and
chaos.
The anti-Christian elements, Dr.
McGuire shows, were more interested
in the destruction of the Church than
in the establishment and preservation
of the Republic. Catholic members
of the Revolutionary Committee
agreed to the San Sebastian pact pro
viding for the separation of Church
and State; the Leftists however threw
out the draft of the Constitution made
by the Revolutionary Committee and
demanded the immediate suppression
of all religious orders. When con
vents were being burned in 1932 and
th Catholic Maura as the cabinet
minister in charge of the maintenance
of law and order protested to his
colleagues their lack of cooperation
and requested permission to put the
Civil Guard in the street to prevent
further outrages, Premier Azana and
the cabinet majority refused, Azana
asserting: “All the convents in Spain
are not worth the life of one Repub
lican.” Maura resigned, but the
public temper was such that Azana
and the cabinet begged him to remain
and gave him the authority he asked;
he stopped the burning of convents in
twenty-four hours, as a sincere gov
ernment could have done at any time
since last February.
Azana, however, continued his anti-
Christian attitude. The Catholic Za
mora, the first Prime Minister of the
Republic, resigned to protest the re
jection of the original Revolutionary-
constitution and the substituting of
the one suppressing religious orders;
his Catholic colleague Maura, home
minister, followed him. Azana be
came prime minister. The Radical
leader Lerroux, who asserted that the
Republic was bom through the votes
of the neutral masses most of them
Catholics, and whose rights under the
law he emphasized, was more con
cerned with the welfare of the Repub
lic than opposition to religion, and
demanded and secured the naming of
Zamora as president.
Premier Azana refused to dissolve
the Cortes and call an election on the
basis of the new Constitution, for
which purpose he had been elected.
He also refused to resign. His illegal
measures leading to a revolt, which
he purposely allowed to grow for po
litical purposes, he then suppressed
114 newspapers and arrested two hun
dred leading citizens, the majority of
whom had not even known there was
a revolt. This was in 1932.
Azana, still refraining from calling
an election, said that the government
would be guided by the spring elec
tions of 1933. The result was three to
one against the government nominees.
He then said that the government
could not be turned from its press
ing duties by the votes of some
“rotten boroughs”. In the subsequent
Court of Constitutional Guarantees
election, the government nominees
were defeated five to one. Still
Azana refused to resign. But two
vacancies in the cabinet made it pos
sible for President Zamora to force
Azana to resign and for the election
to be held.
Not even Azana has ever protested
the freedom of this election, held in
1933. The Catholic Gil Robles return
ed with 114 deputies, the anti-Azana
Lerroux with 103, Azana’s group was
reduced from 26 to 6, and that of the
fanatical Albornoz from 59 to 5, Ler
roux became premier, with seven
Radical ministers, three followers of
the Catholic Gil Robles, one Liberal
Democrat and one Agrarian; Robles
himself was a cabinet member. It was
this cabinet, in which Radicals were
in the majority, which put down the
Asturias anarchistic-communistic up
rising.
The Lerroux government after two
years in office was overthrown last
year by a combination of minorities,
and the Azana group, regained power,
Azana becoming president. Depending
on communistic and anarchistic sup
port for his power, Azana allowed
these elements to do as they pleased.
They destroyed churches, burned con
vents, perpetrated outrages on priests,
nuns and Catholic laity with impun
ity. From February 16 to July of this
year they burned 160 churches, with
never a culprit brought to justice. The
press was censored, and reports of
these outrages were not permitted.
Gil Robles and other deputies sought
to let the people know of them, by
reading them into the official Diario
de Sesiones, similar to our Congres
sional record. The Associated Press
reported in the United States.that Ma
drid was quiet when the militia, or
ganized to protect the city, had left it!
Calvo Sotelo, Catholic deputy, read
into the Diario further outrages. He
was threatened and asked for a police
guard. Sotelo was taken from his
home by men in the uniform of police
guards, and later his lifeless body was
found in a cemetery. Gil Robles told
the Cortes recess committee that So
telo had come to him and said his po
lice guard had been changed without
notifying him; Robles and another
deputy went to the Minister of the
Interior to investigate. While they
were there, Sotelo was murdered. The
government closed the Cortes, thereby
shutting off debate and closing the
only channel of publicity to the peo
ple. Then came the revolt, by Con
servative Republicans, Anti-Radicals,
Militarists, Fascists, Moors and Mon-
archits, and not, as the news dis
patches so often seem to indicate, by
Catholics alone.
NOT ONE “FASCIST”
DEPUTY IN CORTES
WHEN REVOLT BROKE
Opposition to “Leftist” Gov
ernment Includes All Op
ponents of Radical Groups
and Tactics and Principles
into being, and the fanatical an
ti-Christian doctrinaires repre
sented by Azana who wanted not
a Republic for all but such as
would realize his “ideal Revolu
tion.”
O-
O-
RELIGION IN CONSTITUTION
-a
Both had staked their lives and
property on the adventure. There
were three Socialists and two Rad
icals—Lerroux and his chief lieuten
ant in the party, Martinez Barrio.
The others were leaders of groups
newly formed for the purpose of
having representation in the subse
quent government. They are now
known as Left-Wing (anti-Christian)
Republicans. Among these were Az
ana, Albornoz and Marcelino Domin
go.
Maura had a house in Madrid
and another in San Sebastian In
these houses, not yet suspect, the
Committee met and apportioned
the portfolios in the Cabinet-tu-
Minister and Maura. Home Min-
be. Zamora was made Prime
ister. Both Catholics held the
two most important portfolios.
An additional reason for this sec
ond appointment was that this min
istry being responsible for the pres
ervation of public order he would
have to bear the odium of suppress
ing disorders. The others shirked
that.
The Revolution was to be launched
by a general strike in December, and
in the resulting confusion there was
to be a rising in the Army. The
strike proved to be a fiasco, and the
reasons for this, threshed out later
in a convention of the Socialist par
ty ,showed that even then many of
the Socialist leaders were luke
warm, hesitant and fearful of the
consequences. The attempted Army
revolt at Jaca was promptly squelch
ed and its two leaders executed. The
Government, such as it was, now
discovered the Revolutionary Com
mittee as the real authors and lodg
ed them in jail.
The plight of the Government and
the King was seen in January, when,
after various “leaders” had failed to
form a Cabinet, they sent down to
the prison to ask if the Revolution
ary Committee would accept some of
the portfolios! Of course they re
fused. Then came the elections of
February. To prove the sincerity of
the Government the prisoners were
released. They were municipal
elections; and not for all the muni
cipalities but for the fifty provin
cial Capitals. The vote was really a
vote of protest against the status
quo. Thousands of the voters had
no thought of voting for a Republic.
as deserving Catholic obedience and
the only barrier between the coun
try and vhaos.
-a
THE PROVISIONAL
GOVERNMENT
□ □
The Revolutionary Committee be
came the Government pro tem. 1
will note four developments, two
encouraging, two sinister and omin
ous.
A Committee of jurists was ap
pointed to draft a Constitution. The
chairman of this Committee was Os
sorio y Gallardo, a Catholic and the
ablest jurist in Spain.
El Debate, the Catholic daily, came
cut with three articles in which it
advised support of the Government
I BURNING OF CONVENTS
□ —Q
This occurred on May 12. When
Maura in 1932 had been continually
accused by the Monarchists for not
preventing it or resigning his re
sponsible post, he made a public
statement not an item of which has
ever been challenged. On that night
he suspected from the appearance oi
the crowd in the Puerta del Sol
(chief Madrid plaza, in front of his
office) that there was something sin
ister brewing. His suspicion was
increased when a delegation arrived
from the Ateneo (a club controlled
by Azana and his like)* - demanding
his resignation. He put his fears
before the Cabinet and asked for
permission to put the Civil Guard
“in the street.”
His request was denied by the
majority, Azana (Maura did not
give the name, but it is no
secret) saying: “A11 the con
vents in Spain are not worth the
life of one Republican.”
The burning began and Maura
went to his associates and resigned.
But it was not yet time for a split,
nor could “all the convents in Spain”
yet be burned without danger to
“one Republican.” The Cabinet met
and begged him to come back. He
sent them a written statement. He
would come back on two conditions:
(1) if he had reason to fear disturb
ance he could, without consulting
the Cabinet, put the armed force in
the street and (2) he would not be
required to give an account of his
action until order was restored. The
conditions were accepted and the
burnings stopped in every part of
Spain within twenty-four hours. A
Government that was sincere could
have done the same at any time
since last February.
□ —-—-——a
I ANTI-CHRISTIAN THREAT I
□ : -□
A great Republican rally was held
at Valencia. Zamora and Lerroux
addressed the meeting and spoke of
the peaceful and happy Spain that
was coming. It was a rally in pre
paration for the elections. When Az-
ana's turn came to speak, he launch
ed forth on an explanation of what
an ideal Revolution meant and must
be. It was really an attack on the
Christian religion (which he hates in
every form, as is evident in his writ
ten speech, of which I have a copy. I
will put in the original: Hay que ex
pulsar todas estas diatrices Catholas.
todas. It is not easy to translate,
but it means that there must be no
more Christian direction in the gov
ernment of Spain. Those of us who
had read some of h’s books under
steed.
These elections weie uu> io» a reg
ular Parliament but for a Constitu
tional Congress. The declarations
and general attitude of such leaders
as Lerroux and Melchiades Alvarez,
were reassuring.
D— — 3
^ CATHOLIC SUPPORT^
“We Republicans,” Lerroux said,
“did not and pf ourselves could not
bring in the Reublic. The Republic
came by the votes of the neutral
mass. It is our duty to show that
the Republic is for all Spaniards. We
must convince that the neutral mass
that it is for them too. We must
keep them for the Republic and
thereby broaden its base ... I do
not believe in the necessity of re
ligion, but there are millions of
Spaniards who do. They, too, are
citizens of the Republic, and they
have a right within law tc form their
associations as every other group has
a fright to form its organizations
...” Clearly Azana’s “Revolution
ary ideal” could not be realized in
such a Republic.
In the elections that followed the
Socialists got 114 seats out of a total
of 473. They were, to avoid trouble,
given all they asked for. But the
Radical party got 109 seats, the larg
est Republican representation. Ler
roux himself was elected in six con
stituencies; and in Madrid he head
ed the poll, running thousands ahead
of all other candidates. He became
the national hero and the national
hope for peace and order. He re-
ceiived the votes of thousands of
good Catholics; and El Debate sup
ported him since as one necessary,
though not ideal, leader in the re
construction of Spain.
As soon as Parliament got down
to work the Leftists threw out the
draft of the Constitution made by
the Committee. The Commiteee, they
said, had no authority. The Consti
tution must be made by the elected
representatives of the people. A
Committee of 21 was appointed,
drawn from the vairous parties in
proportion to their numerical
strength. The chairman of this
Committee, Jimenez de Asua, was
a fanatical anti-Christian, a Social
ist who had just returned from a
year’s visit to Moscow and pub
lished books on Russia whose pre
face is dated April 14, 1931 the day
the Spanish Republic was proclaim
ed. When they had finished the
draft it had to be submitted article
by article and clause by clause to
the discussion and vote of the
Cortes. Article XXVI dealt with
the religious problem. One of its
clauses provided that all Religious
Orders should be suppressed imme
diately and all their property confis
cated. Zamora in his speech pro
tested against this on juridical
grounds and because it “wounded
tlie sentiments of millions, of the
majority of Spaniards.” He said also
that when the time came and he was
free to act he would lead a cam
paign for its revision. Lerroux de
nounced the clause as it stood but
left his followers individually free
to vote as they pleased. Others, of
couse, spoke, and finally Azana fa
vored the article.
Zamora resigned in protest.| Maura
followed him from the Government
bench. Azana, with the aid of the
Socialists, now got what he had am-
bitioned from the beginning—the
premiership for himself and the ex
clusion of Lerroux. Lerroux made
then a declaration of policy which
he kept on repeating for the next
two years. He had voted in Cabinet
meeting for Azana as premier, But
this had been a Republican not a So
cialist Revolution.
When the Constitution had been
voted in toto. the President was to
be elected. The Socialists kept agi
tating for Cossio. a third-rate intel
lectual. That failed and the post
was offered to Lerroux. He saw the
maneuver: to remove him from the
leadership of the Radical party to an
innocuous position with the hope of
breaking up his party. He demand
ed the election of Zamora, indicated
as leader of the Revolution. Zamora
was elected.
□-
□-
-□
THE ZAMORA GOVERNMENT
D- □
The Cortes met on July 14. There
was no question of making a Social
ist Prime Minister; nor did the So
cialists want it. As the leader of the
largest Republican group Lerroux
was indicated for the post. The So
cialists vetoed him openly and Az
ana vetoed him secretly. Hence, to
avoid, or rather postpone conflict
the Zamora cabinet was voted to
continue as it stood. The only vote
against was that of the Catalan
Esquerra. This party was and has
remained distinctly anti-Christian.
“As the Revolution was of the Left
we cannot vote for a Cabinet with
two Ministers of the Right.” Azana
was relying on this party (42 depu
ties), and he had already in his fa
vor the Socialist hostility to Lor-
roux.
Ficm that day to the present
the conflict in Spain has not
really been between Rights rnd
Lefts, nor between Monarchists
and Republicans, nor between
O'i lies as such an nti-cr non-
Cr*h(:!icf. but between Liberal
EepvfcHcnss represented by Ler-
rerx who wished to preserve the
premised to the people mm voted
FIRST AZANA GOV’TMENT I
d— □
It was during this period, 1931-’33,
that the real trouble began. Before
spring had opened there was a state
of general discontent and especially
from the extremists—strikes, assas
sinations, abortive insurrections. The
Cortes should have been dissolved
and a new election held as soon as
the Constitution was a fact. It was
for that purpose and that only they
had been elected. But Premier Az
ana would wait until he could “make
the elections” so as to return to pow
er. Lerroux kept on demanding an
all-Republican Government and then
dissolution. Then there came what
was a temporary God-send for Az
ana. As he refused to resign they
would oust him by violence and they
approached Lerroux to head the Re
volt. Lerroux promptly advised
Premier Azana that a Revolt was
brewing and gave him particulars
without names. He did nothing to
nip it in the bud as he could easily
have done (Lerroux afterwards told
this to his face in the Cortes). He
let the Revolt come. It gave him
a slogan. “The Republic is in dan
ger.” He sunressed 114 newspapers,
every one of which had condemned
resort to violence, and arrested two
huudred respectable citizens, the
majority of whom had not even
known that there was a Revolt.
These he sent down to Africa on an
old cattle boat with only deck ac
commodations and dumped on a bar
ren beach under a tropical sun. (This
was the Revolt led by Sanjurjo. al
ready mentioned— August, 1932).
In spring there were to be Muni
cipal elections in the Northern
provinces. Premier Azana stated the
Government would be guided by the
result as to an appeal to the coun
try. The result was three to one
against the Government nominees.
From his place in Parliament he de
clared that the Government could
not be turned from its pressing du
ties by the vote of some “Rotton
Boroughs.” Then there was an elec
tion of officers for the Court of Con
stitutional Guarantees, an institution
which his Government had just
(Continued on Fage Fourteen).