That the Republic had become a practically ungovernable regime since the general strike of 1934, the Asturian Revolution and the proclamation of the Catalan State was already evident then. The intervention of the Army and the law enforcement forces quelled the main outbreaks that put the conservative Government in check through harsh repression and the justice system prosecuted and imprisoned many of its leaders, but social conflict was on the rise and did not subside with the victory. of the Popular Front in February 1936.
This serious conflict that was experienced both in the streets of the big cities and in the towns throughout Spain was one of the issues that was first debated at the start of what was the third republican legislature after the leader of the conservative CEDA formation brandished before Congress figures on the actions of communist and anarchist militias, burning and looting of churches and convents and all types of looting.
The new Government did not hesitate to accelerate the application of a program agreed upon with the different forces that made up the coalition, starting with the amnesty to the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia that had rebelled against Madrid and the protagonists of the different revolutionary events – consensual. with the CEDA, which voted in favor – and following the suspension of the Spanish Falange and arrest of its leaders, the push for an agrarian reform that began with the seizure of farms by numerous day laborers and the dismissal of the president of the Republic , Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, a position held by the leader of the Popular Front, Manuel Azaña.
To replace him at the head of the council of ministers, the forces that formed the left-wing coalition agreed on the name of the Galician Santiago Casares Quiroga, who in his first intervention in Parliament as leader of the Executive justified the Government’s action by attacking the “enemies of the Republic”, among which he did not hesitate to include some magistrates, in the speech that we offer as an extract.
His Government lasted until July 18, when the military rebellion that began the day before in Melilla took on a significance that he did not know how to value and despised, downplaying its importance since he heard the first news. Overwhelmed by events, with the insurrection already in the Peninsula, he presented his resignation.
“Dear Deputies:
”I rise in this place this afternoon, before you, to gladly fulfill the duty of presenting the current Government of the Republic before Parliament; but I rise overwhelmed by the terrible heaviness of the charge that destiny has placed on my shoulders. I arrive at this position without asking for it, without ambition for it, without even wanting it, and accepting it only because I realize that these are moments when exercising power is making a sacrifice, and when I have been required on any occasion to make a sacrifice for the Republic I have never doubted it.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, with all this enormous modesty of mine, feeling overwhelmed by the position that I hold today, I tell you that, once I have made the sacrifice of accepting it, I will not cede it to anyone, neither in the dignity to carry it nor in the moral authority to carry it out.” exercise it. This moral authority and this dignity with which he must carry out the position will depend, gentlemen, on the support that all of you who represent the Popular Front find in you, outside and inside Parliament.
”It is support and trust. Trust that I request from you who constitute the current majority in Parliament, and that can be translated, of course, into votes when this Government demands them to support its legislative work. But forgive me that upon reaching this position I have become ambitious. The trust of the representatives of the Popular Front in this Parliament is not enough for me; It is not enough for me that every time I request it it is granted to me, even if fervently; No.
”I am a man made in the fight for the Republic in the streets, and when I lack the opinion of the street I do not know how to work; I need, in addition to the parliamentary support of the representatives of the Popular Front in the Cortes, to have constantly at my side, giving me encouragement, giving me a sense of responsibility and courage to exercise the position, the warmth of the popular masses that represent the Popular Front, the support of their opinion and support, even, of their actions, realizing that these actions are responsible and that with us being in the Government and me at the head of the blue bank, the Popular Front begins at this head and ends in the last of the political groups that represent us in the provinces of Spain.
”The Government, this Government of the Republic, born of the Popular Front, maintains a composition, as you have been able to see, analogous, almost identical to that of the previous one. I have had, however, a concern, which was to have contributed to the composition of the Government the greatest possible number of representative elements of the Popular Front forces, and that is why I highlight, first of all, the presence in the blue bank of a minister representing Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, the Minister of Labor, whose presence here determines that all the republican forces of the Popular Front are represented on the blue bench.
“Today it is essential that our pace be accelerated, and because it is essential, I need, despite not being willing to make modifications to the program of the previous Government, but rather to highlight it and emphasize it as a program of this own Government, I need, I say, to make some indication, once again highlighting those indications that were already made by the previous Government regarding some specific points of the program.
”By this I am referring to the reform of the Rules of the House. It is necessary that, coming to grips with what I will not describe as maneuvers, because they are licit forms of parliamentary fencing; standing up to what could almost be a trap of those who, not being attached to Parliament, find a way in the exercise of parliamentary functions to delay its work and make it sterile, provoking issues outside of the legislative ones, constantly doing a work that it has nothing to do with the legislative function, although it does have to do with the fiscal function, very interesting when it is not abusive; In short, dismantling legislative work and hindering it, causing it to be delayed and, ultimately, discrediting the exercise of parliamentary functions.
”I cannot help but highlight before you an imperative need of this Government, already raised before all previous governments and always raised, for five years, before all governments with a republican spirit. I am referring to the need to proceed energetically to defend the Republic. Any government that feels the republican spirit pulsating among its components must feel, not alarmed, but irritated, to see how its enemies have swarmed around the Republic since the very day it was born.
”It is not that the regime is in danger; It is not that I am alarmed by any attempt against the Republic. The Republic is so entrenched and so rooted in the spirit and hearts of the multitudes that anything done to overthrow it is a crazy dream, and any attempt made to thoroughly attack the Republic will never have serious consequences.
”Dear Republican deputies who are listening to me, after five years, the Republic still needs to defend itself from its enemies, the Republic still needs to take precautions against its enemies. And I wonder how long this will last. Being at the head of this blue bench I promise that it will last as little as possible. At one time it was said: the Republic will be respected, and if it is not respected it will be feared. The Republic has suffered such vicissitudes in certain hands that I am very afraid that at this time, it will not only be feared, but will begin to not be respected.
”The tactic of simple defense is not enough. It is more effective for those who represent the impulse that you represent, men of the Popular Front, the tactic of the all-out attack. I say that we have finished having contemplations with the open enemies, not even with the masked enemies of the Republic; I tell you that where the enemy presents itself, if it is a declared enemy and with its face revealed, we will go to crush it, and in those other places where the enemy is as if hidden, tucked into the last corners of the Republic’s own organism, constantly torpedoing its work, causing it to fail, putting sticks in the wheel of the triumphal chariot of the Republic, there we will also go to crush them, to unmask them and put them in their place.
”I cannot bear, after five years of the Republic, to see in the last hut of the last negotiation of any ministry, of any organ of the republican State, people torpedoing the republican work every day and hindering it. I cannot calmly witness with my republican spirit how, when the enemies of the Republic rise up against it and are taken to court, some of those courts forgive their guilt and absolve them. I, ladies and gentlemen, am not willing to tolerate it. I will think in due course, and each ministry will also think about what those laws are, what those provisions are that we have to bring to the House to radically cut this abuse.
”There is an issue in the fight against the enemies of the regime that deserves to be highlighted, set aside and pointed out in all its seriousness. How can we not do it if she is precisely one of the most powerful agglutinators of the forces that constitute the Popular Front? I am referring to the question of fascism. I do not name groups, I do not name names of this or that society; I am referring to the problem of fascism, which we all know what is proposed. Regarding this, the Government does not admit or even doubt what its position is.
”I said a few weeks ago, occupying the position of Minister of the Interior, that I was not in that position willing to tolerate a civil war in Spain. I reiterate it now; but I say that when it comes to fascism, when it comes to implementing in Spain a system that goes against the democratic Republic and against all those conquests that we have made in the company of the proletariat, ah!, I do not know how to stay outside of those struggles and I declare to you, gentlemen of the Popular Front, that against fascism the Government is belligerent.
”We represent the Popular Front. I feel all the pride in this representation. In this Government we represent the spirit, the impetus, the program and the policy of the Popular Front, of this Popular Front that some are beginning to denigrate, that is beginning to be reviled and of which, my friends, we must be proud; because the Popular Front, for some (even like-minded) will simply be an electoral alliance to obtain a certain parliamentary strength and carry out a certain program. For me, if it were this I would only declare myself disappointed. For me, the Popular Front is more than an electoral alliance; For me it is an immense wave of renewal.
”I already know, it was said here repeatedly, that there are acts of violence, there is collective tension that responds to psychological states that we are not going to analyze now; But I also know what the influence of the management men is and what the influence of the organizations is in each locality, and you have the men who represent these organizations and all of us who belong to them have to work for them, we have to take ownership of them to make them understand that the responsibility of power begins in this bank and ends in these organizations, and make sure that, as our job is to support, above all our interests, those of the humble, this also finds a limit, which is the economy. of our country.
”Let’s not destroy a possible treasure, let’s make a maximum effort to develop the economic struggle of all classes within the most absolute legality, republican legality, those laws that you yourselves dictate. But apart from that I cannot conceive that work can be done nor can we expect the Government to work; That is to say, this Government and anyone who feels the moral dignity of their position can work at the impulse of an opinion, urged by the exaltation of a mass opinion; What it cannot do is work under coercion and much less directed from below.
“I appeal to all of you to help me, in loyal and cordial collaboration, to maintain the entire spirit of the Popular Front and to make it fruitful, which is to do so peacefully, developing it within normal channels, ensuring that all complaints reach the Government not only regarding the lack of adequate legislation so that these desires find an open channel, but those that cause excesses that I cannot hide sometimes exist on the part of local authorities, which must be stopped immediately.
”In short, gentlemen, sacrifices must be made, and I, who have come here making a personal one, believe I have some right to ask others for it. I’m not inviting you to a party; This is time for sacrifices for our country. Each person must know how far they can go in theirs. The Government will continue in this position as long as it has your confidence. As soon as that trust fails or is not deserved by the Government, as soon as public opinion stops assisting the Government, we will have nothing to do here, and I, knowing that I have fulfilled a duty, will retire quietly to my house, thinking that “Once again I have been able to provide a small service to the Republic.”
