- Spanish Constitution of 1931
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Flag of the Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Constitution of 1931 meant the beginning of the Second Spanish Republic, the second period of Spanish history to date in which the election of both the positions of Head of State and Head of government were democratic. It was effective from 1931 until 1939. The Republic " was the culmination of a process of mass mobilisation and opposition to the old politics of notables."[1] According to the historian Mary Vincent the Constitution envisaged "a reforming regime with an explicit and self-conscious view of what modernising Spain should entail. A secular state operating according to the rule of law with an admittedly ill-defined sense of social justice would open the way for an educated body of citizens to enjoy 'European' prosperity and freedom."[2]
A constitutional draft prepared by a commission under a reformist Catholic lawyer Ángel Ossorio y Gallardo having been rejected , an amended draft was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1931. It created a secular democratic system based on equal rights for all citizens, with provision for regional autonomy. It introduced female suffrage, civil marriage and divorce. It permitted the state to expropriate private property, with compensation, for reasons of broader social utility. It also established free, obligatory, secular education for all and dissolved the Jesuits. According to Frances Lannon however, the articles on property and religion, with their exaltation of state power and disregard for civil rights, "virtually destroyed any prospect there had been for the development of a Catholic, conservative, Republicanism."[3] The constitution, essentially establishing an anticlerical government, in general broadly accorded civil liberties, the rights of Catholic being a notable exception. Commentators have noted that the hostile approach to church-state relations was a significant cause of the breakdown of of the republic and of the civil war.
The Second Spanish Republic lasted from April 14, 1931 to July 18, 1936 (military uprising) or April 1, 1939 (republican defeat by Francoist forces).
Contents
Background
The Second Republic began on 14 April 1931 after the abdication of King Alfonso XIII, following local and municipal elections in which republican candidates won the majority of votes in urban areas. The abdication led to a provisional government under Niceto Alcalá Zamora, and a constituent Cortes to draw up a new constitution.
The Second Republic in 1931 brought enormous hopes for Spanish workers and peasants, and in social terms some advances were made, especially for women[citation needed]. Prime Minister Manuel Azaña asserted that the Catholic Church was responsible in part for what many perceived as Spain's backwardness and advocated the elimination of special privileges for the Church on the grounds that Spain basically is horrible at life. Azaña wanted the Second Spanish Republic to emulate the pre-1914 Third French Republic, make secular schooling free and compulsory, and construct a non-religious basis for national culture and citizenship.[4]
Provisions of the Constitution
Following elections in June 1931 the new parliament approved an amended constitutional draft on 9 December 1931.
The constitution introduced female suffrage, civil marriage and divorce.[citation needed] It also established free, obligatory, secular education for all. However, anti-clerical laws nationalized Church properties and required the Church to pay rent for the use of properties which it had previously owned. In addition, the government forbade public manifestations of Catholicism such as processions on religious feast days, dissolved the Jesuits and banned Catholic education by prohibiting the religious communities of nuns, priests and brothers from teaching even in private schools.
The new Constitution provided for universal suffrage and a created a secular but anticlerical state, including the prohibition of teaching by religious orders and the banning of the Society of Jesus.[5][6]
The constitution also made the right to property subject to the public good, such that it could be nationalized as long as the owner was compensated.[7]
Anti-clerical provisions
The Second Republic had an anticlerical bias.[5] Although the constitution generally accorded thorough civil liberties and representation, there was a notable exclusion regarding the rights of Catholics, a flaw which prevented the forming of an expansive democratic majority.[8] The controversial articles 26 and 27 of the constitution strictly controlled Church property and prohibited religious orders from engaging in education.[7] This was seen as explicitly hostile to religion, both by supporters of the established Church, but also by advocates of church/state separation, one such advocate of separation, Jose Ortega y Gasset, stated "the article in which the Constitution legislates the actions of the Church seems highly improper to me."[9] Pope Pius XI condemned the Spanish Government's deprivation of the civil liberties of Catholics in the encyclical Dilectissima Nobis (On Oppression Of The Church Of Spain )."[10]
Since the far left considered reform of these aspects of the constitution as totally unacceptable, commentators have opined that "the Republic as a democratic constitutional regime was doomed from the outset".[8] Commentators have posited that such a "hostile" approach to the issues of church and state were a substantial cause of the breakdown of democracy and the onset of civil war.[11] One legal commentator has stated plainly "the gravest mistake of the Constitution of 1931-Spain's last democratic Constitution prior to 1978-was its hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church."[12]
Response of Catholics
The conservative Catholic Republicans Alcalá-Zamora and Miguel Maura resigned from the government[13] when the controversial articles 26 and 27 of the constitution, which strictly controlled Church property and prohibited religious orders from engaging in education were passed.[14]
In October 1931 José María Gil-Robles the leading spokesman of the parliamentary right declared that the constitution was 'stillborn' - a 'dictatorial Constitution in the name of democracy.' Robles wanted to use mass meetings "to give supporters of the right a sense of their own strength and, ominously, to accustom them 'to fight, when necessary, for the possession of the street.'"[15] Frances Lannon calls the constitution "divisive" in that the articles on property and religion, prioritizing state power, had a "disregard for civil rights" and ruined the prospect of the development of a Catholic, conservative, Republicanism.[16] Likewise, Stanley Payne agrees that the constitution generally accorded a wide range of civil liberties and representation with the notable exception of the rights of Catholics, a circumstance which prevented the formation of an expansive democratic majority.[8]
See also
Spanish First Republic
External links
References
- ^ Francisco J.Romero Salvado, Politics and Society in Spain 1898-1998 p.69
- ^ Mary Vincent, University of Sheffield, review of Romero's Politics and Society in Spain 1898-1998 , 'Reviews in History' April 2000
- ^ Lannon, The Spanish Civil War, p. 20
- ^ Lannon, The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 , Osprey 2002 p.18 ISBN 978-1-84176-369-9
- ^ a b Anticlericalism Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ Torres Gutiérrez, Alejandro ,RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN SPAIN. A NEW MODEL OF RELATIONSHIPS? Center for Study on New Religions 2002
- ^ a b Smith, Angel, Dictionary of Spain, p. 195, Rowan & Littlefield 2008
- ^ a b c Payne, Stanley G. A History of Spain and Portugal, Vol. 2, Ch. 25, p. 632 (Print Edition: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973) (LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ONLINE Accessed May 30, 2007)
- ^ Paz, Jose Antonio Souto Perspectives on religious freedom in Spain Brigham Young University Law Review Jan. 1, 2001
- ^ Dilectissima Nobis, 2
- ^ Stepan, Alfred,Arguing Comparative Politics, p. 221, Oxford University Press
- ^ Martinez-Torron, JavierFreedom of religion in the case law of the Spanish Constitutional court Brigham Young University Law Review 2001
- ^ Frances Lannon, p.20 The Spanish Civil War, 2002
- ^ Smith, Angel, Historical Dictionary of Spain, p. 195, Rowan & Littlefield 2008
- ^ Gil-Robles, No fue posible la paz, quoted in Mary Vincent Catholicism in the Second Spanish republic, p.182
- ^ Frances Lannon, p.20 the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 ISBN 978-1-84176-369-9
Categories:- Anti-Christianity
- Anti-Catholicism in Spain
- Legal history of Spain
- Religious persecution
- Religious discrimination
- Defunct constitutions
- 1931 in law
- Constitutions of Spain
- Second Spanish Republic
- Republicanism in Spain
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