Revitalization

On February 8, 1930, an assembly of the Madrid group was held for the first time, attended by more than two hundred people. In it, Azañ a was not only confirmed as the group's representative on the National Board of the Republican Alliance,^[23] but was also appointed to occupy the new secretariat of Republican Action. This remedied the impossibility of electing representatives due to the political circumstances of the Dictatorship. On this as on other occasions, and in the absence of a national representative body, the Madrid group acted as such.^[24] Three days later, at a banquet held to commemorate the Republic, Azaña gave an important speech in which he outlined the main points of his future political program: condemnation of both clericalism and militarism, the search for a formula of concord for all Hispanic peoples, the creation of a republican school and social reform. After saying that it was necessary to sweep away "the infectious clericalism of the State" and "the friar demagogy that the moderate liberals of a century ago already found repugnant", he set out his conception of the republic for which he was fighting in a phrase that even today continues to be the subject of different interpretations among the scholars of the time:

The Republic will undoubtedly shelter all Spaniards; to all it will offer justice and liberty; but it will not be a monarchy without a king: it will have to be a republican Republic, thought up by republicans, governed and directed according to the will of republicans.^{[23][Note 1]}

The fall of the dictator and his replacement by General Berenguer revitalized the activity of the group, which until then had operated only within the Republican Alliance. In March of the same year it issued a manifesto in which it expressed its objective of establishing the Republic and of serving to channel the republicanism that was not active in the existing parties. Not being a political party, the group lacked a hierarchical organization.^[20]

The Republican Action Group operated through a central body constituted in Madrid and bodies constituted in many other cities. It has no president, much less a leader. All its affiliates are equal. Each body delegates to one or more of its members when matters affecting the whole Group are to be dealt with jointly. The most urgent thing is to intensify the propaganda entrusted to each local organization, to perfect the organization, to create it where it does not exist, to keep the censuses up to date, to activate as much as possible the communication of some organizations with others. In all other political matters, including the constitutional problem of the Republic to be established, the Group does not formulate any program nor asks its members to have a common profession, nor hinders them to propagate their personal points of view inside or outside the Group, while maintaining the republican affirmation.

Among the 140 signatories, all from the Madrid group, there were twenty-seven professors, sixteen lawyers, thirteen doctors, twelve pharmacists, seven employees, six writers, six professors and five journalists. Intellectuals predominated, therefore, and among them, those of science over those of letters. Several of them, like Azaña, belonged to the Ateneo de Madrid. Seven of the signatories were Masons.^[25]

Different from Azaña's speech was the tone of the manifesto of the Murcia group:^[26]

In the Republican Action Group of Murcia, there is room for the most diverse tendencies, provided that all of them pursue as a common objective the establishment of the Republic in Spain, keeping among the members, reciprocally, the most exquisite respect for the convictions and feelings of each one, both in the religious and social order (...). All shades of republicanism have a place, from the extreme right to the most radical leftist, always, of course, based on the maintenance of social order. Fortunately, those times in which the concept of Republic was confused or tried to be confused with those of licentiousness, anarchy and the derangement of all the organs of power and authority are long gone.

In March, the Republican Alliance declared itself in favor of the autonomy of the regions. Also at that time, a group of Castilian writers, including Azaña, traveled to Barcelona at the invitation of their Catalan colleagues. The reason was to receive gratitude for the support they had given to the Catalan language during the Dictatorship. During the visit, Azaña made a speech that was very much to the liking of the Catalan nationalists, as he said that Catalonia had the right to self-government and that, if one day it wanted to "row its own ship", it would have to be allowed to do so.^[27] This was clear support for the possibility of secession. During this period, Acción Republicana was still not a political party, but merely a loose political organization of cadres.^[28]

Growth and alliances

The Dictatorship had strengthened republicanism, but it was necessary to coordinate the dispersed existing groups. A first breakthrough was achieved in May, when the Republican Alliance and the Radical Socialist Party signed an agreement creating a coordinating committee which was gradually joined by other organizations.^[29] On July 11 the Alliance began negotiations with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). Azaña was again a member of the negotiating group. Shortly afterwards, the Liberal Republican Right of the former monarchists Niceto Alcalá-Zamora and Miguel Maura joined the agreement. All that was missing was the support of the Catalan nationalists, who distrusted Lerroux's centralism.^[30] First Marcelino Domingo and later José Salmerón were in charge of building bridges with them. The result was that the Catalan Republican parties agreed to participate in a meeting to be held in San Sebastian on August 17.^[31]

The discussions that took place during the meeting of the so-called Pact of San Sebastian were difficult, especially with regard to Catalan nationalism. Azaña was once again the representative of the Republican Action Group, but he arrived late to the meeting and did not participate in the discussions on nationalist aspirations. Finally a vague agreement was reached in favor of autonomy for Catalonia, which had to be extended to the Basque Country and Galicia. A revolutionary committee was also created, presided over by Alcalá-Zamora, of which Azaña was a member representing the group.^[32]

Around this time, the growth of the group, as well as that of the Republican parties, began to be very pronounced.^[33] On September 28, 1930, a large Republican rally was held in Madrid's bullring in front of more than 20,000 people. Azaña spoke on behalf of the Republican Action Group, although the last intervention corresponded to Lerroux in recognition of the strength and seniority of his party. Azaña called to be "men, determined to conquer the rank of citizens or perish in the endeavor".^[34] Together with Alcalá-Zamora, both leaders of the Alliance were the main speakers. The success of the rally favored other monarchist politicians to switch to the Republican side.^[35]

Taking advantage of the rally, the Republican Alliance held an assembly the following day in which the Radical Party was predominant and the Republican Action Group had, at most, 10% of the delegates. The possible participation in the next elections was discussed.^[36] A proposal was presented which called for abstention in the face of the imminent elections which General Berenguer was planning to call, with the argument that they would serve to strengthen the monarchy.^[37] Against it, Pedro Rico made a decisive intervention in which he recalled that the Socialists were not going to abstain and argued that abstention would mean the disappearance of the movement if it was permanent, and would mean accepting what was decided by the monarchists if it was temporary. Finally, it was decided that the member parties of the Alliance would sovereignly decide the path to follow. A 31-member national council was also elected, which included thirteen members of the Group. The six-member executive committee was parity, and included Azaña, Giral and Honorato de Castro.^[36] It was during this period that the Alliance deployed its highest level of propaganda, in contrast to the scant activity of the monarchist right wing.^[38]

Failure of the conspiracy

The negotiations between Republicans and Socialists were long and required several meetings between Azaña and Alcalá-Zamora, on the one hand, and Julián Besteiro, Largo Caballero and Fernando de los Ríos on the other.^[39] On October 19 a definitive agreement was reached with the Socialists, who joined the revolutionary committee and undertook to support the planned pronunciamiento with a general strike. Shortly afterwards, the committee decided to call itself a "provisional government" and to make a distribution of ministerial portfolios. Azaña was given the post of Minister of War,^[40] one of the most important in the event that the republic was implemented due to the monarchist predominance in the ranks of the armed forces, the participation of many military personnel in the Dictatorship and the existence of internal conflicts that were difficult to resolve. It seems that it was one of the few portfolios that were assigned by virtue of the presumed technical training of the "minister", since Azaña had made some studies on the military policy of France, had visited the fronts during the Great War and had elaborated the military paper of the Reformist Party in its 1918 congress.^[41]

The now "provisional government" was preparing the traditional insurrectionary path.^[35] To this end, it maintained contacts with a revolutionary military committee presided over by General Queipo de Llano to prepare the pronunciamiento, but it was unsuccessful in its attempt to win the collaboration of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT), which was planning its own insurrection. This was unleashed between November 17 and 20, was a failure and involved the arrest of numerous anarcho-syndicalist militants. The Republicans finally set December 15 as the day on which their uprising would take place. However, Captain Galán prematurely revolted the garrison of Jaca on the 12th, a rebellion that was easily put down after causing some deaths and which concluded with the execution by firing squad of Galán himself and his companion García Hernández. On the 14th most of the members of the revolutionary committee were arrested, the military conspirators did not dare to act and the socialists did not call the general strike in Madrid.^[42] However, the executions of Galán and García, who became martyrs, did much more damage to the Monarchy than the ineffective insurrection.^[43]

Azaña avoided prison by hiding in his father-in-law's house,^[44] where he remained isolated for several months and without any contact with his comrades. There is no known activity of the Republican Action Group during this time, with the exception of a meeting of the Madrid group held on February 10, 1931, which ratified –a posteriori— the decision of the Republicans not to participate in the elections.^[45] However, the imprisoned members of the "Provisional Government" continued to conspire from prison, since the Republican movement had not lost popular support. The refusal of the latter to take part in the electoral process finally provoked the resignation of General Berenguer on February 14, 1931.^[46]

Military reform

The same night of April 14–15, Azaña sent a telegram to all the garrisons communicating that he was taking charge of the Ministry of the Army, the new name for the Ministry of War. In his first official act as minister —the end of the captains' course at the Central Shooting School— he gave a speech in which he stated that no military man would be asked about his convictions and announced his intention to reform the Army to turn it into an effective weapon.^[55] A decree of the Presidency of the government repealed the Law of Jurisdictions of March 23, 1906; it also proceeded to appoint captains general and commanders at the head of the different divisions.^[56]

The Republican Action Group had only one minister, but Azaña's performance at the head of the Ministry of the Army was one of the most outstanding of the Provisional Government. The new minister had been interested in military matters for years and intended to reform the Army to prepare it to face any foreign enemy. One of his first measures was symbolic: a decree of 22 April 1931 gave all military personnel four days to swear an oath of loyalty to the Republic or leave the armed forces. Although few soldiers opted for retirement, more were offended by the demand.^[57] The conservative press spread the rumor that those who did not pledge loyalty to the Republic would be expelled from the Army. In reality, what was actually done was to transfer them to the reserves with the corresponding salary.^[58]

Of greater significance was the decree of 25 April which sought to address the problem of the excess of chiefs and officers that the Army had been suffering from for a long time and which would become known as the Azaña law. The minister's solution was to offer the transfer to the reserve, while maintaining full pay, to all commanders who requested it. More than eight thousand soldiers opted for this retirement. Despite the voluntary nature of the solution, the regulation was controversial.^[59] The decree stated that, after thirty days, any surplus officer who had not voluntarily opted for the measure could lose his rank without receiving any compensation. Although the threat was never put into practice,^[60] many military officers felt pressured by having to make a momentous decision in a short period of time. On the other hand, Republicans who wished to purge the armed forces criticized the fact that the occasion was not used to get rid of commanders disaffected with the Republic.^[61]

Azaña did not know how to win over important military men either. In April it was reported that the Minister of the Interior, Miguel Maura, had suggested that he appoint General Franco as High Commissioner in Morocco. However, the minister preferred to opt for General Sanjurjo for the post.^[62] Other controversial measures were the suppression of the rank of lieutenant general^[63] and that of the captaincies general. In general, Azaña's policy was reformist and not revolutionary,^[64] but the way it was carried out hurt the sensibilities of the military. Even those who shared the opinion that there was a surplus of personnel felt uncomfortable with such a drastic reduction of the officer corps. Moreover, the minister tended to be advised by military officers who sympathized with the Republic rather than by military officers of higher rank and prestige, which annoyed the majority of the officer corps. This group of collaborators, which included Commanders Hernández Saravia and Menéndez López, was known disparagingly as the "black cabinet".^[65]

The uneasiness in the Armed Forces was accentuated by the "campaign of responsibilities". This was an issue that had been going on since before the establishment of the Dictatorship, but the Provisional Government added events that took place during the governments of Primo de Rivera and Berenguer. With the death of the former, the latter was the propitiatory victim. On April 17, Berenguer was arrested; on April 21, General Mola was arrested for his performance as Director General of Security. Although not many were affected and the campaign helped to maintain the Republican popular fervor, in the long run it took a heavy toll by creating the image of a vengeful Republic.^[66]

Burning of convents in May

The anticlericalism of the Republicans was to provoke events that were to be of great importance. On Sunday, May 10, incidents occurred on the occasion of a monarchist meeting. Republican sympathizers confronted the monarchists and many of them tried to storm the headquarters of the monarchist newspaper ABC. The Guardia Civil prevented the attack, but at the cost of causing the death of two of the aggressors.^[67] The Minister of the Interior, Miguel Maura, received reports that extremist members of the Ateneo were distributing lists of churches they wanted to burn the following day. Despite a request from Maura, Azaña, who was a director of the Ateneo, refused to talk to the radicals.^[68] On the 11th there was an organized burning of convents in the capital. Some Republican sympathizers —among them Cipriano Rivas Cherif, Azaña's brother-in-law and member of the Republican Action Group— celebrated the event and the provisional government remained passive. In fact, within the Council of Ministers there was a strong debate on the matter. Maura proposed using the Civil Guard to put an end to arson.^[69] However, Azaña led a strong opposition to such a measure^[68] and went so far as to affirm that all the convents in Madrid were not worth the life of a Republican.^{[70][71][Note 2]} The Minister of the Army threatened to resign if the forces of order caused a single wounded person. After long hesitations, the Government opted to declare a state of war^[71] and bring the army into the streets to restore order,^[68] which put an end to the fires in Madrid.^[71]

On the 12th, the assaults spread to other towns in Andalusia and Levante, particularly Malaga. Only on the 15th did the arsonists cease their activity.^[71] A hundred buildings had been affected, and in several towns, the friars and nuns had abandoned their convents in fear of the anticlerical explosion. The consequences would be very negative for the image of the new regime. In the words of President Alcalá-Zamora "they created enemies he did not have; they broke the compact solidity of his seat; they stained his credit until then diaphanous and unlimited". The note of protest that Cardinal Vidal y Barraquer sent to the President on the 17th was along the same lines: "facts of this nature... diminish the confidence that a large sector of Catholics had inspired in the discreet action of the Government in many of its first dispositions".^[72]

A few days later, the Council of Ministers debated the possibility of expelling the Society of Jesus from Spain. Azaña, together with the socialist radicals Álvaro de Albornoz and Marcelino Domingo and the socialist Fernando de los Ríos, was in favor of proceeding with the expulsion at that moment, with the argument of not having to do it later, pressured by new assaults on convents. Despite his opinion, the measure was not adopted.^[73]