Political Violence in the Spanish Elections of November 1933

Abstract

Electoral violence is a phenomenon which is key to understanding the workings of democracy in interwar Europe, yet there are few monographs which analyse its incidence in different countries between 1918 and 1939. This article is a quantitative and qualitative study of violence during the Spanish general election of 1933. Spain is a particularly significant case: the violence experienced there was a manifestation of the volatile relationship between the various political parties and trade unions, and it was a crucial factor in preventing the consolidation of the democratic Republic. The choice of the 1933 election reflects the fact that this was an especially critical moment for the Second Republic. The contest involved not only a substantial debate between the 1931 Constitution’s supporters and critics over the question of constitutional revision, but was also the first election of the Second Republic in which the parties of the left, right and centre were well-organized and counted upon significant popular support. This article examines the various types of electoral violence and its geographical distribution, and identifies the political and trade-union actors who engaged in it.