From civil war to coup and from philo-terrorism to fascism, the adjectives that populate Spanish parliamentarism at the present are common to those that, saving the temporal and social distances, marked parliamentarism during the Republic. As are the great legal reforms undertaken without a broad consensus, pardons with a political transformation or clashes between the powers of the State.
Before the bitter disagreements that occurred in the Congress of Deputies after the victory of the Popular Front in 1936 and that would end up being the preamble to the military coup, the victory of the center-right bloc in 1933 also opened a period of high parliamentary tension, in in which accusations of revenge and exclusion of the left from the ruling coalition were the norm.
During the so-called counter-reform biennium, the figure of Francisco Largo Caballero, former Minister of Labor who combined the positions of president of the PSOE, general secretary of the UGT and president of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, made his way as a champion of a left wronged by "democracy bourgeois”. He to the point of leading an extra-parliamentary rebellion that he did not hesitate to lead.
Largo Caballero complied with his warnings and demonstrated the mobilization force that the PSOE and the UGT could have and that the unity of the left was more than a simple appeal in the call for a revolutionary general strike. The trigger was the entry of three ministers from the conservative CEDA into the government led by Alejandro Lerroux. The strike became the frustrated 1934 Asturian Revolution, put down by Moroccan troops under General Francisco Franco.
Before that, Largo Caballero used various appearances, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary, to denounce a democracy that he considered stolen and protected by powers outside the Cortes, appealing to a popular sovereignty that also had to be expressed beyond the framework of legality.
He did so in the speech he gave at the V Congress of the Federation of Socialist Youth that was held in Madrid in April 1934, which we offer an excerpt. The delegitimization of the constitutional bodies by the leader of the opposition dealt a severe blow to the young Spanish democracy of whom two years later would be the president of the Council of Ministers.
“Comrades:
"It would be hypocritical to hide what I am going to say. You have invited me to come and I have done it out of a duty of comradeship. But I declare to you that I am already getting tired of speeches; to pronounce them and to hear them. And I am understanding that more and more it is necessary to alternate this work of agitation with another of organizing a serious, effective and definitive action to which the best attention must be devoted.
”You will remember that three years ago some politicians, including myself, took over the Ministry of the Interior and proclaimed the Republic. Imagine with what pain, even more, with what indignation, I see what the Republic is three years after that act carried out by the Spanish people.
”We live, according to what they say, in a regime of bourgeois democracy. Theoretically, our democracy is one of the most perfect. However, there is no one who is satisfied. In every Republic, in every bourgeois democracy, the essential props of the regime are certain institutions. The main one, Parliament. And I am going to allow myself to judge here, in general terms, what Parliament is.
"In my opinion, Parliament is a reflection of suffrage, and there is no suffrage if there is no freedom to cast it. In Spain freedom has been distorted. Because falsifying freedom is not only preventing, using public force, the workers from voting for those they consider best, but it is also the economic supremacy that the capitalist class possesses, which prevents the proletariat from voting for those of their ideas.
And that's how we see the last elections. In them the bourgeoisie put the greatest pressure that can be imagined, and a Chamber was constituted, almost entirely right-wing. Although the radical minority is called the left, I consider it more reactionary than the frankly right, because they fulfill a historical duty; but those who collaborated with us in the political revolution cannot support them without abjuring their past.
”All the parliamentary action of the working class is presented to me in the following way: Parliament is not immutable, it is not an institution before which socialists have to kneel in worship. For me – I don't know for other comrades – it is one of the many weapons that the working class must wield to obtain their demands.
”In the same way that it uses Parliament, the working class uses the strike, the right of association, that is, all the possibilities offered by the bourgeois regime. But when any of these procedures is detrimental to our class, no one can force us to continue using them.
”Parliament goes to three things. First, to criticize the bourgeois governments; then, to propose legislation in favor of the working class, and finally, to prevent the capitalist class from approving laws that harm the proletariat. I candidly declare that the Spanish Parliament does not allow us to do any of these three things.
”The first, that is, the criticism of the Government's actions, is impossible to carry out, due to the position of the Government itself and the presidency of the Chamber. There are innumerable questions raised by the socialist minority regarding outrages and government abuses. However, we are ignored.
”Some time ago we were allowed to criticize the outrages carried out as a result of the revolutionary movement of the syndicalists. Do you know what it was used for? So that the parliamentary majority mocked the socialist deputies when they spoke of the deaths, the wounded and the prisoners in the movement. As for the bills, given the spirit of the current Cortes, it is useless to present them, because none would come out in favor of the working class.
”The third of the things that the socialists can do, as I have said, is to prevent laws against the workers from being approved. Well then, the current Spanish Parliament, faced with the attitude of opposition from the Socialists, has done what had never been done before; apply the guillotine in the matter of clerical assets to the point of not allowing us to defend even a single amendment.
”In relation to the Amnesty project, the same has not been done for fear of a possible attitude of the minority of our Party. When this happens, I am not going to what position the representatives of the working class should take; but, of course, one cannot go as far as allowing ignominy in Parliament. Bold resolutions are necessary, looking for the psychological moment, the opportunity, in the certainty that if we know how to look for that opportunity, the workers' country would be with us.
”It is you, young people, who are going to travel throughout Spain tomorrow, who must propagate the difficulties that are offered to the Socialist Party in a bourgeois democracy. You are obliged to say that if the democratic regime cannot be renounced at all, management in the institutions that are its base, we cannot tie ourselves to them either.
"I, of course, have to say in this regard that I do not share the idea of those who believe that leaving Parliament is to go to the revolution. You can leave Parliament without forcing yourself to go to the revolution the next day. We can only go to this one when we are sure of success.
"I take advantage of the fact that the delegates of the Socialist Youth are represented here to say that I, who maintain the criteria that political power must be seized in a revolutionary way, and that it is foolish to have the illusion that we are going to be able to seize it in another Anyway, I have to state that the revolution is not made with cries of long live socialism, long live communism and long live anarchism. It is done violently, fighting in the street with the enemy.
”And this one does not come out screaming, but when he fights he does so prepared for it. When this moment arrives, the fight will have to be faced decisively. We are told that this is preaching violence, that this is leaving the Republic. I say that it is not that we are leaving, but that we are thrown out of the Republic. The Socialist Party is not given the means to live legally. In this Republic, as you know, municipalities are dismissed for the sole crime of being socialists, without any reason. That's kicking us out of the Republic!
“In this regime, the capitalist class prefers that the worker starve to death, if he is a political enemy, rather than give him work. And not only that, but when the proletariat goes on strike, the government hastens to declare it illegal and puts the public force at the service of the bosses and forces members of the army to act as scabs. That's kicking us out of the Republic.
”In this Republic, the press organs have no other mission than to slander, defame the men of the Socialist Party. They have been the ones who have thrown us out of the Republic. They are the ones who are asking every day for the Party to come out of legality. And if times like these continue, it won't be long before the Socialist Party has to go underground.
”In this Republic, meetings for workers are frequently prohibited; the right of association is almost nil; In a word: after three years of the Republic, I declare that I have never seen a worse situation for the working class, not even in the heroic times of our party. And it is convenient that the Spanish people know this and that it is known beyond the borders.
"In Spain, events of such a nature are going to occur, that it is necessary for the working class to make some demonstrations that justify their action in the future, because that action will correspond to the one that is being followed with us now. There is no doubt that at a given moment the proletariat will rise, as they say, on its feet, and proceed violently against its enemies.
"It should not be said then that we are uncivilized savages, because their conduct now responds to our behavior then. And at that moment, do not be surprised that hearts have hardened, that useless sentimentality has been put aside, because today those who are watching their children starve to death because they are denied work are not going to be asked for an armistice when the working class is in power. Thus, in such an absurd and stupid way, we are led to a situation like the current one.
”What is enormous is that Spanish politics revolves around these human miseries, that there are no ideas, self-sacrifice to lead the country. Between a Monarchy and a Republic there is a difference. In the first, the crown is inherited. In the second the mandate is temporary. But, is it that it cannot happen that the one who temporarily performs the head of state allows himself to be dominated by the same miseries as a monarch?
”They must not forget that fascism is beginning to develop. The words of a Republican who did not believe in fascism still ring in my ears. You can't be that naive. Fascism is progressing, and if it does not progress further, it is not because of the attitude of the republicans, but because of that of the working class, which does everything possible to prevent its development, despite the protection that the current government gives fascism.
”I want to make you see the effort that is necessary to develop to defeat these enemies, because we will not only have to go against them, but against the coercive forces of the State. Imagine the effort that must be made to overcome them. I will not get tired of telling you to prepare yourselves to fight in a position to win.
”Because either we give ourselves up meekly or there will come a day when we will have to measure our weapons with the adversary. And that is why I insist that internal disputes must be drowned out and we all unite. They accuse me of preferring union with the anarchists to union with the republicans. Naturally! Between a radical and an anarchist there is no doubt.
"And about this I want to say a few words. We are talking daily about the workers' alliance. I am one of those who believe that it must be carried out in good faith and for a concrete action, not to be on the streets every day producing riots. The alliance must be made to give the final battle to the enemy. If we have perseverance, we will eventually control the virtue of this alliance.
“I remember that in our camp, when the organization of the socialist militias was proposed, there were those who raised their hands to their heads. However, I believe that these militias must be organized. We must create a revolutionary army to be able to confront our enemies. And it is necessary to organize it militarily, so that the men who make up said organization promise obedience, because this is how the enemy army is organized.
“That militarization is necessary to defend ourselves, first, and then to conquer power. Gil Robles recently said that power had to conquer him, whatever it was. We say the same. We are also going to conquer power in any way. And if it requires effort, we will do it. Because without power it is impossible to do anything.
“For the record, for me power is not having a government of socialists and a parliamentary majority. If the socialists govern while respecting bourgeois institutions, there will come a time when they will have to return power to the enemy. When I speak of power and the creation of an addicted force, I mean what I said in Biarritz: that one of the first measures of a socialist power (a measure included in our program) is the suppression of the army and general armament from town.
"There are those who say that if the people are armed, anarchy and catastrophe will come. They are the ones who call losing their capitalist privileges anarchy and catastrophe. But what greater anarchy than today's world?
“Very serious moments are approaching. It is not possible to tolerate the present political situation. Young people are precisely the ones who have to criticize the current regime. Do not believe that it is true, as the current President of the Republic said, that this was the last of the political and social revolutions. Because then the revolution was not made. It was believed in good faith. The revolution will have to be done again.
“That clenched fist raised high with which you greeted me as I entered signified the decision to make the necessary effort to transform the present regime. Comrades! Organize the final fight. And in that fight, selflessness, sacrifice, heroism. The battle will be cruel and long. But if we go with the intention of winning, then we can make fun of the coercive apparatus of the bourgeois State.”
