Why go
This chapter helps explain why Málaga's Civil War history cannot start with the fighting in 1936. Republican and socialist organising, labour protest, the rise of CEDA and the Popular Front's election victory created a tense political setting before the military revolt.
The full story
Spain's Second Republic faced deep disagreements over land, work, regional autonomy and the influence of the Church and monarchy. CEDA, a Catholic right-wing coalition, opposed much of the left's programme. After its 1933 electoral victory, a workers' uprising in October 1934 was violently suppressed, intensifying conflict. Left-wing parties then united in the Popular Front and won the February 1936 election. The coalition faced pressure from revolutionary groups on its left and anti-democratic groups on the right, while strikes and political violence continued. In Málaga, republicans, socialists and labour organisations had already been active through the preceding years of economic hardship. These national events help frame Málaga's own wartime events, though their effect on individual streets is harder to trace. Together, the national and local tensions help explain the political fracture behind the battle for Málaga and the civilian flight that followed, without pretending that one square or building can stand for all sides of the conflict.
Useful to know
- Read this period before the account of Málaga's 1937 fall; it supplies the political context for that event.