Why Democracy Failed: The Agrarian Origins of the Spanish Civil War

318 Pages·2020·1.911 MB·English

by  James Simpson, Juan Carmona

Why Democracy Failed
Inthisdistinctive newhistoryoftheorigins oftheSpanishCivilWar,
James Simpson and Juan Carmona tackle the highly debated issue of
why it was that Spain’s democratic Second Republic failed. They
exploretheinterconnectionsbetweeneconomicgrowth,statecapacity,
rural social mobility, and the creation of mass competitive political
parties,and how these limited the effectiveness of the new republican
governments, and especially their attempts to tackle economic and
socialproblemswithintheagriculturalsector.Theyshowhowpolitical
changeduringtheRepublichadamajoreconomicimpactonthediffer
ent groups in village society, leading to social conflicts that turned to
polarizationandfinally,withthecivilwar,toviolenceandbrutality.The
democraticRepublicfailednotsomuchbecauseoftheoppositionfrom
thelandedelitesbut ratherbecausesmallfarmershadbeenunableto
exploitmoreeffectivelytheirnewlyfoundpoliticalvoice.
James Simpson is Professor at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.
AmonghismanypublicationsareSpanishAgriculture:TheLongSiesta,
1765 1965(1995)andCreatingWine:TheEmergenceofaWorldIndustry,
1840 1914(2011).
Juan Carmona is Associate Professor at the Universidad Carlos III in
Madrid. He has published widely on rural institutions, organizations,
andconflicts,including,withJamesSimpson,thebookEllaberintodela
agriculturaEspañola(2003).
CambridgeStudiesinEconomicHistory
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Why Democracy Failed
The Agrarian Origins of the Spanish Civil War
James Simpson
UniversidadCarlosIIIdeMadrid
Juan Carmona
UniversidadCarlosIIIdeMadrid
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DOI:10.1017/9781108766999
©JamesSimpsonandJuanCarmona2020
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Firstpublished2020
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd,PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Names:Simpson,James,1953 author.|Carmona,Juan(CarmonaPidal),author.
Title: Why democracy failed : the agrarian origins of the Spanish Civil War /
JamesSimpson,UniversidadCarlosIIIdeMadrid,JuanCarmona,Universidad
CarlosIIIdeMadrid.
Description:Cambridge,UK;NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,[2020]|
Series: Cambridge studies in economic history | Includes bibliographical
referencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2019059910(print)|LCCN2019059911(ebook)|ISBN
9781108487481(hardback)|ISBN9781108766999(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Spain History CivilWar,1936 1939 Causes.|Spain
Politicsandgovernment 1931 1939.|Spain Ruralconditions 20thcentury.
|Agriculture Economicaspects Spain History.|Landreform Spain
History 20thcentury.|Democratization Spain History.
Classification:LCCDP257.S482020(print)|LCCDP257(ebook)|DDC
946.081/1 dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019059910
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019059911
ISBN9781108487481Hardback
ISBN9781108720380Paperback
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URLsforexternalorthirdpartyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
A todos los que sufrieron durante la Guerra Civil
Española

Contents
ListofFigures pageix
ListofMaps x
ListofTables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
NotesontheRegionalDivisionofSpain xvi
ListofAbbreviations xviii
Introduction 1
PartI TheEuropeanExperience:EconomicandPolitical
Development,1870–1939 13
1 TheModernizationofEuropeanSocieties 17
2 EuropeanAgricultureinanAgeofEconomicInstability 35
PartII SpanishAgriculture,EconomicDevelopment,
andDemocracy 57
3 TheLimitstoSpanishModernization,1850–1936 59
4 AgriculturalGrowth,RegionalDiversity,and
Land-TenureRegimes 78
PartIII ExplainingtheWeaknessoftheFamilyFarm 103
5 TheFamilyFarmandtheLimitstoVillage-Level
Cooperation 107
6 ThePersistenceoftheLandedElitesandtheNatureof
FarmLobbies 128
vii
viii Contents
PartIV RuralElites,Poverty,andtheAttemptsatLand
Reform 153
7 Landownership,EconomicDevelopment,andPoverty
inAndalusiaandSouthernSpain 157
8 TheLimitstoLandReform 179
PartV RuralConflictsandthePolarizationofVillage
Society 199
9 CreatingParties,PoliticalAlliances,andInterestGroups:
RuralPoliticsinthe1930s 203
10 TheGrowingPolarizationofRuralSocietyduring
theSecondRepublic 226
Conclusion 247
Appendix1 AgriculturalStatisticsinSpain,France,and
ItalyintheEarly1930s 254
Appendix2 Dry-FarmingandtheEconomicsoftheFamily
Farm 259
Glossary 266
Bibliography 268
Index 294
Figures
2.1 LevelsofGDPpercapitaandshareoflabourforce
inagricultureinWesternEurope,1929 page38
2.2 Pricesofmajorfoodstuffsonworldmarkets
(1927/29=100) 52
3.1 TheturnopacíficoofthedynasticpartiesintheCongress
ofDeputies 65
3.2 ChangesinSpanishGDPpercapitaandrealwages,
1850–1935(1913/17=100) 67
6.1 Wheatpricesinselectcountriesduringthelate
nineteenthcentury,1869/73=100 144
6.2 WheatpricesinselectcountriesduringtheGreatDepression 148
8.1 Frequencyofthewords‘laReformaAgraria’inSpanish
literature 181
9.1 Long-runchangesinwagesandwinepricesinBarcelona
(1822–30=100) 223
10.1 HypotheticalevolutionofcollectiveactioninFrance 229
ix
Maps
4.1 Areaheldbylargeownersinpossessionofaminimum
of250hectares 85
4.2 Grossprovincialemigrationratesperthousandinhabitants,
1911–13 87
4.3 Percentagechangesinnumbersemployedinagriculture,
1910–30 87
4.4 Indexofaridity 91
5.1 Areaofcommonlandsasapercentageofthetotalareain
1926 111
5.2 Percentageoffarmerswhoweremembersofacooperative
in1933 113
5.3 Geographicaldistributionofcapitallentbypósitosin1923
(%ofSpanishtotal) 116
7.1 Daywagesformalefarmworkers,1930 168
7.2 Daywagesforunskilledurbanmaleworkers,1930 169
9.1 Estimatedshareoflandlesslabourersaffiliated
totheFNTT,June1932 214
10.1 Dayworkersasashareoffarmlabourersin1956 232
x