Women in the Popular Front in the Spanish Civil War were part of a broad leftist coalition founded ahead of the 1936 Spanish general elections. The Second Spanish Republic represented a changing cultural and political landscape in which women's political organizations could flourish for the first time. It failed to empower women completely, as they were often locked out of governance roles and positions in political organizations. Many organizations continued to discriminate against women, as Marxist ideology did not see them as a unique group with special needs but as part of larger class grouping in which class equality needed to be prioritized.
The Spanish Civil War started in July 1936, and would pit the Nationalist forces of the right against the Republican forces of the Popular Front government. It took the creation of the Popular Front to persuade the left to encourage women to mobilize in large numbers in support of the Republic. This included encouraging them to leave the home and engage in activities less associated with the domestic sphere. It was in this climate that a number of important women's organizations were created or flourished. In some cases, it led to women gaining leadership of a kind they had not achieved before, such as inside militias. It did not inspire unification among women inside the Popular Front itself as many divisions existed, eventually leading to leftist-organized internal purges with Popular Front parties turning on each other.
The end of the war and the start of the Francoism saw a return for women to the traditional gender roles of Catholic Spain. It saw ostracization and imprisonment of women who fought for the Popular Front on the front. It saw many women sent to overcrowded prisons, where the children born there faced high rates of death. Many other women went into exile. Despite playing a key role for the Republican side as members of the Popular Front, the legacy of these women has largely been ignored. This stems from sexism, propaganda that said they were deviants, and a lack of primary sources.
Background The Popular Front was a coalition of leftist parties created during the Second Spanish Republic ahead of the 1936 elections as a way of ensuring a left wing majority in the Congreso de Diputados.Payne, Stanley. Spain's first democracy: the Second Republic, 1931-1936. Madison, Wisconsin, USA: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993. p. 267. The ability to do so was a result of a number of complex factors, but was assisted by the decision of the Community Party of Spain to engage with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and not dismiss them as irrelevant supporters of the bourgeoisie. Their goal was to win back government, after right-wing factions had won the elections in 1933. A previous attempt at an alliance ahead of the 1933 elections had largely failed because of opposition by the CNT. +Popular FrontMembersSupported by Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) – Socialist Communist Party of Spain (PCE) – Communist Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) – Trotskyist Republican Left (IR) – Republican Republican Union (UR) – Republican Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) – Catalan nationalist Galicianist Party – Galician nationalist Workers' General Union (UGT) – Socialist trade union CNT-FAI – Anarcho-syndicalist trade union
Party Seats Parliamentary Group in CongressPartido Socialista Obrero Español99Partido Socialista Obrero EspañolIzquierda Republicana87Grupo Izquierda RepublicanaUnión Republicana38Unión RepublicanaEsquerra Republicana de Catalunya22Grupo Esquerra CatalanaPartido Comunista de España17Partido Comunista de EspañaAcció Catalana5Grupo Esquerra CatalanaUnió Socialista de Catalunya4Grupo Esquerra CatalanaPartido Galleguista3Grupo Izquierda RepublicanaPartit Nacionalista Republicà d'Esquerra2Grupo Esquerra CatalanaUnió de Rabassaires2Grupo Esquerra CatalanaPartido Republicano Democrático Federal2Grupo MixtoRepublicanos independientes de Izquierdas2Grupo MixtoPartit Català Proletari1Grupo Esquerra CatalanaEsquerra Valenciana1Grupo Esquerra CatalanaPartido Obrero de Unificación Marxista1Grupo MixtoPartido Sindicalista1Grupo MixtoPartido Sindicalista Independiente1Grupo MixtoTotal263
Second Spanish Republic (1931–1937)
1936 elections The February 1936 elections saw the return of a leftist government. Together, the various left wing groups formed the Popular Front. They replaced a repressive right leaning government that had been in power for the two previous years. The Popular Front won elections in February 1936 on a progressive platform, promising major reforms to government. In response, even as the left began reform plans to undo conservative efforts in the previous government, the military began planning to arm their supporters and to overthrow the new government. The Popular Front, in contrast, refused to arm its own supporters out of fear they would then use their weapons to fight the Government.
Dolores Ibárruri campaigned for a deputy in the Cortes ahead of the 1936 elections as a member of the Popular Front. In Asturias, she campaigned before groups of Socialists, Communists, Anti-fascists and Republicans. She improved her oratory skills that would serve her later during the Civil War by observing speakers who succeeded in engaging their audiences. Ibárruri won, and entered the Cortes as a member of the Popular Front, in the Communist minority. Unlike some of their peers on the left, she and other Communists advocated citizens taking up arms in preparation for what they saw as the coming conflict. The 1936 elections saw Julia Álvarez Resano enter parliament as a member of PSOE. She came to the Cortes having previously served as a defense lawyer for the Spanish Federation of Land Workers. Matilde de la Torre won election again in 1936.
Political activity The changing political landscape of the Second Republic meant there was an environment for the first time in which women's political organizations could flourish. Despite this, women were largely locked out of organized political groups and events in this period, even when their groups claimed to be for gender equity. Major trade unions at the time like the UGT and the CNT ignored the specific needs of women, including maternity leave, childcare provisions and equal pay; instead they focused on general needs or the needs of men in the workforces they represented. The CNT perpetuated gender inequality, paying its female employees less than men in comparable positions. Only 4% of UGT's membership was female by 1932.
One of the greatest challenges faced by leftist women was Marxism prioritizing the issue of class equality over gender issues. For anarchists, trade unionists, communist and socialist women, this often resulted in the male leadership dismissing women's needs. Women might not be permitted to participate in their agenda as their needs did not directly relate to the class struggle. Some leftist men, both in political and labor organizations, also resented women entering the workforce, believing their lower wages would cause employers to lower the wages of male workers.
Despite differences in ideology, communist, Republican and socialist meet to discuss the political issues of the day. They also worked to mobilize women en masse to protest issues they felt were important. One such mobilization occurred in 1934, when the Republican government considered calling up its reserve forces for military action in Morocco. Within hours of the news hitting the streets, Communist, Republican and Socialist women had organized a women's march in Madrid to protest the proposed action. Many women were arrested, taken to police headquarters and later released.
Start of the Civil War
On 17 July 1936, the Unión Militar Española launched a coup d'état in North Africa and Spain. They believed they would have an easy victory. They failed to predict the people's attachment to the Second Republic. With the Republic largely maintaining control over its Navy, Franco and others in the military successfully convinced Adolf Hitler to provide transport for Spanish troops from North Africa to the Iberian peninsula. These actions led to a divided Spain, and the protracted events of the Spanish Civil War. It would not officially end until 1 April 1939.
Franco's initial coalition included monarchists, conservative Republicans, Falange Española members, Carlist traditionalists, Roman Catholic clergy and the Spanish army. They had support from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Republican side included Socialists, Communists, and various other left wing actors.
The military revolt was announced on the radio across the country, and people took to the streets immediately as they tried to determine the extent of the situation, and if it was a military or political conflict. Ibárruri coined the phrase "¡No pasarán!" a few days later, on 18 July 1936 in Madrid while broadcasting from the Ministry of the Interior's radio station, saying, "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees. ¡No pasarán!"
Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union signed the Non-Intervention Treaty in August 1936, promising not to provide material support for the war to any of the parties, even as Germany and Italy were already providing support to Spain's fascists.
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)
It took the creation of the Popular Front to persuade the left to encourage women to mobilize in large numbers in support of the Republic. They were encouraged to leave the home and engage in activities less associated with the domestic sphere. It was in this climate that a number of important women's organization were created or flourished. These included Asociación de Mujeres Antifascistas (AMA), and Mujeres Libres.
Political parties and labor organizations During the Spanish Civil War, various political and government forces on the Republican side tried to encourage women's participation. Only one group acted overtly on feminist goals, namely Mujeres Libres. For the remaining political parties, labor groups and government organizations, women's rights and feminists goals were not among their major concerns. Women continued to be locked out of political activity on the Republican side. Meetings for women's rights among union members might only be attended by men, as the idea of allowing women to attend political events was often alien.
Working-class women involved with both anarchists and socialists often ostracized women from other villages who came from different left-wing political parties. There was a lack of solidarity. Pilar Vivancos explained this as a result of a lack of education among women, with patriarchy within parties being used to set women against each other instead of collectively working towards emancipation of women. They did not understand what it truly meant, and it made them vulnerable to political puritanism that would later sweep through the left.
The varying political parties during this period on the left would all work with each other and, in the latter stages of the war, against each other. The PCE would often be at the center of much of this, trying to attract support for their Stalinist Communism ideology from various left-wing factions. When they were not trying to directly collaborate, crossover in membership would see many communist women involved in other organizations.