Revolutionary Exhumations in Spain

Abstract

Abstract Three times between 1931 and 1936 elections were held (June 1931, November 1933, February 1936), a procedure that can be described as the normal ritual whereby modern democratic states are periodically reconstructed. For here, not only are the formal structures and dominant ideologies of such societies legitimated, but rival parties and factions are also integrated as they cooperate in waging a rule-governed competition for (temporary) control of state power. In this case, however, little was gained either by way of political stability or of national unity. Rather, all three campaigns—the first and third of which were won by the Left, the second by the Right—were bitterly fought, and the rival segments of Spanish society emerged from each one more deeply estranged than ever before. In parliament both blocs sought to press their advantage when they had the upper hand and sought to stymie the other’s programs when in opposition.