Revolution of 1934

A failed left-wing uprising against Spain’s center-right government in October 1934, especially intense in Asturias and Catalonia.

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Asturian miners’ strike of 1934: A miners’ revolt in Asturias in October 1934 that became the uprising’s largest and most sustained armed episode. Miners’ organizations and local coordination made Asturias the uprising’s strongest center.
Second Spanish Republic: Spain’s republican regime from 1931 to 1939, established after the monarchy fell. The uprising was a crisis within this regime, not a revolt against monarchy.
Prisoners of the Revolution of 1934: Thousands of people detained by Spanish authorities after the October 1934 uprising, including political and labor activists. Mass arrests became a central grievance in the campaign for amnesty before the 1936 election.
Francisco Largo Caballero: A Spanish socialist leader who headed the PSOE and the Unión General de Trabajadores during the Second Republic. His advocacy of revolutionary action made him a prominent figure in the uprising’s political background.
Asturias: A region in northwestern Spain with a long history of coal mining and organized labor. Its mining communities formed the uprising’s main military and social base.
1933 Spanish general election: A national election in November 1933 that brought a center-right majority to Spain’s parliament. The left’s defeat helped produce the political conflict that culminated in October 1934.
Asturian miners’ uprising repression: The military occupation, arrests, and violence used to suppress the 1934 revolt in Asturias. The repression in Asturias intensified labor militancy and left lasting political bitterness.
Lluís Companys: A Catalan republican politician who served as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia from 1934 to 1940. He proclaimed the Catalan State during the revolt and was arrested after its rapid defeat.
Catalan State: A short-lived proclamation by Catalan president Lluís Companys on 6 October 1934, asserting a Catalan state within a Spanish federal republic. Catalonia’s uprising took the form of a brief institutional challenge rather than a miners’ war.
Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right: A conservative Catholic political alliance, known as CEDA, led by José María Gil-Robles. The prospect of CEDA entering the government alarmed left-wing organizations that viewed it as authoritarian.