Republican Left

Izquierda Republicana (IR) was a Spanish left-wing republican political party founded by Manuel Azaña in 1934. It played a prominent role during the Second Spanish Republic and at times that preceded the start of the civil war. Azaña became President of the Republic between 1936 and 1939. During the Franco dictatorship the party practically disappeared from the political scene except in the sphere of Republican exile in Mexico, where it continued to have some activity. As of 1977 it was reconstituted in Spain again, although without having the importance of the historical party.

History

Foundation

Manuel Azaña in 1933

After the disaster that the left-wing republican parties had reaped in the 1933 elections, which they had run alone, on April 3, 1934 the Republican Left was formed, as a result of the merger of Manuel's parties Azaña, the former Republican Action (AR), the leftist sector split from the radical-socialists (the Independent Radical Socialist Republican Party, led by Marcelino Domingo and Álvaro de Albornoz) or the Autonomous Galician Republican Organization (ORGA), of Santiago Casares Quiroga.

Other small parties, such as the autonomous republican parties of Álava and Navarra, as well as part of the Federation of Republican Centers of Guipúzcoa, also joined the new party.

In Catalonia there was also unification and the Republican Left adopted the name of Partit Republicà d'Esquerra. Among its founders were important figures from the political and cultural life of the time such as José Giral, Álvaro de Albornoz, Victoria Kent, Luis Bello, José Lino Vaamonde or Amós Salvador, among others. Azaña became the president of the party's first National Council. Its organ of expression was the newspaper Política.

Integrated into the Popular Front (and in Catalonia, into the Front d'Esquerres), the Republican Left won eighty-seven deputies in the elections of February 16, 1936 (being the third parliamentary group in the Cortes, after the PSOE and the CEDA), obtaining the presidency of the Council of Ministers in the person of Manuel Azaña. Together with the Unión Republicana (and the presence of the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya since May 1936), Izquierda Republicana was the main component of the Government until the formation of the government of Largo Caballero, in September 1936, after the Civil War had already begun. In May 1936, after the dismissal of Niceto Alcalá Zamora, Azaña was elected President of the Republic by the joint assembly of deputies and delegates held on May 10. Santiago Casares Quiroga, also a member of the Republican Left, was elected president of the Council in his substitution.

After the outbreak of the Civil War, another IR militant, José Giral, succeeded him as head of the Council. IR maintained its representation in all governments until the end of the civil war, but each time with a greater presence in the political life of the republican zone. Azaña remained in the Presidency of the Republic until his resignation in February 1939, weeks before the end of the war.

Exile and reconstitution

In exile in Mexico, he became the main supporter of the Government in exile of the Republic, always advocating that explicit mention of the ideological affiliation of its components be avoided, so as not to raise suspicions or hurt sensibilities. However, in 1951 he left the government in the face of what he considered a "monopoly" of the Unión Republicana (UR), since, for the first time, a president of that party had entrusted the formation of the government to a comrade from the same organization..

He also participated in platforms and organizations in opposition to the dictatorship of General Franco. Izquierda Republicana participated in July 1959 in the elaboration of the «Manifesto of Foundation and Doctrinal Bases of Spanish Democratic Republican Action», together with Unión Republicana. A year later in Paris, from June 16 to 18, 1960, both parties merged to create Spanish Democratic Republican Action (ARDE) at their first congress.

After Franco's death, Izquierda Republicana registered in the Registry of Political Parties; but it was not authorized until November 1977, so they could not participate in the first free elections after the end of the dictatorship. Its militants came from ARDE and the historical party. Its representatives denied, however, in a polemic with ARDE, that the Republican Left had merged with any other party.

News

• Since 2013 there are two political parties that are considered successors to Republican Left:
  • Izquierda Republicana (contemporánea), participates in elections within Izquierda Unida and Unidas Podemos or equivalent according to elections.
  • Alternative Republican, participates in elections outside Izquierda Unida. Alternative Republican (ALTER) is a political party of Spain, of republican ideology, created from the fusion of Spanish Democratic Republic Action (ARDE), former militants of Izquierda Republicana (contemporánea) (IR), the Partit Republicà d'Esquerra (PRE-IR) and the Republican Union (UR). In recent years it has been presented as a coalition with Free Socialist Party Federation (PSLF).