Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I THE STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF THE PSOE'S NATIONAL ORGANISATION 1934–1936
- PART II THE SOCIALIST LEFT IN POWER 1936–1937
- PART III THE BATTLE IN THE PARTY 1937–1938
- PART IV THE DISPUTE IN THE UGT
- 9 The battle for control of the union and the eclipse of the socialist left 1937–1938
- 10 The caballerista old guard: entrenchment and resurgence
- PART V SOCIALIST-COMMUNIST RUPTURE
- Appendices
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - The battle for control of the union and the eclipse of the socialist left 1937–1938
from PART IV - THE DISPUTE IN THE UGT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I THE STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF THE PSOE'S NATIONAL ORGANISATION 1934–1936
- PART II THE SOCIALIST LEFT IN POWER 1936–1937
- PART III THE BATTLE IN THE PARTY 1937–1938
- PART IV THE DISPUTE IN THE UGT
- 9 The battle for control of the union and the eclipse of the socialist left 1937–1938
- 10 The caballerista old guard: entrenchment and resurgence
- PART V SOCIALIST-COMMUNIST RUPTURE
- Appendices
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The withdrawal of the socialist left from government as a result of the cabinet crisis of May 1937 had clearly marked the beginning of a concerted attack on the Caballeristas' remaining power bases. The assault was mounted by a PSOE executive significantly strengthened by the verdict of the July 1937 national committee meeting and supported to the hilt by the PCE. The object of the attack was to silence Largo Caballero and his supporters, to exclude them and their disruptive influence from the political life of the Republic at war. It was to achieve this that the socialist left had been ousted from the PSOE's provincial federation in Valencia and from the leadership of the parliamentary party, on which, prior to July 1936, it had enjoyed majority control. The erosion of the Caballeristas' power base also meant reduced press access - which in itself accelerated the process of political disintegration. The loss ofAdelante was inevitable once the reformist socialists had regained control of the provincial executive in Valencia. But most damaging of all for the left socialists was their loss of control over UGT newspapers such as Claridad (Madrid), Las Noticias (Barcelona) and La Correspondencia de Valencia. It is the erosion of the Caballeristas' position within the union organisation, that supposed bastion of left socialism, which we must now consider. For, by the summer of 1937, the PSOE reformists' central target for attack had become the UGT's national executive itself.
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- Information
- Socialism and WarThe Spanish Socialist Party in Power and Crisis, 1936–1939, pp. 167 - 197Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991