ABSTRACT
The working class of Spain greeted the Second Republic with exceptional enthusiasm. For them it did not mean a mere change of political organization. The Republic carried with it the promise of major social change. In September 1931 one coal-miner in Asturias wrote to the local Socialist newspaper that ‘the workers saw the creation of the Republic as their saviour. If these thoughts had not existed the workers of this town would now be caught up in the whirlwind of a new struggle.’ 1 Social reform or social conflict, this was the choice which the Republic faced from the moment of its birth. With the first lay the continued support of millions of working-class Spaniards, with the second failure and ultimately civil war.
