A change of regime without notice: April 14th that changed everything in Palma

Palm95 years ago, between April 13 and 14, 1931, Spain changed its regime with the proclamation of the Second Republic, a sudden process that was also experienced in Palma, one of the first cities to assume the new power. “Spain went to bed monarchical and woke up republican,” in the words of Admiral Aznar, the last prime minister of Alfonso XIII, although the change had been brewing for months.

In this context of conspiracies and previous political movements, they had asked for economic support from the Majorcan financier Joan March, but he refused to help them, according to historian Miquel À. Casasnovas. Miguel Maura, son of the former Prime Minister, the Majorcan Antonio Maura, had gone to the palace to inform the king that he was leaving “for the republican camp.” For young Maura, there was no doubt: the monarch had committed perjury by disregarding the Constitution of 1876 and accepting the coup d'état of dictator Primo de Rivera in 1923. The king had thus linked the fate of the crown to that of the Andalusian general, who fell in 1930. Shortly after, a republican cabinet in the shadows was formed, which went through prison but ended up being the future provisional government.

The Republic was knocking on the door for the second time, and again without the Constitution having been previously modified – in both cases, new constitutions were made afterward. In February 1873, with the resignation of Amadeo I, the Cortes had met and approved the change of regime. In April 1931, municipal elections were held. Republicans won the majority of provincial capitals, where voting was freer and not subject to rural bossism. But neither of the two republican experiences would prosper, and, to a large extent, due to international economic depressions – that of 1873 and that of 1929 – which hampered their viability. International crises served the reactionaries on a silver platter the argument that the Republic brought ruin.

The monarchy won in the Balearic Islands on April 12, 1931: 695 councilors, compared to only 105 for the opposition, according to historian David Ginard and writer Antoni Nadal. In Palma, only ten socialists and republicans, compared to 32 dynastic ones; and in the Part Forana, the right-wing parties won "practically" everywhere, notes jurist Joan Oliver. In Ibiza, monarchists won in all municipalities, according to historian Neus Escandell, but in Menorca, Casasnovas points out, only in Ferreries and Alaior. In Formentera, republicans achieved a good result, adds Oliver. The monarchist victory in the Islands, however, would be in vain: on April 14 the Republic was proclaimed, Miguel Maura took office as Minister of Government – the equivalent of today's Interior – and the next day the Royal Family left for exile. Maura found out around five in the morning, when the ship's captain reported that they were already "off the coast of the Balearic Islands," on their way to Marseille.

Republicans, as in Barcelona – where Francesc Macià had proclaimed the "Catalan Republic within the Iberian Federation" – and in the rest of the State, mobilized to control institutions. Palma was the second city to proclaim the new regime. Socialist Llorenç Bisbal was due to assume the mayoralty, but on that April 14, according to writer Albert Herranz and journalist Joana Roque, he was ill and asked his PSOE colleague Alexandre Jaume to substitute him and ensure "the preservation of order." "We have to demonstrate our governmental capacity," he insisted. Jaume distributed trusted individuals in the streets, including the anticlerical communist Ateu Martí, who "rendered a great service to Palma," stated Jaume. Patrols of "young socialists," Herranz and Roque point out, "monitored (...) churches and convents to prevent possible fires." Both authors recall that Llorenç Bisbal received "letters of thanks" from mothers superior. The Church identified with the right, the powerful, and the monarchy.

The unease of Mossèn Alcover

In Ibiza city, Escandell points out, the change was announced by the lawyer and professor Antoni Matheu, “from the balcony of the Alianza Republicana premises”, during a demonstration enlivened by the Municipal Band, on the evening of the 14th. The following day, “the Republican Municipal Committee, presided over by Joan Arabí Verdera, took provisional possession of the City Hall”.

In Menorca, Casasnovas indicates, the news arrived mid-afternoon on the 14th: “In Mahón, factories and shops were closed while groups of demonstrators paraded through the streets with the tricolor flag”. Companions of Fermín Galán –who had risen up for the Republic a few months earlier and had been shot– “were held in the La Mola fortress, so they were immediately released and hailed as heroes”.

Not everyone shared that enthusiasm. The right-wing Miquel Villalonga wrote: “The refined note stopped sounding in Spain in 1931”. To him, the Republic was vulgar. “At Mossèn Alcover’s house”, recalls Francesc de Borja Moll, “we weren’t entirely calm” because the priest had praised Alfonso XIII, thanks to whom he financed the Dictionary. It was decided to take down the portrait of the ex-monarch that presided over his office. “But nothing happened. No one came to demand an explanation, and life went on as normal”.

“We were gifted power”, concluded Miguel Maura regarding that sudden change 90 years ago, and, fortunately, “the governing body” was already constituted, it was the provisional government that the republicans had already agreed upon. Evidently, there were disturbances during the Second Republic, as there had been during the first and as there had also been during the monarchy. But Francoist propaganda highlighted and exaggerated them to attack a system that, 90 years ago, had arrived peacefully.u