Anti- Revolutionary

Anti-Revolutionary

In Spain's long-heralded general election for a new Cortes (Parliament) last week, voters' choices were three. The Left parties, united by the suppression of the October 1934 Socialist Revolution (TIME, Oct. 15, 1934), offered "Revolution," meaning a proletarian dictatorship and nationalization of land & banks. The Right parties, counter-united under Catholic Leader Jose Maria Gil Robles, offered "Anti-Revolution," meaning, to the women, suppression of divorce; to the churchmen, support of the Catholic Church in Spain; to the Monarchists, the Monarchy. Finally Premier Manuel Portela Valladares' Centrist Government offered "Neutrality," qualified by political alliance with the Right. In the campaign the Government reserved the radio entirely for itself. With only eight dead, 32 wounded, the election was called "the most peaceful in years." Results: At week's beginning, the Left seemed to have raised its Cortes membership from 107 to at least 230, largely by sweeping the rebellious province of Catalonia where the ordinarily non-voting Anarcho-Syndicalists voted for the first time. The Right had dropped from 228 to less than 200. The Centre had snaked out some 65 Deputies, with the Right-Centre coalition claiming a majority of the Cortes' 473 members. As usual, the election aftermath was turbulent. A "state of alarm" was declared when elated Leftists rioted in principal cities, stormed jails in attempts to release 30,000 of their comrades jailed in 1934. Exuberantly in Alicante they turned loose the inmates of the local leprosarium.

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