The Exuberance of Youth: Young Catholics and Democracy in Spain's Second Republic, 1931–36

This paper will examine the complex relationship between Catholicism and the democratic ideals of Spain's Second Republic (1931–1936), especially the role of young Catholics. It will analyze the experience of the Juventud de Acción Popular (JAP), a political organization for Catholic youth during Spain's Second Republic. The establishment of the Republic in 1931 brought Spain its first real taste of democracy and mass politics. Youth political culture played a vital role in the initial success and ultimate failure of the Spanish Republic. Almost all of the Republic's political parties had active youth sections, and young people of all political persuasions could find a home in one of them. Catholic youth could join the Carlists, who preferred a traditional monarchy; the Falange Española, Spain's fascist party; or the JAP, the youth section of the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA). Of these groups, the JAP was the largest, partly due to its division into male and female sections, and its acceptance of members through age 35. The JAP was unique among right-wing youth groups because it accepted the Republic as a legitimate government even as it worked to undermine many of the Republic's reforms. Exploited by the CEDA to bring a new vigor to its conservative agenda, the JAP appealed to extremism but not to violence. It was hated by the extreme left for a perceived link to fascism and scorned by the extreme right as “effeminate” and weak. Though occasionally prone to provocative rhetoric, the Juventud de Acción Popular was an important outlet for the frustrations of young Catholics. It may even have forestalled the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War: it was only when the JAP (and CEDA) failed to take power legally in early 1936 that extremist groups like the Falange Española experienced rapid growth.