To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Civil War, José Ángel Mañas recreates in Zenda, day by day in this section, what happened in 1936, perhaps the most pivotal year in all of Spain’s recent history.
Wednesday, October 7, 1936: Under the Guernica Tree
Before God humbled, standing on Basque soil, with the memory of the ancestors, under the Guernica Tree I swear to faithfully fulfill my mandate — declared José Antonio Aguirre, head of the PNV. That thirty-two-year-old lawyer with a stern expression, a large skull, and Basque features, who had gone from being just another deputy in Madrid to the first president of the regional government, had come a long way. He considered all that in silence as he gazed at the representatives who accompanied him on a gray day, in the shade of the centenary oak of Guernica.
In the neighboring
House of Juntas,
Basque, Vizcayan and Alavese councilors had chosen him almost unanimously as lehendakari of a national coalition government representing all Basque republican forces except the CNT, viciously anti-nationalist. The majority of the counselors took part in the defense juntas created in their respective provinces and accompanied him to the tree to pronounce the oath.
After looking ahead with resolve, Aguirre considered how much the PNV had to transform — previously absent from the San Sebastián Pact and only recently allied with the Carlists — for it to stand at the head of the first eusko jaurlaritza. Between him and Manuel Irujo they had taken a nineteenth-century, fuerista and Catholic party and aligned it with the circumstances. After suffering the indefinite postponement of the Statute during the cedista biennium, they came to the conclusion that their project would face greater difficulties as the right rose. Aguirre wrote it himself: “This is our tragedy. Once again, we fight alone against two blocs: one on the left, which will emerge filled with sectarianism, and another on the right, brimming with suicidal misunderstanding.” The PNV could never expect anything from the Spanish royalist right.
That led them to understand that their autonomy ambitions would only flourish within a Republic governed by left-wing parties. It was a painful reflection for a party that dreaded anticlericalism and the strikes and revolutionary disturbances that came from provinces where labor unions wielded more influence.
Irujo, Aguirre, and their followers had to struggle hard, even after the war had begun, to overcome the prejudices of their fellow party members. Luis de Arana, Sabino’s brother, still believed that the PNV should remain neutral in this “war of Spaniards.” There were Basque nationalists who were willing to embrace the coup. They themselves knew the rebels’ plans well before they were carried out and hesitated before rejecting Mola‘s offer to join them or at least stay neutral.
But here lay the reward.
With Indalecio Prieto, who despite his aversion to Basque nationalism understood the importance of winning them over, they finally secured their statute. To Aguirre, the first lehendakari in history, donning his beret, the moment seemed radiant.
—Viva Euskadi! —they cried out together.
—Gora Euskadi! —replied Aguirre, inaugurating the co-official status of Basque in the new autonomous territory.
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