Raised fists! (From Prints of the Revolution)

From the outset of the coup, the great dilemma for the Republican authorities was whether or not to distribute weapons to workers’ parties and unions. At first, distribution was expressly prohibited due to fears that it would help trigger a revolution. The refusal by Azaña and Casares Quiroga was based on the inability to control who would receive the weapons and how they would be used. The insurrection still seemed very localized, and the President of the Republic believed that handing out weapons might be seen by the majority of the Army, which had not yet risen up, as a provocation—or even the spark of an incipient social revolution.

By mid-afternoon on 18 July, workers' organizations were voicing their complaints over the refusal to distribute Mausers and pistols. That night, while the Martínez Barrio government was being sketched out, the workers' organizations continued to demand weapons and tried to find them on their own. But by the end of the day, the Ministry of War, with authorization from Casares, had begun preparing five battalions of volunteers made up of soldiers and members of parties from the Popular Front coalition. Given the seriousness of the situation, it is likely they had in mind the need to reinforce the troops, perhaps even to authorize distribution, and were trying to act in advance. The same reasoning may have been behind the decision to concentrate weapons and ammunition in the Artillery Park, the Ministry, and the Presidential Battalion.

In the early hours of the 19th, the crowds continued to demand weapons. Some of the workers gathered at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol stormed nearby gun shops. The CNT’s National Committee issued instructions that its member should arm themselves by any means necessary. In the Usera neighborhood, a truck from the Assault Guard was distributing Mausers and ammunition taken from the Artillery Park. The Socialists had convinced the officer in charge to hand over two or three thousand rifles that night.

Although far fewer than the number of workers out on the streets, the distribution of rifles from the Artillery Park helped to ease tensions. But the news of the formation of the Martínez Barrio government sparked fresh, angry protests. Martínez Barrio resigned, and the Giral solution calmed tempers—especially with his decision to distribute weapons to the workers’ organizations. In this way, the coup in Madrid entered its final phase: the response by forces loyal to the state, supported by militant – and armed - workers.

PMC