tabria obviously. The cultural activity was high and increasing, with writers of local customs and manners, recovering tales of our mithology, our music, our culture, our Cantabrian pride. And most important is that this feelings, almost all of this activity was carried and rest in the People, the peasants and workers and let-wing thinkers or democratic intellectual, not by the elite that always remains loyal to the Monarchy, Castile and of course to a centralized an despotic Spain
Nothing specially changed during the II Spanish republic. Only that was a President instead a King at the head of the Spanish State. The reality of the vast majority of Cantabrian People remains the same in the city and more clearly in the villages. The social relations remains untouched, the influence of the Church was more that deep, the repression of the State forces still remains, the Landlord were the parallel power…
Is true that the cultural activity was growing and the Cantabrian identity was growing as well. It existed even a Cantabrist and Socialist newspaper “La Region”, one of the most read and popular in Cantabria at the time, and of course between the People. His director, Luciano Malumbres, became latter the first victim to be killed by fascist terrorists in Cantabria even after the so-call Civil War.
As it had been said the II Republic brought really only light improvements for the People. And no steps forward a real autonomy and national recognition was made. Cantabria was of course under Spanish State and still part of Castilla, as the so call Province of Santander.
In Social terms the Aristocracy, the Church, the big businessmen and the Landlords were ruling the country as in the times of Monarchy.
Is important to realize that (different than in other nations) in Cantabria the high classes were and are the classes that they are interest in stop any step forward our self-determination as a nation, and to stop any step made in the direction of achieve any bit of real freedom and national recognition. Only few individuals of the low business class (neighbor stores, bars, hand-makers and similar) had been interested in making progress in that direction and have national recognition.
The popular classes, the working class has always rebel and the one that tried and still try to move forward in the social and national issues. The working class symbolized since then our real identity, the people that keeps our music, our culture, and is where our real traditions rest.
One of the best, probably the best, writer that this country ever had was Manuel Llano, a person who knew how to “capture” in the letters the essence of the villages, the daily life and believes of the peasants in the countryside of the beginning of the XX century. He was a left-wing person, with some Christian believes as well and a cultural activist, close to Luciano Malumbres. He wrote articles for many news-paper including “La Region”. He suffer prison with him because his Republican activities . He died only one year after the fascists occupied Cantabria.
It was a quite big cultural develop during the II Spanish Republic, probably the biggest difference with the Monarchy. Many schools were created, without religion influence. Many theatre companies go around the Country (and in the Spanish State as well) where poor peasants were. They were campaigns to teach how to read and write.
The laicism started to be slowly a open part of the public life in a country where since old times many people opposed and dislike the reactionary Catholic Church even they were christian or catholic themselves.
But this few progress it was far from be enough. For example the Catholic Church control most of the schools. It was near in the same level of influence that the administration and still its power inside some structures of the State was as deep as in Monarchy days.
The Revolution of October 1934
With this picture we reach October 1934. The People was still waiting for real changes in their lives, for real social progress and the end of centuries of oppression and exploitation
In 