PRRS was an important force in the
elections of 1931, winning 54 seats in the
Cortes Generales that proclaimed the
Second Spanish Republic on April 14. It suffered a major setback by 1933, when it only gained five seats. In the meantime, it formed part of
Prime Minister Manuel Azaña's
coalition between
Left Republican parties and the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE); Álvaro de Albornoz was one of the architects of the
secular legislation passed by the Cortes, and also served as Justice Minister. The party was shaken by several crises during its existence. In 1932, Juan Botella Asensi left the PRRS to found his own group (
IRS,
Izquierda Radical-Socialista – Radical-Socialist Left); the following year, it was split over the issue of collaboration with the PSOE: the left-wing, led by Domingo and Albornoz, argued for continued participation in government, while the
right-wing of Gordón de Ordás favored an agreement with Lerroux's PRR. Towards the end of 1933, the leftists created the
Independent Radical Socialist Republican Party (PRRSI), which fused with
Republican Action and the
Autonomous Galician Republican Organization to create the
Republican Left in 1934. The remainder of the party, now dominated by moderates, merged with the Radical Democratic Party of
Diego Martínez Barrio into the
Republican Union. Both the Republican Left and the Republican Union ended up joining the
Popular Front in 1936. == See also ==