Ministry of Communications (Spain)

Ministry of Communications
Ministerio de Comunicaciones
Agency overview
FormedApril 15, 1931
Preceding agency
DissolvedMarch 6, 1939
Superseding agency
TypeMinistry
JurisdictionGovernment of Spain

The Ministry of Communications was a department of the Government of Spain active during the Second Republic and the Civil War. Originally, this ministry had powers on the postal service, telegraphs, telephone and radiocommunications. During the first years of the republic its powers gradually saw growth, assuming competences on aeronautics, navigation and air transport. Subsequently, in closer times to the civil war, the department assumed powers over the merchant marine and other transports.

History

The Ministry of Communications is a unique department of the Second Spanish Republic. It has been not use in any other time. It was created on 15 April 1931, a day after the proclamation of the republic, and it assumed the powers of the Directorate-General for the Postal Service and Telegraphs of the Ministry of Home Affairs.[1] From this ministry also assumed the competences relating the link between the Government and the Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España.[2] Diego Martínez Barrio was the first minister.

Months later, in December 1931, minister Martínez Barrio left the portfolio and Santiago Casares Quiroga, Minister of Home Affairs,[3] assumed the office temporarily until April 1932 when the Department was abolished and the Undersecretariat of Communications (main department of the Ministry) was transferred to the Ministry led by Casares Quiroga. The Department of Communications was recreated in 1933[4] with Miquel Santaló i Parvorell as its minister.

The Ministry merged in September 1935 with the Ministry of Public Works under the premiership of Joaquín Chapaprieta until February 1936.[5] Briefly that year, under the premierships of Manuel Azaña, Augusto Barcía Trelles, Santiago Casares Quiroga, Diego Martínez Barrio and José Giral, both departments split again and ministry was renamed Ministry of Communications and Merchant Marine.[5] In September that year, the ministry was renamed just Ministry of Communications and two months later it was renamed again "of Communications and Merchant Marine". In May 1937, it was merged again with Public Works.

In April 1938, the ministries were split again and the Communications one assumed powers on transports, being renamed as Ministry of Communications and Transport until March 1939 when it was merged again with Public Works. After the end of the Civil War in April 1939, the dictator Franco did not use this department and the communications powers were part of the Ministry of Home Affairs during all the dictatorship.

During the last cabinets of Adolfo Suárez, the government of Calvo-Sotelo and the first cabinets of Felipe González, the powers were assumed by the Ministry of Transport until 1991, when they were transferred to the Ministry of Public Works and nowadays they remain in this ministry. However, the powers relating to telecommunications are in the Ministry of Economy.

List of ministers

Name Term Duration Party Government Ref.
Diego Martínez Barrio[a]
(1883–1962)		 15 April 1931 16 December 1931 245 days Radical Republican Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora

(1931–1936)		 [6]
Manuel Azaña
Santiago Casares Quiroga
(1884–1950)
acting minister		 17 December 1931 31 March 1932 105 days ORGA
Office disestablished during this interval.[b]
Miquel Santaló
(1888–1961)		 12 September 1933 8 October 1933 26 days Catalan Republican Left Alejandro Lerroux
Emilio Palomo Aguado
(1898–1964)		 8 October 1933 16 December 1933 69 days Radical Republican Diego Martínez Barrio
José María Cid Ruiz-Zorrilla
(1882–1956)		 16 December 1933 4 October 1934 292 days Radical Republican Alejandro Lerroux
Ricardo Samper
César Jalón Aragón
(1889–1985)		 4 October 1934 6 May 1935 128 days Radical Republican Alejandro Lerroux
Luis Lucía Lucía
(1888–1943)		 6 May 1935 25 September 1935 142 days CEDA
Office disestablished during this interval.[c]
Manuel Blasco Garzón
(1885–1954)		 19 February 1936 13 May 1936 84 days Republican Unionist Manuel Azaña
Augusto Barcia Trelles[d]
Manuel Azaña

(1936–1939)
Bernardo Giner de los Ríos
(1888–1970)		 13 May 1936 19 July 1936 67 days Republican Unionist Santiago Casares Quiroga
Joan Lluhí
(1897–1944)		 19 July 1936 19 July 1936 0 days Catalan Republican Left Diego Martínez Barrio
Start of the Spanish Civil War
Bernardo Giner de los Ríos
(1888–1970)		 19 July 1936 4 September 1936 47 days Republican Unionist José Giral
Francisco Largo Caballero
Office disestablished during this interval.[e]
Bernardo Giner de los Ríos[f]
(1888–1970)		 5 April 1938 5 March 1939 334 days Republican Unionist Juan Negrín
Office permanently abolished.[g]

Notes

  1. ↑ During the absences of the Minister: Gerardo Abad Conde, Under-Secretary (7–12 May 1931 and 5–15 June 1931). From 5 to 15 June 1931 Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, Prime Minister, served as Acting Minister of Communications, although the Ministry's Under-Secretary assumed the ordinary discharge of duties.
  2. ↑ The department's competences were transferred to the Ministry of the Governance.
  3. ↑ The department's competences were transferred to the Ministry of Public Works and Communications.
  4. ↑ Acting prime minister from 10 to 13 May 1936
  5. ↑ The department's competences were transferred to the Ministry of Communications, Transports and Public Works.
  6. ↑ During the absences of the Minister: Juan Negrín, Prime Minister (21–30 November 1938).
  7. ↑ After the end of the Civil War, the Francoist government merged the communication powers into the Ministry of the Governance.

References

  1. ↑ "Decree creating the Ministry of Communications" (PDF). www.boe.es. 15 April 1931. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  2. ↑ "Decree splitting from the Ministry of Home Affairs all the matters relating telecommunications affairs" (PDF). www.boe.es. 26 April 1931. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  3. ↑ "Royal Decree appointing the Minister of Home Affairs, Santiago Casares Quiroga, as Acting Minister of Communications" (PDF). www.boe.es. 18 December 1931. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Decree of 1933 creating the Ministry of Communications" (PDF). www.boe.es. 14 September 1933. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Decree of 1936 renaming the Ministry of Communications" (PDF). www.boe.es. 20 February 1936. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  6. ↑ Centre for Human and Social Sciences (CCHS-CSIC). "Segunda República (1931–1939)" [Second Republic (1931–1939)]. Centre for Human and Social Sciences (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.