José Sánchez and Maria Thomas examine how anticlericalism became to be a powerful tool for progressives to create political traction in the Second Republic. Sánchez focuses on the origin of weaponized anticlerical violence when addressing the importance of national policy over Catholic policy. He mentions Socialists like President Manuel Azaña capitalizing on anticlerical sentiment in order to push reform for Spain's education system to form a newly-emerging secular culture. Thomas' work looks into why anticlerics destroyed Catholic symbols, burned churches, collectivized farms, and secularized schools. According to Thomas, this was an attempt to proliferate the growing public struggle against Catholicism and advance the social revolution bringing …show more content…
Through the Primo de Rivera dictatorships the church became completely dependent on public aid and government subsidies to function and their collapse but their survival in jeopardy. The church received government subsidies for pensions in an upwards of $12 million and many in the Second Republic considered this to be a heavy drain on the economy. Such funds could be used to help address attempts of fixing wealth inequality instead of a church that many considered to be a decadent and corrupt institution. What we can derive from the existence of and political support for these subsides is there was still some support in the Spanish government for the Catholic Church. Many of these groups were powerful families and politicians on the Right who had historical ties with the church or were directly involved with church affairs. Many conservatives and even some moderates fought the republic in order to protect rights of the church and their role within Spanish society. However, shifting political landscapes and transition of power put their protection at