In October 1934, the Asturian uprising in northern Spain was crushed by the government forces of the Spanish Republic. The bodies of murdered rebel workers were scattered in front of the Pelayo barracks in Oviedo, the provincial capital.

　　In October 1934, the Asturian uprising in northern Spain was crushed by the government forces of the Spanish Republic led by General Francisco Franco. A large number of rebel workers were killed and their bodies scattered in front of the barracks in Pelayo, the provincial capital of Oviedo. About 1,700 Asturian workers were killed and between 15,000 and 30,000 arrested. About 260 Spanish Republican Army troops were killed.

　Workers' protests broke out on October 5, especially in Asturias, where communists, socialists, and anarchists fought side by side. Armed groups of miners occupied arms factories in Oviedo and Torbia. In Asturias, power passed into the hands of workers and peasants who formed the Red Guard. Government forces hastily dispatched the Civil Guard, Moroccan troops, and foreign legions to put down the Asturian uprising. Heavy fighting broke out in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. Government forces, supported by aircraft and artillery, crushed the proletariat uprising with bloodshed. Martial law was declared in Asturias, and the martial law court sentenced the people to death. About 30,000 more workers were put in prison. Two of the 23 sentenced to death, Sergeant Vazquez and Jesús Arguelles Fernández, were executed.

　In Spain in the 1930s, an armed struggle between democracy and fascism developed. Civil war broke out, leading to Italian-German intervention and a national revolutionary war in cahoots with the Western powers and the fascists; in December 1933, radical fascist leader A. Lelles established a pro-fascist government, opening the Black Period (1934-1935). The clergy and pro-fascists gradually assumed leadership positions in the state, the old privileges of the church were restored, and the rights won by the workers in the early Spanish Republic were revoked. Workers' newspapers were severely censored and the expression of workers' grievances was brutally suppressed.

　The fascist onslaught was vigorously repulsed by the masses, and in February 1934 rallies and demonstrations were held throughout Spain in solidarity with the Austrian workers who had risen up in the anti-fascist struggle. The June strike of about 500,000 agricultural workers that lasted for about 15 days in southern Spain was a powerful protest against the fascist reactionaries; in early September, more than 200,000 workers in Barcelona and Madrid took to the streets to disrupt fascist rallies. Communist slogans calling for an anti-fascist united front gained popular support. Thousands of socialists and anarchists joined the Communist Party. A powerful left wing emerged within the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, advocating unity of action with the communists, and on June 12, 1934, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party proposed the creation of a united front to the Executive Committee of the Socialist Labor Party. The Socialist leaders responded by inviting the Communist Party to cooperate with the Workers' Alliance founded by the Socialist Party. The Communist Party accepted the proposal and took upon itself the task of expanding the membership of the Alliance and transforming it into an organization of workers and peasants for the unity of the anti-fascist forces.

　On October 4, 1934, the Lelles government added for the first time representatives of the counterrevolutionary party, the Spanish League of Autonomy (CEDA). A general strike called that same day spread throughout the country, sparking a workers' protest. The general strike spread to Madrid, Catalonia, Biscay, Asturias, and other regions; much of the armed struggle in October 1934 ended in defeat. In Madrid and Baskonia, the divisive actions of the social democratic leaders prevented the strike struggle from developing into an armed uprising. The proletariat in Asturia was isolated. The Communist Party was not strong enough to lead the national movement. There was insufficient peasant support for the working class.