Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rightists

(Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas; CEDA), a rightist Catholic party formed in Spain in October 1932; its founding congress met in February and March 1933.

CEDA enjoyed the support of certain bourgeois-landowner circles and of the peasant members of the National Catholic-Agrarian Confederation (Confederación Nacional Católico-Agraria). It had approximately 800,000 members.

In the parliamentary elections of November 1933, CEDA formed an electoral bloc together with the parties of the extreme right—the “traditionalists” and the Rejuvenation of Spain. In the republic’s second Cortes (December 1933–December 1935), it had a large parliamentary faction and acted en bloc with the radicals. It called for repeal of the anticlerical legislation passed in the period 1931–33, revision of the constitution of 1931, and an agrarian policy imbued with the spirit of “social Christianity.” From October 1934 through December 1935, CEDA members took part in the government, some holding important positions therein; in May 1935, J. M. Gil Robles, the leader of CEDA, was named minister of war. After the Popular Front victory in the elections of February 1936, CEDA, the second largest faction in the new Cortes, actively opposed the democratic government.

After the outbreak of the fascist military revolt in July 1936, CEDA collapsed and broke apart.