The military coup of 17-18 July 1936 caught the PSOE at a virtual deadlock in its internal dispute. When the rising occurred the party left was still counting the socialist sections' votes for and against celebrating the extraordinary party congress. The split in the national leadership could be felt throughout the entire organisation. The reformists held the PSOE's executive committee and also controlled El Socialista, the official party newspaper. Support for them in the party is difficult to quantify, but was considerable. The party left found its strength in the UGT, although the fact that some unions were keener on bolshevisation than others meant that Prieto also had support in the union federations – most notably in the Asturian miners federation (SMA). The party left also controlled the newspaper, Claridad as well as the ASM executive. The Madrid group was the single most influential socialist group. Until 1918 it had controlled the national executive and its influence remained because it incorporated virtually all the leading members of the party. But by the spring of 1936, as we have seen, the ASM committee was competing with the PSOE national executive by functioning as a factional leadership. By July, relations between the two wings of the socialist movement were strained to the point of rupture and only an error by UGT executive member, Manuel Lois, would keep open a door for minimal formal dialogue.