La presente Tesis doctoral se divide en tres bloques bien diferenciados: en el primero se trazan las líneas maestras de la realidad social, económica y política imperante en la provincia de Santa Cruz de Tenerife durante la primera mitad del siglo XX. En el segundo, se aborda el desarrollo de las instituciones políticas (municipales, insulares, provinciales y nacionales) a lo largo del periodo tomando como hilo conductor la supervivencia del clientelismo y el caciquismo sobre el que se asienta el sistema. En el tercero, se estudian todas las manifestaciones de oposición surgidas contra un régimen que margina y oprime a gran parte de la población, tanto en el campo como en la ciudad, aglutinando a todas las orientaciones políticas catalogadas bajo el, tan amplio como confuso, concepto de "izquierdas". Dentro de él tiene una relevancia especial el análisis y caracterización de la resistencia y represión surgida tras la sublevación militar del 18 de julio de 1936. / Title of Thesis: THE PROVINCE OF SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE BETWEEN TWO DICTATORSHIPS (1923-1945). HUNGER AND ORDER. The doctoral thesis is divided into three blocks. In the first are traced the main points of the social, economic and political conditions in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the first half of the twentieth century. In the second section, is raised the development of political institutions (municipal, insular, provincial and national) during the examined period, taking as a common theme the survival of patronage system and chieftainship. In the third section, I study the opposition emerged against a regime that marginalizes the great majority of the population, both in the country and in the city, uniting all the political directions laid under the concept of the left-wing. The analysis of the repression emerged after the military uprising of July the 18th, 1936, has special relevance. The traditionally dominant class in the province (large landowners and merchants, enriched with the export of bananas) through its network of clientele, dominated all political structures in the province, since the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. They kept political control during the Second Republic, holding back social reforms in areas where power was lost, and got involved in the coup of July the 18th, 1936, being restored back into the institutions that govern public life.