Was Spain in genuine danger of becoming a Soviet satellite in the 1930s?

Been inspired to learn about the Spanish Civil War recently and am interested to know what the legitimate risks to democracy were in the event of a Republican victory.

Read a few online sources initially, then Homage to Catalonia, Paul Preston's "The Spanish Civil War" and am now going through "The Spanish Holocaust" by the same author. Preston is an engaging writer and to his credit is open about his biases, but I find him very eager to dismiss the Republican terror as being purely caused by specific groups, and even excused or minimised in some circumstances.

My observation so far is that the Spanish populace as a whole were caught between two murderous authoritarian regimes, who would have suppressed liberty and massacred their political opponents in the event of victory. So on that basis, was support of the Nationalists understandable to an extent in that a Republican victory was likely to lead to a Soviet puppet government?

Or, did Spain still have a chance of becoming a democratic society before WW2?