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The Second Republic
In 1931, Catalunya, under Francesc Macià, leader of the Republican Left,
declared itself to be an
independent republic
, and the Republican flag was
raised over the Ajuntament in Barcelona. Madrid refused to accept the declara-
tion, though a statute of limited autonomy was granted in 1932. Despite the
initial hope that things would improve, the government was soon failing to
satisfy even the least of expectations that it had raised. In addition, all the vari-
ous strands of political ideology that had been fermenting in Spain over the
previous century were ready to explode.
Anarchism
in particular was gain-
ing strength among the frustrated middle classes as well as among workers and
peasantry. The
Communist Party
and the left-wing
socialists
, driven into
alliance by their mutual distrust of the “moderate” socialists in government,
were also forming a growing bloc. There was little real unity of purpose on
either Left or Right, but their fear of each other and their own exaggerated
boasts made each seem an imminent threat. On the Right, the
Falangists
(founded in 1923 by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the dictator) made
uneasy bedfellows with conservative traditionalists and dissident elements in the
army upset by modernizing reforms.
In an atmosphere of growing confusion, the left-wing
Popular Front
alliance, including the Catalan Republican Left, won the general election of
January 1936 by a narrow margin, and an all-Republican government was
formed. In Catalunya, Lluís Companys became president of the Generali-
tat. Normal life, though, became increasingly impossible: the economy was
crippled by strikes, peasants took agrarian reform into their own hands, and
the government singularly failed to exert its authority over anyone. Finally,
on July 17, 1936, the military garrison in Morocco rebelled under
General
Francisco Franco
’s leadership, to be followed by uprisings at military garri-
sons throughout the country. It was the culmination of years of scheming in
the army, but the event was far from the overnight success its leaders almost
certainly expected. Much of the south and west quickly fell into the hands of
the Nationalists, but Madrid and the industrialized northeast remained loyal
to the Republican government. In Barcelona, although the military garrison
supported Franco, it was soon subdued by local Civil Guards and the workers,
while local leaders set up militias in preparation for the coming fight.
In October 1936, Franco was declared military commander and head of state;
fascist Germany and Italy recognized his regime as the legitimate government
of Spain in November.The Civil War was on.
Civil War
The
Spanish Civil War
(1936–39) was one of the most bitter and bloody the
world has seen.Violent reprisals were visited on their enemies by both sides
– the Republicans shooting priests and local landowners wholesale, and burn-
ing churches and cathedrals; the Nationalists carrying out mass slaughter of the
population of almost every town they took. It was also to be the first modern
war – Franco’s German allies demonstrated their ability to inflict terror on
civilian populations with their bombing raids on Gernika and Durango, while
radio became an important propaganda weapon, with Nationalists offering
starving Republicans the “white bread of Franco”.
Catalunya was devoutly Republican from the outset with many of the rural
areas particularly attracted by anarchism, an ideology that embodied their tradi-
tional values of equality and personal liberty. However, despite sporadic help
CONTEXTS
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A history of Barcelona and Catalunya