Spanish Civil War: Social Revolution and Rebel Control
The Two Sides of the Spanish Civil War
Social Revolution in the Republican Zone
The defense of the Republic largely relied on party members and left-wing trade unions. This led to the formation of committees, bodies of popular power, which directed the war effort and civilian life in the rear. Workers’ committees occupied factories and collectivized them. Land was confiscated from landlords and distributed to peasant groups.
This revolutionary process was driven by labor forces, especially anarcho-syndicalism, through its trade union federation, the CNT, and FAI activist groups.
Anticlericalism also surged, with priests persecuted and religious manifestations deemed anti-revolutionary. Aristocratic, bourgeois, and religious symbols were targeted, sometimes resulting in imprisonment or death.
In September 1936, a new coalition government formed, uniting Republicans, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists, and was chaired by the Socialist Largo Caballero. This government attempted to control the revolution and merge militias into a unified People’s Army.
Confrontation in 1937
Military failures led to divisions within the Republican forces. Republicans, Communists, and Socialists advocated freezing the revolutionary process to prioritize the war effort. Anarchists and Trotskyists (POUM, Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification) opposed government measures, leading to armed clashes in Barcelona in May 1937.
Subsequently, Juan Negrín formed a new government excluding Anarchists and with strong Communist influence. This government imposed its authority on the committees, dissolved some collectives, and focused on the war effort. A policy of resistance to the death (Negrín’s Thirteen Points) was proclaimed, strengthening state institutions and the People’s Army.
Rebel Zone: A Military Dictatorship
In the area controlled by the rebels, all efforts were directed towards winning the war, establishing a unified military power that united those fighting against the Republic.
The New State
The initial governing body of the rebels was the Board of Defense. On October 1, 1936, General Franco was named Generalissimo and Head of Government, granted full powers. In April 1937, he decreed the unification of all political forces into a single party: FET de las JONS (Traditionalist Spanish Falange and the National Offensive Boards of the Syndicalist). A year later, the first Franco government was formed in Burgos.
The new regime was inspired by fascism, emphasizing blind obedience to the “Chief,” rejecting liberalism and democracy, and exalting violence. It defended a social model based on conservatism and the dominance of Catholicism as the backbone of society. One of the primary objectives of the “National” authorities was to eliminate Republican reforms, abolishing labor and social legislation, land reform, religious freedom, and the statutes of autonomy. All political parties and trade unions were also eliminated.
Systematic Repression
In areas dominated by Franco, the systematic persecution of Popular Front organizations and their representatives was institutionalized. This repression was carried out with the consent of social groups supporting the “uprising” and, at times, with the support of the Church itself.
The repression (arrests, imprisonments, purges, executions) affected all who had supported the Republic and even those who simply did not demonstrate allegiance to the new regime. Its purpose was to terrorize the population and prevent any dissent or opposition to the new state.