Global InformationFrancoist Catalonia information
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Francoism in Catalonia was established within Francoist Spain between 1939 and 1975 (with the first democratic elections taking place on June 15, 1977),[1][2] following the Spanish Civil War and post-war Francoist repression. Francisco Franco's regime replaced Revolutionary Catalonia after the Catalonia Offensive at the end of the war. The dictatorship in Catalonia complemented the suppression of democratic freedoms with the repression of Catalan culture. Its totalitarian character and its unifying objectives meant the imposition of a single culture and a single language, Castillian. The regime was specifically anti-Catalan, but this did not stop the development of a Catalan Francoism that was forged during the war and fed by victory.[3]
Francoism meant, in Catalonia as with the rest of Spain, the cancellation of democratic freedoms, the prohibition and persecution of political parties (except the Falange Espanyola Tradicionalista i de les JONS), the closure of the free press, and the elimination of leftist organisations. In addition, the Statute of Autonomy and its associated institutions were abolished, and the Catalan language and culture were systematically persecuted, at least to begin with, in public and even initially in private.
To the many deaths in the civil war were added those who were shot after the Francoist victory like the president Lluís Companys; many others were forced into exile, unable to return to their country. Many who did not flee were imprisoned or "deprived" and disqualified from holding public office or working in certain professions, which left them in a dire economic situation during already difficult times. A small group of anarchists and communists were intent on waging a guerrilla war in units known as the maquis. Their most notable action was the invasion of the Vall d'Aran.
After the first stage of a self-sufficient economy, in the 1960s the economy entered into a stage of agricultural modernization, an increase in industry, and mass tourism. Catalonia was also the destination for many migrants, which accelerated the growth of Barcelona and the surrounding regions. The anti-Franco opposition was well developed, seen mostly visibly in the labour movement with the Commissions Obreres (workers' commissions), trade unions, and the PSUC.
In the 1970s, democratic forces were unified around the Assembly of Catalonia. On November 20, 1975, the dictator Franco died, opening a new period in the history of Catalonia.
- ^ El franquisme a Catalunya, Paul Preston, p. 14
- ^ "Joan Vilarroya i Font, Doctor en Història per la Universitat de Barcelona". ub.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
- ^ Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana, volum XI". Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana S.A., Juliol de 1990, p. 339. ISBN 8485194810.