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Revolutionary Catalonia

Revolutionary Catalonia
Catalunya revolucionària (Catalan)
1936–1937
Flag of Catalonia
Above: CNT-FAI flag
Below: Flag of Catalonia
Territorial division of Catalonia according to the decree of the Generalitat of October 1936
Territorial division of Catalonia according to the decree of the Generalitat of October 1936
StatusDe facto: Syndicalist territory
De jure: Autonomous territory within a constitutional republic
CapitalBarcelona
Common languagesCatalan, Spanish
GovernmentDe facto: Anarcho-syndicalism
De jure: Generalitat of Catalonia
President of the Generalitat 
• 1936–1939
Lluís Companys
LegislatureCentral Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia (1936)
Parliament of Catalonia (1936–1939)
Historical eraSpanish Civil War
21 July 1936
• CCMA disbanded
1 October 1936
• May Days
3–8 May 1937
10 February 1939
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Second Spanish Republic
Generalitat of Catalonia
Spanish State
Today part ofSpain
 Catalonia

Revolutionary Catalonia[1] (21 July 1936 – 8 May 1937) was the period in which the autonomous region of Catalonia in northeast Spain was controlled or largely influenced by various anarchist, communist, and socialist trade unions, parties, and militias of the Spanish Civil War era. Although the constitutional Catalan institution of self-government, the Generalitat of Catalonia, remained in power and even took control of most of the competences of the Spanish central government in its territory, the trade unions were de facto in command of most of the economy and military forces, which includes the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT, National Confederation of Labor) which was the dominant labor union at the time and the closely associated Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI, Iberian Anarchist Federation). The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Worker's Union), the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC, which included the Communist Party of Catalonia) were also prominent.

Socialist rule of the region began with the Spanish Revolution of 1936, resulting in workers' control of businesses and factories, collective farming in the countryside, and attacks against Spanish nationalists and the Catholic clergy. The growing influence of the Communist Party of Spain's (PCE) Popular Front government and their desire to nationalize revolutionary committees and militias brought it into conflict with the CNT and POUM, resulting in the May Days and the eventual replacement of the CNT by the PSUC as the major political force in Catalonia until their defeat to the Nationalist forces in 1939.

  1. ^ Alexander 1999, p. 754; Graham 2002, p. 221; Paz 2006, p. 512.

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