Editing History of Catalonia (section)

=== Civil War ===
{{Main|Revolutionary Catalonia}}
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| caption1 = [[Spanish Revolution of 1936]]
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[[File:Mapa guerra civil.png|thumb|upright|Francoist offensives during the occupation of Catalonia]]

The defeat of the initial [[July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona|military rebellion against the Republican government in Barcelona]] by forces of the Generalitat and workers' militias placed Catalonia firmly in the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican camp]]. The loyalist victory allowed to the workers' self-armed militias, predominantly anarchists, to become the real power of the streets, which meant the beginning of a harsh repression in Catalonia against those elements of being "fascist" or right-wing sympathizers{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}. Both the Generalitat and the central government were unable to stop the arbitrary revolutionary violence.{{Dubious|date=February 2021}} During the war, there were two powers coexisting in Catalonia: the ''de jure'' power of the Generalitat and the ''de facto'' power of the [[anarchist Catalonia|armed popular militias]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Spanish Civil war: Revolution and counter-revolution. |last=Bolloten |first=Burnett |author-link=Burnett Bolloten |year=1991 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |pages=388–389}}</ref> In order to begin the recovering of some control of the situation, Companys authorized on July 21 the establishment of a joint body by the different Catalan republican parties and the anarchist [[CNT-FAI|CNT]] and socialist [[Unión General de Trabajadores|UGT]] trade unions, The [[Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia]] (CCMA), becoming the effective Catalan government until its dissolution, two months later, replaced by a new government of the Generalitat which included anarchist ministers. Throughout Catalonia many sectors of the economy fell under the control of the CNT and the UGT, where workers' self-management was implemented. These included any kind of industry and services and thousands of dwellings previously owned by the upper classes. Initially, the newly collectivized factories encountered various problems. In response to these problems, the Generalitat, backed by the CNT approved a decree on "Collectivization and Workers' Control" on 24 October 1936. Under this decree all firms with more than 100 workers were to be collectivized and those with 100 or less could be collectivized if a majority of workers agreed.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fabregas |first1=Joan P |last2=Tarradellas |first2=Josep |author-link2=Josep Tarradellas |title=Col·lectivitzacions i Control Obrer |url=https://www.llibertat.cat/2013/11/colect-69514.jpg |date=24 October 1936}}</ref> Violent confrontations between the workers' parties culminated in the defeat of the CNT-FAI and POUM in the 1937 [[May Days]], against whom the PSUC unleashed strong repression. The local situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat partially lost its autonomous power within republican Spain.

The military forces of the Generalitat, weakly structured between December 1936 and May 1937 in the [[People's Army of Catalonia]] (''Exèrcit Popular de Catalunya''), were concentrated on two fronts: Aragon and Majorca. The latter was an utter disaster. The Aragon front resisted firmly until 1938, when the occupation of [[Lleida]] and [[Balaguer]] destabilized it. Finally, Franco's troops broke the republican territory in two by occupying the Valencian coastal town of [[Vinaròs]], isolating Catalonia from the rest of Republican Spain. The defeat of the Republican army in the [[Battle of the Ebro]] led in 1938 and 1939 to the [[Catalonia Offensive|occupation of Catalonia]] by Franco's forces, who abolished completely the Catalan self-government and brought in a dictatorial regime, which took strong measures against Catalan nationalism and culture.<ref name="Guibernau2004">{{cite book|author=Guibernau, Montserrat|title=Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, Transition and Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0p-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA30|date=31 July 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-35326-2|page=30}}</ref> Only forty years later, after Franco's death (1975) and the adoption of a democratic constitution in Spain (1978), did Catalonia recover its autonomy and reconstitute the Generalitat (1977).

[[George Orwell]] served with the POUM in Catalonia from December 1936 until June 1937. His memoir of that time, ''[[Homage to Catalonia]]'', was first published in 1938 and foreshadowed the causes of [[Second World War]]. It remains one of the most widely read books on the Spanish Civil War.<ref>[http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/index.html ''Homage to Catalonia''] by George Orwell (1938)</ref>