Editing History of Catalonia (section)

=== Franco's dictatorship ===
{{Main|Francoist Catalonia}}
[[File:FrancoenReus.jpg|thumb|[[Francisco Franco]] in [[Reus]], 1940]]
As in the rest of Spain, the Franco era (1939–1975) in Catalonia saw the annulment of democratic liberties, the prohibition and persecution of parties, the rise of thoroughgoing censorship, and the banning of all leftist institutions. In Catalonia it also meant, yet again, the annulment of the Statute of Autonomy, the banning of the whole specifically Catalan institutions and legislation. Catalan was subject to oppression and was reduced to family use. Castilian (Spanish) became the only language of education, administration and the media. During the first years, all resistance was energetically suppressed, the prisons filled up with political prisoners, and thousands of Catalans went into exile. In addition, 4000 Catalans were executed between 1938 and 1953, among them the former president of the Generalitat [[Lluís Companys]] (taken to Spain from his exile in the [[German-occupied France]]).<ref>Preston, Paul (2012). ''The Spanish Holocaust.'' Harper Press, London p. 493</ref>

The Civil War had ravaged the Spanish economy. Infrastructure had been damaged, workers killed and daily business severely hampered. The economic recovery was very slow and it was not until the second half of the 1950s that the economy of Catalonia reached the prewar levels of 1936. After an initial period in which Spain tried to build an [[autarky]], in which the economy improved little, Franco's regime changed its economic policies in 1959 and in the 1960s and early 1970s the economy entered a period of rapid economic expansion that became known as the [[Spanish Miracle]]. International firms established their factories in Spain: salaries were relatively low, strikes were forbidden, labour health or real state regulations were unheard of and Spain was virtually a virgin market. The period was marked by agricultural modernization, a massive expansion of industry and the start of mass tourism, which it was concentrated on the coast ([[Costa Brava]] in Girona and [[Costa Daurada]] in Tarragona). As industry in Catalonia expanded, workers migrated from rural areas across Spain (particularly [[Andalusia]], [[Extremadura]], [[Murcia]] and [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]),<ref name="CrameriCentre2000">{{cite book|author1=Kathryn Crameri|author2=University of Oxford. European Humanities Research Centre|title=Language, the novelist and national identity in post-Franco Catalonia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IwRdAAAAMAAJ&q=%22prosperous%22|year=2000|publisher=Legenda &#91;in association with&#93; European Humanities Research Centre, University of Oxford|isbn=978-1-900755-37-5|page=35}}</ref> to work in Barcelona and its surrounding area, turning it into one of Europe's largest industrial metropolitan areas, which in turn led to dramatic urbanisation.<ref name="MorelliSalvati2010">{{cite book|author1=Vittorio Gargiulo Morelli|author2=Luca Salvati|title=Ad Hoc Urban Sprawl in the Mediterranean City: Dispersing a Compact Tradition?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9CE9eFTet4C&pg=PA90|year=2010|publisher=Edizioni Nuova Cultura|isbn=978-88-6134-572-0|page=90}}</ref> Working-class opposition to Franco began to appear, usually clandestinely, and most notably in the form of the [[Workers' Commissions|Comisiones Obreras]] ("Workers Commissions"), a return of trade union organizing, and the revival of the PSUC, while the students' protests turned frequent. In the 1970s democratic forces united under the banner of the [[Assembly of Catalonia]] ("Assemblea de Catalunya"), demanding political and social freedom, amnesty for the political prisoners, the reestablishment of the autonomy of Catalonia and the collaboration with the democratic forces of the rest of Spain.<ref>[https://www.lavanguardia.com/encatala/20111106/54237588105/naixement-i-mort-de-l-assemblea-de-catalunya.html Neixement i mort de l'Assemblea de Catalunya.] La Vanguardia, 08-11-2011</ref><ref>Batista, Antoni. «L'assemblea de Catalunya, el primer graó de la transició », Sàpiens, n. 109, October 2011</ref>

During later stages of Francoist Spain, folkloric and religious celebrations in Catalan resumed and were tolerated. Use of Catalan in the mass media had been forbidden, but was permitted from the early 1950s in the theatre.<ref>{{cite book| author = Ross| title = Cultural Contestation in Ethnic Conflict| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4popSDfW0C&pg=PA139| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-139-46307-2| page = 139 | date = 3 May 2007}}</ref> During the 60s and 70s the [[Catalan music]] entered into a period of renewal and growth known as [[Nova Cançó]]. Initially appeared with [[Els Setze Jutges]] group, it quickly became a mass phenomenon that incorporated the protest song against the Dictatorship and helped bring forth prominent singers and groups such as [[Joan Manuel Serrat]], [[Lluís Llach]], [[Raimon]], [[Maria del Mar Bonet]], [[Ovidi Montllor]] or [[Grup de Folk]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pujadó |first1=Miquel |title=Diccionari de la Cançó. D'Els Setze Jutges al Rock Català |date=2000 |publisher=Enciclopèdia catalana |location=Barcelona |isbn=8441204675 |pages=52–55}}</ref>