Editing Lluís Companys (section)

==Presidency of Catalonia and proclamation of Catalan State==
After the death of Francesc Macià on 25 December 1933, who was presiding over the Generalitat of Catalonia, Companys was elected the successor President of the Generalitat by the Catalan Parliament. He appointed a new coalition government composed by the Republican Left of Catalonia and the other left-wing republican and catalanist parties. Under his presidency, the Parliament passed laws to improve the living conditions of the popular classes and the petite bourgeoisie.  One example was the [[Crop Contracts Law]], which protected the tenant farmers and granted them access to the land they were cultivating.  The law increased tensions, however, after it was contested by the Regionalist League, and it provoked a legal dispute with the Spanish government led by Ricardo Samper. Meanwhile, the Generalitat established its own Court of Appeal (''[[Tribunal de Cassació]]'')<ref>Roca i Trias, Encarna. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140407101706/http://www.ajilc.cat/noticies/E.%20Roca%20article%20Puig%20Salellas.pdf ''El tribunal de Cassació de la Generalitat republicana: La història d'una tradició prohibida''], 2009, 18 pages from a conference</ref> and assumed executive powers in public order, according as the Statute of Autonomy stipulated. 

On 6 October 1934, with the support of the [[Worker's Alliance]] and the pro-independence [[Escamots]], Companys led a [[Events of October the 6th|Catalan nationalist uprising]]. Companys proclaimed the [[Catalan State (1934)|Catalan State]] (Estat Català) within the "Spanish Federal Republic".<ref>Preston, Paul. ''The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge.'' Harper Perennial. London. 2006. p. 78</ref>  The uprising was opposed by both the centrist and conservative Catalan representatives and the new centrist and right-wing republican government, led by [[Alejandro Lerroux]]. That government included ministers from the political party CEDA, which was considered by many left-wing sectors as nearly fascist.  The attempt to form the Catalan state was seen as an attempt at a [[coup d'état]], as Companys had revolted against the newly appointed center-right republican government and joined the [[Asturian miners' strike of 1934|Asturias miners']] attempt at revolution. Companys asked [[Manuel Azaña]], who happened to be in Barcelona during the events, to lead the newly-proclaimed Spanish Republican government, but Azaña rejected the proposition. The proclamation was suppressed by the Spanish army, and the Catalan government members were arrested.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Finestres| first1=Jordi| last2=López| first2=Manel| title = Entre la revolució i l'estelada| journal=Sàpiens| year=2014| location=Barcelona| language=ca| issn=1695-2014|pages=31–32}}</ref> Companys was sentenced to 30 years in prison.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939.'' Penguin Books. 2006. London. p. 30</ref>  After the victory of the left-wing coalition [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] in the [[1936 Spanish general election|1936 election]], he was pardoned by the new Spanish government, and the Catalan government was restored. 

[[File:Republican troops during the July 1936 uprising in Barcelona.jpg|thumb|[[Republicans (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]] soldiers and [[Assault Guards]] fighting from the Telefónica building in [[Barcelona]] during the July 1936 uprising.]]
{{See also|July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona}}
The period after that election until July 1936 is considered a time of relative peace in Catalonia, in contrast with the rest of Spain. The Parliament restored their legislative activities.  As a response to the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Berlin Summer Olympics]] held in [[Nazi Germany]], the government prepared the [[People's Olympiad]] in Barcelona, with Companys as its honorary president. The Olympiad was planned to commence on 19 July, but on that same day the Spanish Army began a [[Spanish coup of July 1936|national coup d'état]] that would fail but eventually precipitate the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Movement to Boycott the Berlin Olympics of 1936 |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007087 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095138/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007087 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 February 2014 |website=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>  On the morning of 19 July, civil conflict began between Republican and Nationalist forces in Barcelona.