The Esquerra Party was
a left-wing organization that gained most of its support from Barcelona
and other urban areas in Catalonia. Luis
Companys and other leaders of the party called for the establishment
of a Catalan republic.
On the 14th April 1931,
Companys and other members of the party, occupied the city hall where
they proclaimed the establishment of a republic.
On 1st January 1934, Companys
was elected president of an autonomous Catalonia. The following year
he declared Catalonia fully independent within the Spanish Republic.
This separatist revolt failed and Companys and the entire Catalan
government were arrested. Companys was found guilty and sentenced
to thirty years in jail.
On 15th January 1936, Manuel
Azaña helped
to establish a coalition
of parties on the political left to fight the national elections
due to take place the following month. This included the Esquerra
Party, Socialist Party (PSOE), Communist
Party (PCE) and the Republican Union
Party.
The Popular
Front, as the coalition became known, advocated the restoration
of Catalan autonomy, amnesty for political prisoners, agrarian reform,
an end to political blacklists and the payment of damages for property
owners who suffered during the revolt of 1934. The Anarchists
refused to support the coalition and instead urged people not to vote.
Right-wing groups in Spain
formed the National Front. This included the CEDA
and the Carlists. The Falange
Española did not officially join but most of its members
supported the aims of the National Front.
The Spanish people voted
on Sunday, 16th February, 1936. Out of a possible 13.5 million voters,
over 9,870,000 participated in the 1936
General Election. 4,654,116 people (34.3) voted for the Popular
Front, whereas the National Front obtained 4,503,505 (33.2) and the
centre parties got 526,615 (5.4). The Popular Front, with 263 seats
out of the 473 in the Cortes
formed the new government. The Esquerra Party won 38 of these seats.
The Popular
Front government immediately upset the conservatives by realizing
all left-wing political prisoners including Luis
Companys and members of the Esquerra Party.
The government also introduced
agrarian reforms that penalized the landed aristocracy. Other measures
included transferring right-wing military leaders such as Francisco
Franco to posts
outside Spain, outlawing the Falange Española
and granting Catalonia political and administrative autonomy.
On the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War members of the Esquerra
Party joined the Worker's Party (POUM) and
the National Confederation of Trabajo (CNT)
to defeat the military uprising in Barcelona.
During the war Luis
Companys attempted to maintain the unity of the coalition of parties
in Barcelona. However, after the Soviet
cousul, Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, threatened
the suspension of Russian aid, he agreed to sack Andrés
Nin as
minister of justice in
December 1936.
Companys attempted to protect
members of the Worker's Party (POUM) and
the National Confederation of Trabajo (CNT)
from the Communist dominated Partit Socialista
Unificat de Catalunya (PSUC). This was in vain and although he
remained president he was no more than a figurehead
After the victory of General
Francisco
Franco and the
Nationalist
Army Companys
fled to France but after the German
Army occupied
the country in 1940 he was arrested by the Gestapo
and sent back to Spain. General Francisco
Franco ordered
that he should be tried for treason. Found guilty on 14th October,
1940 he was executed the following day.
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