Revolutionary Catalonia

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Revolutionary Catalonia Catalunya revolucionària (Catalan)
1936–1937
Above: CNT-FAI flag Below: Flag of Catalonia Seal of the Generalitat
Territorial division of Catalonia according to the decree of the Generalitat of October 1936
Status	De facto: Quasi-state with stateless features De jure: Autonomous territory within a constitutional republic
Capital	Barcelona
Common languages	Catalan, Spanish
Government	De facto: Anarcho-syndicalism De jure: Generalitat of Catalonia
President of the Generalitat
• 1936-1939	Lluís Companys
Legislature	Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia (1936) Parliament of Catalonia (1936–1939)
Historical era	Spanish Civil War
• Established	21 July 1936
• CCMA disbanded	1 October 1936
• May Days	3–8 May 1937
• Fall of Catalonia	10 February 1939
Preceded by Succeeded by Second Spanish Republic Generalitat of Catalonia Spanish State
Today part of	Spain  ∟Catalonia

Part of a series on the
History of Catalonia
Ancient Prehistory   Iberians c. 6th BC – c. 1st BC Greek colonies c. 6th BC – c. 1st BC Roman conquest of Hispania 218 BC – 19 BC Tarraconensis 27 BC – 476 AD
Medieval Visigoths 5th century – c.720 Al-Andalus 713–1154 Catalan counties c.760 – 12th century County of Barcelona 801–1162 Crown of Aragon 1162–1715 Principality of Catalonia c. 12th century – 1714 Compromise of Caspe 1412 War of the Remences 1462–1486 Catalan Civil War 1462–1472
Early modern Catholic Monarchs 1469–1516 Habsburg Spain 1516–1700 Reapers' War / Catalan Republic 1640–1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees 1659 Revolt of the Barretines 1687–1689 War of the Spanish Succession 1700–1715 War of the Catalans 1713–1714 Nueva Planta decrees 1716
Modern Peninsular War 1808–1814 Liberals and Carlists 1833–1876 Renaixença 1833–1892 Catalanism 1870s– Tragic Week 1909 Commonwealth 1914–1925 La Canadenca strike 1919 Catalan Republic 1931 Republican Generalitat / Statute of Autonomy 1932–1939 Events of 6 October 1934 Spanish Civil War / Revolution 1936–1939
Contemporary Francoism 1939–1975 Transition to democracy 1975–1982 Statute of Autonomy 1979–2006 Barcelona '92 1992 Statute of Autonomy 2006–present Independence movement 2010–present
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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.