Revolutionary Catalonia

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 syndicalist and stateless features De jure: Autonomous region 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

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, syndicalist, 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 (led by the Republican Left of Catalonia, ERC), 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 former 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 most of the countryside, and attacks against Spanish nationalists and the Catholic clergy. The growing influence of the Communist Party of Spain's (PCE) in the 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 a major political force in Catalonia until their defeat to the Nationalist forces in 1939.