17th Commentary:

The text that I am going to comment now consists of fragments related to the Law of
Political Responsibilities. I will consider the following four aspects to comment it:

LOCATION:

The type of text, depending on the form, is a law (legal), based on the content is political,
social and economic and considering the origin, is historical. In addition to that, it is a primary
source because it was written in that time.

The Law of Political Responsibilities was a law issued by (who?) the government of
general Francisco Franco in (when?) February 1939, two months before the end of Spanish
Civil War. The Law is (public or private?) public, and targeted (who is the audience?) the
Spanish society, especially those who opposed the Francoist regime, and was a central piece of
the Francoist repression in the Postwar.
The Law was published in the Official State Bulletin on 1939, February 13. On April 1 st,
the Spanish Civil War came to an end.

ANALYSIS:

In February 1939, soon after the fall of Catalonia the war was lost for the Republic and Franco
rejected the only condition of the Republican government for a surrender: a guarantee of no
reprisals against the defeated Republicans. Franco pursued a policy of institutionalized
revenge against the supporters of the Republic.
On 13 February 1939, Franco published in Burgos the Law of Political Responsibilities (Ley de
Responsabilidades Políticas). The law declared guilty of a crime of military rebellion (art1):

a) all of those who took part in the revolution of October 1934

b) all of those who were members of the Popular Front party
c) all of those who were opposed the military Coup d´etat of the 17-18 July (all the
government officers of the Republic and the members of the Republican Army).

At the same time, by means of the art.2, Popular Front, the social and political groups with
that ideology and all the separatist organizations opposed to the national movement were
banned.

The groups responsible for imposing sanctions to all of these were composed of
representatives of (the army, judiciary and Tradicional Spanish Falange and of the J.O.N.S).

The law was retroactive (could be applied back to October 1934) and established fines and
expropriations for defendants and their families (from 100 pesetas to the confiscation of all
the assets). Furthermore, additional penalties included the restriction of the professional
activities, the limitation of freedom of residence and the loss of the Spanish nationality. (art.3)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
The leader of the National forces, General Franco, headed the authoritarian regime that
came to power in the aftermath of the Civil War until his death in 1975. Ideology or political
theories were not the primary motivators in Franco ́s developing of the institutions that
came to be identified with his name. His pragmatic goal was to maintain power in order to
keep what he termed the “anti-Spain” forces from gaining ascendancy.

The main supporters of the Francoist Regime were The Falange (FET DE LAS SONS), the Church
(gave legitimacy), the armed forces (gave security), Some social groupssuch as monarchists,
Falangists, conservative Catholics, members of the armed forces as well as businessmen,
technocrats, landowners and civil servants.

Franco’s political system was virtually the antithesis of the final government of the republican
era, the Popular Front government. Also, the church regained its dominant position in the
education system, and laws conformed to catholic dogma. It was a really centralized state and
created measures against Basque, Catalan and Galician languages. Above all, Franco
endeavoured to remove all vestiges of parliamentary democracy, which he perceived to
be alien to Spanish political traditions. In 1942, Las Cortes was created, but its only function
was to approve those laws that the Caudillo presented to it.

There were two periods in the early Francoism: The post-war era and the Liberalization and
international acceptance of the system.

The maino bjective of this phase was the stability of the dictatorship highlighting
authoritarianism and autarky.In DOMESTIC POLICY, the Franco regime systematically and
fiercely repressed anyone suspected of having supported the Republican government.
Executions, long prison terms and the confiscation of the prisoner’s properties and assets took
place. This repression deepened the horror and the ideological division of the country into,
‘two Spains’, something that lasted the duration of the Franco dictatorship. Censorship,
education and propaganda were used to control society and to spread Francoism. Besides that,
the Franco regime prosecuted the ideological dissidence and many of the Spanish thinkers
such as teachers, scientists, intellectuals... had to go to exile. At the beginning of 1940, the
German armies appeared invincible, and Franco was eager to assure Spain a voice in the
postwar settlement. However, Adolf Hitler met Franco in Hendaye, France , to discuss the
Spanish entry in the war joining the Axisand the two dictators could never come to terms and
no agreement was reached.
4The German Invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 presented Franco with a unique opportunity
to participatein the conflict without a declaration of war and to get revenge for the Soviet
Union ́s aid to the Republicans. Franco agreed to a Falangist request for the official formation
of a Blue Division of volunteers, which reached a maximum strength of 18.000 men, to fight on
the eastern front. The limited production made it necessary to ration food, and the lack of
industrial and combustible raw materials reduced economic activity.With ration cards, the
state tried to improve the supply of food. However, rations were limited and did not solve the
problem of hunger, which led to the growth of rural exodus, poverty and prostitution.
Therefore, there was an increase inillegal trade, that is, the black market. The upper classes did
not suffer the same level of hunger and shortages that affected the masses, who were obliged
to wait in long queues for provisions.To promote the industrialization, the government tried to
create a strong public sector with the creation of the INI , the nationalization of major
enterprises , the increase of public works, the lack of promotion in agriculture and the
appearance of the housing problem in the industrial areas .Acute shortages and starvation and
low wages were widespread in the early 1940s, a period which saw the worst inflation in Spain
́s history. By the end of the decade, Spain ́s level of economic development wasamong the
lowest in southern Europe.

The opposition in this second period was marked by the workers ́ demonstrations in the spring
of 1951 and students ́ protests in 1956and they were swiftly repressed by the regime. Besides
that, strikes in the Basque Country, Asturias and Catalonia were organized to ask for
better economic and political conditions. In these strikes, the role of the Communist
party with the creation of CCOO Union became very important. Finally, nationalism, little
by little, began to reorganize mainly in Catalonia and Basque Country and in 1959, ETA, a
radical and political group, appeared split up from the PNV.

CONCLUSION / IMPORTANCE:

Deceased and disappeared people could be held responsible and their families inherited the
economic sanctions between 1939 and 1945. The law was abolished in February 1945. 500.000
people out of a population of 23.000.000 (1% of the population of Spain) were subject to
Political Responsibilities proceedings. The most common way of finding the collaborators was
through the Electoral Register at the time, targeting those who had previously voted
Republican.

Nowadays, by means of the Law of Historical Memory (2007) an attempt is made to alleviate
this law because what is not assumed is not redeemed.