Lluís Companys

Lluís Companys
Lluís Companys
123rd President of the Government of Catalonia
	In office; 25 December 1933 – 15 October 1940; (Acting until 1 January 1934; In exile from 23 January 1939 to 15 October 1940)
President	Niceto Alcalá-Zamora; Manuel Azaña
Preceded by	Francesc Macià
Succeeded by	Josep Irla
4th Acting President of the Catalan Republic
	In office; 6 October 1934 – 7 October 1934
Preceded by	Francesc Macià ; In 1931
Succeeded by	Himself, as President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
1st President of the Parliament of Catalonia
	In office; 14 December 1932 – 20 June 1933
Preceded by	New title
Succeeded by	Joan Casanovas i Maristany
Minister of the Marine of Spain
	In office; 20 June 1933 – 12 September 1933
Preceded by	José Giral
Succeeded by	Vicente Iranzo Enguita
Personal details
Born	June 21, 1882; El Tarròs, Urgell, Catalonia, Spain
Died	October 15, 1940 (aged 58); Montjuïc, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Political party	ERC
Spouse(s)	Mercè Micó (div.) ; Carme Ballester
Children	Lluís (1911–1956)

Lluís Companys i Jover (Catalan pronunciation: [ʎuˈis kumˈpaɲs]; June 21, 1882 – October 15, 1940) was a Catalan politician. He was the President of Catalonia (Spain), from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War.

He was a lawyer and leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) political party. Exiled after the war, he was captured and handed over by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, to the Spanish State of Francisco Franco, who had him executed by firing squad in 1940.

Early life[edit]

Born in El Tarròs, on June 21, 1882 into a peasant family with aristocratic roots, he was the second child of ten. His parents were Josep Companys and Maria Lluïsa de Jover.^[2] His parents sent him to Barcelona in order to study at the boarding school of Liceu Poliglot. Later, after obtaining his degree in law from the University of Barcelona, where he met Francesc Layret, Companys participated in the political life of Catalonia from a young age. In 1906, as a result of the military attack on the offices of Catalan newspapers Cu-Cut! and La Veu de Catalunya, and after the passing of the Ley de Jurisdicciones ("Law of Jurisdictions"), which made speech against Spain and its symbols a criminal offence, he participated in the creation of Solidaritat Catalana.

Later, he became affiliated with the ephemeral Unió Federal Nacionalista Republicana, where he was president of the youth section. He was investigated for his intense youth activities and was jailed fifteen times, being classified after the Tragic Week of Barcelona as a "dangerous individual" in police records.

With Francesc Layret, Companys represented the left-wing labour faction of the Partit Republicà Català (Catalan Republican Party), for which he was elected local councilor of Barcelona in 1916. In November 1920, he was arrested together with Salvador Seguí (known as El Noi del Sucre), Martí Barrera and other trade unionists and he was deported to the Castell de la Mola in Mahón, Menorca. Shortly afterward, Layret was assassinated while preparing his defence.

Despite having been deported, Companys was elected member of parliament for Sabadell in the 1920 Spanish legislative elections, taking the place of Layret, who would have taken that seat had he not been assassinated. This gave him parliamentary immunity, which secured his release from prison.

Companys was one of the founders of the Unió de Rabassaires in 1922, where he worked as lawyer and director of the La Terra magazine during the years of the Primo de Rivera regime in the 1920s .

Detained again, he was unable to attend the Conferència d'Esquerres (Conference of Leftists) held from March 12 to 19, 1931 that produced the political party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC, Republican Left of Catalonia); however, he was elected as an executive member of that party, representing the Partit Republicà Català. Thanks to the bonds between the Spanish labour movement and the Spanish trade union movement, the election of Companys to this position gave the ERC great prestige amongst left-wing public opinion as it would otherwise have been regarded as a party of the progressive petty bourgeoisie.

Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic[edit]

Lluís Companys as "Gobernador Civil" of Barcelona, April 1931

In the 1931 Spanish local elections ERC won a surprise victory in Barcelona and other municipalities of Catalonia. After knowing the results, in April 14, Companys, who was elected a city representative, and other ERC candidates together with the Party's leader Francesc Macià, decided to take over by surprise the office of Mayor and assaulted the City Hall. At gunpoint, the transitional Mayor was deposed and Companys was proclaimed new Mayor. Subsequently, he hung a tricolour Spanish Republican Flag from the City Hall's balcony and proclaimed the Republic^[3]. Shortly after, Francesc Macià proclaimed the Catalan Republic within the "Federation of Iberian Republics", a project that was later abandoned after gaining the promise of regional devolution and the restitution of the Catalan Generalitat (as an autonomous government) from the new Republican government.

After controlling the Barcelona City Hall, Macià ordered Companys to take the office of "Gobernador Civil" of the Barcelona province (provincial political authority, which at that time held considerable powers, policing included), which had been controlled by republican radicals during the process of the Republic proclamation. Macià probably wanted a less public office for Companys, whom he thought of as a political rival. Companys ran as a Barcelona provincial candidate in the December 1931 Spanish Legislative Elections. After gaining a seat he led the ERC representation and the Catalan minority group in the new Republican Parliament. He described his political objectives in Madrid as: "We, the Catalan members of the Parliament, have come here not only to defend our law of autonomy (Statute), and the fraternal and democratic understanding of the members of Parliament; but, also to participate in matters that affect the greatness of Spain: the Constitution, the agrarian reforms and social legislation."^[4] In 1932 Companys was elected Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Proclamation of the Catalan State[edit]

After the death of Francesc Macià in December 1933, at that time presiding over the Generalitat of Catalonia, Companys was elected the successor President of the Generalitat by the Catalan Parliament. In October 6, 1934, Companys led a Catalan Nationalist uprising not supported by the centre and conservative Catalan representatives, against the centre and right-wing republican government, and proclaimed the Catalan State (Estat Català) within the "Spanish Federal Republic",^[5] for which action he was arrested and sentenced to thirty years in prison.^[6] This action was seen as an attempt at a Coup d'État as Companys revolted against the newly elected center-right republican government and joined the Asturias miners revolution. Companys asked Manuel Azaña, who happened to be in Barcelona during the events, to lead a newly proclaimed Spanish Republican government, a proposition that Azaña rejected. After the 1936 election and the victory of the left-wing coalition Frente Popular, he was set free by the new government and the Catalan government was restored.

Civil War[edit]

Bank note from the Generalitat de Catalunya, 1936

When the Spanish Civil War began shortly after, in July 1936, Companys sided with the Second Spanish Republic against the Nacionales rebels and was instrumental in organizing a collaboration between the Central Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias, which was sponsored by his Catalan government, and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), a revolutionary anti-Stalinist communist party, and Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), an anarchist syndicalist trade union.^[7]

During the war, Companys attempted to maintain the unity of his political coalition, but after the Soviet Union's consul, Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, threatened that his country would cut off aid to Catalonia, he sacked Andrés Nin from his post as minister of Justice in December 1936.

Exile and execution[edit]

Death sentence of Lluís Companys

Exiled to France in 1939 after the Civil War, Companys had passed up various chances to leave France because his son Lluís was seriously ill in a clinic in Paris.^[8] He was arrested in La Baule-les-Pins near Nantes on August 13, 1940, and detained in La Santé Prison. He was then extradited by Nazi German authorities to the Spanish government in Madrid in early September 1940 and imprisoned in the cellars of the headquarters of the Dirección General de Seguridad (State Security) at the Real Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol. He was held there for five weeks, kept in solitary confinement, tortured and beaten, while senior figures of the Francoist State visited his cell, insulted him and threw coins or crusts of bread at him.^[8]^[9] In a military trial which lasted less than one hour and lacked legal guarantees,^[10] he was accused of military rebellion and sentenced to death. During the trial Companys was defended by Ramón de Colubi, a young soldier who had fought the war on the side of the rebels. Surprisingly, Colubí defended Companys with courage to the point of receiving threats and risking his own life. Colubí asked Franco to pardon Companys, but was ignored. As a consequence of his role as defence attorney, Colubí was forced to go into exile. Víctor Gay Zaragoza, a Catalan writer found that Companys and Colubí were relatives. All these efforts were useless and Companys was executed at Montjuïc Castle^[11] in Barcelona at 6:30 a.m. on October 15, 1940. Refusing to wear a blindfold, he was taken before a firing squad of Civil Guards barefoot and, as they fired, he shouted 'Per Catalunya!' (For Catalonia!).^[12] He is buried at the Montjuïc Cemetery, near the castle. The cause of death was given as 'traumatic internal haemorrhage'.^[13]

The main stadium used for the 1992 Summer Olympics, located on Montjuïc, is officially named in his memory. In 1998 a monument to Companys was installed near Arc de Triomf, on Passeig de Lluís Companys in Barcelona. A friend of Companys, Conxita Julià, is portrayed next to Companys' image in the monument. Several streets and squares in many cities and villages of Catalonia are named "Lluís Companys" after him.

His personal archive is located in the Pavelló de la República CRAI Library - University of Barcelona . It consists of correspondence about him, as well as discourses and declarations between 1936-1938.

References[edit]

^ Generalitat de Catalunya. "Presidències i presidents de la Generalitat de Catalunya" (PDF). Retrieved 25 March 2014.
^ Finestres, Jordi (October 2012). "Lluís Companys. El president màrtir" (in Catalan) (121). Barcelona: Sàpiens: 46–49.
^ «Proclamación de la República en Barcelona». La Vanguardia.[1] 15 de abril de 1931.
^ González i Vilalta, Arnau (2009). Lluís Companys. Un home de Govern. Barcelona. p. 127. ISBN 978-84-92437-26-9.
^ Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. Harper Perennial. London. 2006. p.78
^ Beevor, Antony. The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. Penguin Books. 2006. London. p.30
^ Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. Harper Perennial. London. 2006. pp.253–254
^ ^a ^b Preston, Paul. (2012). The Spanish Holocaust. Harper Press. London p. 493
^ Juliá, Santos; Casanova, Julián; Solé i Sabaté, Josep Maria; Villarroya; Moreno, Francisco. Victimas de la guerra civil. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. 1999. Madrid. p. 331
^ The drumhead court-martials carried out were based on the application of the Military Code for rebellion against all those who oppose the revolt. This meant that the real rebels against the legal authority condemned for the crime of rebellion, accession or aid the rebellion who had been loyal to the legitimate government. Even Ramón Serrano Suñer, Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time, recognized it years later, when he affirmed that the entire legal basis of the facts of Civil War were based on a "justice backwards" and concluded: it was therefore an error configuring the offenses of rebellion and sedition in order to attribute this offenses to the defenders of republican government, because these - legally and even metaphysically - were not able to commit them. (Solé, 1999)
^ Gary McDonogh, Gary (2009) Iberian Worlds. Taylor & Francis At Google Books. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
^ Burns, Jimmy (2000). Barca: a people's passion. Bloomsbury. p. 126.
^ Preston, Paul. (2012). The Spanish Holocaust. Harper Press. London p.493

Another reference: Angel Ossorio (1943). Vida y sacrificio de Companys. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada

External links[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by Francesc Macià	President of the Government of Catalonia Acting until January 1, 1934 in exile from January 23, 1939 to October 15, 1940 1933–1940	Succeeded by Josep Irla In exile
Preceded by New title	President of the Parliament of Catalonia 1932–1933	Succeeded by Joan Casanovas i Maristany
Preceded by Francesc Macià, in 1931	Acting President of the Catalan Republic 1934	Succeeded by Himself, as President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Preceded by José Giral	Minister of Marine of Spain 1933	Succeeded by Vicente Iranzo Enguita
Party political offices
Preceded by Francesc Macià	President of ERC 1933–1934	Succeeded by Carles Pi i Sunyer
Preceded by Carles Pi i Sunyer	President of ERC 1936–1940	Succeeded by Vacant, next in 1993, Heribert Barrera

[1] Generalitat de Catalunya. "Presidències i presidents de la Generalitat de Catalunya" (PDF). Retrieved 25 March 2014.

[Sapiens121companys-2] Finestres, Jordi (October 2012). "Lluís Companys. El president màrtir" (in Catalan) (121). Barcelona: Sàpiens: 46–49.

[3] «Proclamación de la República en Barcelona». La Vanguardia.[1] 15 de abril de 1931.

[4] González i Vilalta, Arnau (2009). Lluís Companys. Un home de Govern. Barcelona. p. 127. ISBN 978-84-92437-26-9.

[5] Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. Harper Perennial. London. 2006. p.78

[6] Beevor, Antony. The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. Penguin Books. 2006. London. p.30

[7] Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. Harper Perennial. London. 2006. pp.253–254

[Preston,_Paul_2012_p._493-8] Preston, Paul. (2012). The Spanish Holocaust. Harper Press. London p. 493

[9] Juliá, Santos; Casanova, Julián; Solé i Sabaté, Josep Maria; Villarroya; Moreno, Francisco. Victimas de la guerra civil. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. 1999. Madrid. p. 331

[10] The drumhead court-martials carried out were based on the application of the Military Code for rebellion against all those who oppose the revolt. This meant that the real rebels against the legal authority condemned for the crime of rebellion, accession or aid the rebellion who had been loyal to the legitimate government. Even Ramón Serrano Suñer, Minister of Foreign Affairs at that time, recognized it years later, when he affirmed that the entire legal basis of the facts of Civil War were based on a "justice backwards" and concluded: it was therefore an error configuring the offenses of rebellion and sedition in order to attribute this offenses to the defenders of republican government, because these - legally and even metaphysically - were not able to commit them. (Solé, 1999)

[11] Gary McDonogh, Gary (2009) Iberian Worlds. Taylor & Francis At Google Books. Retrieved June 17, 2013.

[Burns-12] Burns, Jimmy (2000). Barca: a people's passion. Bloomsbury. p. 126.

[13] Preston, Paul. (2012). The Spanish Holocaust. Harper Press. London p.493

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