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The recovery of self-government

On 12 April 1931 the first municipal elections after the fall of the dictatorship are held and bring a resounding victory for the Republican candidates. Encouraged by the victory of his party, on 14 April Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic in Barcelona, whilst in Madrid the Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed. Under pressure from the provisional central government, Macià renounces his project in exchange for the granting of an autonomous government for Catalonia.

And so work begins on drafting a statute of autonomy, the legislative framework for the organization of the government in Catalonia. The document is approved in a referendum after a widespread social mobilization. Although the articles are later trimmed by the parliament in Madrid, the parliament of Catalonia is at last constituted in 1932 and Macià leads the first government of the modern Generalitat.

This is a period of progressive initiatives, such as the granting of the vote to women, but also of ideological clashes, in an international context dominated by the rise of fascism, which causes a deep rift in society and brings down the Republican project.

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