The Republican defeat had devastating consequences for Catalonia. Most of the political class, intellectuals, trade union and workers’ movement leaders, and a large number of people were forced into exile. In Catalonia, the Francoist army applied harsh repression, including the execution by firing squad in 1940 of the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Lluís Companys.

The symbols of the Catalan nationalist movement were persecuted, while a new political regime was imposed, inspired by fascism but with deep Catholic roots. Francisco Franco concentrated all the powers of a totalitarian State based on the existence of an official ideology and a single party. Economic poverty was suffocating the country until well into the 1960s.

From the sixties onwards, the Catalan economy and society underwent far-reaching transformation. With the promulgation of the Stabilisation Plan in July 1959, the regime abandoned the model of autarchy, in force for 20 years. The liberalisation of trade and the re-establishment of the free market in foreign currency came at a time of expansion of the European economy.

Catalan industry became a supplier of consumer goods for the Spanish market and underwent tremendous growth. This led to the mass arrival of workers from other regions of Spain. Expansion took place without town planning or democratic control over the economic model. These failings continued to be felt in subsequent decades.

The economic development and agricultural crisis generated migratory flows throughout Spain. Emigrants left the most depressed areas for various destinations. Thousands of Andalusians, Castilians, Extremadurans, Murcians and Galicians arrived in Catalonia needing to find work and facing the difficulty of adapting to new surroundings.

The arrival of these migrants had a very great impact on Catalan society, particularly in the metropolitan areas. Some towns and cities doubled their populations within a few years. Soon, the “other Catalans”, as defined by the writer Francesc Candel, began to identify with the country and make a decisive contribution to building a shared future.

From the sixties onwards, movements opposing the regime emerged from their isolation, uniting increasingly broad sectors of society. The incorporation of new generations who had not experienced the war and the changes experienced by the world and by Catalan society generated a plural movement demanding the return of freedom, democracy and autonomy.

Despite the opening up of the regime and the timid rapprochement with the international community, there was no doubt about the lack of civil liberties in Francoist Spain. The establishment of the Assembly of Catalonia (1971), bringing together a wide variety of anti-Francoist groups, from Communists to conservative nationalists, was vitally important for the political future of the country.

The first democratic elections after the death of the dictator, in June 1977, gave a majority in Catalonia to forces demanding autonomy and the re-establishment of the Generalitat. On 11 September that year, a million Catalans demonstrated with the same demand. These two factors forced the re-establishment of the provisional Generalitat and the return from exile of its President, Josep Tarradellas.

The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, in force since 1979, was the result of arduous negotiations between the Catalan political forces and the Spanish government. In 1979, the Spanish parliament approved the text, which was confirmed in a referendum by the Catalan people. The Spanish Constitution of 1978, also approved by a referendum, and the development of the State of the Autonomous Communities, began a new period of democracy and institutional stability.