Lluís Companys and Manuel Azaña visiting war industry facilities

Facing the situation of war created by the failure of the military coup of 18-19 July, the government of the Republic decided to convert much of the industry in the territory under its control to military production. This decision held particular significance for Catalonia, one of the most industrialized parts of the country.  This reconversión began to bear fruit within in a few months, and Republican authorities used the production of the first weapons to show off the achievements of the industry to the Spanish public, and the rest of the world. The photograph shows the president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, and the president of the Republic, Manuel Azaña, viewing some of the tanks produced by Catalonia’s war industries.

On 7 August 1936, the Generalitat issued a decree creating the War Industries Commission (CIG). Headed by Economy Minister Josep Taradellas, its mandate was to co-ordinate industrial production, especially in the chemical and metallurgical sectors which were charged with producing war materiel. 

The CIG itself was staffed by civil servants from the Generalitat while Workers’ Control Committees for each industry remained in place and a Controller was assigned to each collectivized enterprise converted to military production. The CIG used the technical expertise and productive capacity of such businesses as the Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima metallurgical company, automaker Hispano-Suiza, Pirelli tires, and airplane engine producer Elizalde.  By October 1936, the CIG controlled some 500 factories which employed 50,000 workers, as well as auxiliary business employing 30,000 people.

This was a completely new area for Catalan industry, which had to adapt to the wartime context. The results were reasonably satisfactory, as it turned out rifles, machine guns, explosives, fuses, detonators, bullets, and bombs, among other things. Factories that had previously produced dyes now produced explosives. Automobile plants started to build airplanes. Mechanics’ workshops turned cars into armoured vehicles.

Increasing tensions between the Generalitat and the government of the Republic over control of war industry undermined its efficiency. Finally, on 11 August 1938, Catalonia’s war industries were expropriated and taken over by the central government.