Demonstration in support of the Spanish Republic

The photograph shows a group of demonstrators in  a city in the German-speaking part of Switzerland with a banner that reads “For the struggle for the freedom of the Spanish Republic” in the front and behind another that says “Out with the false agents” Both the demonstration itself and the banners illustrate the campaign in favour of the Republic mounted by Switzerland’s left-wing parties from the start of the Civil War. 

The Spanish Civil War polarized Switzerland in a in a way that brought together an array of different movements and took on the characteristics of a harsh political clash before the Swiss National Exhibition that opened in May1939. As in other European countries, the Spanish conflict had a major impact and mobilized all political forces. From the outset, it was understood as a fundamentally important ideoolgical conflict, and one that was full of symbolism. While the Catholic world and part of the rightwing bourgeoisie in general saw it as a just war in defence of the « Christiaan West » against Communism and sympathized strongly with the rebels, and especially with Franco, the left considered it a fight to defend democracy against global fascism and spoke of the Spanish Republic’s « war of independence » and « fight for freedom ». 

Driven by a hopeful politics of solidarity, this movement began to emerge in various Swiss at the end of July 1936 and attracted the support of a number of Swiss intellectuals. A number of leftwing organizations were involved and the movement also recived the support of the Swiis Association of Freethinkers and the Swiss Committee for Freedom, an informal association of intellectuals that had advocated for sanctions against Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.  

In spite of the official government policy of neutrality, the synpathies for the rebels within the Federal Council were clear. In a strong climate of anti-Communism and anti-Socialism, the Council made an approach to Franco shortly after theo utbreak of the war. Its de facto recognition of the rebel government in August 1937, was an attempt to protect threatened Swiss assets in the Republican zone. Once Barcelona and then the rest of Catalonia fell to Franco’s forces, the Federal Council wasted little time, and on 14 February, six weeks before the end of the war, Switzerland ended all relations with the Republic and became the first democratic country to grant Franco’s government official recognition.