The tension of the first months of the republican communist exile, February-September 1939

Abstract

The survival of the first months of the republican communist exile after General Franco’s troops conquered Catalonia in February 1939, is the aim of the following lines. The material from the extinct Soviet Union archives, also the different funds the Spanish state has, allows us to reconstruct with interesting precision, new aspects of the process of survival the Spanish communists had to face once they were in French territory. They were disorganized, had no protection, they were also divided and had internal confrontation; those were the main characteristics during those days. The introduction weeks after of a new geopolitical situation, and the Spanish leaders moving to the Soviet Union, started to reduce it. Reaching it’s climax during the summer of 1939. Firstly the Spanish communist movement defined in front of exile and political regimen Franco’s. Secondly the Spanish communist movement had two official sections in the International Communist, becoming an original exception in the international communist movement. Furthermore, they also tried to settle the responsibilities of the defeat on the north-eastern republican territory during the Civil War, through a process of internal debate and self induced criticism.