The Popular Executive Committee of Valencia was a revolutionary autonomous entity created on 22 July 1936, to confront the Spanish coup of July 1936 which started the Spanish Civil War. It was made up of the political forces of the Popular Front and the trade union forces of the National Confederation of Labor (, CNT) and General Union of Workers (, UGT). Based in Valencia, it covered most of Valencia province and part of Castellón and Alicante.
History Background A few weeks before the attempted coup, on 11 July, a group of Falangists stormed the station of Unión Radio Valencia, announcing through their microphones an imminent "national syndicalist revolution". The person designated by Emilio Mola to lead the uprising in Valencia was Manuel González Carrasco, who arrived there from Madrid a day before the date indicated for the uprising. But when the moment came, González Carrasco, who had to change his address to avoid being detained by the police, had doubts and backed down. He proclaimed his loyalty to the government and pledged not to form the contingent of fighters he had promised to the military.
In the early hours of the morning, an important labor mobilization was taking place in the city (the CNT and UGT had called for a General Strike as of 19 July) accompanied by the deployment of the Assault Guard, and the officers loyal to the republican government. The officers of the Spanish Military Union were confronted by the pro-republican officers of the UMRA, in a decisive action. Martínez Monje ordered the execution of the nationalist troops while awaiting news from Madrid or Barcelona. The news of the military's surrender in Barcelona at the end of the day was decisive for the nationalist impulse to be deactivated. The next day, Monday, 20 July, the UGT and CNT mobilized and created the Confederal militias of the Levante to control the nerve centers of the city and the surroundings of the barracks in anticipation of a possible escalation; the Strike Committees were unified under the leadership of Francisco Gómez (CNT) and Guillén (UGT) in the Unified Revolutionary Committee (or Unified Strike Committee). To counter the nascent alternative workers power of the Unified Revolutionary Committee on the street, the government of José Giral sent Diego Martínez Barrio to Valencia at the head of a Delegate Board of the Levantine Government, whose main mission was to reestablish the authority of the republican government in the region.
Establishment Two days later, on Wednesday 22 July 1936, the Unified Revolutionary Committee formed the self-proclaimed Popular Executive Committee (, CEP), made up of the two main trade unions the UGT and CNT, as well as the Popular Front parties, which seized power without formally dismissing the republican authorities. The socialists and anarchists, for their part, maintained the Unified Revolutionary Committee in parallel to deal with the supply shortages that were beginning to be suffered in Valencia. At the same time, they ceded the leadership of the military struggle to the CEP, which commissioned the training of militias. Meanwhile, the military officers Gonzalez Carrasco and Barba Hernández fled Valencia in secret. On the other hand, when on Thursday, 23 July, the Delegate Board announced the dissolution of the CEP (constituted the previous day). The CEP refused and, in the face of the attempted uprising of the Paternal headquarters, close to the city, they launched the Levantine militias against the barracks, which were forcibly taken between the end of July and the beginning of August. On 5 August, the Delegate Board, in the face of the failure of its management, officially recognized the Popular Executive Committee, which went on to direct all rearguard policy in Valencia, and left the city. Around the same time, some militias left Valencia to participate in the Battle of Mallorca.Cover of the newspaper La Correspondencia de Valencia, August 1936.
The CEP was initially chaired by Ernesto Arín, who until then had been head of Recruitment and Mobilization.Historia general de España y América, Aviva Aviv, 1990 After its recognition by the republican government on 5 August, the Committee presidency was installed in the Palace of the Generalitat Valenciana. The CEP was made up of twelve delegates: two from the CNT, two from the UGT, one from PSOE, one from the PCE, one from the POUM, one from the Syndicalist Party, one from the Republican Left, one from the Republican Union, one from Valencian Left and one from the Partit Valencianista d'Esquerra.
Development
During the first months of activity of this administration, 13% of cultivated land was seized and collectivized, forming 353 collectives, 264 directed by the CNT, 69 by the UGT, and 20 mixed CNT-UGT. Some of the CEP representatives at the time were Francisco Bosch Morata, delegate for Health and Social Assistance, José Antonio Uribes, head of the CEP Militia Delegation, Manuel Pérez Feliu, and José Benedito Lleó, the delegate for War.
On 16 September, the Popular Anti-fascist Guard ( GPA) was created to take charge of public order. It would come to replace the Assault Guard in the city. It was made up of sections, each made up of 14 people from anti-fascist parties and unions. Every 4 sections was commanded by a military man. The GPA as a whole was commanded by the secretary of Public Order of the CEP, the socialist Gonzalo Navacerrada.
In September the revolutionaries of the Iron Column assaulted the courts to destroy the judicial records, the City Council destroyed the property records and assaulted the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes where they released the prisoners that were held there. Also in search of weapons, the GPA guards, who had rifles and machine guns, were being disarmed and becoming police officers.
At the end of October 1936, the CEP presidency passed into the hands of Ricardo Zabaltza Elorga, who was also appointed Civil Governor of Valencia by Largo Caballero.
Unified Levantine Council for Agricultural Export (CLUEA) One of the CEP's main developments was the Unified Levantine Council for Agricultural Export (, CLUEA), created on 7 October 1936, by representatives of the Valencian CNT and UGT. It was an organization dedicated to managing orange exports to other European countries. Posterists like Arturo Ballester and the monthly magazine La voz del CLUEA were available to spread the organization's activities.
Oranges were one of the main Valencian export products. In the context of the civil war, the orange market was a very important income from foreign exchange, for those who managed to control it. For this reason, the central government was not in favor of collectivization, since it meant leaving a large number of currencies in the hands of the unions, but rather favored following the usual path of an export controlled by individual companies, coordinated only by international markets. Thus, the Republican parties, the Government, and the Communist Party defended the maintenance of freedom of export under certain government control. In contrast, the UGT and CNT were in favor of collectivizing all exports, in order to avoid the flight of foreign currency.
CLUEA's management was always surrounded by controversy and confrontation, since although the UGT militants agreed with the collectivization, the leaders of the PSOE did not. Among the leaders opposed to collectivization was Largo Caballero himself. In that year, an overproduction crisis occurred in the European market. The European market was saturated with Palestinian oranges, Spanish production had extra competition. Overall, it appeared that the citrus campaign contributed between half and two thirds the amount of the previous foreign exchange campaign.Frank Mintz. "Self-management in Revolutionary Spain". Traffickers of Dreams, 2004. This foreign exchange would be about 200 million pesetas for about 700,000 tons of exported oranges.
This decrease in income caused harsh attacks from its detractors, the government prevailed and decided to dissolve the CLUEA. It was replaced by the Citrus Export Commission, under the Ministry of Economy. The commission was created by decree of the Government of Juan Negrín on 6 September 1937. Its objective was to control orange exports in order to obtain foreign currency with which to sustain the war effort. With the end of the war, the company was liquidated by the republican government in exile.
The October Events On 29 October 1936, the GPA killed the anarchist Tiburcio Ariza in a raid, after he had refused to be handcuffed. At the funeral organized by the anarchist Torres-Benedito, Iron and CNT 13 columns, they passed near the heavily armed Civilian Government, awaiting a possible attack. When they reached the Plaza de Tetuán, the local headquarters of the Communist Party of Spain, they saw that the communists had organized an armed battalion in the plaza. A young communist protesting against the anarchists' demonstration approached the head of the procession and fired into the crowd. This shot was quickly followed by many others, including machine gun fire, creating chaos in the plaza. The combat lasted half an hour and caused numerous injuries (56 injuries were registered, of which 49 were from the CNT). There were a total of about 30 dead. The CEP issued a proclamation on 1 November calling for the cessation of the brawls.
The immediate reaction was to bring the anarchist forces of Teruel down on Valencia. The communists had that battalion, the GPA, and about 300 young men in military practice. But the CNT committee avoided this situation by rebuking those responsible for the anarchist columns. The last thing the CNT leaders wanted at the time were problems with the PCE, just as the details were being finalized to join the Largo Caballero government.
Program On 2 November 1936, shortly before the republican government's move from Madrid to Valencia, Zabaltza approved a series of resolutions that meant a change in the CEP's program of actions, formally subordinating itself to the central government of Largo Caballero, and suggesting the autonomist route as a future solution. Among the numerous resolutions was the formation of an Economic Council within the CEP. Point 14 of the resolutions of 2 November said:
Dissolution
On 6 November, the republican government of Largo Caballero moved to Valencia, as tensions between the two administrations are intensifying. In any case, the context was favorable for the approval of a Statute of Autonomy; the CNT presented their "Basis for the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Country" in December 1936,Basis for the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Country, on Wikisource. while the Valencian Left presented a "Preliminary Draft of the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Region" in February 1937Preliminary Draft Statute of Autonomy for the Valencian Region, on Wikisource. and the Republican Union proposed their own "Draft Statute of Autonomy for the Valencian Country", in March 1937.Draft Statute of Autonomy for the Valencian Country, on Wikisource.
In December 1936, the Levantine militias tried to take Teruel, without success. Finally, the CEP voluntarily dissolved itself on 8 January 1937, being relieved by the Valencia Provincial Council. In the words of Franz Borkenau, a contemporary observer of events:
The nationalists occupied Castellón de la Plana on 13 June 1938. In the Final offensive of the Spanish Civil War, the nationalist faction occupied Valencia and Alicante on 30 March 1939.
The Socialized Economy Regulatory Council (CRES)