On October 6, 1934, the president of the autonomous government of Catalonia, Lluis Companys, proclaimed a Catalan state within a non-existent Spanish Federal Republic.
But after 10 hours and dozens of dead, he surrendered.
When he declared independence, left-wing parties had begun a revolutionary general strike in Madrid to protest the entry into the central government of three ministers from a coalition of right-wing parties, CEDA.
"Catalans!" he shouted from the balcony of the Generalitat, the seat of the Catalan government.
"At this solemn moment, in the name of the people and the Parliament, the government I lead assumes all power in Catalonia, declares the Catalan state of the Spanish Federal Republic and to establish and strengthen relations with the leaders of the general protest against fascism, I invite them to decide in Catalonia the provisional government of the Republic", emphasized Companys.
Apparently the Companys had not consulted the leaders of the general strike and the Spanish Second Republic was not federal.
For the first time, Catalonia, the self-proclaimed republic, had tried to gain an autonomous status that only conformed to the model of a federal state, in December 1931 without waiting for the approval of the Constitution.
The government of Madrid at that time had to conduct very difficult negotiations to restore its powers to acceptable levels for the creation of the new unitary state.
However, the government's response was not delayed.
The military commander of Catalonia, General Domingo Batet, refused to obey the orders of the new Catalan government and, after consulting with the head of government in Madrid, declared a state of war.
A bystander is killed by a pro-independence fighter's bullets, the army responds with cannon fire.
Clashes during the evening of that day caused the death of about 46-80 people, according to historians.
At about six o'clock in the morning on October 7, 10 hours after the declaration of independence, Companys announces his surrender to General Batet.
He was arrested along with the entire government and many MPs. Their photos behind bars went around the world.
On December 14, a law suspended Catalonia's autonomy indefinitely.
Taking refuge in France after the civil war (1936-1939), Companys was arrested by the Germans in 1940 and handed over to Francisco Franco.
He was shot on October 15 at Montjuic, a fortress that towers over Barcelona. He has become a hero of the Catalan independence activists. /javanews.al/
