The State Technical Junta () was one of several political-administrative bodies created by General Francisco Franco in October 1936 after his appointment as head of government of rebel Spain during the Spanish Civil War. It was one of the main institutions that made up the first governmental organization created by Franco. Although it was divided into sectorial commissions, it was not a real government and was composed of personalities with little political relevance. It was successively presided over by Generals Fidel Dávila Arrondo and Francisco Gómez-Jordana Sousa. It disappeared with the creation of Franco's first proper government in February 1938.
Context
After the death of the leader of the military uprising in a plane crash, General José Sanjurjo, General Emilio Mola and General Miguel Cabanellas created a National Defense Junta on July 25, 1936, headed by the latter, which would be in charge of both directing military operations and politically leading the rebel movement. Major General Miguel Cabanellas Ferrer was appointed president because he was the most senior major general among the military rebels.
The Junta assumed for a period of time and in a collegiate manner "all the powers of the State" in the territory controlled by the coup plotters, and self-styled as the national zone.
However, movements soon arose in favor of centralizing the command.
The Generalissimo As a result, on September 30, 1936, Decree 138 was published in the Official Bulletin of the Spanish National Defense Junta, naming General Franco generalissimo of the armies and head of the State government.
On October 1 Franco officially took office. Although he had only been named head of government, all the official media spoke from the beginning of "head of state", thus increasing his power. His main priority was to achieve military victory and he was in no hurry to form a real government. He was therefore content to create a more technical than political body —the Junta Técnica del Estado— and to rely on his brother Nicolas, whom he appointed general secretary to the head of state.
On October 2, the law creating this and other agencies was published in the renamed Boletín Oficial del Estado. The preamble of the law reveals its nature:
The temporality of the new organization was evident from the addition:
Both the terminology and the provisional nature of the institution are typical of military language, which seeks the creation of a kind of rearguard quartermaster to solve the most immediate problems, but subordinated to the fundamental objective of obtaining military victory. The new Junta was not a real government. It was probably considered that it would be an instrument of civilian support for the military until the end of the war, which was then foreseen to be near.
Structure The Junta was organized as follows: ChargeNameBeginningEndPresidentFidel Dávila ArrondoFrancisco Gómez-Jordana SousaOctober 2, 1936June 3, 1937June 3, 1937January 30, 1938Justice CommissionJosé Cortés LópezOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938Finance CommissionAndrés Amado y Reygondaud de VillebardetOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938Industry, Commerce and Supply CommissionJoaquín Bau NollaOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938Agriculture and Farm Labor CommissionEufemio Olmedo OrtegaOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938Work CommissionAlejandro Gallo ArtachoOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938Culture and Education CommissionJosé María Pemán y PemartínOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938Public Works and Communications CommissionMauro Serret y MireteOctober 2, 1936January 30, 1938
The structure of the Junta was reminiscent of Primo de Rivera's Military Directory, with the creation of seven commissions in place of the ministries and similar to the latter's committees. It was also reminiscent of the Dictatorship in the desire for these bodies to be non-political and "arbitrista". The main headquarters of the Junta was in Burgos. Although its composition in commissions was reminiscent of an incipient cabinet, it was made up of second-rate personalities who were mainly in charge of routine administrative functions.
Since Franco was the supreme instance for all matters, all the agencies had to send to the Secretaría General del Jefe del Estado the background of the matters that had to be approved by the Caudillo to "facilitate the dispatch and knowledge of the Head of State". Thus, the Secretariat was a key body for the exercise of power through which all legal norms had to pass and, although Dávila presided over the Junta, the real power was in the hands of Nicolás Franco.
Consequently, three months after the coup d'état, rebel Spain showed the appearance of being a new State in which all parties collaborated in a process of centralization, unity and efficiency, as opposed to the division and waste of resources present on the Republican side. The following year 1937 would be a difficult one in military terms, but one of great consolidation of the political power of the neophyte dictator.
Presidency The Junta was headed by a president in charge not only of directing the institution, but also of serving as a channel of communication with the head of state. The latter was the ultimate decision-maker in all matters. According to the operating rules of the Junta, published on October 6, he was to confer at least once a week with the presidents of the commissions. The president of the Junta would communicate with the Caudillo through direct dispatches, although he could also delegate this function to others.
The president was at all times a military man, a decision that marked a clear tendency of Franco to rely politically on his subordinates. The initial choice was Fidel Dávila, a brigadier general who, at the same time, was appointed chief of the General Staff. He was the only member of the dismissed National Defense Junta who continued to hold a position in the new administration. Dávila has the image of a bureaucrat among some historians, but the truth is that he had fought in the wars of Cuba and Morocco, where he had demonstrated his ability.In fact, Javier Tusell considers that if General Fernandez Silvestre had paid more attention to Dávila's advice, the Annual disaster could have been avoided. He had a certain monarchical significance but he was, above all, a professional military man. Even smaller in stature than Franco, he was, according to Admiral Cervera, "pure, austere and Spanish" and maintained a monarchist Catholicism similar to that of Mola.
Commissions
Finance Commission
It was mainly composed of members of the military, although it was chaired by Andrés Amado, an Alfonsist monarchist whose experience gave the body a somewhat more political character. He was a financial expert who had collaborated with Calvo Sotelo during the dictatorship. According to the writings left by Franco, Amado opposed the maintenance of the exchange rate of the peseta. However, the caudillo insisted on the need to keep its value high. Although his doctrine was heterodox from the economic point of view, Franco's decision was politically opportune, as it contributed to keep prices stable during the whole period. Amado's technical competence helped the economic situation to improve in the second half of 1937.
Justice Commission
It was presided over by the then president of the Audiencia Provincial of Las Palmas, José Cortés, and had an exclusively technical composition. Its headquarters was in Burgos. Its main task was to review the legislation then in force in order to eliminate that which was deemed incompatible with the "New State". It was also to facilitate a transition from the absolute empire of the military jurisdiction to an ordinary one.
Industry, Commerce and Supply Commission
Its presidency was entrusted to Joaquín Bau, a traditionalist monarchist who had also been a collaborator of Calvo Sotelo when the latter had headed the Ministry of Finance during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. One of the functions of the commission was to contribute to the provisioning of the Army. Bau was the Catalan who held the highest political office in this period. In economic matters he had liberal ideas and was opposed to state interventionism. As in the case of Amado, his expertise contributed to the improvement of the economic situation in the second half of 1937. He played an important role in the promulgation of the Decree of October 9, 1937, which abolished the mining concessions made earlier and imposed a maximum of 25% foreign capital in the owning companies. This regulation was seen by the Germans as a challenge to their interests.
Agriculture and Farm Labor Commission
According to the Act creating the Junta, its function was:
It was composed exclusively of agricultural engineers, which also gave it an eminently technical profile. Its president was Eufemio Olmedo. In the fall of 1936 it established a ban on slaughtering animals outside municipal slaughterhouses.
Work Commission
The Act stated that it was:
Its headquarters were in Burgos.
Public Works and Communications Commission
According to the Act:
Chaired by Mauro Serret, it was composed of civil servant engineers, so it did not have a political profile either.
Culture and Education Commission
It was, undoubtedly, the one with the most purely political composition. It was presided over by José María Pemán, but his lack of interest in bureaucratic work meant that the weight of management was carried by the vice-president Enrique Suñer. Eugenio Montes, Vegas Latapié, Mariano Puigdollers and Alfonso García Valdecasas were members. There was a predominance of former collaborators of Acción Española, and their relations with the Falangists were not good.
Strong censorship was implemented, pornography was persecuted and public book burnings were carried out. But the most outstanding activity of the commission was the purge of the teaching staff. In order to carry it out, political ideas and behavior were evaluated, but also religious ideas, the professional methodology used and the teachers' own private lives. To do so, they relied on reports from parish priests, mayors, the Civil Guard, solvent parents, military organizations and, after the Unification, from the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS. The commission made the final decision, without the possibility of appeal.
Others
On November 19, 1936, a regulation of the Junta was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, which created a secretariat for the president and a major officer's bureau.
Characteristics The predominance of military men in the main positions was very marked. Dávila and later Jordana were career military officers. In contrast, the members of the commissions were mostly civilians. This was very much reminiscent of Primo de Rivera's Military Directory. However provisional it was, the regime instituted was essentially military. It was not only Generalissimo Franco who was head of state and the pinnacle of power; the president of the Junta Técnica, the Secretary of War, the governor general and the secretary general of the head of state were also military. Hence this attempt to dispense with the ideological component, as well as the barracks-like tone of the regulatory provisions issued. It is significant that one of the first norms of the Junta consisted in the reestablishment of the courts of honor within the Army, which had been suppressed by Azaña's military reform.The possibility of extending the courts of honor to all public administrations was even discussed, although such a rule was never approved. The early implementation of measures aimed at purging dissidents can also be considered of military origin. A decree-law of December 9, 1936 regulated the purge of the civil service. This predominantly military character would be pointed out years later by Ramón Serrano Súñer with these words: