The Government-in-exile of José Giral—also known by its supporters as el gobierno de la esperanza— was an executive branch created on 21 August 1945 by the institutions of the Second Spanish Republic in exile and headed by José Giral, the former prime minister during the first months of the Civil War. It tried to put up a united front before the United Nations and the international community with the aim of isolating General Francisco Franco's regime, as well as obtaining international recognition as the only legitimate government of Spain in order to reestablish the Republic.
It was regarded with hostility right from the beginning, from both the negrinista sector—supporters of Juan Negrín—and the one headed by Indalecio Prieto, although for different reasons. It also diverged clearly from the National Alliance of Democratic Forces (ANFD), which was made up of a major part of the underground opposition within Spain. While it was recognized by several states and managed to get the United Nations General Assembly to approve Resolution 39 (1) condemning Franco's government, it did not achieve broad support from the international community nor got the UN Security Council to approve a resolution to implement measures against Franco. Pressure from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) forced Giral to resign in January 1947.
Background The Franco regime As World War II was nearing its end, the dictatorship headed by General Francisco Franco was still in power in Spain. However, it was widely perceived as the last fascist regime still standing and it was heavily under attack. It was clear that it had collaborated with the Axis powers during the war. The regime was considered undesirable. Consequently, Spain was excluded from the new United Nations and its impoverished economy was not able to benefit from international loans and aid. The regime responded to the ostracism as if it were the victim of an injustice, insisting on the originality of its political system and highlighting the role of communism in the attacks it had sustained. Although the Western powers seemed unwilling to take military action against Spain, the opposition gained new momentum as a result of the international situation.
In June 1944, taking advantage of the dynamics of the war in Europe, the first guerrilla units of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) began to infiltrate from France. The anarcho-syndicalist National Confederation of Labor (CNT) also created its own units. On the other hand, the monarchist opposition movement was reactivated with the publication of the so-called by Juan de Borbón, the son of the late Alfonso XIII. This renewal of the opposition was met with renewed repression.
The Republican institutional conflict The end of the civil war had meant not only the total military defeat of the sectors that had opposed the rebel army led by General Franco, but also the complete division and confrontation between them and confusion as to who embodied the legitimacy of the republican institutions. The last session of the Cortes was held on 1 February 1939 in Figueres, where Negrín, a socialist, was ratified as prime minister. The fall of Catalonia a few days later meant that the highest Republican authorities had to take refuge in France. Negrín asked Manuel Azaña, who was then President of the Republic, to return to Spain and lead the resistance. However, Azaña refused and resigned from his post, claiming that the war was irretrievably lost and that the "numantine resistance" advocated by Negrín would only lead to the loss of more lives. The Permanent Deputation of the Cortes, during a meeting at La Pérouse restaurant in Paris on 3 March, took notice of Azaña's decision.
The president of the Cortes, Diego Martínez Barrio, was the one slated to replace Azaña, according to the Constitution. However, he decided not to take office, not only because the president's resignation had to be formally submitted to the Cortes but also because the political situation was becoming increasingly confusing in the area still under the control of the Republican faction. On 4 March, an uprising broke out in Cartagena against Negrín. Thus, the return to Spain presented a serious risk. Casado's coup d'état took place the next day. The confrontation between the two leaders materialized on 31 March, during a new meeting of the Permanent Deputation held in Paris one day before the official end of the war. Negrín expounded on his activities since the departure from Catalonia and said that he still considered himself the head of government despite the resignation of the president who had appointed him, on the grounds that his mandate had been ratified by the Cortes. He accused Martínez Barrio of having supported the "traitors" who followed Colonel Segismundo Casado. There was a tense confrontation between Martínez Barrio, Luis Araquistáin, and La Pasionaria. The Deputation considered the government as no longer existing. The meeting ended with the tense approval of a document, according to which the deputation considered itself to be fully legitimate and declared that the resignation of the Government could not have any effect because the institutions before which it should be submitted did not exist. Nonetheless, at a new meeting of the deputation held on 27 June 1939 in Paris, Negrín was expressly asked to resign as head of government.
Disagreements among the defeated The clashes between the negrinistas and the anti-negrinistas continued with the creation of the (SERE) and the (JARE) to manage the republican economic resources. During the early years of World War II, Spanish exiles were more concerned with their own survival than with planning an opposition to Franco. Attempts to regroup were scattered. In October 1940, the strictly Republican left-wing parties created the organization (ARE), which encompassed them all. However, it did not manage to merge them, as they decided to reorganize individually. In 1941, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) launched the (UNE) which, although it formally included people from other political forces, was firmly controlled by the PCE. On his part, Negrín supported the creation of the (UDE) in 1942. The broader (JEL) was created on 20 November 1943. It was composed of Republicans, Catalan nationalists, and socialists. This new organization was intended to confront both the PCE and its UNE, as well as the new monarchist opposition that was emerging in Spain and presented itself as an alternative to the dictatorship. Despite the absence of other forces, the JEL gained notable support from exiles, but it did not have a presence within Spain. Although it wanted to present a united republican front, the Junta did not claim to be the only legitimate option, unlike certain sectors. This meant that Indalecio Prieto and others preferred it. Lastly, the National Alliance of Democratic Forces (ANFD) was created in 1944, which also included the National Confederation of Labor (CNT). The PCE was invited to participate but declined, which meant that the new clandestine organization was clearly pro-Allies in nature.
In the final stages of the war, a strong anti-communist climate had been created in almost all parties, since they interpreted that, during the civil war, the PCE had obtained a greater share of power than it was entitled to. The German-Soviet Pact deepened this feeling due to the PCE's support for the double expansionism of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. This was compounded by the attempt by the Communists to monopolize the representation of the defeated through the UNE. Both the PCE and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) went through an intense process of internal purges and marked Stalinism. Anticommunism was especially pronounced in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), both inside Spain and among the exiles in France and Mexico.
The defeat led to a radicalization of the Basque and Catalan nationalists, who sought pro-independence solutions for their respective territories. On 22 December 1944, after other actions and on the initiative of President José Antonio Aguirre, the Pact was signed in Mexico by various Galician, Basque, and Catalan parties. It demanded sovereignty and the right to self-determination of their territories. Only Aguirre's return to Europe in March 1945 marked a greater pragmatism and defense of the republican institutions by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).
The search for unity
The impending victory of the Allies caused the various republican factions to see an opportunity for the Francoist dictatorship to be swept aside at the same time as the Axis powers. The liberation of France, the improvement of communications between the Americas and Europe, and the increased expectations of the fall of the regime led to the revival of the opposition to Franco, not only the republican opposition, but also the monarchist and the traditionalist. However, there were still major differences regarding the goals to be pursued and the means to employ. José Antonio Aguirre, the president of the , was the one who proposed that the defeated faction attend the forthcoming San Francisco Conference with a single representation. He proposed including Diego Martínez Barrio as the president of the Republic and Juan Negrín as the head of government. Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho gave his full support for the Republican Cortes to meet in Mexico City on 10 January 1945. The chosen venue was Club France, which was granted the privilege of extraterritoriality for the occasion.
In attendance were 72 deputies, while 49 others participated by having submitted their vote in writing as specified in the agenda. Since Martínez Barrio knew that the PSOE was more in favor of keeping the Spanish Liberation Junta (JEL) than of reestablishing the institutions and that it was opposed to accepting a written vote, he limited the session to remembering those absent and postponed the meeting until the 19th. Nonetheless, the socialists were radically opposed to validating the votes in writing and maintained that there was not sufficient quorum to consider the meeting valid. Therefore, the first attempt ended there.
In addition, Negrín reappeared at the beginning of the year. Although he continued to defend the legitimacy of his administration, he stated that he was willing to resign from office at a meeting of the Cortes in which Martínez Barrio would be sworn in as president of the Republic. Only the PCE expressed support for his proposition.
As things stood, the divided Spanish exiles attended the San Francisco Conference. In attendance were a representation of the JEL, another of the Negrin administration, and a third of the Basque Government. All of them maintained that the Spanish war had been a prologue to the world war and that the happy ending of the latter would also allow for putting an end to the former. Although they had strong support from some delegations—such as the one from Mexico—the United Kingdom was perceived as being reluctant to condemn the Franco regime. Finally, on 19 June 1945, thanks to the help of the United States and France and at a proposal from Mexico, the assembly approved a resolution condemning regimes that had been imposed with the help of fascist nations, with the Mexican delegate expressly making it clear that this included Francoist Spain. In practice, this meant vetoing Spain's entry into the international organizations that were to manage the impending peace. The subsequent Potsdam Conference once again made it clear that Franco had been identified with the Axis and that Spain was out of the UN.