Spanish Political and Economic Transition Groups, 1940s–1980s

This microfilm collection documents the clandestine political and labor organizations active in Spain from the 1940s through the 1980s, spanning the Franco dictatorship and the subsequent democratic transition. The materials consist primarily of underground periodicals, internal bulletins, theoretical journals, manifestos, declarations, pamphlets, and organizational documents produced by a wide range of left-wing political parties, anarchist federations, labor unions, regional nationalist movements, Trotskyist groupings, Maoist organizations, Christian social movements, student groups, feminist organizations, peasant movements, ecological groups, and anti-repression solidarity committees.

The collection is especially rich in materials from Catalonia and the Barcelona industrial belt, reflecting the concentration of clandestine activity in that region. Major groupings represented include the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and its affiliated bodies; the Comisiones Obreras labor movement in its many regional and sectoral variants; the communist parties (PCE, PSUC, and their numerous splinter groups); socialist parties including the PSOE and regional formations; Trotskyist organizations such as the LCR, LC, PORE, and LOC; Maoist parties including the PCE(i)/PTE, MCE, and ORT; Catalan nationalist and separatist parties including the PSAN, FNC, and CDC; Basque organizations including ETA and affiliated parties; Galician parties; and a broad array of anti-Francoist solidarity, counter-information, student, feminist, and ecological movements. The collection also includes the publications of small groups operating in exile in France, Sweden, England, and Latin America, as well as materials related to the Western Sahara independence movement (Frente Polisario).

Periodical runs vary widely in completeness; many titles are represented by only a few issues while flagship organs such as the PSUC's Treball, the PCE's Mundo Obrero, the CNT's Solidaridad Obrera, and the LCR's Combate are documented across many years. Internal bulletins often appear under disguised titles chosen to evade police detection.