The Blighted Republic

Abstract

This chapter centers on Gibraltar and Tangier during the tumultuous 1930s. One a British colony and the other an international exclave, both towns were imperial strongholds that depended on Spanish and Moroccan labor. Economic crisis, along with the advent of the Spanish Republic of 1931, stirred working-class politics in both cities, pitting the predominantly working-class Spanish communities against European colonial elites over major municipal issues such as casino gambling and cross-border commerce. The resulting divide continued after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936. Despite official neutrality, European elites in both cities tended to favor groups associated with Francisco Franco’s rebellion against the Republic.