The Visual Front: Posters of the Spanish Civil War from UCSD's Southworth Collection

Introduction

Visual Index (Entire Poster Collection)

Catalogue

Chronology of the War

Acknowledgements

Lists of References

Afterword: Herbert R. Southworth Collection


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¡Todos a reconstuir España!!

[Let's all rebuild Spain!!]. . Gráficas Laborde y Labayen Halftone and Lithograph, 3 colors; 101 x 70 cm

Here the silhouetted images of a gear, a shovel and a cereal stalk are superimposed over a photograph of a crowd of Spaniard. The three images intersect which underscores the need for a unified effort by agricultural laborers, manual laborers, and industrial laborers to rebuild Spain.

Unlike many of the other posters in this exhibit, this poster is not Republican propaganda. The message of reconstructing Spain implies that the war has ended and, as we know, Franco and his supporters were victorious over Republican Spain. Consequently, the poster is dated to 1939 shortly after the end of military conflict on April 1, 1939. Not surprisingly, the Spanish government under Franco employed many propaganda techniques and styles similar to Republican posters to motivate the population to begin the long process of reconstruction. In addition to the reconstruction of the economy and infrastructure, the Franco government faced the task of social rebuilding and unifying a country that had recently been torn in half with discontent still present. In the case of social rebuilding, one of the key strategies was to repress or simply eliminate individuals, groups, or publications that espoused the varied ideals of the defeated Spanish Republic. Gabriel Jackson, in his Concise History of the Spanish Civil War, estimates that the Nationalists executed 300,000 to 400,000 dissenters in the period from 1936 to 1944.

 
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