The Mallorcan factories that equip Franco's army

PalmIn Mallorca, during the Civil War, the joy of the business owners was summed up in the phrase, "If this is war, let there never be peace." In July 1936, the island suddenly fell into the hands of the insurgent forces, who did not hesitate to take advantage of its factories to cope with the war effort. At that time, all the important industrial areas of the State (Basque Country, Catalonia, and Valencia) were under the control of the legitimate government. In the first months of the conflict, Mallorcan factories suffered significant difficulties due to the disruption of communications and the lack of raw materials. However, by the end of 1936, trade relations were revived, and on January 19, 1937, the Balearic Industry Mobilization Commission was created. This body decreed the militarization of Mallorca's secondary sector for military production. The measure affected factories producing footwear, leather goods, and textiles, as well as metalworking foundations and mechanical engineering workshops.

Thanks to the war, the island's industry was able to emerge from the crisis it had been experiencing since the Great Depression (1929) and the collapse of the Banco de Crédito Balear (1935). Footwear was the sector that saw the greatest growth. During the First World War (1914-1918), factories in Mallorca, as well as Menorca, had already produced shoes for the French army. With such large orders for shoes, manufacturers lowered quality to increase profits, a practice heavily criticized by the French.

Franco's Workshop

Carolina Peña Moreno, a historian and economist at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), is finalizing her doctoral thesis on the economy and society of Mallorca during the Spanish Civil War. "The island," she asserts, "was the workshop of the Francoist army. At the time of the coup, along with Menorca, it was the fourth most industrialized region in the entire country. The factories of Menorca could not be militarized for the rebel cause because it was the only island in the archipelago that remained loyal to the Republic, almost until the very end. They were indispensable for the rebels to advance their positions." With the Valencian Community and Catalonia being the major strongholds of the Republican resistance, all of Mallorca's manufactured goods were transported by ship to Andalusia, from where they were distributed to the other territories occupied by Franco's forces.

The data Peña is working with is quite revealing. In 1937, Mallorcan industry employed approximately 14,000 workers across all sectors. 130 factories were nationalized, 57 of which were shoe factories (21% in Palma; 38% in Inca; 17% in Alaró; 14% in Binissalem; 5% in Llucmajor; 2% in Lloseta; and another 3% distributed among other towns). Throughout the war, nearly three million pairs of borseguins (a type of soldier's boot) and some 174,000 espadrilles were manufactured on the island. Textile factories such as those in Sóller and Esporles were also militarized. They produced more than 11 million items, among which, in the following order, white shirts, socks, towels, trousers, uniform jackets, blankets, and capes stood out. "Soldiers," the historian points out, "needed to have good clothing on the front lines, especially in winter. Throughout history, many wars, such as Napoleon's or the Korean War, have been lost because soldiers froze to death." There were also factories that began manufacturing actual war materiel. In Palma, this was the case with Casa Buades and Manufactures Femu, which specialized in griffons and bolts, respectively.

Profits Amidst Desolation

In Inca, Can Melis, near the Gran Vía, was one of the factories that produced the most soldiers' boots, employing around a hundred workers. Its two partners, Antoni Melis and Llorenç Marquès, both from Inca, had founded it at the beginning of the 20th century with the fortune they had made as returning emigrants in Chile. "During the conflict," states Miquel Pieras, the town's official chronicler, "their profits were spectacular, without any corresponding wage increase for the workers. In 1938, they earned nearly one and a half million pesetas from military footwear and over one million from civilian footwear. The invoices were all paid upfront." Long live Spain! Spain has arrived! Long live the army!All of this was a contradiction. "The war, which had spread so much desolation, misery, and hatred, was a catalyst for the shoe industry, allowing it to emerge from the stagnation and crisis that the sector had been experiencing since 1933. While at night mothers and widows wept for their sons and husbands killed by gunfire or by guerrillas, by day they sweated at the machines to equip Franco's army."

In Inca, Franco quickly managed to subdue a working class that, during the Second Republic, had been known for its union activism and strong commitment to anarchism. When it came to making money, many manufacturers set ideology aside. "There were Republicans," the historian points out, "like Mateu Pujadas of Calzados Sansón, who knew that if they wanted to prosper, they had to be at the service of the fascists." Others, however, were punished. This was the case of Marc Ferragut, the former councilor for Culture who, in February 1936, along with seven other shoe manufacturers, had promoted the opening of the elitist Café Mercantil, a multi-purpose venue with a cinema, concert hall, and dance studio. The military coup caught the Inca native in Asturias selling shoes. Upon returning to Mallorca, a court-martial sent him to prison. After three years, he obtained parole thanks to contacts within the Falange. In 1943, Ferragut sold his factories and moved to Palma, where he dedicated himself to the import business. In 1966, he invested his fortune in realizing his dream as a music lover: the construction of the Auditorium on the seafront promenade. The building, inaugurated in 1969, would become the first auditorium in the entire country and a major bastion of culture in Mallorca.

Inca would benefit from the prosperity brought about by the Civil War. "In the 1940s," Pieras confirms, "Constancia, the football team, could afford to sign expensive coaches and players. This was thanks to the capital of important people in the footwear industry who were on the board of directors. In 1944, the club almost made it to the First Division. It had opened its doors in 1914. However, such economic prosperity did not prevent people from suffering the well-known 'hunger years' of the postwar period."

Strange business dealings with England

The strong performance of the textile and footwear factories would not have been possible without the help of countries like Argentina, Belgium, Italy, and especially England. "London," says Peña, "didn't supply weapons to the Francoist army, but it did sell Mallorcan businessmen the raw materials necessary for their military production (leather, thread, etc.)." The researcher has been able to document this commercial relationship in numerous invoices she found at Can Melis in Inca. This relationship is striking considering that Great Britain was the country that, on July 25, 1936, pressured 25 countries, including the USSR, to sign a non-intervention pact in the Spanish Civil War. The researcher, however, has encountered further surprises: "The invoices for goods sold included a percentage that the manufacturer paid to the shell company HISMA. This company served to covertly pay Nazi Germany for the aid given to Franco."

The autarky imposed after the conflict dampened the euphoria of the footwear industry. "Then," Pieras points out, "unable to export, businesses had to settle for the mainland market. These were times of hardship when people could no longer afford the luxury of changing their shoes so frequently." The island's secondary sector, however, was doomed. "After having exploited it extensively during the war," Peña emphasizes, "Franco let it die." The turning point in this neglect came in 1953, the year Spain emerged from international isolation thanks to the Madrid Pacts it signed with the United States. The "American friend" offered to provide financial assistance to the dictator in exchange for allowing him to maintain military bases on Spanish territory, including the one on Puig Major. "So," the historian concludes, "the focus shifted to the tourism industry, and many textile and footwear entrepreneurs preferred to invest in hotels rather than in renewing machinery that had become completely obsolete in order to compete effectively in the market. In this new business, profitability was guaranteed."