In 1914, the Commonwealth of Catalonia was established, under the presidency of Enric Prat de la Riba (1914-1917) and Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1917-1923), both members of the conservative Regionalist League, then the leading force of Catalan nationalism.

In 1926, Estat Català attempted to liberate Catalonia from the Dictatorship with a volunteer militia and establish an independent Catalan Republic, but the plot was discovered by French police and aborted.

[2] This proclamation and the duality of powers it entailed worried the new Spanish Republic provisional government and, on the 17th, Macià reached an agreement with Spanish ministers Fernando de los Ríos, Marcel·lí Domingo, and Lluís Nicolau d'Olwer, under which the Catalan Republic was renamed with the more ambiguous name of Generalitat de Catalunya, thus recovering the name of one of the most relevant government institutions of the ancient Principality of Catalonia, abolished in 1714.

The Constitution of the Spanish Republic approved on 9 December 1931 established an unitary state with the possibility of creating autonomous regions, thus differing from the federal Catalan statute proposal.

The transfer of public order services made it possible to eliminate civilian governors (11 January 1934), giving rise to the Catalan Security Council, which coordinated regional and state actions in this area.

[4] The Parliament of Catalonia continued its legislative work by approving several progressive laws that sought to modernize the country and improve the living conditions of Catalan population.

The response of the Generalitat was the approval of an identical law in the Parliament, leading to the beginning of a negotiation with the government of the Republic headed by the Republican radical Ricardo Samper, in order to adapt the text to the general legislation and thus derailing the conflict.

[5] Between October 1934 and February 1936, the Statute and the Parliament were suspended by the Spanish government and the Presidency of the Generalitat was occupied by officers appointed by the Spanish government with the title of governor-general of Catalonia: Manuel Portela Valladares (10/1-23/4/1935), the Republican radical Joan Pich i Pon (23/4-28/10/1935), Eduardo Alonso Alonso (28.10.1935-27.11.1935), the Valencian CEDA member Ignasi Villalonga (27/11-16/12/1935) and the Catalan League member Fèlix Escalas (18/12/1935-17/2/1936).

After the victory of the Popular Front in the 1936 Spanish general election, the suspension of the Statute was lifted and Companys and the Catalan ministers were pardoned and reinstated in their positions.