[5] In June 1944, taking advantage of the dynamics of the war in Europe, the first guerrilla units of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) began to infiltrate from France.

On the other hand, the monarchist opposition movement was reactivated with the publication of the so-called Lausanne Manifesto [es] by Juan de Borbón, the son of the late Alfonso XIII.

[7] The end of the civil war had meant not only the total military defeat of the sectors that had opposed the rebel army led by General Franco, but also the complete division and confrontation between them and confusion as to who embodied the legitimacy of the republican institutions.

However, Azaña refused and resigned from his post, claiming that the war was irretrievably lost and that the "numantine resistance" advocated by Negrín would only lead to the loss of more lives.

However, he decided not to take office, not only because the president's resignation had to be formally submitted to the Cortes but also because the political situation was becoming increasingly confusing in the area still under the control of the Republican faction.

Negrín expounded on his activities since the departure from Catalonia and said that he still considered himself the head of government despite the resignation of the president who had appointed him, on the grounds that his mandate had been ratified by the Cortes.

The meeting ended with the tense approval of a document, according to which the deputation considered itself to be fully legitimate and declared that the resignation of the Government could not have any effect because the institutions before which it should be submitted did not exist.

[29] On 22 December 1944, after other actions and on the initiative of President José Antonio Aguirre, the Galeusca [es][k] Pact was signed in Mexico by various Galician, Basque, and Catalan parties.

[31] José Antonio Aguirre, the president of the Basque Government in exile [es], was the one who proposed that the defeated faction attend the forthcoming San Francisco Conference with a single representation.

Since Martínez Barrio knew that the PSOE was more in favor of keeping the Spanish Liberation Junta (JEL) than of reestablishing the institutions and that it was opposed to accepting a written vote, he limited the session to remembering those absent and postponed the meeting until the 19th.

Finally, on 19 June 1945, thanks to the help of the United States and France and at a proposal from Mexico, the assembly approved a resolution condemning regimes that had been imposed with the help of fascist nations, with the Mexican delegate expressly making it clear that this included Francoist Spain.

Negrín's appointment was supported by the socialist faction that backed him, but also by the sector of the Republican Left (IR) headed by Mariano Ruiz-Funes [es], by Santiago Casares Quiroga, by Manuel Portela Valladares, and by Vicente Uribe representing the PCE.

[47] The negrinista sector subsequently continued with its policy of active opposition, describing his program as anodino, insustancial y aun contradictorio, por no decir inexistente.

Although he agreed that the Republican option was the one that was legally valid, he also recalled that the Republic had been missing for several years and that the nations that had won the war were not eager for its return.

[50] The National Alliance of Democratic Forces (ANFD) had emerged as a unitary organization of the Republican opposition within Spain and responded to a dynamic and perception of reality that was very different from that of the exiled leaders.

[52] Although the number of monarchists was much smaller than that of Republican sympathizers, the fact that they belonged to the Francoist faction and their partial involvement in the dictatorship gave them a better chance of bringing about a change of regime.

[58] Sectors of the regime maintained contacts with Giral's own minister of agriculture, José Leyva from the CNT, with the aim of reinforcing the pluralism of the Spanish Syndical Organization.

In addition, they provided several apartments in the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris as residences for the members of the Spanish Government, and granted subsidies and loans.

[68] In December, the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Assembly began to discuss the possibility of recognizing the Giral administration,[69] and on 18 January 1946, communist André Marty asked the chamber to send a French army to Spain to re-establish the republican regime.

[70] On the 23rd, General de Gaulle was relieved of his position by socialist Félix Gouin, who made a left-wing turn and expressed his support for Giral.

[74] Moreover, on 19 February 1946, he addressed a "Manifesto to the Spanish people" together with the Basque and Catalan presidents—Aguirre and Irla—in which they expressed their will to form a common republican front and reject any possible transition agreed with the monarchists.

He proposed replacing General Franco with another ruler who had not been implicated in the persecution of Republicans, the dissolution of the Falange, the proclamation of an amnesty, the establishment of a regime of liberties, and a referendum held with guarantees and under the supervision of Latin American countries.

Even though the latter had opted—through Minister of War Juan Hernández Saravia—to prepare the organization of a professional army and did not consider the Maquis to be a priority, the truth is that it offered its support.

The Giral administration submitted an extensive report and gave an oral presentation to explain its point of view during two sessions that lasted five and a half hours in total.

que las Naciones Unidas acuerden y apliquen aquellas medidas prácticas que permitan al pueblo español disponer libremente de sus destinos.

[84] The United States said that there were no signs of the alleged German military presence in Spain, adding that the Spanish Army could not represent a threat due to its weakness.

In July, faced with the cold attitude of the ANFD and the fact that it was starting to evaluate a rapprochement to the monarchist opposition, Giral openly asked it about the possibility of forming an intermediate government that stood between Franco's and his own.

The issue divided the cabinet, as the Republican ministers and the communist one supported the president, Sánchez Guerra and the ones from the CNT abstained, and the socialists voted against.

Finally, on 12 December 1946, the Assembly approved Resolution 39 (I), by a large majority, in which it linked the origin of the Francoist regime to the aid from fascist powers, which it had reciprocated during World War II.

The position of the socialists, in favor of creating a new, smaller government and strengthening action in the interior of the country by making contact with other opposition forces, was set out in ten points.