Francesc Macià

Francesc Macià i Llussà (21 September 1859 – 25 December 1933) was the 122nd President of Catalonia and formerly an officer in the Spanish Army.

Life
Francesc Macià i Llussà was born in Vilanova i la Geltrú, Catalonia. He achieved the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish army during his military career. He condemned the assault on the politically satirical Catalan journal Cu-Cut in 1905 by some Spanish army officers and was forced to abandon the army.

He was representative for Barcelona and Borges Blanques (Lleida) in the Congress of Deputies from 1907 to 1923, initially elected by the Catalan Solidarity coalition. During his last years as a politician in Madrid, he moved from Catalan autonomist to independentist positions.

In 1922, Macià founded the independentist party Estat Català.

In 1926 he attempted an insurrection against the Spanish dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. This uprising, the aim of which was to achieve the independence of Catalonia, was based in Prats de Molló (Roussillon, southern France). He was arrested in France for this and was convicted and sentenced to two months in jail and a fine of 100 francs. Macià left France for Brussels in March 1927. In April 1930 he returned to Spain after being pardoned; he was exiled again but returned once more in February 1931.

In 1931, after the elections that caused the exile of Alfonso XIII of Spain and gave the local majority to his party Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC), a few hours before the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in Madrid, from the balcony of the Palace of the Generalitat (then the seat of the Provincial Deputation of Barcelona), announced the "Catalan Republic, expecting that the other peoples of Spain constitute themselves as republics, in order to establish the Iberian Confederation". Macià was appointed as its acting president. Three days later, the government of the new Spanish Republic, sent three ministers (Fernando de los Ríos, Lluís Nicolau d'Olwer and Marcel·lí Domingo) to Barcelona to negotiate with Macià and the Catalan government. Macià reached an agreement with the ministers, in which the Catalan Republic was renamed Generalitat of Catalonia, becoming an autonomous government inside the Spanish Republic. Macià was the President of the Generalitat from 1932, after the first Catalan parliamentary election, until his death in December 1933.

Death
Macià died on 25 December 1933 in Barcelona. His funeral caused a massive demonstration of grief. His remains rest in the Plaça de la Fe, the Montjuïc Cemetery, in Barcelona's Montjuïc hill.

Documentation
Part of his personal collection, which consists of documentation image about the president travels throughout Catalonia and family snapshots, is preserved in the National Archive of Catalonia. They are a repository of Mrs. Teresa Peyrí i Macià. The fund contains documents generated and received by Francesc Macià, personal and family documents, correspondence from the period before the Second Spanish Republic (until April 1931) and documentation produced primarily in terms of its political activity. The fund brings together documents relating to his conduct before being named president of the Government of Catalonia (1907-1931): As a Member of Parliament (speeches, proclamations, and conference reports) on Catalan State (organization, reports, proclamations, calls, publications, etc.), on Catalan Army (constitution, rules and organization, information mapping and geographic pathways) and on the corresponding period in the Directory of General Primo de Rivera. Finally, there is the collection of photographs, most made during his presidency.

Another part of Macià's personal archive consists of correspondence written to/by Joan Agell, documents of Centre Català in New York, diverse documentation and press clippings. It is in the Pavelló de la República CRAI Library at the University of Barcelona.