In 1936 after the election of a Popular FrontPopular Front Full Description A political strategy adopted by communist parties in 1935, on Comintern instruction, to form alliances with socialist and liberal parties against fascism. In France and Spain, Popular Fronts won elections in 1936. The Spanish Popular Front government was the legitimate authority the Republic defended during the Civil War. The strategy represented a significant shift from the communist parties’ earlier “class against class” line, which had labelled social democrats as “social fascists.” Critical Perspective The Popular Front strategy has been debated ever since. Communist parties argued it was necessary to unite against fascism; critics on the left argued it subordinated working-class interests to bourgeois democratic alliances. In Spain, Communist Party insistence on prioritising military order over social revolution — and the NKVD’s suppression of revolutionary forces — ensured that even if the Republic had won the war, the social revolution many of its supporters sought would have been crushed. Government and a social revolution that spread across Spain, the general’s counter revolution began with the help of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The delivery of Franco’s army from Morocco to southern Spain by German and Italian aircraft resulted in a bloody campaign of terror across the country.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to hel