Between the years of 1936, in the duration of the Spanish civil war until late November 1975 Spain was ruled by an authoritarian regime, controlled by General Francisco Franco, which came into power after the ending of the Spanish civil war in 1939 and the abolition of the monarchy. Through this regime Spain was governed under a powerful dictatorship which had many effects on the manner that the Spanish people lived. This essay will examine how Franco managed the country during the years on 1939 and 1975 and the effect that he had on the ordinary people of Spain.
In his dictatorship of Spain General Franco had absolute authority, he possessed power to select his own minister but to dismiss them whenever he thought necessary. It is believed that "Franco saw himself as the one designated to save Spain from the chaos and instability visited upon the country by the evils of parliamentary democracy and political parties"(http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/spain). Before any ruling could be passed in the country at this time Franco had the final choice of whether it went ahead. By examining this we deduce that the Spanish people had absolutely no choice whatsoever in the way that their country was run, they had to live under Franco's ruling, this meant that because it was Franco who had the final say on any political decisions then the country itself could go into complete turmoil at any moment because the citizens where not living in a manner that they wanted to live in. .
In the early years on his dictatorship Franco imposed various new laws in the country of Spain. The first of these laws, know as the "Labor Charter" was introduced in 1938. This law consisted of the idea that all Spanish inhabitants had the obligation to carryout some from of work. This law did, however call for a maximum number of working hours as well as a satisfactory level of payment. It also established the government controlled trade unions which were "the only form of industrial organisation allowed by law"(Ross, 2000: 97).
