ABSTRACT
At the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), Franco’s ‘New State’ implemented a fascist-inspired policy: autarky. This interventionist economic policy fixed the official price of many foodstuffs and led to strict controls over agricultural production, food supply, and food distribution. The Franco regime renounced imports and attempted to forcefully initiate industrialisation to become an exporting power and achieve a balance of payment surplus. However, it proved to be a dream that led to a famine that claimed more than 200,000 lives between 1939 and 1942. This chapter demonstrates that autarky was a policy voluntarily adopted by the dictatorship. It seeks to illustrate the economic failure it entailed, explaining the origins of the Spanish famine. This underscores how autarky was consistent with the logic of a dictatorship that prioritised victory over reconciliation. Its social supporters grew wealthier or evaded starvation, while the lower classes, formerly supportive of the Republican political project, were besieged and devastated by hunger. The autarky policy and control over food distribution provided the dictatorship with an unparalleled tool for social control during the famine.
