The victor of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)—aided by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy— was the far Right Nationalist general, Francisco Franco. Franco defeated the leftist-radical Republican Popular Front which had, six months before the war, gained power in legal elections. Franco's rule (1939-75) was characterized in the early years by repressive military tribunals, political purges, suppression of regional languages and cultures, censorship (which affected some of Buero Vallejo's plays), and economic woe for most of the populace. Franco imprisoned former Republican, also known as Loyalist, soldiers in camps where many were starved while they awaited court martial. Members of labor syndicates and the Popular Front were also threatened with trials. The Popular Front originated in 1935 with Stalin, who advocated a strategy of "popular front" alliances between socialists and communists throughout the world to fight fascism, especially Franco. As was the case in...