On July 19, 1936, following the resignation of Prime Minister Casares Quiroga, José Giral was appointed prime minister of the Republican government in Madrid. Giral's government immediately authorized the arming of workers' militias to defend the Republic against the military uprising, a decision that empowered anarchist and socialist organizations but also decentralized military authority. The arming of the militias would shape the character of the Republican war effort, creating a revolutionary dynamic that alarmed conservative elements within the Republic.

The Giral government's decision to arm the militias was celebrated by revolutionary poets like Rafael Alberti, who saw the popular army as the embodiment of anti-fascist resistance. The militia poetry of the early war, written by soldiers and poets alike, celebrated the fusion of arms and verse. The empowerment of the militias also led to the proliferation of front-line poetry publications, with newspapers and pamphlets carrying poems to the troops.