Miaja, a conservative but also a republican loyalist, was very close to the Spanish Communist Party (Partido Comunista Español, PCE), whose propaganda made him a symbol of Madrid's resistance to Fascism.
Because most of the leading politicians had left the city, the members of the council were, as Vicente Rojo Lluch wrote, mostly "young men who had voluntarily decided to remain in the city ready to participate actively in its defense."