This article examines the character of Spanish Republican cultural politics during the war of 1936-1939. While the extant literature on this topic have addressed the concrete initiatives, organisational structures and the ideological underpinnings of Republican wartime culture, the present article explains why an expansive Republican cultural programme – encompassing various cultural outreach activities and new educational opportunities – came to serve as a critical tool to unite and mobilise a divided Republican population for industrialised, ‘total’ war. It shows how the Republican mobilisation strategy not only shaped wartime cultural discourse and policy but also radicalised long-term plans to reinvent Spain’s cultural identity.