Falange
Encyclopedia
The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain
. The word means phalanx formation
in Spanish. Members of the party were called Falangists . Since 1975, Falangists have split into several different political movements that have continued into the 21st century. The main political movement that retained its Falangist heritage and is the continuation of the party is the FE JONS.
In Spain, the Falange was a political organization founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera
in 1933, during the Second Spanish Republic
. Primo de Rivera was a Madrid lawyer, son of General Miguel Primo de Rivera
, who governed Spain as Prime Minister with dictatorial power under King Alfonso XIII in the 1920s. General Primo de Rivera believed in state planning and government intervention in the economy. His son and the Falangists he led expressed regret for the demise of the elder Primo de Rivera's regime, and proposed to revive his policies and a program of national-syndicalist social organization.
Falangism was originally similar to Italian fascism
in certain respects. It shared its contempt for Bolshevism
and other forms of socialism
and a distaste for democracy
. Like the Italian Fascist Blackshirts
, the Falange had its own party militia, the Blueshirts
. However, the Falange's National Syndicalism was a political theory very different from the fascist idea of corporatism, inspired by Integralism
and the Action Française
(for a French parallel, see Cercle Proudhon
). It was first formulated in Spain by Ramiro Ledesma Ramos
in a manifesto published in his periodical La Conquista del Estado on 14 March 1931. National Syndicalism attempted to bridge the gap between nationalism and the anarcho-syndicalism
of the dominant trade union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
(CNT), by revising syndicalism altogether. While the Falange embraced the Catholic emphasis of Integralism it also borrowed elements from fascism.
Unlike other members of the Spanish right, the Falange was republican, avant-gardist and modernist (see Early History below), in a manner similar to the original spirit of Italian Fascism
. Its uniform and aesthetic was similar to contemporary European fascist and national socialist movements. After the party was coopted by Francisco Franco
and consolidated with the Carlists, it ceased to have a fascist character (which sought a revolutionary transformation of society whereas Franco was conservative), although it retained many of the external trappings of fascism
.
During the Spanish Civil War
the doctrine of the Falange was used by General Franco, who virtually took possession of its ideology, while José Antonio Primo de Rivera
was arrested and executed by the Spanish Republican Government. During the war, and after its founder's death, the Falange was combined by decree (Unification Decree) with the Carlist
party, under the sole command of Franco, forming the core of the sole official political organization
in Spain, the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista, or "Spanish Traditionalist Phalanx of the Assemblies of National-Syndicalist
Offensive" (FET y de las JONS). This organization, also known as the National Movement (Movimiento Nacional) after 1945, continued until Franco's death in 1975.
of Onésimo Redondo
, Ramiro Ledesma
, and others, becoming Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.
The Falange was not an archetypal party of the right. Ronald Hilton
has argued that Spanish leftists spoke of José Antonio with respect. The party attracted a considerable number of prominent intellectuals, including Pedro Mourlane Michelena, Rafael Sánchez Mazas
, Ernesto Giménez Caballero
, Eugenio Montes, José María Alfaro, Agustín de Foxa, Luys Santa Marina, Samuel Ros, Jacinto Miquelarena and Dionisio Ridruejo
. The party was republican, modernist, championed the lower classes and opposed both oligarchy and communism. For these reasons the Falange was shunned by other right-leaning parties in the 1936 election
, where it performed dismally. It only surpassed one percent of the vote in five provinces, performing best in Valladolid and Cadiz, where it received between four and five percent. Having likely never exceeded ten thousand members in the early 1930s, the Falange lost supporters in the run-up to the Civil War, leaving a core of young, dedicated activists, many in the organization's student organization, the SEU (Sindicato Español Universitario).
Following the elections the left-wing Popular Front
government persecuted the Falange and imprisoned Primo de Rivera on July 6, 1936. In turn, the Falange joined the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, supporting the military revolt ultimately led by Francisco Franco
and continuing to do so throughout the ensuing Civil War
.
in July 1936, the Falange fought on the Nationalist side against the Spanish Second Republic. Expanding rapidly from several thousand to several hundred thousand, the Falange's male membership was accompanied by a female auxiliary, the Sección Feminina. Led by José Antonio's sister Pilar, this latter subsidiary organization claimed more than a half million members by the end of the war and provided nursing and support services for the Nationalist forces.
The command of the party rested upon Manuel Hedilla
, as many of the first generation leaders were dead or incarcerated by the Republicans. Among them was Primo de Rivera, who was a Government prisoner. As a result, he was referred to among the leadership as el Ausente, (the Absent One). On 20 November 1936 (a date since known as 20-N
in Spain), Primo de Rivera was sentenced to death by the Spanish Government in a Republican prison, giving him martyr
status among the Falangists. This conviction and sentence was possible because he had lost his Parliamentary immunity, after his party did not have enough votes during the last elections.
After Franco seized power on 19 April 1937, he united under his command the Falange with the Carlist
Comunión Tradicionalista, forming Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET y de las JONS), whose official ideology was the Falangists' 27 puntos. Despite this, the party was in fact a wide-ranging nationalist coalition, closely controlled by Franco. Parts of the original Falange (including Hedilla) and many Carlists did not join the unified party. Franco had sought to control the Falange after a clash between Hedilla and his main critics within the group, the legitimistas of Agustín Aznar
and Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis
, that threatened to derail the Nationalist war effort.
None of the vanquished parties in the war suffered such a toll of deaths among their leaders as did the Falange. Sixty per cent of the pre-war Falange membership lost their lives in the war.
Most of the property of all other parties and trade union
s were assigned to the party. In 1938, all trade unions were unified under Falangist command.
for ambitious politicians—new converts, who were called camisas nuevas ("new shirts") in opposition to the more overtly populist and ideological "old shirts" from before the war.
Membership in the Falange/FET reached a peak of 932,000 in 1942. Despite the official unification of the various Nationalist factions within the party in 1937, tensions continued between dedicated Falangists and other groups, particularly Carlists. Such tensions erupted in violence with the Begoña Incident
of August 1942, when hardline Falangist activists attacked a Carlist religious gathering in Bilbao
with grenades. The attack and the response of Carlist government ministers (most notably Varela
and Galarza
) led to a government crisis and caused Franco to dismiss several ministers. Ultimately, six Falangists were convicted of the attack and one, Juan Domínguez, was executed.
By the middle of the Second World War, Franco and leading Falangists, while distancing themselves from the faltering European fascists, stressed the unique "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism" of the regime and the Falange. Instructions were issued in September 1943 that henceforth the Falange/FET would be referred to exclusively as a "movement" and not a "party".
The Falange also developed youth organizations, with members known as Flechas and Pelayo
s.
With improving relations with the United States, economic development
, and the rise of a group of relatively young technocrats
within the government, the Falange continued to decline. In 1965 the SEU, the movement's student organization, was officially disbanded. At the same time, the membership of the Falange as a whole was both shrinking and aging. (In 1974 the average age of Falangists in Madrid was at least 55 years). The organization's relatively few new members came mostly from the conservative and devoutly Catholic areas of northern Spain.
") the Spanish Crown was restored to the House of Borbón in the person of King Juan Carlos
, and a move towards democratization
begun under Adolfo Suárez
, a former chief of the Movimiento. The new situation
splintered the Falange. In the first elections in 1977, three different groups fought in court for the right to the Falangist name. Today, decades after the fall of the Francoist regime, Spain still has a minor Falangist element, represented by a number of tiny political parties. Chief among these are the Falange Española de las JONS (which takes its name from the historical party), Falange Auténtica
, Falange Española Independiente (which later merged with the FE de las JONS), and FE - La Falange. Vastly reduced in size and power today, these Falangist-inspired parties are rarely seen publicly except on ballot papers, in State-funded TV election advertisements, and during demonstrations on historic dates, like 20 November (death of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and General Francisco Franco). These three parties received 27,166 votes amongst them in the 2004 legislative election
.
In 2009, police arrested five members of a Falangist splinter group calling itself Falange y Tradición. They alleged that this group which was unknown to mainstream Falangist groups, had been involved in a raft of violent attacks in the Navarre
region. These attacks were primarily targeted at Basque
separatist terrorist group ETA
and at ETA sympathisers.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The word means phalanx formation
Phalanx formation
The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
in Spanish. Members of the party were called Falangists . Since 1975, Falangists have split into several different political movements that have continued into the 21st century. The main political movement that retained its Falangist heritage and is the continuation of the party is the FE JONS.
In Spain, the Falange was a political organization founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella , was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española...
in 1933, during the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
. Primo de Rivera was a Madrid lawyer, son of General Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte, Knight of Calatrava was a Spanish dictator, aristocrat, and a military official who was appointed Prime Minister by the King and who for seven years was a dictator, ending the turno system of alternating...
, who governed Spain as Prime Minister with dictatorial power under King Alfonso XIII in the 1920s. General Primo de Rivera believed in state planning and government intervention in the economy. His son and the Falangists he led expressed regret for the demise of the elder Primo de Rivera's regime, and proposed to revive his policies and a program of national-syndicalist social organization.
Falangism was originally similar to Italian fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
in certain respects. It shared its contempt for Bolshevism
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
and other forms of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and a distaste for democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. Like the Italian Fascist Blackshirts
Blackshirts
The Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
, the Falange had its own party militia, the Blueshirts
Blueshirts (Falange)
The Blueshirts is the name of the paramilitary militia of the Falange political party in Spain. The name refers to the blue uniform worn by members of the militia. The colour blue was chosen for the uniforms because it is the same colour as that of workers' overalls, as the Falange sought to gain...
. However, the Falange's National Syndicalism was a political theory very different from the fascist idea of corporatism, inspired by Integralism
Integralism
Integralism, or Integral nationalism, is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups...
and the Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
(for a French parallel, see Cercle Proudhon
Cercle Proudhon
The Cercle Proudhon was a political group founded in France on December 16, 1911 by George Valois and Édouard Berth. It was to include such people as French writer Pierre Drieu La Rochelle.-History:...
). It was first formulated in Spain by Ramiro Ledesma Ramos
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos was a Spanish national syndicalist politician, essayist, and journalist.-Early life:...
in a manifesto published in his periodical La Conquista del Estado on 14 March 1931. National Syndicalism attempted to bridge the gap between nationalism and the anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
of the dominant trade union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
(CNT), by revising syndicalism altogether. While the Falange embraced the Catholic emphasis of Integralism it also borrowed elements from fascism.
Unlike other members of the Spanish right, the Falange was republican, avant-gardist and modernist (see Early History below), in a manner similar to the original spirit of Italian Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. Its uniform and aesthetic was similar to contemporary European fascist and national socialist movements. After the party was coopted by Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
and consolidated with the Carlists, it ceased to have a fascist character (which sought a revolutionary transformation of society whereas Franco was conservative), although it retained many of the external trappings of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
.
During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
the doctrine of the Falange was used by General Franco, who virtually took possession of its ideology, while José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella , was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española...
was arrested and executed by the Spanish Republican Government. During the war, and after its founder's death, the Falange was combined by decree (Unification Decree) with the Carlist
Carlism
Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread...
party, under the sole command of Franco, forming the core of the sole official political organization
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
in Spain, the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista, or "Spanish Traditionalist Phalanx of the Assemblies of National-Syndicalist
National syndicalism
National syndicalism is a nationalist variant of syndicalism.- Founding of national syndicalism in France :National syndicalism was founded in France by the fusion of Maurrassian integral nationalism with Sorelian syndicalism. Interest in Sorelian thought arose in the French political right,...
Offensive" (FET y de las JONS). This organization, also known as the National Movement (Movimiento Nacional) after 1945, continued until Franco's death in 1975.
Early history
The year after its founding, the Falange united with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-SindicalistaJuntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista
Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista was a national syndicalist movement in 1930s Spain, eventually incorporated into the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.-History:...
of Onésimo Redondo
Onésimo Redondo
Onésimo Redondo Ortega was a Spanish Falangist politician, founder of Juntas Castellanas de Actuación Hispánica , a political group that merged with Ramiro Ledesma's Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista and...
, Ramiro Ledesma
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos was a Spanish national syndicalist politician, essayist, and journalist.-Early life:...
, and others, becoming Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.
The Falange was not an archetypal party of the right. Ronald Hilton
Ronald Hilton
Ronald Hilton was a British-American academic, reporter and think-tank specialist, specializing in Latin America and, in particular, Fidel Castro's Cuba....
has argued that Spanish leftists spoke of José Antonio with respect. The party attracted a considerable number of prominent intellectuals, including Pedro Mourlane Michelena, Rafael Sánchez Mazas
Rafael Sánchez Mazas
Rafael Sánchez Mazas was a Spanish nationalist writer and a leader of the Falange, a right-wing political movement created in Spain before the Spanish Civil War....
, Ernesto Giménez Caballero
Ernesto Giménez Caballero
Ernesto Giménez Caballero , also known as Gecé, was a Spanish writer, film director, diplomat and pioneer of fascism in the country difficult to classify as an European citizen and philosopher as he can be thought as one of the Spanish surrealists not far from Russian- Polish-Italian- "French"...
, Eugenio Montes, José María Alfaro, Agustín de Foxa, Luys Santa Marina, Samuel Ros, Jacinto Miquelarena and Dionisio Ridruejo
Dionisio Ridruejo
Dionisio Ridruejo Jiménez was a Spanish poet and political figure within the Falange...
. The party was republican, modernist, championed the lower classes and opposed both oligarchy and communism. For these reasons the Falange was shunned by other right-leaning parties in the 1936 election
Spanish general election, 1936
Legislative elections were held in Spain on February 16, 1936. At stake were all 473 seats in the unicameral Cortes Generales. The winners of the 1936 elections were the Popular Front, a left-wing coalition of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , Republican Left , Esquerra Republicana de...
, where it performed dismally. It only surpassed one percent of the vote in five provinces, performing best in Valladolid and Cadiz, where it received between four and five percent. Having likely never exceeded ten thousand members in the early 1930s, the Falange lost supporters in the run-up to the Civil War, leaving a core of young, dedicated activists, many in the organization's student organization, the SEU (Sindicato Español Universitario).
Following the elections the left-wing Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
government persecuted the Falange and imprisoned Primo de Rivera on July 6, 1936. In turn, the Falange joined the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, supporting the military revolt ultimately led by Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
and continuing to do so throughout the ensuing Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Spanish Civil War
With the eruption of the Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in July 1936, the Falange fought on the Nationalist side against the Spanish Second Republic. Expanding rapidly from several thousand to several hundred thousand, the Falange's male membership was accompanied by a female auxiliary, the Sección Feminina. Led by José Antonio's sister Pilar, this latter subsidiary organization claimed more than a half million members by the end of the war and provided nursing and support services for the Nationalist forces.
The command of the party rested upon Manuel Hedilla
Manuel Hedilla
Manuel Hedilla Larrey was a Spanish political figure who was a leading member of the Falange and an early rival for power towards Francisco Franco. By profession he was a mechanic....
, as many of the first generation leaders were dead or incarcerated by the Republicans. Among them was Primo de Rivera, who was a Government prisoner. As a result, he was referred to among the leadership as el Ausente, (the Absent One). On 20 November 1936 (a date since known as 20-N
20-N
20-N is a symbolic abbreviation used to denote the date of death of two of the best known and controversial figures in 20th century Spanish history...
in Spain), Primo de Rivera was sentenced to death by the Spanish Government in a Republican prison, giving him martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
status among the Falangists. This conviction and sentence was possible because he had lost his Parliamentary immunity, after his party did not have enough votes during the last elections.
After Franco seized power on 19 April 1937, he united under his command the Falange with the Carlist
Carlism
Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread...
Comunión Tradicionalista, forming Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET y de las JONS), whose official ideology was the Falangists' 27 puntos. Despite this, the party was in fact a wide-ranging nationalist coalition, closely controlled by Franco. Parts of the original Falange (including Hedilla) and many Carlists did not join the unified party. Franco had sought to control the Falange after a clash between Hedilla and his main critics within the group, the legitimistas of Agustín Aznar
Agustín Aznar
Agustín Aznar Gerner was a Spanish medical doctor, political activist with the Falange and a leading figure during the Spanish Civil War. Aznar was part of a radical element within the followers of Francisco Franco and at represented a challenge to his leadership...
and Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis
Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis
Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis was a Spanish Falangist politician. He was an important figure in the early history of the movement but later fell out of favour.-Falangism:...
, that threatened to derail the Nationalist war effort.
None of the vanquished parties in the war suffered such a toll of deaths among their leaders as did the Falange. Sixty per cent of the pre-war Falange membership lost their lives in the war.
Most of the property of all other parties and trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s were assigned to the party. In 1938, all trade unions were unified under Falangist command.
The Franco era
After the war, the party was charged with developing an ideology for Franco's regime. This job became a cursus honorumCursus honorum
The cursus honorum was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The cursus honorum comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts. Each office had a minimum...
for ambitious politicians—new converts, who were called camisas nuevas ("new shirts") in opposition to the more overtly populist and ideological "old shirts" from before the war.
Membership in the Falange/FET reached a peak of 932,000 in 1942. Despite the official unification of the various Nationalist factions within the party in 1937, tensions continued between dedicated Falangists and other groups, particularly Carlists. Such tensions erupted in violence with the Begoña Incident
Basilica of Begoña
The Basilica of Begoña is a basilica in Bilbao, in Spain, dedicated to the patron saint of Biscay, the Virgin Begoña.The current parish priest is Jesús Francisco de Garitaonandia.-History:...
of August 1942, when hardline Falangist activists attacked a Carlist religious gathering in Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
with grenades. The attack and the response of Carlist government ministers (most notably Varela
José Enrique Varela
José Enrique Varela Iglesias was a Spanish military officer and Carlist noted for his role as a Nationalist commander in the Spanish Civil War.-Early career:...
and Galarza
Valentín Galarza Morante
Colonel Valentín Galarza Morante was a Spanish officer and right wing politician. He was associated with the monarchist tendency within the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista and was critical of the Falange.-Conspiracies:An early supporter of José...
) led to a government crisis and caused Franco to dismiss several ministers. Ultimately, six Falangists were convicted of the attack and one, Juan Domínguez, was executed.
By the middle of the Second World War, Franco and leading Falangists, while distancing themselves from the faltering European fascists, stressed the unique "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism" of the regime and the Falange. Instructions were issued in September 1943 that henceforth the Falange/FET would be referred to exclusively as a "movement" and not a "party".
The Falange also developed youth organizations, with members known as Flechas and Pelayo
Pelayo
Pelayo is the Spanish form of the Latin name Pelagius. It may refer to:*Pelagius of Asturias, founder of the Kingdom of Asturias and beginner of the Reconquista*Pelayo of Oviedo, bishop and chronicler...
s.
With improving relations with the United States, economic development
Spanish miracle
The Spanish miracle was the name given to a broadly based economic boom in Spain from 1959 to 1974. The international oil and stagflation crises of the 1970s ended the boom.- The pre-boom situation :...
, and the rise of a group of relatively young technocrats
Technocracy (bureaucratic)
Technocracy is a form of government where technical experts are in control of decision making in their respective fields. Economists, engineers, scientists, health professionals, and those who have knowledge, expertise or skills would compose the governing body...
within the government, the Falange continued to decline. In 1965 the SEU, the movement's student organization, was officially disbanded. At the same time, the membership of the Falange as a whole was both shrinking and aging. (In 1974 the average age of Falangists in Madrid was at least 55 years). The organization's relatively few new members came mostly from the conservative and devoutly Catholic areas of northern Spain.
Post-Franco era
After Franco's death (20 November 1975, also known as "20-N20-N
20-N is a symbolic abbreviation used to denote the date of death of two of the best known and controversial figures in 20th century Spanish history...
") the Spanish Crown was restored to the House of Borbón in the person of King Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
, and a move towards democratization
Democratization
Democratization is the transition to a more democratic political regime. It may be the transition from an authoritarian regime to a full democracy, a transition from an authoritarian political system to a semi-democracy or transition from a semi-authoritarian political system to a democratic...
begun under Adolfo Suárez
Adolfo Suárez
Adolfo Suárez y González, 1st Duke of Suárez, Grandee of Spain, KOGF is a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and the key figure in the country's transition to democracy.-Parents:He is a son of...
, a former chief of the Movimiento. The new situation
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
splintered the Falange. In the first elections in 1977, three different groups fought in court for the right to the Falangist name. Today, decades after the fall of the Francoist regime, Spain still has a minor Falangist element, represented by a number of tiny political parties. Chief among these are the Falange Española de las JONS (which takes its name from the historical party), Falange Auténtica
Authentic Falange
True Falange is a Falangist political party in Spain. FA emerged in 2002 as a split from Falange Española/La Falange. FA claims to represent the heritage of the dissolved Falange Española de las JONS ....
, Falange Española Independiente (which later merged with the FE de las JONS), and FE - La Falange. Vastly reduced in size and power today, these Falangist-inspired parties are rarely seen publicly except on ballot papers, in State-funded TV election advertisements, and during demonstrations on historic dates, like 20 November (death of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and General Francisco Franco). These three parties received 27,166 votes amongst them in the 2004 legislative election
Spanish legislative election, 2004
Legislative elections were held in Spain on 14 March 2004. At stake were all 350 seats in the lower house of the Cortes Generales, the Congress of Deputies, and 208 seats in upper house, the Senate. The governing People's Party was led into the campaign by Mariano Rajoy, successor to outgoing...
.
In 2009, police arrested five members of a Falangist splinter group calling itself Falange y Tradición. They alleged that this group which was unknown to mainstream Falangist groups, had been involved in a raft of violent attacks in the Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
region. These attacks were primarily targeted at Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
separatist terrorist group ETA
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
and at ETA sympathisers.
Ideology
- National SyndicalismNational syndicalismNational syndicalism is a nationalist variant of syndicalism.- Founding of national syndicalism in France :National syndicalism was founded in France by the fusion of Maurrassian integral nationalism with Sorelian syndicalism. Interest in Sorelian thought arose in the French political right,...
(nacionalsindicalismo) was to be the official ideology of the State.- Corporate state in which class struggleClass struggleClass struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
would be superseded by the Vertical Trade UnionSpanish Trade Union OrganisationThe Spanish Trade Union Organisation , commonly known as Vertical Syndicate , was the only legal trade union organisation in Francoist Spain , and a main component of the Movimiento Nacional Francoist apparatus...
, forcing workers and owners into one organization. (see class collaborationClass collaborationClass collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization.-Class collaboration under capitalism:...
) - Roman Catholicism
- Attention to the CastilianCastile (historical region)A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
farmers - Nationalist pride in the history of the Spanish EmpireSpanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
- Anti-separatism
- Anti-communismAnti-communismAnti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, anti-anarchismAnarchismAnarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
and anti-capitalismCapitalismCapitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category... - Anti-democratic, anti-liberal, anti-parliamentarian ideology
- ParamilitarianParamilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
- Corporate state in which class struggle
Symbols
- El yugo y las flechas (the yoke and arrowsYoke and arrowsThe Yoke and the Bundle of Arrows or the Yoke and Arrows is a badge dating back to the Spanish co-monarchy of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It served as the symbol of the shield of the monarchy of Ferdinand and Isabella and subsequent Catholic monarchs, representing a united...
'), the symbol of the Reyes CatólicosCatholic MonarchsThe Catholic Monarchs is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with...
. - The blue shirt, a symbol of industrial workers.
- Cara al SolCara al SolCara al Sol is the anthem of the Falange party. The lyrics were written in December 1935 and are usually credited to the then leader of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The music was composed by Juan de Tellería and Juan R. Buendia....
, "Facing the sun", its anthemAnthemThe term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
. - The red beretBeretA beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....
of Carlism (after the unification). - A flag with red, black and red vertical stripes.
- The SwanSwanSwans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
as a symbol of Cardenal Cisneros (Frente de Juventudes branch).
See also
- Authentic FalangeAuthentic FalangeTrue Falange is a Falangist political party in Spain. FA emerged in 2002 as a split from Falange Española/La Falange. FA claims to represent the heritage of the dissolved Falange Española de las JONS ....
- Blue DivisionBlue DivisionThe Blue Division officially designated as División Española de Voluntarios by the Spanish Army and 250. Infanterie-Division in the German Army, was a unit of Spanish volunteers that served in the German Army on the Eastern Front of the Second World War.-Origins:Although Spanish leader Field...
- Falangism in Latin AmericaFalangism in Latin AmericaFalangism in Latin America has been a feature of political life since the 1930s as movements looked to the national syndicalist Catholic fascism of the Spanish State and sought to apply it to other Spanish-speaking countries...
- IntegralismIntegralismIntegralism, or Integral nationalism, is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups...
- Kataeb PartyKataeb PartyThe Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
, also known as the Lebanese Phalange - National Radical Camp FalangaNational Radical Camp FalangaNational Radical Camp Falanga was a Polish political group. It was one of two groups to emerge following the banning of the National Radical Camp in 1934.-Formation and ideology:...
- Rafael Sánchez MazasRafael Sánchez MazasRafael Sánchez Mazas was a Spanish nationalist writer and a leader of the Falange, a right-wing political movement created in Spain before the Spanish Civil War....
, one of the head ideologues of the original Falange