Spanish Phalanx Falange Española | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | FE |
| Leader | José Antonio Primo de Rivera |
| Founded | 29 October 1933 |
| Dissolved | 15 February 1934 |
| Preceded by | Movimiento Español Sindicalista |
| Merged into | Falange Española de las JONS |
| Newspaper | FE (magazine) |
| Student wing | Sindicato Español Universitario |
| Membership | 25,000[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right[4] |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Falange Española (FE) was a Spanishfascist andnational syndicalistpolitical organization active from 1933 to 1934.[5] Its name translates to "SpanishPhalanx." Founded on October 29, 1933 byAlfonso García Valdecasas,Julio Ruiz de Alda, andJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera,[6] the eldest son of the deceased dictatorMiguel Primo de Rivera. On February 15, 1934, FE merged with theJuntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (JONS), founded byOnésimo Redondo andRamiro Ledesma Ramos, among others. The new party was calledFalange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS).[7]
Following the success of Italian fascism withBenito Mussolini'sMarch on Rome in 1922, various attempts to create a fascist organization in Spain along Italian lines failed.[8] Organizations like theComunión Tradicionalist,Acción Popular, andRenovación Españoa already existed but those organizations were never fascist and only minor fractions in those organizations would be.[9] In those years, the Spanish fascists and the mostreactionary financial and business sectors felt the need for a fascist party, which had proven to be an effective check on the development of left-wing mass movements in Europe. With the establishment of theSecond Republic and the initiation of thedemocratization of Spain, the first attempts crystallized in the Falange Española, promoted by these reactionary sectors.
Hitler's triumph and the limited presence of Spain's main fascist party, the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (JONS) of Ramiro Ledesma Ramos and Onésimo Redondo, led the Spanish far right, represented by industrial and financial businessmen, to begin searching in 1933 for a charismatic leader for Spanish fascism. They found him in José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the previous dictator, who already heldconservative andauthoritarian positions.[10] The Falange Española held its first rally in theTeatro de la Comedia inMadrid on October 29, 1933.
During the Second Republic, it played an important role in the events leading up to theSpanish Civil War. It was founded with the support of reactionary forces and right-wing parties who used it as a shock force.[11] It did not achieve significant popular support, but its frequent raids and clashes with the most radical left-wing groups, mainly youth organizations, its violent acts and assassinations contributed to creating a climate of insecurity and violence conducive to military uprisings.[12][13]
"The Falange Espanola Tradicionalista y de las JONS demands a new order, as set forth in
the foregoing principles. In the face of the resistance from the present order, it calls for a revolution to implant this new order. Its method of procedure will be direct, bold, and combative. Life signifies the art and science of warfare (milicia) and must be lived with a spirit that is
purified by service and sacrifice."
— José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Twenty-sixth point of the Twenty-Seven Point Program of the Falange.
The ideology of the Falange was centered aroundnational syndicalism. It was a mix of classical fascism,national Catholicism,syndicalism andcorporatism. José Antonio Primo de Rivera and Rafael Sánchez Mazas, its founders, were interested in classical fascism and in the early days did not object to the use of the label "fascist."[14][15] According to the conservative American historianStanley Payne, the Falange did not differ fundamentally from theItalian Fascist Party, sometimes even using its rhetoric.[16] However, Falangism did have its own distinctive features,[17] among which are the focus on workers rights, the enforcement of Catholic beliefs, values and the cooperation of church and state, and tamer but still prevalentultranationalism.[18]
"Our Movement incorporates the Catholic meaning- of glorious tradition, and especially in Spain of national reconstruction. The church and state will co-ordinate their respective powers so as to permit no interference or activity that may impair the dignity of State or national integrity." - José Antonio.[19] The unity of Spain is also stated in the second programmatic point: "Spain is a unity of destiny in the universal." And to the imperialism characteristic of other fascist movements, stated in point three ("We have thewill to empire… We claim for Spain a preeminent place in Europe"), it adds apan-Hispanic character: "With respect to the countries ofHispanic America, we tend towards the unification of culture, economic interests and power."[20] Unlike other fascist movements, and despite its rhetoric, the Falange did not seek a "New State" and a "new man," but rather that these would be a consequence ofCatholic traditionalism.[21]
The Falange advocated the creation of a totalitarianSyndicalist State[22] which would group employers and workers organized by branches of production into a single body, similar to corporatism. It also advocated the removal of thecapitalist-style economy alongside wealth inequality, class struggle, the right and duty to work and the gradualnationalization of banking while still allowing and defending private property of the individual. They were strongly againstMarxism as they saw it to be against their "spiritual and national conception of life." Ownership of the means of production would besyndicated and organized corporatively through theVertical Syndicate to make economic cooperation more efficient. As stated in its economic-labor-class struggle section of itsTwenty-Seven Point Program of the Falange later written in September, 1934 by José Antonio after the merge with the JONS:
9. "Our conception of Spain in the economic realm is that of a gigantic syndicate of producers.
We shall organize Spanish society corporatively through a system of vertical syndicates for the various field of production, all working toward national economic unity.
10. We repudiate the capitalistic system which shows no understanding of the needs of the people, dehumanizes private property, and causes workers to be lumped together in a shapeless, miserable mass of people who are filled with desperation. Our spiritual and national conception of life also repudiates Marxism. We shall redirect the impetuousness of those working classes who today are led astray by Marxism, and we shall seek to bring them into direct participation in fulfilling the great task of the national state.
11. The National-Syndicalist State will not cruelly stand apart from man’s economic struggles, nor watch impassively while the strongest class dominates the weakest. Our regime will eliminate the very roots of class struggle, because all who work together in production shall comprise one single organic entity. We reject and we shall prevent at all costs selfish interests from abusing others, and we shall halt anarchy in the field of labor relations.
12. The first duty of wealth- and our State shall so affirm- is to better the conditions of the people. It is intolerable that enormous masses of people should live wretchedly while a small number enjoy all kinds of luxuries.
13. The State will recognize private property as a legitimate means for achieving individual, family, and social goals, and will protect it against the abuses of large-scale finance capital, speculators, and money lenders.
14. We shall support the trend toward nationalization of banking services and, through a system of Corporations, the great public utilities.
15. All Spaniards have the right to work. Public agencies must of necessity provide support for those who find themselves in desperate straits. As we proceed toward a totally new structure, we shall maintain and strengthen all the advantages that existing social legislation gives to workers.
16. Unless they are disabled, all Spaniards have the duty to work. The National-Syndicalist State will not give the slightest consideration to those who fail to perform some useful function and
who try to live as drones at the expense of the labor of the majority of people."
— José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Twenty-Six Point Program of the Falange[18]
The Falangists proposed for the raise of the standard of living in Spain's breadbasket, the countryside without economic or social disruption.[23]
They wanted to achieve this through a minimum wage, the endowment of the countryside, low interest loans and property guarantees for agrarian producers, the education of better farming or animal raising methods, the use of land by their suitability and their economic possibilities, protectionist tariffs, land and agriculture reclamation, the wished to achieve this by the redistribution of land and the syndicalization of labor. They then wanted to campaign and enforce reforestation and animal breeding which would be supported by the Spanish youth. The state also may take land away from owners if the land was being exploited. The 'Land' section of theTwenty-Seven Point Program of the Falange:
17. We must, at all costs, raise the standard of living in the countryside, which is Spain’s
permanent source of food. To this end, we demand agreement that will bring to culmination without further delay the economic and social reforms of the agricultural sector.
18. Our program of economic reforms will enrich agricultural production by means of the following: By assuring a minimum remuneration to all agricultural producers. By demanding that there be restored to the countryside, in order to provide it with an adequate endowment, a portion of that which the rural population is paying to the cities for intellectual and commercial services. By organizing a truly national system of agricultural credit which will lend money to farmers at low interest against the guarantee of their property and crops, and redeem them from usury and local tyrants. By spreading education with respect to better methods of farming and sheep raising. By ordering the rational utilization of lands in accordance with their suitability and with marketing possibilities. By adjusting tariff policy in such a way as to protect agriculture and the livestock industry. By accelerating reclamation projects. By rationalizing the units of cultivation, so as to eliminate wasted latifundia and uneconomic, miniscule plots.
19. Our program of social reforms in the field of agriculture will be achieved: By redistributing arable land in such a way as to revive family farms and give energetic encouragement to the syndicalization of farm laborers. By redeeming from misery those masses of people who presently are barely eking out a living on sterile land, and by transferring such people to new and arable lands.
20. We shall undertake a relentless campaign of reforestation and livestock breeding, and we shall punish severely those who resist it. We shall support the compulsory, temporary mobilization of all Spanish youth for this historic goal of rebuilding the national commonwealth.
21. The State may expropriate without indemnity lands of those owners who either acquired them or exploited them illegally.
22. It will be the primary goal of the National-Syndicalist State to rebuild the communal
patrimonies of the towns.[18]
In 1933, José Antonio Primo de Rivera began to take an interest in national syndicalism.[24] In February, together withManuel Delgado Barreto (a former collaborator of his father), director of the conservative newspaperLa Nación, they launched the newspaperEl Fascio.Rafael Sánchez Mazas andJuan Aparicio López joined the effort. Only one issue of El Fascio was ever printed, and a large number of copies were confiscated by the police. Primo de Rivera himself contributed articles to that issue (signing the article "Orientations for a New State" under the initial "E" forMarqués de Estella) and Ramiro Ledesma. The newspaper also included extensive articles onMussolini and Hitler.[25] Despite the failure, the group continued to meet, andJulio Ruiz de Alda andAlfonso García Valdecasas soon joined them. Together they formed theSpanish Syndicalist Movement, whose propaganda included the subtitle Spanish Fascism (FE).[26]
In August, through the mediation of theBasque far-right activistJosé María de Areilza , the leadership ofMES-FE met with Ramiro Ledesma to secure his support. No agreement was reached, as Ramiro Ledesma only considered the possibility of the new group joining the JONS.[27] In October, José Antonio Primo de Rivera traveled toFascist Italy, where he met with the dictator Mussolini and visited the headquarters of theNational Fascist Party, with the aim of obtaining advice and information for organizing a similar movement in Spain.[28]
On Sunday, October 29, the formal founding of the Falange took place[29] at the Teatro de la Comedia in Madrid. In his founding speech, Primo de Rivera said, among other things:
The Fatherland is a total unity in which all individuals and all classes are integrated; the Fatherland cannot be in the hands of the strongest class or the best-organized party. The Fatherland is a transcendent synthesis, an indivisible synthesis, with its own purposes to fulfill; and what we want is for the movement of this day, and the State it creates, to be the effective, authoritative instrument at the service of that irrevocable unity called Fatherland.[...]
Let political parties disappear. No one is ever born a member of a political party; instead, we are all born members of a family; we are all residents of a municipality; we all strive in the performance of a job...[...]
If our objectives must in any case be achieved by violence, let us not stop at violence. [...] Dialectic is fine as a primary instrument of communication, but there is no admissible dialectic other than the dialectic of fists and pistols when justice and the Fatherland are offended.
— José Antonio Primo de Rivera
In the following months, the Falange vied with theJONS for what little fascism could muster. The JONS ceased receiving the meager contributions it had received from financial sectors, which now, along with themonarchists, opted to finance the Falange.[30] The Falange, with greater room to maneuver, capitalized on the influx of new members, quickly surpassing the JONS in membership. Ramiro Ledesma, without the support of the financial oligarchy, faced pressure to merge with the new Falange.[31] On February 11, 1934, the National Council of the JONS met to consider a possible merger with the Falange, and on February 15, with the approval of the National Council, an agreement was reached with the Falange. According to this agreement, the new formation would be calledFalange Española de las JONS and would be led by atriumvirate: two members of the Falange: Primo de Rivera and Ruiz de Alda; and one of the JONS: Ramiro Ledesma.[32][33]
The Falange's electoral results during theSecond Republic were consistently very poor. This lack of success was due to several reasons, including the absence of a deeply rootednationalism in Spain. On the contrary, there were strong peripheral nationalist sentiments (for example,Catalan,Basque, andGalician nationalisms), which deprived the fascist ideology, based primarily onultranationalism, of its main advantage. Other contributing factors included the limited secularization of Spanish society and the success of other right-wing forces such as theCEDA.[34] In April 1934, the socialistLuis Araquistáin published an article in the American newspaperForeign Affairs analyzing the limited prospects for fascism in Spain:
Fascism of the Italian or German type cannot arise in Spain. There is no demobilized army like in Italy; there are no hundreds of thousands of university graduates without a future, nor millions of unemployed like in Germany. There is no Mussolini, not even a Hitler; there are no imperialist ambitions, no feelings of revenge, no problems of expansion, not even the Jewish question. From what ingredients could Spanish fascism be obtained? I cannot imagine the recipe.
— Luis Araquistáin
Nor did they achieve financial stability. Although, in principle, they received more support from large financiers and landowners than the JONS,[35] this was insufficient until 1935 when they were subsidized monthly with 50,000 lire by the Italian government. This subsidy was halved and subsequently withdrawn after the poorelectoral results of 1936.[36] Even theNational Syndicalist doctrine failed to attract workers, who were organized into the major class-based unions (UGT andCNT). During this period, they did not manage to have any representatives in theCortes, since although José Antonio Primo de Rivera won a seat in the November 1933 elections, he did so through a conservative candidacy fromCádiz, called theAgrarian and Citizen Union.
During the Second Republic, youth organizations were characterized by their violent nature. Left-wing youth groups proclaimed themselves revolutionary, while right-wing youth groups wereanti-liberal. Clashes between the two were frequent. Both groups, escaping the control of their respective parties, openly contradicted the parties' activities in theCortes.[37] The situation in the workplace was no better; workers' organizations faced groups of gunmen in the service of employers' interests. It was in this context that the Falange Española emerged, with the practice of violence as part of its ideology.
Like other fascist movements, FE placed special emphasis on recruiting young people into its ranks, organizing them into a paramilitary structure and channeling their rebellion into the methodical and organized practice of political violence.[38] Membership forms included a box indicating whether the applicant possessed a "bicycle ," a euphemism for a pistol, and flexible, metal-coated batons were issued.[39] In January 1934, the republican newspaperLa Voz published an internal document theorizing about violence and providing precise instructions on how to wield it:[40]
Having utterly failed attempts at legal action, and being powerless today to contain the advance of the red wave, whose practices and procedures are genuinely violent, violence will have to be used to contain and then destroy this danger that seeks to end civilization.
The raids must be perfectly planned in advance, down to the smallest detail, and carried out by trusted individuals… Their targets are everywhere: in the street and indoors, day and night, people or things, and they are so effective that, carried out with precision and audacity, they can resolve very difficult situations […]
Mass struggle: […] Its method of employment is all-out struggle, and it is preceded by provocation, although surprise is sometimes also employed. The force that carries it out is, at a minimum, the Falange (made up of 33 individuals: three 'squads' composed of 9 members, a leader and a deputy leader), a unit suited to this type of action, since it alone brings all the necessary combat resources.
Execution of the fight: Divided into squads and in close contact between individuals of each of them, so that no one is ever isolated, they will distribute themselves strategically, trying to surround the enemy and, at an agreed signal from the leader of the phalanx, they will act with the greatest violence…
The militias known as the Falange of Blood (Falange de Sangre), (later renamedPrimera Línea) were initially led by retired military officerLuis Arredondo. They began to provoke and engage in skirmishes. Street clashes and punitive operations ensued. The distribution of their publication,FE (FAITH), hawked by their own militants (newsstands had refused to distribute it under pressure from leftist organizations), led to the main flashpoints of confrontation.[41] At theUniversity of Madrid, the Falange created a student union, theSindicato Español Universitario (Spanish University Syndicate; SEU), in opposition to the largerFederación Universitaria Escolar ("Academic University Federation; FUE), with the aim of "destroying" it.[42] On January 25, 1934, one of these punitive operations was carried out against the FUE at the Faculty of Medicine, leaving one FUE member seriously wounded.
The first deaths occurred on the Falange side. On February 7, 1934, two weeks after the incident at the Faculty of Medicine,Matías Montero, a medical student and co-founder of the SEU (Spanish University Syndicate), became the first martyr ofFalangism as he was shot dead as he returned home after distributingFE (FAITH). His death will be commemorated as "the Day of the Fallen Student" duringFranco's rule of Spain.[43] Throughout 1934, continuous attacks took place, especially against members, sympathizers, and premises of the Falange and the right-wingAcción Popular (Popular Action), as reported in the newspapers of the time.[44]
Due to the Falange's rhetoric, it was expected that this death would be avenged, which did not happen. The media began to satirize the fascist character of the Falange.Wenceslao Fernández Flórez called them Franciscans, not fascists. In the pages ofABC, the writerÁlvaro Alcalá-Galiano asked, "Where are the mysterious fascist legions?" The Falange Española (FE) was called the Spanish Funeral Home , and Primo de Rivera, Juan Simón the Gravedigger. The FE responded to these criticisms: "The Spanish Falange will accept and engage in combat on whatever terrain suits it.The Spanish Falange is in no way like a criminal organization, nor does it intend to copy the methods of such organizations, no matter how many unofficial encouragements it receives."[45]
In late February and early March, another Falangist militant was murdered inValladolid, another inGijón , and a third inMadrid. These deaths coincided with the dismissal of Arredondo as head of the Falange de Sangre (Blood Falange), who was replaced by the aviatorJuan Antonio Ansaldo, who began to reorganize the paramilitary as he saw fit.[46] The Falangists took weeks to respond forcefully to these attacks this was not because the leaders of FE favored a policy of appeasement in the face of pressure from workers' organizations, but because of the Falange's own shortcomings.[47] From within the Falange ranks, there were protests about the inaction in the face of the bloodshed that was taking place. The leader of the JONS (National Syndicalist Offensive Juntas) Ramiro Ledesma, joined in the criticism:
It so happened that FE's presence was marked by excessive optimism and grandstanding. We must be more restrained in our use of the language of violence, especially when we cannot carry out our promises, or when there is almost certainty that the enemy will believe them literally.
From April onwards, with the merger of the JONS, the militias were strengthened by the incorporation of JONS members. They became more effective in their reprisals, also dedicating themselves to developing a tactic of terror against leftist organizations.[48] The first fatality among the ranks of leftist groups occurred on June 10, 1934, when a FE de las JONS commando, in retaliation for the death that same day of one of their own, opened fire on a group of hikers from theSocialist Youth, killing the youngJuanita Rico, incapacitating her younger brother, and wounding several others.[49]
The activities of the Falange were hampered by frequent closures of its premises and the prohibition of many of its events due to the numerous violent incidents in which it was involved.[50] Its militias did not hesitate to use teenagers in their actions, as demonstrated by the death of fifteen-year-old high school student Jesús Hernández in an armed confrontation. A member of the SEU (Spanish University Syndicate), it was shown that, like his peers, he carried pistols.[51]
On June 16, 1934, another teenage Falangist, 16-year-old Antonio Castillo , died while playing with his weapon in the early hours of the morning while on guard duty at the headquarters on Marqués de Riscal Street in Madrid.[52] [53]
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