Ramiro Ledesma | |
|---|---|
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| Personal details | |
| Born | (1905-05-23)23 May 1905 |
| Died | 29 October 1936(1936-10-29) (aged 31) |
| Political party | JONS (1931–1934) FE de las JONS (1934–1935) |
| Profession | Philosopher, politician, writer, essayist, and journalist |
| Signature |  |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| Notable works |
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| Notable ideas | National syndicalism |
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos (23 May 1905 – 29 October 1936) was a Spanish philosopher, politician, writer, essayist, journalist, and revolutionary, known as one of the pioneers in the introduction ofFascism andNational Syndicalism in Spain.
Born in Alfaraz de Sayago (province of Zamora), he was raised inTorrefrades [es], where his father worked as school teacher.[1] After studying Arts and Sciences at theCentral University of Madrid, where he was a disciple ofJosé Ortega y Gasset, and contributing toLa Gaceta Literaria,El Sol andRevista de Occidente,[2] Ledesma Ramos began studying the works ofMartin Heidegger. He also wrote anovel for the youth, entitledEl sello de la muerte ("The Seal of Death").
Attracted to bothBenito Mussolini'sCorporatism, and the developingNazi movement ofAdolf Hitler in Germany, he strove to overcome his "middle class roots," which he saw as an obstacle in reaching out to the revolutionary milieu of Spanish politics in the 1920s. In 1931, Ledesma Ramos began publishing the periodicalLa Conquista del Estado, named in tribute toCurzio Malaparte's Italian Fascist magazineLa Conquista dello Stato—one of the first publications of the Spanish National-Syndicalism. It attempted to bridge the gap betweennationalism and theanarcho-syndicalist of the dominanttrade union, theConfederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), by revisingsyndicalism altogether.
His admiration for Nazism brought him to imitate Adolf Hitler's hairstyle.[3]
In the very first issue of theLa Conquista del Estado (The Conquest of the State), Ledesma published asyncretic program, which promotedstatism, a political role foruniversities, a system ofregionalisation, and a syndicalist structure for the national economy. The program's paper was in publication throughout the year, and, although a subject of debate in a CNT assembly, it did not have the intended impact.
He subsequently led his group into an October 1931 merger withOnésimo Redondo'sJunta Castellana de Actuación Hispánica, creating theJuntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista, and its magazineJONS. The group became theFalange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FE-JONS), after it fused withJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera's group theFalange Española in 1934; he personally designed the movement's badge, theyoke, and the arrows, while he also coined themottosArriba España andUna, Grande y Libre, both of which were kept in use inFrancoist Spain.
The group remained stable, despite the fact that Ledesma left over practical and political disagreements with Primo de Rivera. He formed the groupLa Patria Libre, which, displaying the same favorable attitude to theleft-wing trade unions, stood in disagreement with the Falange, predominantly over the idealism it adopted under Primo de Rivera's leadership. Despite Ledesma's disagreements and criticism there is no evidence of personal issues.
The outbreak of theSpanish Civil War caught Ledesma inRepublican Madrid, far from the forces ofFrancisco Franco. Imprisoned by thePopular Front government because of suspectedespionage throughout the summer and early autumn of 1936, he was soonexecuted by the Republican militia.
Ledesma remained a key figure of Francoist propaganda.[4] Though he'd issued invitations to the Catholic Church to participate in the task of the "national revolution,"[5] Ramiro Ledesma was nonetheless viewed with suspicion by theRoman Catholic Church—which had even threatened tocensor his works through theIndex Librorum Prohibitorum.[citation needed]
The enterprise of building a national doctrine, a plan of historical resurgence, a strategy of struggle, effective political institutions, etc., is something that can be carried out without appealing to the Catholic sign of the Spanish, and not only that, but the Catholics must and can collaborate in it, serve it, in the name of their national dimension, in the name of their patriotism, and not in the name of anything else.
