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The termAlfonsism (Spanish:Alfonsismo) refers to the movement in Spanishmonarchism that supported the restoration ofAlfonso XIII asKing of Spain after the foundation of theSecond Spanish Republic in 1931.[1] The Alfonsists competed with the rival monarchists, theCarlists, for the throne of Spain.[1]
Since the crisis of the dynastic conservatism in the 1910s, the authoritarian accents within the former political camp had increased, with a new generation ofMaurist politicians bringing ideas ofcorporativism,integral nationalism,economic interventionism andpolitical Catholicism. After 1923, thedictatorship of Primo de Rivera espoused as ideology a mix of authoritarian and bureaucratic conservatism with some traditionalist trappings. As the very same Alfonso XIII began to identify with the new regime, the remains of the liberal-conservative tradition largely distanced from the figure of the King or even from the monarchy altogether. After the forced resignation of Primo de Rivera in 1930, the authoritarian wing largely gathered into theNational Monarchist Union.[2]
After the overthrow of the monarchy of Alfonso XIII in 1931, the supporters of the later formed theRenovación Española in 1933, a monarchist political party split from Popular Action, which held considerable economic influence and had close supporters in the Spanish army.[3] Alfonsists adapted authoritarian elements fromItalian Fascism,Action Française, andPortuguese Integralism into their cause.[4]Renovación Española did not, however, manage to become a mass political movement.[3] The Alfonsists received little support outside of their clique of well-established supporters, while their rivals, the Carlists, soared to become a mass movement in Spain.[5]Renovación Española cooperated with the fascistFalange party led byJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera, hoping to coopt it as a tool for the party's objectives.[4] In 1937, during theSpanish Civil War, the Alfonsists ofRenovación Española merged alongside the Falange, the Carlist traditionalists, andCEDA underFrancisco Franco'sdirective to form a united National Movement, theFET y de las JONS.[6]
