Spanish Phalanx Falange Española | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 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 |
| Student wing | Sindicato Español Universitario |
| Ideology | Fascism[1][2] Falangism |
| Political position | Far-right[3] |
Falange Española (FE) was a Spanishclassical fascist andnational syndicalistpolitical organization active from 1933 to 1934.[4]Its name translates to "SpanishPhalanx." Founded on October 29, 1933 byAlfonso García Valdecasas,Julio Ruiz de Alda, andJosé Antonio Primo de Rivera,[5] 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).[6]
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.[7] In those years, the right wing and the most reactionary 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 project, 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.[8] The Falange Española was officially launched at a rally held 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.[9] 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.[10][11]
The ideology of the Falange was national syndicalism. It was a form of Italian-style fascism with elements borrowed fromCatholicism. José Antonio Primo de Rivera and Rafael Sánchez Mazas, its founders, were interested in Italian-style fascism and in the early days did not object to the use of the label "fascist."[12][13] According to the conservative American historianStanley Payne, the Falange did not differ fundamentally from the Italian Fascist Party, sometimes even using its rhetoric.[14] However, Falangism did have its own distinctive features,[15] among which its Catholicism stood out.[16] 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."[17]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 of Catholic traditionalism.[18]
The Falange advocated the creation of a totalitarianSyndicalist State in which the “ class struggle” would be superseded by the Vertical Syndicate, which would group employers and workers organized by branches of production into a single body. Ownership of the means of production would be syndicated and administered in a self-managed manner.[19] Historically financed primarily by capital and having considerable affinities with other radical right-wing forces, it has always expressed a demagogic rejection of thecapitalist system. Its political ideology is combined, as apopulist element, with an ambiguous program of social reforms described by the Falangists as “revolutionary”.[18]
In 1933, José Antonio Primo de Rivera began to take an interest inFalangism.[20] 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" for Marqués de Estella ) and Ramiro Ledesma. The newspaper also included extensive articles onMussolini and Hitler.[21] 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).[22]
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.[23] 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.[24]
On Sunday, October 29, the formal founding of the Falange took place[25] 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 the monarchists, opted to finance the Falange.[26] 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.[27] 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 calledFE 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.[28][29]
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.[30] 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,[31] 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 poor electoral results of 1936.[32] 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 inParliament.[33] 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.[34]Membership forms included a box indicating whether the applicant possessed a "bicycle ," a euphemism for a pistol, and flexible, metal-coated batons were issued.[35]In January 1934, the republican newspaperLa Voz published an internal document theorizing about violence and providing precise instructions on how to wield it:[36]
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 theFalange of Blood (later renamed Primera 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, hawked by their own militants (newsstands had refused to distribute it under pressure from leftist organizations), led to the main flashpoints of confrontation.[37] At the University of Madrid, the Falange created a student union, the SEU, in opposition to the larger FUE, with the aim of "destroying" it.[38] 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), was shot dead as he returned home after distributing FE ( Feminist Youth ).[39] 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.[40]
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."[41]
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 organized them in the purest and bloodiest fascist style.[42] The Falangists took weeks to respond forcefully to these attacks […] this was not because the leaders of FE (Federación Española) favored a policy of appeasement in the face of pressure from workers' organizations, but because of the Falange's own shortcomings.[43] 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.[44] 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.[45]
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.[46] 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.[47]
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.[48] [49]
Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista
Falange Española Independiente
Círculos Doctrinales José Antonio
Unión Nacional de Trabajadores
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