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Falangism (Spanish:Falangismo) was the political ideology of three political parties inSpain that were known as the Falange, namely first theFalange Española, theFalange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS), and afterward theFalange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS).[1] Falangism combined Spanish nationalism, authoritarianism,Catholic traditionalism,anti-capitalism, andanti-communism, along with a call for national syndicalism. HistorianStanley Payne, a scholar on fascism, considers the Falange to have been a fascist movement,[2] though he also recognizes the nuances, faults, and controversies of calling Falangism a fascist movement.[3] Another interpretation is that the Falange from 1937 onward during Franco's leadership was a compromise between radical fascism andauthoritarian conservatism.[4][5]
The FE de las JONS merged with theTraditionalist Communion and several other parties in 1937 following theUnification Decree ofFrancisco Franco, to form FET y de las JONS. This new Falange was meant to incorporate all Nationalist political factions and became the sole political party ofFrancoist Spain.[6] The merger was opposed by some of the original Falangists, such asManuel Hedilla.
Falangism places a strong emphasis on theRoman Catholic religious identity of Spain.[7] However, it has held some secular views on theCatholic Church's direct influence on Spanish society,[7] since one of the tenets of the Falangist ideology holds thatthe state should have the supreme authority over the nation.[8] Falangism emphasizes the need fortotal authority,hierarchy, andorder in society.[8] LikeItalian Fascism,German Nazism, and other Third Position ideologies, Falangism isultranationalist,anti-communist,anti-capitalist,anti-democratic, andanti-liberal.[9][10]
The Falange's originalmanifesto, the "Twenty-Seven Point Program of the Falange" later changed to the "Twenty-Six Point Program of the Falange" by Francisco Franco, declared Falangism to support the unity of Spain and the elimination of regional separatism, the establishment of adictatorship led by the Falange, usingpolitical violence as a means to regenerate Spain, and promoting the revival and development of theSpanish Empire. Some of these attributes align with the attributes of Classical Fascism which is a widely cited influence of Falangism even by its founders. The manifesto also called for anational syndicalist economy and advocatedagrarian reforms,industrial expansion, and respect forprivate property with the exception of nationalizingcredit facilities to preventusury.[11]
The Spanish Falange and its affiliates in Hispanic states around the world promoted a form ofpanhispanism known asHispanidad that advocated both the cultural and economic union of Hispanic societies around the world.[12]
Scholarly sources reviewing Falangism place it on the far right of the political spectrum.[13] Falangism has attacked both the politicalleft and theright as its "enemies", declaring itself to be neither left nor right, but asyncreticthird position. The founder of the Falange,José Antonio Primo de Rivera, said: "Fascism was born to inspire a faith not of the Right (which at bottom aspires to conserve everything, even injustice) or of the Left (which at bottom aspires to destroy everything, even goodness), but a collective, integral, national faith."[14] Some also state they lean more towardsauthoritarian conservatism.[15] While deriving from authoritarian conservatism it is marked by left-leaning economics and initial links toleftist thought.
During theSpanish Civil War, the Falange and theCarlists both promoted the incorporation ofPortugal into Spain, and the new Falange resulting from their unification in 1937 continued to do so. The Falange also advocated the incorporation ofGibraltar into Spain, both before and after its merger with the Carlists. During its early years, the Falange produced maps of Spain that included Portugal as a province of Spain.[16] The Carlists stated that a Carlist Spain would retake Gibraltar and Portugal.[17] After the civil war, some radical members of the Falange called for reunification with Portugal and annexation of former Spanish territories in theFrench Pyrenees.[18] DuringWorld War II, Franco in a communiqué with Germany on 26 May 1942 declared that Portugal should be made a part of Spain.[19]
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Some of the Falangists in Spain had supportedracialism and racialist policies, viewing races as real and existing with differing strengths, weaknesses and accompanying cultures inextricably obtained with them. However, unlikeNazism, Falangism is unconcerned about racial purity and does not denounce other races for being inferior, claiming "that every race has a particular cultural significance" and claiming that the intermixing of the Spanish race and other races has produced a "Hispanic supercaste" that is "ethically improved, morally robust, spiritually vigorous".[20] It was less concerned about biological Spanish racial regeneration than it was in advocating the necessity of SpanishCatholic spiritual regeneration.[21] Some have nonetheless promotedeugenics designed to eliminate physical and psychological damage caused by pathogenic agents. Falangism did and still does supportnatal policies to stimulate increased fertility rate among ideal physically and morally fit citizens.[22]
Franco praised Spain'sVisigothic heritage, saying that the Germanic tribe of the Visigoths gave Spaniards their "national love for law and order".[23] During the early years of the Falangist regime of Franco, the regime admired Nazi Germany and had Spanish archaeologists seek to demonstrate that Spaniards were part of theAryan race, particularly through theirVisigothic heritage.[24]
The founder of theFalange Española,José Antonio Primo de Rivera, had little interest in addressing theJewish question outside areas of political issues.[25] The Falange's position was influenced by the fact of the small size of theJewish community in Spain at the time that did not favour the development of strongantisemitism.[26] Primo de Rivera saw the solution to the "Jewish problem" in Spain as simple: the conversion of Jews to Catholicism.[27] However, on the issue of perceived political tendencies amongst Jews, he warned about Jewish-Marxist influences over the working classes.[25] The Falangist daily newspaperArriba claimed that "theJudeo-Masonic International is the creator of two great evils that have afflicted humanity: capitalism and Marxism".[25] Primo de Rivera approved of attacks by Falangists on the Jewish-owned SEPU department stores in 1935.[25]
The Spanish Falange and its Hispanic affiliates have promoted the cultural, economic and racial unity of Hispanic peoples around the world in "hispanidad".[12] It has sought to unite Hispanic peoples through proposals to create a commonwealth or federation of Spanish-speaking states headed by Spain.[18]
Falangism supports a national, trans-class society while opposing individual-class-based societies such as bourgeois or proletarian societies. Falangism opposesclass conflict.José Antonio Primo de Rivera declared that "[t]he State is founded on two principles—service to the united nation and thecooperation of classes".[28]
Initially, Falangism in Spain, as promoted by Primo de Rivera, advocated a "national syndicalist" economy that rejected both capitalism and communism.[15] Primo de Rivera denounced capitalism for being an individualist economy at the hands of the bourgeoisie that turned workers "into a dehumanized cog in the machinery of bourgeois production," and denouncedstate socialist economies for "enslaving the individual by handing control of production to the state."[15]
The Falange's original manifesto, the "Twenty-Seven Points", called for a social revolution to create anational syndicalist economy that creates national syndicates of both employees and employers to organize and control the economic activity mutually. It further advocated agrarian reform, industrial expansion, and respect forprivate property except nationalizingcredit facilities to prevent capitalistusury.[11] The manifesto also supportedcriminalization ofstrikes byemployees andlockouts byemployers as illegal acts,[29] while mirroring social democratic policies in supporting state jurisdiction over the setting of wages.[29]
After the merger of the original Falange with the Carlists in 1937 to form the new Falange (FET y de las JONS) that would serve as the sole political party ofFrancoist Spain, the result was a Falange intended as a "melting pot" for all of the various political factions on the Nationalist side of the civil war.[6] It proclaimed support for "an economic middle way equidistant from liberal capitalism and Marxist materialism."[30] Private initiative and ownership was recognized as the most effective means of production, but owners and managers were responsible for advancing that production for the common good.[30] At the same time, it was made clear that the economy would continue to rest on private property, whose protection was guaranteed, while the state was envisioned as undertaking economic initiatives only when private enterprise failed or "the interests of the nation require it."[31] In October 1937, the new leader of the Falange,Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta, declared national syndicalism to be fully compatible withcapitalism, drawing praise from the non-falangist right.[32]
The Franco-era Falange supported the development ofcooperatives such as theMondragon Corporation because it bolstered the Francoist claim of the nonexistence of social classes in Spain during his rule.[33]
Falangism is staunchlyanti-communist.[34][10] The Spanish Falange supported Spanish intervention duringWorld War II against theSoviet Union in the name of anti-communism, resulting in Spain supporting theAnti-Comintern Pact andsending volunteers to joinNazi Germany's foreign legions on theEastern Front to support the German war effort against the Soviet Union.[10]
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The Spanish Falange supported conservative ideas about women and supported rigid gender roles that stipulated that women's main duties in life were to be loving mothers and submissive wives.[35] This policy was set against that of theSecond Spanish Republic that provideduniversal suffrage to women.[35] ItsSección Femenina, 'Female Section' instructed women to be good wives and mothers, teachingdomestic economy and cultivating the folk dances of Spain in itsCoros y Danzas, 'Choirs and Dances' troupes. The Female Section enabled its leaders, women such as José Antonio's sisterPilar, who never married, to achieve prominent public roles while promoting family life.[36]
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