Falangism

SPANIARD JOSE Antonio Primo de Rivera founded the fascistic Falange Española (Spanish Falange) in 1933. The Falange was pro-Catholic, anti-liberal, anti-communist, and nationalistic; its name is derived from the Macedonian unit of battle responsible for the destruction of democracy in Greece in the 4th century b.c.e. Primo de Rivera admired fascists Adolf Hitler in Germany and Benito Mussolini in Italy. Like them, he favored a strong state and opposed class struggle. As he wrote in 1933, “The State is founded on two principles—service to the united nation and the co-operation of classes.”

The Falange emerged following the resignation of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, Jose Antonio's aristocratic father, who had ruled Spain from 1923 to 1930. The monarchy, which had ruled Spain since the 1400s, fell shortly thereafter and in 1931 popular elections established the Second Republic in power. The Second Republic issued a new constitution that gave women the vote, “separated Church and State, and abolished aristocratic title,” Judith Keene points out. It then initiated reforms, most especially land reform, that undercut the centuries-long power and privilege of the church and the nobility. The Republican government also supported workers' rights and attempted to streamline the military by reducing the number of officers. These reforms antagonized the aristocracy, the church, and the military, all of which actively opposed the republic. It was in this tense political climate that the Falange developed and came to play such a powerful role in the ensuing civil war that engulfed Spain from 1936 to 1939.

The civil war began in July 1936 when the army, under the command of General Francisco Franco, revolted against the republic. From inside his prison cell where the Republicans had jailed him, Primo de Rivera exhorted the military to overthrow the republic and pledged Falangist support for an anti-government coup. However, Primo did not participate in the fighting; in November 1936 he was tried in a Republican court, found guilty of the illegal possession of firearms, and executed.

Reflecting its anti-republican politics, the Falange preached conservative ideas about women and maintained rigid gender roles. In 1934, Pilar Primo de Rivera, Jose Antonio's sister, started the Seccíón Femenina (Women's Branch) of the Falange. From a beginning membership of seven, the organization grew to include 400,000 women in 1938. Many of these women worked in auxilio social, (social welfare) and “provided food, clothing, and shelter to [Falange] widows, orphans, and the destitute, and taught them to ‘love God and understand the Falange,’” explains Victoria Enders. These women accepted a patriarchal view of the world and their place in it; they counseled women that their primary [Page 634]duty in life was to be a loving mother and a submissive wife. Nevertheless, they dedicated much of their younger lives to public activity, first in support of the Falange and in opposition to the republic and then, after the defeat of the republic, to the dictatorship of Franco.

During the civil war, the Falangist forces formed battalions and fought in the Francoled Nationalist Army against the republic. In 1937, Franco merged the Falange with other right-wing forces in Spain to form “the official political organization of the Spanish Nationalist state,” Stanley Payne reports. The republic fell in 1939 and Franco assumed power and held it until his death in 1975. Although Spain was neutral during World War II, the Falangists formed the Blue Division, consisting of 47,000 volunteers, to fight on the side of Germany. Throughout his long rule, Franco relied on the Falange, along with the Catholic Church and the military, to provide him with a firm base of support.

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