A fewer months ago, it was the 90th anniversary of the Spanish Falanga Uprising – an organization that had a crucial impact on the Spanish political scene in the 20th century. On this occasion, I wrote a series of articles that brought the Polish reader closer to the past of Spanish national radicalism and wrongly identified with it, although located in the perfect vicinity, Spanish fascism. In the second part of the series of articles, I am describing the Junta of the National-Syndicalist Offensive Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, the Spanish Falanga José Antonio Primo de Rivera and their unification.
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos and Junta of the National-Syndicalist Offensive
The first major organization in Spain to be called fascist is JONS, or Junta of the National-Syndicalist Offensive, which arose from the unification of the Fascist Sympathians Ramos and Redondo Ortega. In both cases, they were mostly young Spaniards from student circles, although Ledesma Ramos wanted to gather primarily proletariat under the banner of his idea. The very concept of national syndicalism first appeared in the first issue of the magazine “La Conquista del Estado”, leavingfrom the pen of Ledesma Ramos in March 1931, and aimed at acquiring working layers. The Manifesto of National Syndicalists, though social, resounded in a contra to class Marxism, alternatively of which nationalist corporateism was proposed. He besides called for agricultural improvement through a greater engagement of peasants in the land ownership structure while at the same time powerfully supervising the state over agriculture. In this manifesto, a young precursor of Spanish fascism argued that the root of the Matador country's crisis was the "liberal concept of the bourgeois state". In the manifesto you can see the postulates of the statolatria, which Ledesma Ramos called pan-estatismo, opposing all separatist movements. In addition, the slogans about Latinism and the Spanish empire sounded, which is simply a clear mention to the thought of nationalism. hispanidad Ramira de Maeztu.
However, the group related to the letter ‘La Conquista del Estado’ was inactive marginal and limited its scope mainly to Madrid. In time, she merged with a national-radical group with Valladolid – Juntas Castellanas de Actuación Hispánica (Castilian junta of the Spanish Action), which primarily concentrated students and farmers and was headed by Onésimo Redondo. He was a zealous Catholic and monarch and a determined agrarist, formerly associated with farmers.
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos was only 26 years old at the time of the founding of JONS. From his early youth, he showed large talent for humanities, and he was besides characterized by love for doctrine and mathematics. He was fascinated by Heidegger, Machiavell, Hegle, Ortega y Gasset and the already mentioned Ramir de Maeztu, whom he peculiarly enjoyed. He was a romanticist and revolutionary, and had a very negative attitude toward Christianity, considering it to be undermodern. In his political thought he was an authoritarian and a lover of strong, centralised state power. On economical issues, he remained very social and JONS called "the proletarian party". He was distinguished from the communist left primarily by the fact that he felt belonging to Latin civilization and a dream of the greatness of Spain. So it was, in large simplicity, an imperialist nationalism, though in its stotalized and socialist form. Ledesma Ramos was a extremist anti-communist due to the fact that he considered the russian Union to be an imperialist, Asian totalitarian state whose politics utilized proletariat to carry out Moscow's interests, while destroying Latin states. The precursor of Spanish fascism was convinced that it was fascism that could face communism in the conflict for revolutionary masses after the collapse of liberal democracy. Ledesma Ramos regarded the parliamentary strategy as weak, and the capitalist strategy as unjust, and thus must fall. An overclass, authoritarian state providing social justice and resurrecting the Spanish Empire – it was the dream of the leader JONS. However, anti-clericism was different from Ramira de Maeztu, José Antonio and most Spanish nationalists. He was a extremist modernist. He rejected tradition for the creation of a fresh man and a fresh planet forged by the national-syndical or fascist revolution.
Ledesma Ramos was a fascist orthodox and utopiat, prone even to criticism of fascist Italy, which he believed to have deviated from the idealistic assumptions of fascist theory. In the context of his approach to national-socialism, it is worth noting that at 1 time he was expected to kind his hairstyle to match Führer. It was a manifestation of his admiration for the revolutionary momentum and the chief charism of Adolf Hitler, inspiring to him as the leader of the JONS. To the very thought of national socialism, however, he was skeptical. Like most Spaniards, he was not a proponent of racial theory, and German dialectic was incomprehensible to him.
Therefore, all means to accomplish the objectives of the fascist revolution, including the usage of violence, were acceptable and even desirable if they were effective.
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos never translated his plans into reality. He moved distant from politics after the unification of JONS with Falanga Spanish and losing power rivalry with the leader of the FE, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who surpassed the leader of JONS with charisma, popularity and political-organizational capabilities. As of 1935, he ceased his political activities by accepting his defeat. However, past did not forget him, and at the beginning of the Spanish civilian war he was murdered by communist militants.
El Founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera
No politician from the Second Spanish Republic is as hard to classify as the boy of a erstwhile dictator andEl Fundator Falange Española, i.e. the founder of the Spanish Falanga, as was titled José Antonio Primo de Rivera. He was a political romanticist and idealist. He said “Falanga is simply a poetic movement that will carry the banner of healing poetry”. He was surrounded by artists and philosophers specified as Miguel Unamuno, Ramiro de Maeztu, and Federico García Lorca, the second being reportedly charmed by the pioneer of national radicalism in Spain. Even Pablo Picasso, known from his leftist views, considered him a sympathetic man. Salvador Dali, on the another hand, stated that José Antonio Primo de Rivera "was 1 of the most crucial and top figures Spain had given the world." The artist called him a genius. It was said that even Fidel Castro had a collection of works by Falangi's leader, who, according to witnesses, were expected to make a good impression on him, or at least so declared in a private conversation with Gustav Morales Delgado in the 1970s.
José Antonio thought and lived like a actual romantic; leading the first election campaign, even before the Falangi uprising, due to the fact that in 1931, he went with friends from 1 village to another organizing political raves and feasts with the local population. He valued the proletariat, although it came from higher social strata and emphasized that the rich did not like it and the mediocre did not realize it. He was a zealous Catholic who wanted social justice. He was spiritually derived from the right hand (both due to religion and the fact that he was the boy of a right-wing dictator), but he understood the left hand well and acknowledged it in any respects, appreciating the concern for the poorest.
Raised in Miguel Primo de Rivera's right-wing home, José Antonio had monarchist views in his youth. At the age of 27 (in 1930), he joined the Monarchy-National Union after graduating from law school and serving in military service, but it was not a long adventure. His views had only just crystallized, although in 1931 he sat in the first Republican constitutional corteases, representing the right-wing positions. José Antonio's views were defined only in the days of the Republican Left's regulation and the increasing controversy on the line of the Catholic right and the anti-cleric left. Then he began to decision from a conservative-Catholic position, associated with a class owned, to a more social one.
According to Iberist and historian Stanley G. Payne’s views El Fundator became final in 1933. Then he began to be inspired by Italian fascism. In March of that year he released even 1 number of the weekly “El Fastio”, which was rapidly delegated by the authorities. Ramiro Ledesma Ramos felt that José Antonio did not realize the thought of fascism, though he could perfectly convince average people of his ideas. He had more charisma in him and seemed kinder than Ledesma Ramos. This raises the question that many historians have in different ways: was José Antonio Primo de Rivera a fascist?
He was surely inspired by early Italian Fascism, which provided him with the chance to synthesize 2 Spains – nationalist-traditional and proletarian-progressive. He saw in Fascism a combination of social justice and Latin tradition and identity. He wanted to nationalize the peasants and the workers, so that, as he himself said, those who could not identify with their own country would again identify with their own country, due to the fact that they lacked bread for them. He felt that the emergence of socialist movements was a understandable response, a consequence of workers to the unjust liberal system. However, he claimed that socialist ideology carries hatred and further spread of divisions between Spaniards through class struggle, proclaimed by Marxism as inevitable.
In October 1933 he even met Benito Mussolini, expressing his admiration for the state of "black shirts" and declaring that Fascism was 1 of the inspirations at the time of the formation of the Spanish Falanga. A year later, José Antonio was even expected to meet Adolf Hitler, although their gathering was much little ideologically motivated, or alternatively was organized on the occasion of a tour of Chief Falanga to Germany. José Antonio, however, was disgusted with Hitler, uncovering his disbelief in God and declaring that he would never meet the 3rd Reich chief again. Here the first problem is revealed, by which fascist researchers have a problem with the unequivocal designation of José Antonio as a fascist. Stanley G. Payne defines him as “the most ambiguous of all European fascist leaders”, emphasizing his moral scruples. José Antonio, although talking about the dialectics of the pistol and fists, long forbade bloody retaliation on communists, frequently attacking the fatal Falangists. prof. Wielomski, on the another hand, quotes the opinions of researchers specified as Arnaud Imnatz and Luis M. Sandoval, who emphasize that José Antoni's fascism was confined to the stylistic and modern method of political struggle, and ideologically he was a traditionalist, zealous Catholic and Spanish nationalist.
Fascism as inspiration is translated by Prof. Wielomski in fashion and spirit of times. Fascism has only become a tool on the way to reconciliation between the 2 feudal Spains and the construction of a Catholic, traditionalist state that will feature social justice. José Antonio was reluctant to Nazism and racism, which is part of the overall trend of Spanish nationalism. Sometimes he spoke of totalitarianism, although he withdrew from this word erstwhile it began to be utilized mainly in the context of the 3rd Reich, which pursued ideas another than those which defined this concept by José Antonio. Although he was inspired by fascism, he did not want his national-syndicalism to be a calculus of fascism and frequently declared that Falanga was not a fascist movement, and he himself is not a fascist.
In 1934 he began to approach right-wing circles, including signing an agreement with the monarchist-alphonist leader RenovaciónEspañolaAntoni Goicoechea. José Antonio's worldview contrasts importantly with the orthodox fascism of Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, who considered the leader of the FE to be a reactionist. erstwhile we adopt the assumptions that we set in the characteristics of fascism and national radicalism at the beginning of this work, we gotta say that JoséAntonio does not fit into this definition of fascism, rejecting statolatry, unlimited violence, anti-clericism and anti-traditionalism, and putting both God and nation above the state. Nor will we find in his thought specified far-reaching collectiveism as Ledesma Ramos or Laína Entralgo. José Antonio was closer to Tomistic personalism. Therefore, his views should be classified as national-radical, albeit powerfully inspired by fascism. In the end, it is hard to specify the full phalangist movement, which was very heterogeneous before the civilian war, and after the civilian war began to transform into a mass organization merged with traditionalists.
Spanish Falanga
La Falange Española formed on 29 October 1933. José Antonio, of course, was the founder and chief of the phalangist movement. FE based Movimiento Espanol Sindicalist, Spanish Syndicalist Movement. The founding legislature took place in the well-known Madrid Comedy theatre and was not an event to which the Spanish press paid more attention, though the charisma of José Antonio and the organization kind oriented on activist activity rapidly began to attract curious people. The legislature was besides attended by representatives of the JONS, who noticed similarities between the 2 movements. According to the author of the Polish monograph Francisco Franco, Sławomir Dawidowski, the first program of the Spanish Falanga can be shortened in slogans: nationalism, antiliberalism, imperialism, Catholic social science, traditionalism and corporateism.
The joséantonian movement (as frequently called FE) had a completely different ideological basis than the anticonservative JONS. The Spanish Falanga was based on strong Christian-traditional pillars, which sometimes led to a pinch from Ledesma Ramos. José Antonio was sometimes called "a dwarf in a fascist uniform". However, this did not offend him and did not prevent him from referring to the name of his organization as “FE”, which in Spanish means “faith” and to go on pilgrimages with his companions. José Antonia's Falangists longed for the baroque glory of Spain, as did the dwarfs. However, the erstwhile understood that reconstructing the old schemes would not fix their country, so they sought a conventional thought in the content and modern form of national-radicalism. Falangism was the Spanish emanation of the anti-liberal spirit of the 1930s. He represented a young generation of right-wingers who decided to take from the left what they thought was right and reject from their side what they thought was ossified and impossible to transplant into a modern state.
In November 1933, José Antonio became an MP at Cortez, where he got from the letter of the Conservative-Catholic CEDA coalition. But he was not a lover of parliamentaryism, especially as he felt alone in his ideals. He hoped to take power by force and overthrow liberal parliamentaryism. shortly José Antonio was becoming increasingly popular. It had its advantages and disadvantages. Falanga was sponsored by industrialists, publicists and aristocrats, specified as Eduardo de Royas y Ordoñez – number of Montarco, or José María Finat y Escrivá de Romaní – number of Mayalde. This was frequently the subject of jokes, after all, a organization to defend the interests of the workers, and was represented by gentlemen in ties and suits. José Antonio even referred to this charge at the founding convention of the FE, saying: “I would like this microphone... to carry my voice to the last corner of the working houses to say yes, we wear ties, yes, you can say of us that we are panicky. However, we bring the spirit of combat... We are fighting for dense and just sacrifices to be imposed on many representatives of our classes, and we are fighting for the totalitarian state to make its goods available to the rich and the poor." It is worth noting that, erstwhile referring to the totalitarian state, José Antonio meant alternatively what we realize present under the notion of an authoritarian state.
The popularity of FE besides attracted the opponents. In 1934 many shootings and murders occurred, where communists, anarchists and youths from the PSOE organization murdered ionists and joséantonists from the FE, and these did not stay in debt to them. In this atmosphere, serious talks began about the unification of both nationalist-revolutionary movements, which activists were increasingly dying from “marksist balls”.
The United legislature was held in Valladolid on 1 March 1934. A fresh name was adopted resulting from the merger of the names of both organisations – La Falange Española de las Juntas Nacional Sindicalista, in short FE y JONS or FE de las JONS. The eventual symbolism of the movement, which is utilized by neo-phalangist movements to this day, was besides adopted. The main symbol was arrows and yoke, or emblems derived from the tradition of Catholic kings of 15th century Spain. They meant the unity of Spain (five shots were 5 kingdoms: Aragon, Navarra, León, Castile, Grenada). Their symbol was sewn up on blue shirts (colour considered proletarian) which became a movement uniform. The flag was black-red-black, most frequently with a yoke and arrows placed in the mediate of the flag. Greeted with Roman salute and slogan Arriba España. Hymnem became a song Cara al Sol ("Face towards the sun"), which José Antonio believed was "a voice of war and love". She besides became 1 of the main songs of the Frankist camp during and after the Spanish civilian War. The song continues to gain recognition, and its modern adaptations have millions of views on streaming services.
Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, José Antonio Primo de Rivera and Julio Ruiz de Alda were officially leaders of the movement. However, it did not take long for José Antonio to become the undisputed leader of the full movement. The FE was much more popular and many than the JONS. At the same time, Ramiro Ledesma Ramos criticized the origin of José Antonio and suggested that he did not realize the proletariat. 1 can guess that the pioneer of Spanish fascism considered the pioneer of Spanish national radicalism to be a reactionary. In January 1935, Ledesma Ramos was removed from the Political Council of the Movement and then himself left FE y JONS. But he did not lead a large crowd of followers. Most of his erstwhile supporters recognized the primacy of José Antonio.
The thought of the unified FE y JONS is expressed by 27 Falangi programming points. The first 5 are the expression of longing for the empire and at the same time the expression of the goal of a united strong homeland, without any separatistism. Falanga fits into the thought hispanidad postulating unification with the Latin American world. Remembering the defeat of 1898, he besides demands the strengthening of the army. The next 3 points (6-8) oscillate around the subject of state-unit relations. They reject the party-parliamentary model, waiting for the authoritarian conduct of the state's policy while at the same time the nation's organic organization through, among others, trade unions. The falangist state is besides to support individual entrepreneurship, if this is in line with the national interest. Program points 9 to 16 are the economical subject devoted to the largest part of the FE y JONS programme.
Naturally, the movement declares an aversion to liberalism and Marxism in the economical sphere, postulating a corporate organization in its place. It besides rejects the thought of class fighting, providing protection to all social classes through the state. Falangists besides guarantee that labour and social rights are extended, while at the same time having to work for all disabled Spaniards so that no 1 lives at the expense of individual else. The Falangists besides believe that the State should nationalise the banking sector and have control over the sectors liable for the largest public services.
The following points (17-22) are rather detailed for specified a short paper of the agricultural improvement programme, which provided for the redistribution of agricultural land, minimum prices for agri-food products, National Agricultural Credits with a low percent and overall protection over the mediocre Spanish province. Program points 23-25 are spiritual subjects and education. According to Falangi, any capable Spaniard should be able to conduct his studies in higher education regardless of the position of property. In the context of religion, it is interesting to see that the movement is defined as straight Catholic, and clearly stands in the organization position of the chapter of the Church and State. The last 2 points are to item the readiness for the national revolution, which will lead to the creation of a national-syndicalist state.
However, Falanga never created an elaborate program, based alternatively on manifestos, which they were sometimes accused of. José Antonio answered with questions, "Do you know anything serious and profound, which was conducted according to the program? Do you believe that truly crucial things, specified as love, life and death, are governed by programs?" For José Antoni much more crucial than the strict program was the thought of a fresh man, rooted in a Spanish-Catholic identity, representing valor, heroism, pride and honesty. This spirit revolution was the first goal, which is besides characteristic of national-radical movements. More crucial than the political program was the imagination and kind to be emanated.
Electoral defeat and civilian war
In 1936, the situation in Spain was highly unstable. Parliament was dissolved and elections were ordered, the run being held in accompaniment of gunfire. Their bullets were very frequently hit by an asset numbering about 25,000 Falanga members in the last year of the Second Republic. Both the right and left consolidated – José Calvo Sotelo, a well-known associate of Miguel Primo de Rivera, organized the National Block and the Left People's Front. However, Falanga did not enter the national bloc, who wanted to keep complete independency and clarity. This was besides motivated by the ambition disputes between José Antonio and José Calvo Sotelo. For Falanga, the elections proved to be a full disaster, as the elections actually counted 2 strong, opposing blocks with akin support. José Antoni's movement was completely marginalized at the ballot boxes, receiving 44 1000 votes, with 4,654 million People's Front votes and 4.503 million votes for the coalition of the right hand gathered around CEDA.
The revival of the movement only brought about a civilian war, which led to the disintegration of conventional political parties on the right and an increase in the popularity of organizations that were already set in the fight against political opponents. It was the civilian war that allowed the phalangist movement to full grow its wings. Unfortunately, with the rapidly expanding number of Falangi members, the war besides brought the death of its leader – José Antonio.
The destiny of the Spanish Falanga during the civilian War and after it I compose in the text Falanga without José Antonio Primo de Rivera – Continuation or caricature?, which was published in the 29th issue of "National Policy".
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