Falange Española (FE) was a Spanish fascist and national syndicalist political organization active from 1933 to 1934. Its name translates to "Spanish Phalanx." Founded on October 29, 1933, by Alfonso García Valdecasas, Julio Ruiz de Alda, and José Antonio Primo de Rivera,Preston, Paul. The Three Spains of '36, Chapter José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The Absent Hero: "He was the founder of Spain's fascist party, the Falange, which was the political instrument with which Franco governed for almost four decades." the eldest son of the deceased dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. On February 15, 1934, FE merged with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (JONS), founded by Onésimo Redondo and Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, among others. The new party was called Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS).
Following the success of Italian fascism with Benito Mussolini's March on Rome in 1922, various attempts to create a fascist organization in Spain along Italian lines failed.Payne, Fascism in Spain, 1987, page 65.
The most obvious source of inspiration for Spanish fascism was the Italian prototype, but, as already noted, it attracted surprisingly little attention in its early years. The publication of 'La Camisa Negra' died almost as soon as it was launched in early 1923, and the failed attempts to form small, isolated groups of nationalist militias in 1931, such as Hueste Española or Cruzados de Cristo, had no lasting impact Organizations like the Comunión Tradicionalist, Acción Popular, and Renovación Española already existed but those organizations were never fascist and only minor fractions in those organizations would be.20 Stanley Payne, Spain’s First Democracy (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), 168.
"Almost all historians agree that amongst this collection of right wing organizations, none can be considered 'fully' fascist in nature, as they did not fulfill enough of the criteria of fascism." In those years, the Spanish fascists 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 the Second Republic and the initiation of the democratization of Spain, 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 held conservative and authoritarian positions.Payne, Fascism in Spain, 1987, page 67.
Hitler's rise to power also attracted some interest in Spain, not so much among potential fascists—of whom there seem to have been few—as among right-wing radicals or potentially radical right-wingers, who were clearly more numerous. The main organized pressure group of the extreme right was composed of representatives of important financiers and industrialists in Bilbao, who had successfully promoted a conservative and subsequently radical-right-wing policy since the beginning of the century. In the summer of 1933, they began searching for a possible leader of a demagogic and counter-revolutionary Spanish fascism. The leader who emerged was José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the eldest son of the deceased dictator, who was evolving from conservative and authoritarian monarchism toward a more radical nationalist authoritarianism. The Falange Española held its first rally in the Teatro de la Comedia in Madrid on October 29, 1933.
During the Second Republic, it played an important role in the events leading up to the Spanish Civil War. It was founded with the support of reactionary forces and right-wing parties who used it as a shock force.González Cuevas, 2000, page 130.
Following the unification [of FE with the JONS], FE-JONS was organized with a paramilitary structure, with militias that had their own commanders and instructors. Falangists addressed each other as "comrades" and used the informal "tú" form of address. The triumvirates were given military honors. Special militia groups, known as the "Falange of Blood," were also organized. However, their activism was deemed insufficient by the right wing. 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.Preston 1996. Pg. 37
Without a militant base, the monarchists viewed the Falange as potential cannon fodder for street fighting and as an instrument of political destabilization that could serve as justification for a military uprising .Tusell, 1999, Chapter: Fascism in Spain. The movement founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera may have been slow to embark on the path of systematically employing violence, but the Falange was one of the main parties that practiced it during the second two-year period of the dictatorship. From the outset, it used violent language that proved provocative because Spain was already aware of what was happening elsewhere and had a tactic of street confrontation against leftist adversaries that could escalate to murder. The first deaths among readers and distributors of Falangist newspapers occurred in January 1934, and it wasn't until June that Falangists carried out killings, but this possibility existed within the movement from the beginning, as evidenced by the fact that membership forms included a note indicating whether or not the person filling them out had a "bicycle" (i.e., a pistol).
Ideology
The ideology of the Falange was centered around national syndicalism. It was a mix of classical fascism, national Catholicism, syndicalism and corporatism. José Antonio Primo de Rivera and Rafael Sánchez Mazas, its founders, were interested in classical fascism and in the early days did not object to the use of the label "fascist."Payne 1995. P. 204In 1934, Primo de Rivera wrote in Cruzada : "Fascism is a disquiet in Europe, a new way of conceiving everything: History, the State, the arrival of the proletariat in public life; a new way of conceiving the phenomena of our time and interpreting them with their own meaning ." In Thomas, p. 136 According to the conservative American historian Stanley Payne, the Falange did not differ fundamentally from the Italian Fascist Party, sometimes even using its rhetoric.Payne 1995. P. 205 However, Falangism did have its own distinctive features,It cannot be denied that Falangism possessed certain characteristics of its own, but these did not prevent it from sharing almost all the traits and characteristics that would make up the inventory of generic fascism. Being ultranationalist, all fascist groups revealed, by definition, certain distinct national traits .<Payne 1995(b). Pg. 330 among which are the focus on workers rights, the enforcement of Catholic beliefs, values and the cooperation of church and state, and tamer but still prevalent ultranationalism.
"Our Movement incorporates the Catholic meaning- of glorious tradition, and especially in Spain of national reconstruction. The church and state will co-ordinate their respective powers so as to permit no interference or activity that may impair the dignity of State or national integrity." - José Antonio.Payne 1995(b). Pg. 330 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 the will to empire… We claim for Spain a preeminent place in Europe"), it adds a pan-Hispanic character: "With respect to the countries of Hispanic America, we tend towards the unification of culture, economic interests and power."Of the 26 programmatic points in the merger of FE with the JONS. In Payne 1997. Pg. 226 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.RAH, p.104.
The Falange were militarist in that they wanted a strong military to ensure Spanish independence and Spanish status in the world as a whole. A part of the plan was to ensure militarism in the hearts and minds of the common Spaniard in every aspect of life. José Antonio wanted the expansion and better quality of the Spanish to ascend Spain as a maritime power for defense and commerce. Spain was to be equal with other maritime powers. Fourth Programmatic Point
4. Our armed forces- on land, sea, and in the air- must be kept trained and sufficiently large to assure to Spain at all times its complete independence and a status in the world that befits it. We shall bestow upon our Armed Forces of land, sea, and air all the dignity they merit, and we shall cause their military conception of life to infuse every aspect of Spanish life.
Like most fascist or para-fascist movements at the time, José Antonio wanted Spain to be united in one. With no political parties and the abolishment of the Cortes. Sixth Programmatic Point
6. Our State will be a totalitarian instrument to defend the integrity of the fatherland. All Spaniards will participate in this through their various family, municipal, and syndical roles. There shall be no participation in it by political parties. We shall implacably abolish the system of political parties and all of their consequences- inorganic suffrage, representation of clashing groups, and a Parliament of the type that is all too well known. But, he still defended human dignity, integrity and freedom as intangible rights. In which those freedoms shouldn't conflict with the unity of Spain. Since as he said "But one is not really free unless he is a part of a strong and free nation." He hoped that discipline would prevent the disunity of Spain from the inside. Seventh Programmatic Point
7. Human dignity, integrity, and freedom are eternal, intangible values. But one is not really free unless he is a part of a strong and free nation. No one will be permitted to use his freedom against the nation, which is the bulwark of the fatherland’s freedom. Rigorous discipline will prevent any attempt to envenom and disunite the Spanish people or to incite them against the destiny of the fatherland.
José Antonio wanted a patriotic, and disciplined education for Spanish children. Which would prepare them to get paramilitary training to be enlisted in the Spanish military. Twenty-Third Programmatic Point
23. It shall be the essential mission of the State to attain by means of rigorous disciplining of education a strong, united national spirit, and to instill in the souls of future generations a sense of rejoicing and pride in the fatherland. All men shall receive paramilitary training to prepare them for the honor of being enlisted in the National and Popular Army of Spain. On the other hand, he wanted to eliminate insufficient spending in the education system for higher learning. Twenty-Fourth Programmatic Point
24. Cultural life shall be organized so that no talent will be undeveloped because of insufficient economic means. All who merit it shall be assured ready access to a higher education.
Economic and Land Policy
The Falange advocated the creation of a totalitarian Syndicalist State Point six, sentence one in the Twenty-Seven Point Program of the Falange: