The history of the far-right in Spain dates back to at least the 1800s and refers to any manifestation of far-right politics in Spain. Individuals and organizations associated with the far-right in Spain often employ reactionarytraditionalism, religious fundamentalism, corporate Catholicism, and fascism in their ideological practice. In the case of Spain, according to historian Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, the predominance of Catholicism played an essential role in the suppression of external political innovations such as Social Darwinism, positivism, and vitalism in Spanish far-right politics.[1]
In the Cortes of Cádiz of 1812, within the faction of realists (as opposed to the faction of more moderate reform conservatives), a subgroup of reactionary defenders of the Antiguo Régimen (Old Regime) was incorporated. One notable member of this subgroup was Pedro de Inguanzo y Rivero, a prominent Bishop (and later Archbishop of Toledo) who was proclaimed cardinal by Pope Leo XII.[2]
During the crisis of the Restoration, which was accentuated from 1914 onwards, the extreme right represented itself as a force against secularization of Spain and in favour of the interests of the Catholic elite; various far-right thinkers would meet in the Centro de Acción Nobiliaria (Nobility Action Centre).[5] In 1919, the Sindicatos Libres was founded in Barcelona; the organization represented Carlist workers and carried out acts of terrorism against the anarcho-syndicalistConfederación Nacional del Trabajo.[6] According to historian Colin M. Wilson, the Sindicatos Libres was a proto-fascist organization and was far-removed from the traditionalism that would come to define Spanish fascism.[7][8]
The period of the Alfonso XIII regime directly preceding the establishment of the Second Republic, marked by the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera, Dámaso Berenguer, and Juan Bautista Aznar-Cabañas (1923–1931), saw the consolidation and strengthening of ultra-conservative, anti-liberal, and anti-democratic forces within the Spanish Army, who promoted these far-right positions through the publications El Ejército Español ("The Spanish Army"), and from 1928 onwards, La Correspondencia Militar ("The Military Correspondence").[9]
In March 1931, mere days before the collapse of the Spanish monarchy, the far-right publication La Conquista del Estado ("The Conquest of the State") was founded to promote fascist views to the working masses.[10] The publication's director, Ramiro Ledesma, was influenced by German philosophy and by the French philosopher Georges Sorel.[11] By 1931, Ledesma was receiving funding for the publication from Biscay monarchists such as José María de Areilza, José Antonio Sangróniz, and José Félix de Lequerica.[12]
Second Republic
According to Eduardo González Calleja, the predominant form of Spanish fascism in the interwar period was characterized by a "traditionalist ethos" and a "counterrevolutionary" character.[13] The Spanish right wing opted for violent political opposition of liberalism and embraced fascism.[14]
The Falange counted a number of retired military officers and members of the pro-fascist Spanish Military Union in its ranks, including Emilio Rodríguez Tarduchy, Luis Arredondo, Ricardo Rada, and Román Ayza. Another member of the military and monarchist activist, Juan Antonio Ansaldo, was put in charge of organizing the paramilitary components of the party: the "Falange de Sangre" and the "Primera Línea".[18]
During the period of the Second Spanish Republic, an increase in antisemitism, often apocalyptic in nature, resonated amongst Carlists and monarchists and led to the weakening of the moderate right.[19]
Ramiro de Maeztu, a member of Acción Española and one of the main theorists of the Spanish extreme right, promoted in En defensa de la Hispanidad ("In Defense of Hispanidad", 1934) one of the fundamental myths of the extreme right: "Hispanidad", the reimagination of imperialist and Catholic legacy of Spain. Hispanidad would be embraced by Acción Española, the Falange, and, later, by Fuerza Nueva ("New Force"). Both Maeztu and the politician José Calvo Sotelo published articles that promoted fascism and urged an anti-Republican alliance that would include traditionalists and Falangists in the lead-up to the Spanish Civil War.[20]
Following the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, Spain was ruled by the FET y de las JONS-backed dictator Francisco Franco. The Franco dictatorship, analogous to that of other European fascist regimes of the twentieth century, incorporated into its ideology charismatic leadership, fascist imagery, and the embrace of an all-encompassing fascist state and nation.[21] Two political cultures converged during the dictatorship: that of National Catholicism, and that of FET y de las JONS-style fascism.[22]
Starting in the 1950s, a number of right-wing associations and organizations were created under the protection of the Delegación Nacional de Asociaciones ("National Delegation of Associations") and the FET y de las JONS, including the Círculos Doctrinales José Antonio, the Hermandad de Alféreces Provisionales, and the Hermandad de la División Azul. These organizations, alongside other prominent figures like the historian José Luis Rodríguez Jiménez, expressed concern in the longevity of the Franco regime and a concern about loss of power in post-fascist Europe.[23]
During the 1970s, in the late Francoist period, a more radical sector of the ultra-right emerged.[24] The Círculo Español de Amigos de Europa ("Spanish Circle of Friends of Europe", or CEDADE), a neo-Nazi organization, achieved some public recognition and was supported by some leading figures of the Franco regime, such as Tomás García Rebull.[25]
Among the prominent figures of the extreme-right who gained prominence in Franco's Spain was Gonzalo Fernández de la Mora, a member of Spain's Congress of Deputies who advocated for dictatorial monarchism, eugenics, and suppression of "egalitarian envy".[26]
Transition to democracy
After Franco's death, during the period of transition to democracy in Spain, the far-right implemented a so-called "estrategia de la tensión" ("strategy of tension") aimed at preventing the smooth consolidation of a liberal democratic system, carrying out a number of acts of terrorism.[27] Groups such as the Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista ("Apostolic Anti-Communist Alliance"), the AntiTerrorismo ETA, the Grupos Armados Españoles ("Spanish Armed Groups"), the Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey, the Batallón Vasco Español, and a number of other right-wing groups organized demonstrations that called for the assumption of power by Spain's military, and publishing a number of calls for a coup.[28] The anti-communist and Nazi-aligned Blue Division also saw renewed interest.[29]
At the beginning of the transition period, the electoral division of the far-right was represented by the Alianza Nacional 18 de Julio coalition and by the Alianza Popular.[30] During the 1979 Spanish general election, the extreme right won a single seat through the Fuerza Nueva ("New Force") coalition led by the charismatic Blas Piñar. Fuerza Nueva attempted to stifle political reform through continuous activism and mobilization of far-right forces; the paramilitarism, uniforms, and violence of Fuerza Nueva attracted a number of young people to the organization.[31] The failure of the 1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt led to the abandonment of advocating for a military coup.[32]
After Spain's transition to democracy, the far-right began to experience large-scale unpopularity and abandonment by members.[33] This weakening of the far-right was compounded by splits between neo-Francoists and those who advocated for unity with other European far-right organizations.[34] The 1990s saw the dissolution of a number of far-right organizations: CEDADE was dissolved in 1993, as well as the Blas Piñar-led Fuerza Nueva, and in 1995 the Juntas Españolas dissolved as well. The latter gave rise to the founding of Democracia Nacional ("National Democracy"), which competed without much success in elections against other marginal right-wing groups such as the Alianza por la Unidad Nacional ("Alliance for National Unity"), the Falange Española Independiente, and the re-founded Falange Española de las JONS.[35] In 1997, the Partido Demócrata Español ("Spanish Democratic Party") was founded, formed by militants that split from the Partido Popular and who achieved modest results in the 1999 elections to European Parliament.[36]
The dawn of the 21st century saw the birth of two new far-right parties in Spain: the Plataforma per Catalunya ("Platform for Catalonia") and España 2000, based in Barcelona and Valencia, respectively. While the former attempted to integrate both Catalanists and non-Catalanists, the latter took the position of a more strict Spanish nationalism and Blaverism.[37] Both the Plataforma per Catalunya and España 2000 achieved some success in elections.[38] In 2013, the far-right political party Vox was founded.
In 2014, squatters in Madrid formed the "Hogar Social Madrid" (HSM, originally "Hogar Social Ramiro Ledesma"), a neo-Nazi collective inspired by Greece's Golden Dawn and Italy's CasaPound that distributes food to Spaniards.[39]
Vox, a far-right party founded in 2013, began to see more success following the 2018 Andalusian regional election, and became the first fight party to obtain parliamentary representation in an autonomous region of Spain. The jump to power was sudden with their leader Santiago Abascal saying "Only 11 months ago, we did not have any representation in any institution [in Spain],"[40] This election also saw the introduction of Super-PAC financing schemes in Spain. Vox benefited from donations by ultraconservative lobbies such as HazteOír and CitizenGo.[41]
Related Research Articles
The Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista was a fascist political party founded in Spain in 1934 as merger of the Falange Española and the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista. FE de las JONS, which became the main fascist group during the Second Spanish Republic, ceased to exist as such when, during the Civil War, General Francisco Franco merged it with the Traditionalist Communion in April 1937 to form the similarly named Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS.
José Calvo Sotelo, 1st Duke of Calvo Sotelo, GE was a Spanish jurist and politician. He was the minister of finance during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and a leading figure during the Spanish Second Republic. During this period, he became an important part of Spanish Renovation, a monarchist movement. Calvo Sotelo's assassination in July 1936 by the bodyguard of PSOE party leader Indalecio Prieto was an immediate prelude to the triggering of the Spanish military coup of July 1936 that was plotted since February 1936, the partial failure of which marked the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Hispanidad is a Spanish term describing a shared cultural, linguistic, or political identity among speakers of the Spanish language or members of the Hispanic diaspora. The term can have various, different implications and meanings depending on the regional, socio-political, or cultural context in which it is used.
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista, frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco Franco in 1937 as a merger of the fascist Falange Española de las JONS with the monarchist neo-absolutist and integralist Catholic Traditionalist Communion belonging to the Carlist movement. In addition to the resemblance of names, the party formally retained most of the platform of FE de las JONS and a similar inner structure. In force until April 1977, it was rebranded as the Movimiento Nacional in 1958.
Acción Española or AE was a Spanish cultural association active during the Second Spanish Republic, meeting point of the ultraconservative and far right intellectual figures that endorsed the restoration of the Monarchy. It was also a political magazine of the same name. The group was heavily influenced by Action Française both in its name and its ideology. Constituted in October 1931, the cultural association was inaugurated on 5 February 1932, following the founding of the journal on 15 December 1931.
The National Council of the Movement, was an institution of the Franco dictatorship of a collegiate nature, which was subordinated to the Head of State. Originally created under the name of the National Council of FET and the JONS on 19 October 1937 in the midst of the Civil War, it would continue to exist until 1977, following the death of Francisco Franco and the dismantling of institutions of his regime.
Juan Víctor Pradera Larumbe was a Spanish political theorist and a Carlist politician.
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Falange Española Independiente was a Spanish political party registered in 1977, originating from the Frente de Estudiantes Sindicalistas (FES), a student group of anti-Francoist falangists.
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Xavier Casals Meseguer is a Spanish historian specialized in the field of the far-right.
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Álvaro Alcalá-Galiano y Osma was a Spanish writer, literary critic, historian, and journalist, frequent contributor to newspaper ABC and magazine Acción Española. As a monarchist, he was influenced by Charles Maurras. While he was pro-Allied during the First World War, his writings later extolled Italian fascism and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and a strong anti-communism sentiment. He was a member of Spanish Renovation during the Second Republic and was executed at the beginning of the civil war in the Republican zone due to his support for the coup and his fascist ideology.
↑ Provos, Claire; Ramsay, Adam (26 de abril de 2019). "Exclusiva: un esquema de financiación coordinado internacionalmente trabaja para aupar a Vox y a la extrema derecha europea". openDemocracy.
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