National Falange

Last updated
National Falange
Falange Nacional
Founded13 October 1935
Dissolved28 July 1957
Split from Conservative Party
Merged into Christian Democratic Party
Headquarters Santiago de Chile
Ideology Catholic social teaching [1] [2]
Progressive Christianity [3]
Political position Centre

The National Falange [1] [4] [5] (Spanish : Falange Nacional, FN) was a Chilean Christian political party that existed between 1935 and 1957. It was the basis of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC); still it is customary to use the expressions "Falange" and "Falangista" to refer to members and activities of the Christian Democrats and the same party, respectively.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History

In 1935 a group of younger social-Christians split from the Conservative Party to form the National Falange. Despite its name this group was largely made up of progressive and reformist [6] Catholics, and bore little resemblance to Spanish Falangism. In its early years it imitated elements of fascist movements with some of its members wearing uniforms and undergoing paramilitary training. [7] With its progressive economic program (creating an alternative to capitalism, "redeeming" the proletariat) it was in open conflict with the Catholic high clergy [8] who accused it of disrespecting the Church's leadership and siding with communists. [9] Despite its aim to be a centrist alternative to the left and the right, and relatively great public attention, it never received more than 4 percent of the votes. [8] Later it supported the administration of Juan Antonio Ríos (1942–46) and in 1957 merged with the Social Christian Conservative Party into the Christian Democratic Party. [10] One of its former members, Eduardo Frei Montalva, became President of Chile in 1964. Other notable members include Radomiro Tomic and Bernardo Leighton. [3]

Presidential candidates

The following is a list of the presidential candidates supported by the National Falange. (Information gathered from the Archive of Chilean Elections).

Related Research Articles

Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in which it appears. In Western culture, depending on the particular nation, conservatives seek to promote a range of institutions, such as the nuclear family, organized religion, the military, the nation-state, property rights, rule of law, aristocracy, and monarchy. Conservatives tend to favour institutions and practices that guarantee social order and historical continuity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falange Española de las JONS</span> Former political party in Spain

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, it 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francoist Spain</span> 1936–1975 period of Spain under a military dictatorship of Francisco Franco

Francoist Spain, or the Francoist dictatorship, was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title Caudillo. After his death in 1975, Spain became a democracy. During this time period, Spain was officially known as the Spanish State.

The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the medieval divine right of kings, from nineteenth- and twentieth-century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the appearance of left- and right-wing dictatorial regimes. The Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis humanae stated that religious freedom is a civil right that should be recognized in constitutional law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian democracy</span> Christian socioeconomic model

Christian democracy is a political ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Democratic Party (Chile)</span> Political party in Chile

The Christian Democratic Party is a Christian democratic political party in Chile. There have been three Christian Democrat presidents in the past, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Patricio Aylwin, and Eduardo Frei Montalva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Democratic Union</span> Political party in Chile

The Independent Democratic Union is a conservative and right-wing political party in Chile, founded in 1983. Its founder was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a civilian allied with Augusto Pinochet. Guzmán was a senator from 1990 until his murder by communist guerrillas on April 1, 1991.

Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by liberalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church and politics</span> Interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics

The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. The Catholic Church's views and teachings have evolved over its history and have at times been significant political influences within nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falangism</span> Political ideology of the Falange Española

Falangism was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista and afterwards the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista. Falangism has a disputed relationship with fascism as some historians consider the Falange to be a fascist movement based on its fascist leanings during the early years, while others focus on its transformation into an authoritarian conservative political movement in Francoist Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alceu Amoroso Lima</span>

Alceu Amoroso Lima was a writer, journalist, activist from Brazil, and founder of the Brazilian Christian Democracy. He adopted the pseudonym Tristão de Ataíde in 1919. In 1928 he converted to Catholicism and eventually became head of Catholic Action in Brazil. Although he initially had some sympathy for certain aims of Brazilian integralism he became a strong opponent of authoritarianism in general and Fascism in particular. That came in part through the influence of Jacques Maritain. He was a staunch advocate for press freedom during the period of military dictatorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radomiro Tomic</span> Chilean politician

Radomiro Tomic Romero was a Chilean lawyer and politician of Croatian origin, and candidate for the presidency of the Chilean Republic in the 1970 election. He graduated as a lawyer from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC). He began his political activity in the Social-Christian circles of the PUC, and was one of the co-founders of the Falange Nacional in 1938. He became president of the party in 1946–1947 and 1952–1953. He was married to Olaya Errázuriz Echenique, and together they had 9 children.

Catholic Action are groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Italy, Bavaria, France, and Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolivian Socialist Falange</span> Political party in Bolivia

The Bolivian Socialist Falange is a Bolivian political party established in 1937. It is a far-right party drawing inspiration from fascism. It was the country's second-largest party between approximately 1954 and 1974. After that, its followers have tended to gravitate toward the government-endorsed military candidacy of General Juan Pereda (1978) and, especially, toward the ADN party of former dictator Hugo Banzer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radical Party of Chile</span> Chilean political party

The Radical Party was a Chilean political party. It was formed in 1863 in Copiapó by a split in the Liberal Party. Not coincidentally, it was formed shortly after the organization of the Grand Lodge of Chile, and it has maintained a close relationship with Chilean Freemasonry throughout its life. As such, it represented the anticlericalist position in Chilean politics, and was instrumental in producing the "theological reforms" in Chilean law in the early 1880s. These laws removed the cemeteries from the control of the Roman Catholic Church, established a civil registry of births and death in place of the previous recordkeeping of the church, and established a civil law of matrimony, which removed the determination of validity of marriages from the church. Prior to these laws, it was impossible for non-Catholics to contract marriage in Chile, and meant that any children they produced were illegitimate. Non-Catholics had also been barred from burial in Catholic cemeteries, which were virtually the only cemeteries in the country; instead, non-Catholics were buried in the beaches, and even on the Santa Lucia Hill in Santiago, which, in the 19th century, functioned as Santiago's dump.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian People's Party (1919)</span> Former Italian political party

The Italian People's Party, also translated as Italian Popular Party, was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy inspired by Catholic social teaching. It was active in the 1920s, but fell apart because it was deeply split between the pro- and anti-fascist elements. Its platform called for an elective Senate, proportional representation, corporatism, agrarian reform, women's suffrage, political decentralisation, independence of the Catholic Church, and social legislation.

Falangism in Latin America has been a feature of political life since the 1930s as movements looked to the national syndicalist clerical fascism of the Spanish state and sought to apply it to other Spanish-speaking countries. From the mid-1930s, the Falange Exterior, effectively an overseas version of the Spanish Falange, was active throughout Latin America in order to drum up support among Hispanic communities. However, the ideas would soon permeate into indigenous political groups. The term "Falangism" should not be applied to the military dictatorships of such figures as Alfredo Stroessner, Augusto Pinochet and Rafael Trujillo because while these individuals often enjoyed close relations to Francisco Franco's Spain, their military nature and frequent lack of commitment to national syndicalism and the corporate state mean that they should not be classed as Falangist. The phenomenon can be seen in a number of movements both past and present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)</span> Major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939

The Nationalist faction or Rebel faction was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of right-leaning political groups that supported the Spanish Coup of July 1936 against the Second Spanish Republic and Republican faction and sought to depose Manuel Azaña, including the Falange, the CEDA, and two rival monarchist claimants: the Alfonsist Renovación Española and the Carlist Traditionalist Communion. In 1937, all the groups were merged into the FET y de las JONS. After the death of the faction's early leaders, General Francisco Franco, one of the members of the 1936 coup, headed the Nationalists throughout most of the war, and emerged as the dictator of Spain until his death in 1975.

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 reactionary traditionalism, 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.

References

  1. 1 2 Hawkins, Kirk A. (2003). Sowing Ideas: Explaining the Origins of Christian Democratic Parties in Latin America. Stanford University Press. p. 103.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. Hartlyn, Jonathan; Valenzuela, Arturo. Democracy in Latin America since 1930. The Cambridge History of Latin America. p. 124.
  3. 1 2 Ensalaco, Mark (2000). Chile Under Pinochet: Recovering the Truth. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 13.
  4. Rector, John L. (2003). The History of Chile. Greenwood Press. p. 144.
  5. Luna, Juan Pablo; Monestier, Felipe; Rosenblatt, Fernando (2014). Religious parties in Chile: The Christian Democratic Party and the Independent Democratic Union. Routledge. p. 122.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. Smith, Brian H. (1982). The Church and Politics in Chile: Challenges to Modern Catholicism. Princeton University Press. p. 95.
  7. Fleet, Michael (1985). The Rise and Fall of Chilean Christian Democracy. Princeton University Press. p. 47.
  8. 1 2 Fleet, Michael (1985). The Rise and Fall of Chilean Christian Democracy. Princeton University Press. p. 48.
  9. Smith, Brian H. (1982). The Church and Politics in Chile: Challenges to Modern Catholicism. Princeton University Press. p. 97.
  10. A. Hennessy, 'Fascism and Populism in Latin America', W. Laqueur, Fascism: A Reader's Guide, Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1979, p. 288