Franco’s Spain: Ideology, Repression, and Opposition
1. The New Regime: Ideological Foundations
The Franco dictatorship was a personal dictatorship with fascist features, led by the military, and totalitarian in nature, yet without a clear ideology or single political party. Various political factions imposed their ideologies.
These ideologies evolved through three stages. Initially, the Falange (Movimiento Nacional) held sway, prominent in the Council of Ministers and society, later dividing into hardliners and those favoring more openness. The second phase, from 1943 to around 1960, was dominated by National-Catholicism, split between traditional Catholics (in education and foreign affairs) and Opus Dei (technocrats driving the economy, more influential in the third stage). The final stage, until Franco’s death in 1975, was led by ‘pure’ Francoists, loyal to the regime without a specific political affiliation, under the leadership of Carrero Blanco. Other influential groups included the military (participating in government and the Council of Ministers) and monarchists (divided into Carlists, present in the Council and senior public offices, and supporters of Don Juan).
The regime’s core tenets were:
- National-Military: Senior officials in Ministries and Civil Governors. The army as the nation’s essence, enforcing a unified vision, traditional hierarchy, discipline, and harsh repression (national-patriotic).
- National-Chauvinism: Rejection of foreign ideologies, autonomous regions, and national languages. Promotion of Catholicism with a traditional, imperial, and heroic vision of the past.
- National-Catholicism: Church control over education and media, influencing society (relationships, dress, marriage). The state defended Catholic religion and morality, blending moral traditionalism, anti-communism, and anti-liberalism.
- Cult of Personality: Exaltation of Franco as the Caudillo (leader) sent by God, his image on currency, in Falangist associations “only answerable to God and Histor”), and public acclamations.
- Anti-Parliamentarism and Anti-Liberalism: Rejection of political parties, democracy, autonomy, freedom, secularism, and communism.
- Conspiracy Theories: Belief in a Masonic conspiracy. Fascist traits in symbols, uniforms, and salutes.
- Adaptability: The regime’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
The regime drew support from the military, Church, and middle class. Opposition, initially suppressed by harsh repression, began to re-emerge from 1960, led by intellectuals, workers, and parts of the Church. The Catholic Church initially supported Franco by criticizing the Republic. Landowners regained their power and businesses. The proletariat and middle classes in the north, along with officials, soldiers, and teachers, generally held conservative views, defending family, religion, and private property. The social hierarchy was depoliticized, with the Church, state, and National Movement at the top, followed by the landed bourgeoisie, media institutions, and workers and peasants at the bottom.
2. Repression, Exile, and Guerrilla Resistance
Repression, initiated during the Civil War, differed in organization and documentation between the Republican and Nationalist sides. While the Republican side’s actions were clearer due to police analysis (General Cusa), the Franco regime’s silence and concealment of documents hinder a thorough analysis. The Franco regime reinstated the death penalty, implemented the Code of Military Justice, and the Law of Political Responsibilities. Political sentences were common, leading to imprisonment in concentration camps within Spain. Violent repression included executions (such as Lluís Companys and Julián Besteiro), extrajudicial killings, imprisonment, exile, fines, property seizures from Republicans, layoffs, and disqualifications. Forced labor and suspension from employment were imposed on Republican officials. Denunciation of suspected opposition was encouraged, creating an atmosphere of terror, particularly in mining areas, southern regions, and urban-industrial centers. Republicans faced unemployment and poverty, struggling to survive. The Franco regime controlled the media, blaming and suppressing opposition publications.
While the Popular Front went into exile, the PSOE and PCE initially waited for democratic powers to intervene. The Pact of San Juan de Luz (1948) saw engagement with Don Juan’s supporters in opposition to Franco. Guerrilla attacks began, with exiled Republican fighters launching small-scale assaults on the Civil Guard and Army, hoping for a decisive blow. After the Nazi defeat in France, the PCE attempted armed incursions through the Pyrenees (Valle de Arán), but these failed, and the participants were arrested. With the onset of the Cold War and the West’s passive stance towards Spain, the Socialists abandoned guerrilla warfare. Later, after agreements with the U.S., the PCE also withdrew, following the isolation of guerrilla movements, harsh repression, and a history of failures.
Many Republicans went into exile, some to France, where they faced appalling conditions and fought against the Nazis (many ended up in concentration camps or were handed over to Franco). Others sought refuge in Latin America, hoping for Franco’s eventual downfall. These hopes were dashed by the lack of intervention from European countries, the end of Spain’s international isolation, and its admission to the UN in 1955.