Ideological Pillars of the Franco Regime in Spain
Ideological Foundations of the Franco Regime
The civil war caused by military rebels resulted in the organization of a personal dictatorship that would last until the dictator’s death in 1975. This particular system was built on the ideological foundations of European fascist regimes and Spanish traditionalist thought.
Franco’s Core Principles:
- Anti-communism: The fight against the communist threat became the justification for the military coup and civil war. The regime enacted a retroactive law condemning all those who had fought in organizations that supported the Popular Front and a Law on the Suppression of Freemasonry and Communism. Under the ‘communist’ label, the regime encompassed not only all class parties and unions, from socialists to anarchists, but also liberals and members of the Basque or Catalan nationalist right. The Cold War allowed the strengthening of Franco’s anti-communist stance, supported by the U.S. bloc.
- Anti-liberalism: Freedoms and political parties were prohibited and replaced by Franco’s personal dictatorship, whose power over the State, the Army, and the National Movement (the political conglomerate underpinning the regime’s ideology) was unquestionable.
- Anti-parliamentarism: The parliament was substituted by an advisory Cortes with indirect election. This system was presented as an ‘organic democracy’, which served to alleviate international isolation after the defeat of fascism in the Second World War.
- National-Catholicism: This principle held a peculiar exaltation of certain periods in Spanish history, highlighting its territorial unity, Castilian leadership, the expansion of the Spanish empire, and the identification of Spain with the defense of Catholicism. There was a rejection of the Enlightenment and the liberal revolution, which were considered alien to Spanish tradition and causes of its decline. The identification with the Catholic Church meant a return to the confessional state, Church control over education, the identity of Catholic morality with public morality, and the presence of the Church in every aspect of political life.
- National-Unionism: Inspired by the Falange, this involved a critique of international capitalism and the substitution of class-based unions with vertical unionism.
- Traditional Carlism: This linked the system with the monarchy and the pre-liberal tradition.
- Militarism and Political Hierarchy: These aspects of fascism itself were manifested in the party organization of the system (FET y de las JONS), youth organizations, and the organization of the state.
Political Support Base:
The regime’s political base was formed by:
- Falange: Merged with the Carlists by Franco to create FET y de las JONS. Its fascist and anti-liberal discourse dominated the early years, led by Serrano Súñer, moderating after the defeat of the Second World War, but remaining the regime’s core political base until the end of the dictatorship.
- Monarchists: Accepted the system, obtaining a law of succession that allowed for the eventual return of the Bourbons.
- The Army: Considered the safeguard of the system.
- The Church: Benefited from the state’s catholicity and control over public morals, although it became more critical after Vatican II.
- Technocrats of Opus Dei: Instrumental in the economic opening and modernization of the country.
Social Support Base:
Socially, the system was based on:
- The Traditional Oligarchy: Landowners, industrial, and financial upper classes who had favored the coup.
- A New Middle Class: Entrepreneurs and speculators who emerged from the economic opportunities created by the war and its aftermath, especially those loyal to the coup who profited from the heritage of reprisals or state-provided business opportunities.
- Sectors of the Rural and Urban Middle Classes: Fearful of the communist threat.
- The Secular and Regular Clergy: Whose numbers increased during this period due to their control over the education system.