''Movimiento Nacional'' ( en, National Movement) was a governing institution of Spain established by General
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...
during the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
in 1937. During
Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of participation in Spanish public life.
It responded to a doctrine of
corporatism
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
in which only so-called "natural entities" could express themselves: families, municipalities and unions. It was abolished in 1977.
Composition
The ''Movimiento Nacional'' was primarily composed of:
*The
sole legal party, called ''Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista'' (''
FET y de las JONS
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...
'') which had been created at the beginning of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
. Other parties were prohibited (the sole name of "party" was prohibited to design any type of organization).
*The sole
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
organization, called ''
Organización Sindical Española'' (OSE, popularly known as the ''Sindicato Vertical''), composed of corporativist organizations which gathered employers and workers, in opposition to Marxism's class warfare.
*All
civil servants
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
and any holder of some sort of public office, who were requested to swear an oath to the Principles of the National Movement.
Leadership
The National Movement was led by
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...
, titled ''Jefe del Movimiento'' (English: Chief of the Movement), assisted by a "
Minister-Secretary General of the Movement". The hierarchy extended itself to all of the country, with a "local chief of the movement" named in each village.
Ideology
People who strongly identified with the Movimiento Nacional were colloquially known as ''
Falangistas'' or ''Azules'' ("Blues"), from the colour of the shirts worn by the
Falange Militia,
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish politician who founded the falangist Falang ...
's
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
organization created during the
Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...
. ''Camisas viejas'' (Old shirts) enjoyed the honour of being historical members of the Falange, compared to ''Camisas nuevas'' (New shirts), who could be accused of
opportunism
Opportunism is the practice of taking advantage of circumstances – with little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term ...
.
The ideology of the Movimiento Nacional was resumed by the
slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...
''¡Una, Grande y Libre!'', which stood for the indivisibility of the Spanish state and the refusal of any
regionalism or
decentralization
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
, its imperial character, both past (the defunct
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
) and foreseen (in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
), and its independence towards the purported "
Judeo-Masonic-
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
international conspiracy" (a personal obsession of Franco), materialized by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, the European democracies, the United States (until the
Pact of Madrid of 1953) or the "exterior enemy" which could threatened the nation at any time, as well as towards the long list of "internal enemies", like "anti-Spanish", "reds", "separatists", "liberals", "Jews" and "Freemasons", among others, coining expressions like
"judeomarxistas".
Francoist "families"
Since one-party rule was enforced in
Francoist Spain
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), 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 . After his death in 1975, Spani ...
, the only way of
pluralism consisted in the mixture of internal "families" (''Familias del Regimen'') competing together inside the National Movement. These roughly included four "families" with a genealogy tracing back to the rightwing political groups in the interwar period: the ''Falangists'' (or ''azules'', originally from the Fascist
Falange Española de las JONS), with a preeminence over the FET y de las JONS, the
Spanish Syndical Organization
The Spanish Syndical Organization ( es, Organización Sindical Española; OSE), popularly known in Spain as the (the "Vertical Trade Union"), was the sole legal trade union for most of the Francoist dictatorship. A public-law entity created in ...
(OSE), and the "social" government areas; the ''traditionalists'' (issued from
Carlism
Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty
The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French ...
), who held a tight control over the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Justi ...
; the ''monarchists'' (issued from
Renovación Española and
Acción Española), well connected to the economic elites and the military command; and the ''Catholics'', "Catholics" in the sense of closely linked to religious entities under the Church hierarchy such as the Acción Católica or the Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas (ACNP).
In addition, a new family emerged in the 1950s, the ''technocrats'', conservatives linked to the
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work ...
who embraced a businesslike approach to the administration of the State.
Franco held his power by balancing these internal rivalries, cautious not to show any favoritism to any of them nor compromise himself too much to anyone.
Fractions of those families eventually migrated to dissident stances. These included examples such as the intermittent dissent of a part of the ''Monarchists'' who vouched for an immediate coronation of
Juan de Borbón as king, as well as sizeable part of the Catholic family joining by late francoism the opposition to the dictatorship subsumed within
Christian democratic
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democrati ...
groups.
Minister-Secretaries General of the Movement
See also
*
José Larrañaga Arenas
José Tomás Larrañaga Arenas (popularly known as ''Txiki'' or ''José Txiki'') ( Azcoitia, March 7, 1926 - Azcoitia, December 31, 1984) was a Spanish politician who was assassinated by the ETA.
Biography
Larrañaga was a politician and busi ...
*
Mottos of Francoist Spain
The mottos of Francoism are mottos which encapsulate the ideals of the Francoist dictatorship. Although the regime had many ideological influences ( Traditionalism, National Catholicism, Militarism and National syndicalism), it employed Falang ...
References
{{Authority control
20th century in Spain
Francoist Spain
Falangism
National syndicalism
Parties of one-party systems
Political history of Spain
Popular fronts
Spanish nationalism
Fascist movements