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
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, Spai ...
in Spain. It was created by General
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
in 1937 as a merger of the
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS) with the monarchist neoabsolutist and ultracatholic
Traditionalist Communion belonging to the
Carlist
Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimists (disambiguation), Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty ...
movement. In addition to the resemblance of names, the party formally retained most of the
platform of FE de las JONS (26 out of 27 points) and a similar inner structure. In force until April 1977, it was rebranded as
Movimiento Nacional in 1958.
History
Early history
The FET y de las JONS began as the Spanish Falange, a Falangist party, The Council of National Syndicalist Offensives, a national syndicalist party and Traditionalist Communion, a Catholic monarchist party, three parties that were becoming relevant in Spanish right wing politics before the civil war. The Spanish Falange and the Council of National Syndicalist Offensives were relatively small, and merged into the Spanish Falange de la JONS leading up to the 1936 election. As civil war broke out, the Falange grew rapidly in membership, and the Traditionalist Communion, already a prominent force, mobilized its forces to fight the leftist government.
Spanish Civil War
With the eruption of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
in July 1936, the Falange fought on the side of the
Nationalist faction
The Nationalist faction ( es, Bando nacional) or Rebel faction ( es, Bando sublevado) 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 ...
against 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 Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...
. Expanding rapidly from several thousand to several hundred thousand, the Falange's male membership was accompanied by a female auxiliary, the ''
Sección Femenina''. Led by José Antonio's sister Pilar, this latter subsidiary organization claimed more than a half million members by the end of the war and provided nursing and support services for the Nationalist forces.
The command of the party rested upon
Manuel Hedilla as many of the first generation leaders were dead or incarcerated by the Republicans. Among them was Primo de Rivera, who was a government prisoner. As a result, he was referred to among the leadership as ''el Ausente'', ("the Absent One"). After being sentenced to death on 18 November 1936,
José Antonio Primo de Rivera was executed on 20 November 1936 (a date since known as
20-N
20-N is a symbolic abbreviation used to denote the date of death of two of the best known and controversial figures in 20th-century Spanish history. The first date, 20 November 1936, near the end of the first year of the Spanish Civil War, mark ...
in Spain) in a Republican prison, giving him
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
status among the Falangists. This conviction and sentence was possible because he had lost his parliamentary immunity after his party did not have enough votes during the last elections.
On April 19, 1937
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
issued a
Unification Decree
The Unification Decree was a political measure adopted by Francisco Franco in his capacity of Head of State of Nationalist Spain on April 19, 1937. The decree merged two existing political groupings, the Falangists and the Carlists, into a new ...
, which forcibly merged the Falange with the
Carlist
Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimists (disambiguation), Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon dynasty ...
''Comunión Tradicionalista'' to form the ''Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS'' (FET y de las JONS). Franco assumed the role of ''jefe nacional'' ("National Chief"), following the model of a fascist party. All other parties supporting the rebel faction were disbanded, but former members of those parties were free to join the FET as individual members. The new party's official ideology was the Falangists' ''27 puntos''—reduced after the unification to 26, the article barring mergers being dropped. The merged party incorporated many Falangist symbols–the blue shirt, the yoked arrows, the red and black flag, and the anthem ''
Cara al Sol'' among others. Despite this, the party was in fact a wide-ranging nationalist coalition, closely controlled by Franco. Parts of the original Falange (including Hedilla) and many Carlists did not join the unified party. Franco had sought to control the Falange after a clash between Hedilla and his main critics within the group, the ''legitimistas'' of
Agustín Aznar
Agustín Aznar Gerner (18 August 1911 – 2 May 1984) was a Spanish medical doctor, political activist with the Falange and a leading figure during the Spanish Civil War. Aznar was part of a radical element within the followers of Francisco ...
and
Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis, that threatened to derail the Nationalist war effort.
[ Paul Preston, ''Franco'', London: 1995, pp. 261-6] Franco became ''jefe nacional'' and "Supreme Caudillo" of the FET. He was vested with "the most absolute authority," including the power to name his successor, and was only responsible to "God and history."
None of the vanquished parties in the war suffered such a toll of deaths among their leaders as did the Falange. 60% of the pre-war Falange membership lost their lives in the war.
However, most of the property of all other parties and
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 ( ...
s were assigned to the party. In 1938, all trade unions were unified under Falangist command.
Francoist Spain
![Visita de Francisco Franco a la localidad de Tolosa (15 de 21) - Fondo Car-Kutxa Fototeka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Visita_de_Francisco_Franco_a_la_localidad_de_Tolosa_%2815_de_21%29_-_Fondo_Car-Kutxa_Fototeka.jpg)
After the war, the party was charged with developing an ideology for Franco's regime. This job became a ''
cursus honorum
The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...
'' for ambitious politicians—new converts, who were called ''camisas nuevas'' ("new shirts") in opposition to the more overtly populist and ideological "old shirts" from before the war.
Membership in the Falange/FET reached a peak of 932,000 in 1942. Despite the official unification of the various Nationalist factions within the party in 1937, tensions continued between dedicated Falangists and other groups, particularly Carlists. Such tensions erupted in violence with the
Begoña Incident of August 1942, when hardline Falangist activists attacked a Carlist religious gathering in
Bilbao
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with grenades. The attack and the response of government ministers with Carlist leanings (most notably
Varela and
Galarza
Galarza is a Basque surnames, surname of Basque origins. Notable people with the surname include:
*Adrián Salvador Galarza González (born 1965), Mexican politician
*Alma Galarza, Puerto Rican singer
*Ana Galarza (born 1989), Ecuadorian beauty p ...
) led to a government crisis and caused Franco to dismiss several ministers. Ultimately, six Falangists were convicted of the attack and one, Juan Domínguez, was executed.
By the middle of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Franco and leading Falangists, while distancing themselves from the faltering European fascists, stressed the unique "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism" of the regime and the Falange. Instructions were issued in September 1943 that henceforth the Falange/FET would be referred to exclusively as a "movement" and not a "party".
The Falange also developed youth organizations, with members known as ''Flechas'' and ''Pelayos'', under the umbrella of the
Spanish Youths Organization
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
. Most of these young members wore
red berets.
With improving relations with the United States,
economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...
and the rise of a group of relatively young
technocrats
Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-maker or makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts wi ...
within the government, the Falange continued to decline. In 1965, the SEU, the movement's student organization, was officially disbanded. At the same time, the membership of the Falange as a whole was both shrinking and aging. In 1974, the average age of Falangists in Madrid was at least 55 years. The organization's relatively few new members came mostly from the conservative and devoutly Catholic areas of northern Spain.
References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Falange Espanola Tradicionalista y de las JONS
Political parties established in 1937
Political parties disestablished in 1977
Defunct political parties in Spain
Parties of one-party systems
Falangist parties
Fascist parties in Spain
Catholic political parties
Francoist Spain
20th century in Spain
Political history of Spain
Spanish nationalism
National syndicalism
Far-right political parties in Spain