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 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 ...

history. The first date, 20 November 1936, near the end of the first year 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 Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, marks the execution in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

of 33-year-old

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 Falange ...

, the founder of the fascist party,

Falange Española Falange Española (FE; English: Spanish Phalanx) was a Spanish fascist political organization active from 1933 to 1934. History The Falange Española was created on 29 October 1933 as the successor of the Movimiento Español Sindicalista (MES ...

(Spanish Phalanx), who became extolled as a cult figure during the years of post-civil war

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, Spai ...

led by

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 ...

. The second date, 39 years later, is 20 November 1975, when

Generalísimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of ('general') thus me ...

Franco – aged 82, and having ruled Spain for close to four decades as its dictator, or as he called himself, ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

'' (Spanish for leader) – died in bed following a lengthy illness. The date continues to be commemorated by

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

groups which mark it by organizing public demonstrations.

Other incidents

* In a startling coincidence, the same day also proved to be fatal to Primo de Rivera's political opposite, 40-year-old

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish insurrectionary, anarcho-syndicalist militant involved with the CNT and FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War. Durruti played an in ...

, a key leader of Spain's two largest

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

organizations,

Federación Anarquista Ibérica The Iberian Anarchist Federation ( es, Federación Anarquista Ibérica, FAI) is a Spanish organization of anarchist militants active within affinity groups in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) anarcho-syndicalist union. It is often ...

(Iberian Anarchist Federation) and the anarcho-syndicalist trade union

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). When working wi ...

(National Confederation of Labor). Durruti's death occurred, according to his chauffeur, in the midst of distant gunfire in the trenches of Madrid. * The

Spanish general election There are four types of elections in Spain: general elections, elections to the legislatures of the autonomous communities (regional elections), local elections and elections to the European Parliament. General elections and elections to the legi ...

on November 20, 2011 coincided with the 75th anniversary of Primo de Rivera's execution and the 36th anniversary of Franco's death. * November 20 is also the anniversary of the assassination of Basque nationalist politicians

Santiago Brouard Santiago Brouard or Santi Brouard (1919 in Lekeitio – 20 November 1984 in Bilbao) was a doctor and Basque people, Basque politician. He was one of the leaders of Herri Batasuna, and deputy mayor of Bilbao. He was killed by the Spanish gove ...

, murdered in 1984, and

Josu Muguruza Josu Muguruza (1958–1989) was a Basque journalist and politician who was assassinated in Madrid on 20 November 1989. Muguruza was among the leaders of Herri Batasuna, a Basque nationalist political party. He was about to serve at the Cortes Gen ...

, assassinated in 1989. In both cases it is believed that the date of the assassination was symbolically chosen to coincide with 20-N.

In popular fiction

* ''

And in the Third Year, He Rose Again ''And in the Third Year, He Rose Again'' ( es, ...y al tercer año, resucitó) is a 1980 Spanish comedy film directed by Rafael Gil.de España, Rafael. ''Directory of Spanish and Portuguese Film-Makers and Films''. Greenwood Press, 1994. p. 120. . ...

'' is a 1980 satirical film based in a novel by

Fernando Vizcaíno Casas Fernando Vizcaíno Casas (1926–2003), was a Spanish labour lawyer, journalist and writer. His writings were generally supportive of Francoist Spain. During the 1970s and 1980s he collaborated with the director Rafael Gil Rafael Gil (22 May 1 ...

. On 20 November 1978, Franco rises from the dead.

References

* Payne, Stanley G. (1961) ''Falange. A History of Spanish Fascism''. Stanford University Press. *Thomas, Hugh. "The Hero in the Empty Room: Jose Antonio and Spanish Fascism," ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (1966) 1#1 pp. 174–18
in JSTOR
*Velarde Fuertes, Juan. "José Antonio y la economía" Grafite ediciones. . * Hugh Thomas ''The Spanish Civil War''. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1965. *

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

Durruti is Dead, Yet Living
' (1936). *

Antony Beevor Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works on the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War. Early life Born in Kensington, Beevor was educated at two ...

''The Spanish Civil War'' (1982). *

Abel Paz Abel Paz (1921–2009) was a Spanish anarchist and historian who fought in the Spanish Civil War. He is considered one of the noted Spanish anarchist historians, writing multiple volumes on anarchist history, including a biography of Buenaventu ...

''Durruti in the Spanish Revolution'', Translated by

Chuck W. Morse The Institute for Anarchist Studies (IAS) is a non-profit organization founded by Chuck W. Morse in 1996, following the Anarcho-communism, anarcho-communist school of thought, to assist anarchist writers and further develop theoretical aspects of ...

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, Sc ...

, 2007. . *

Pedro de Paz Pedro de Paz (born 26 October 1969 in Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 ...

The Man Who Killed Durruti
' Read and Noir (2005). *

Hans Magnus Enzensberger Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022) was a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Andreas Thalmayr, Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt and Giorgio Pellizzi. Enzensberger was regarde ...

''The Short Summer of Anarchy: Life and Death of Buenaventura Durruti'' (1972) (originally: ''Der kurze Sommer der Anarchie: Buenaventura Durrutis Leben und Tod''). *Collective work ''Buenaventura Durruti'', a double C

nato, (1996).

External links

{{Portal, Biography, Spain, Politics
Plataforma2003.org
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140707154626/http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Durruti.htm Buenaventura Durrutiat the Anarchist Encyclopedia. November observances 1936 in Spain 1975 in Spain Francoist Spain Falangism Far-right politics in Spain