''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

. 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

, 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 ...

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

References