Salvador Abascal Infante (May 18, 1910 - March 30, 2000) was a Mexican politician and leading exponent of Mexican synarchism. For a time the leader of the

National Synarchist Union The National Synarchist Union ( es, Unión Nacional Sinarquista) is a Mexican political organization. It was historically a movement of the Roman Catholic extreme right, similar to clerical fascism and Falangism, implacably opposed to the left ...

(UNS), Abascal represented the orthodox

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

tendency within the movement.L. Bethell, ''The Cambridge History of Latin America'', Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 411

Background

Born in

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

into a landowning family, Abascal was the fourth of eleven children.J.W. Sherman, ''The Mexican right: the end of revolutionary reform, 1929-1940'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997, p. 122 Partly educated at a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

, Abascal was sympathetic to the Cristeros from an early age.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'', 1990 Indeed, his father was a member of the Popular Union, the Cristero party. As a result of these sympathies Abascal passed through a variety of

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

counterrevolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...

organisations during the 1930s. He would complete his education at the

Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo Michoacan University of Saint Nicholas of Hidalgo (UMSNH) is a public university in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, and the oldest institution of higher education in the Americas. The University grants law, economics, computer science, medicine, ar ...

where he graduated with a law degree in 1931, subsequently serving as a judge in Ayutla.Roderic Ai Camp, ''Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-2009'', University of Texas Press, 2011, p. 1 He was dismissed as a judge in 1933 after falling foul of local bosses when he made judgements in favour of claimants to land.

UNS leadership

He was a founder member of the UNS in 1937 and became an organiser in Michoacán, before taking full charge of the movement in 1940 when it was at its peak with 500,000 members. Abascal succeeded Manuel Zermeño as leader, after Zermeño was removed from the movement for concluding an agreement with the government of Avila Camacho without securing approval of the UNS membership. Accused of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

by opponents, Abascal officially denounced the system, although he was noted for his

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. He was also noted for his opposition to electoral politics and rejected any attempts to convert the UNS into a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. Instead Abascal called for 'Catholic social order' as the antithesis to his two most hated ideologies -

Marxism 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 dialectical ...

and

liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...

- both of which he felt were closely related. He also resisted attempts by

Manuel Gómez Morín Manuel Gómez Morín (27 February 1897 – 19 April 1972) was a Mexican politician. He was a founding member of the National Action Party, and one of its theoreticians. Prior to this he was considered a leading figure in Mexican monetary policy, ...

to fuse the UNS with the National Action Party in 1939 as a result of these convictions.

Decline

An unpopular figure with moderates, he was replaced as leader by Manuel Torres Bueno in 1941 and left to set up a ''sinarquista'' commune in

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. The colony, known as ''Maria Auxiliadora'', was initially made up of some 86 families (450 people). It has been claimed that Abascal, who stated that he was inspired by

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

in his actions, was driven by Millenarianism in leading his followers into what was a hostile desert climate. However the scheme proved unsuccessful, and by 1944, Abascal had been expelled from the ''sinarquista'' movement for clashing with its leadership over the failure of the colonisation.

Later years

He returned in 1947 and became something of a grand old figure in the movement, even being considered as a potential candidate for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

in 1955 (although he declined the offer). Increasingly drawn towards

integralism In politics, integralism, integrationism or integrism (french: intégrisme) is an interpretation of Catholic social teaching that argues for an authoritarian and anti- pluralist Catholic state, wherever the preponderance of Catholics within t ...

, he set up the publishing house ''Editorial la Tradition'' in the late 1970s to produce works on this subject, as well as his memoirs ''Mis Recuerdos''. He published his own newsletter, ''La Hoja del Combate'', into the 1990s. The publication was noted for giving space to the ideas of the revisionist writer Salvador Borrego.Mexico
, profile at axt.org.uk

Personal life

At 31, Abascal met 16 year old Maria Guadalupe Carranza Pulido while in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1940. They developed a courtship that lasted two years. They married on March 17, 1942, on the Sinarquist commune ''María Auxiliadora''. Abascal had 12 children in total. Their first born son, born on the sinarquist commune on March 11, 1943, was Juan Bosco Abascal Carranza. Juan Bosco would go on to be a professor of psychology, published author and a youtube personality. Their second born, the late

Carlos Abascal Carlos María Abascal Carranza (June 14, 1949 – December 2, 2008) was a Mexican lawyer and the Secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of Vicente Fox. He is the son of the writer Salvador Abascal, famous for his synarchist ideas. Biograp ...

, was the Secretary of the Interior in the government of

Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the ...

whilst another son, Salvador Abascal Carranza also followed a career in politics, serving as a federal deputy from 1991 to 1994, both for the National Action Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abascal, Salvador 1910 births 2000 deaths Integralism Mexican anti-communists Mexican judges Mexican Roman Catholics People from Morelia Politicians from Michoacán National syndicalists Christian fascists Fascist politicians Mexican fascists Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo alumni Mexican people of Basque descent