[MD] Friends of Fascism - A Brief History

[david buchanan]

I think it would be instructive to take a look at "Francoism", which is almost fascism. By seeing how Franco's Spain differs from other forms of European fascism and by looking at Franco's friends and enemies, we can get a better sense of what fascism is and where it sits on the political spectrum in relation to other ideologies. What follows is basically shortened version of a wikipedia article titled "Spanish State"


Francoism was a frontal assault on Communism, Socialism and Anarchism. Although Franco and Spain under his rule adopted some trappings of fascism, Spain was not generally considered to be fascist because Franco had no revolutionary aim to transform society. To the contrary, although authoritarian, his aims were conservative and traditional. General Francisco Franco was a conservative in all essential respects. In his strongly authoritarian regime, there was no room for political opposition. The fascists became junior partners in the government. Franco lacked any consistent political ideology other than fierce anti-communism and initially sought support from various groups, such as the Roman Catholic Church and The Falange, a fringe fascist inspired party. Unlike other ideological-based parties, such as the Italian National Fascist Party and the German Nazi Party, they were relatively heterogeneous instead of being an ideological monolith. While it included fascist elements, the Spanish State was very authoritarian: non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum were either suppressed or tightly controlled by all means, including violent police repression. Members of the oppressed included trade unions, communists, liberal democrats and Basque separatists. Trade-unions were outlawed, and replaced in 1940 by the corporatist Sindicato Vertical. The Socialist party was banned in 1939, while the Communist Party of Spain went underground. University students seeking democracy revolted in the late '60s and early '70s, which was repressed. Franco was obsessively concerned about a possible Masonic conspiracy against his regime. Franco's Spanish nationalism promoted a unitary national identity by repressing Spain's cultural diversity. Those traditions not considered "Spanish" were suppressed. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many were plainly forbidden (often in an erratic manner). Inequalities in schooling, health care or transport facilities among regions were patent: classically affluent regions fared much better and some regions didn't have a university. He made Spanish the only official language of the State and education, although millions of the country's citizens spoke other languages. The legal usage of languages other than Spanish was forbidden. Publications in other languages were generally forbidden, though citizens continued to speak other languages in private. Catholicism in its most conservative variant was made the official religion of the Spanish State. The Spanish State enforced Catholic behavior mainly by using a law. Civil servants had to be Catholic, and some official jobs even required a "good behavior" statement by a priest. Civil marriages which had taken place under Republican Spain were declared null and void and had to be reconfirmed by the Catholic Church of Spain. Divorce, contraceptives and abortion were forbidden. From 1954 onwards homosexuality was a criminal offenses, although the enforcement of this was seldom consistent. Francoism professed a devotion to the traditional role of women in society. Official propaganda confined her role to family care and motherhood. Women could not become judges, or testify in trial. They could not become university professors.