Movimiento Nacional

The Movimiento Nacional (English: National Movement) was the name given to a governing institution established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil war in 1937. During Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of participation in Spanish public life.[1] It responded to a doctrine of corporatism in which only so-called "natural entities" could express themselves: families, municipalities and unions. It was abolished in 1977.

Flags of the National Movement
Rojigualda (Spanish national flag)
Flag of the Falangist Movement

Composition

The Movimiento Nacional was primarily composed of:

Leadership

The National Movement was led by Francisco Franco, 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 (Blue), from the colour of the shirts worn by the Falange Militia, José Antonio Primo de Rivera's fascist organization created during the Second Spanish Republic. 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.

The ideology of the Movimiento Nacional was resumed by the slogan ¡Una, Grande y Libre!, which stood for the indivisibility of the Spanish state and the refusal of any regionalism or decentralization, its imperial character, both past (the defunct Spanish Empire in the Americas, and foreseen in Africa), and its independence towards the purported "Judeo-masonic-Marxist international conspiracy" (a personal obsession of Franco), materialized by the Soviet Union, 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, 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 (OSE), and the "social" government areas; the traditionalists (issued from Carlism), who held a tight control over the Ministry of Justice; 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).[2] In addition, a new family emerged in the 1950s, the technocrats, conservatives linked to the Opus Dei who embraced a business-like approach to the administration of the State.[2]

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 groups.[3]

Minister-Secretaries General of the Movement

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Term Political party
Took office Left office Time in office
1
Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta
(1896–1992)
4 December 19379 August 19391 year, 248 daysNational Movement
2
Agustín Muñoz Grandes
(1896–1970)
9 August 193916 March 1940220 daysNational Movement
Position vacant
(16 March 1940 – 19 May 1941)
3
José Luis de Arrese
(1905–1986)
19 May 194120 July 19454 years, 62 daysNational Movement
Position vacant
(20 July 1945 – 5 November 1948)
(1)
Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta
(1896–1992)
5 November 194815 February 19567 years, 102 daysNational Movement
(3)
José Luis de Arrese
(1905–1986)
15 February 195625 February 19571 year, 10 daysNational Movement
4
José Solís Ruiz
(1913–1990)
25 February 195729 October 196912 years, 246 daysNational Movement
5
Torcuato Fernández-Miranda
(1915–1980)
29 October 19693 January 19744 years, 66 daysNational Movement
6
José Utrera Molina
(1926–2017)
3 January 197411 March 19751 year, 67 daysNational Movement
7
Fernando Herrero Tejedor
(1920–1975)
11 March 197512 June 1975 93 daysNational Movement
(4)
José Solís Ruiz
(1913–1990)
13 June 197511 December 1975181 daysNational Movement
8
Adolfo Suárez
(1932–2014)
12 December 19756 July 1975207 daysNational Movement
9
Ignacio García López
(1924–2017)
7 July 197613 April 1977280 daysNational Movement
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See also

References

  1. Payne, Stanley G. (2011-09-27). The Franco Regime, 1936–1975. University of Wisconsin Pres. p. 446. ISBN 9780299110734.
  2. Gil Pecharromán, Julio (2019). La estirpe del camaleón. Taurus. pp. 39–41. ISBN 978-84-306-2301-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Gil Pecharromán 2019, pp. 40–41.
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