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:'' This article is about the Spanish political party. For the Lebanese Phalange, see the Kataeb Party.
The 'Falange' (or 'Phalange') is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original movement in Spain. The word Falange is derived from the Greek word phalangos, meaning ''finger''. The Phalanx formation of ancient warfare is derived from the same Greek word.
In Spain, the 'Falange' was a political organization founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933, during the Second Spanish Republic. Primo de Rivera was a Madrid lawyer, son of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who had controlled the government of Spain as a dictatorial Prime Minister, with the acquiescence of King Alfonso XIII, in the 1920s (from September 1923 to January 1930). General Primo de Rivera believed in state planning and government intervention in the economy. His son and the Phalangists he led expressed regret for the demise of the elder Primo de Rivera's regime, and proposed to revive his policies and strengthen the Spanish nation through a program of national-syndicalist social organization.
During the Spanish Civil War the doctrine of the Falange was used by General Franco, who virtually took possession of its ideology, while Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera was sentenced to death by the Spanish Republican Government. During the war, and after his founder´s death, the Falange was combined by decree (Unification Decree) with the Carlist party, under the sole command of Generalísimo Franco, forming the core of the sole official political organization in Spain, the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista, or "Spanish Traditionalist Phalanx of the Assemblies of National-Syndicalist Offensive" (FET y de las JONS). This organization, also known as the 'National Movement' (''Movimiento Nacional'') after 1945, continued until Franco's death in 1975.
Members of the party were called 'Falangists' (Spanish: ''Falangistas'').

Contents

Ideology

Symbols

Early history

Spanish Civil War

After the war

Post-Franco era

Falangism today

Notes

See also

External links

Ideology

★ National Syndicalism (''nacionalsindicalismo'') was the official ideology of the State.

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★ Corporate state in which class struggle would be superseded by the Vertical Trade Union, joining workers and owners.

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★ Roman Catholicism

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★ Attention to the Castilian farmers

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★ Nationalist pride in the history of the Spanish Empire

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★ Anti-communism and anti-anarchism

Symbols

★ ''El yugo y las flechas'' (''the yoke and arrows''), the symbol of the ''Reyes Católicos''.

★ The ''blue shirt'', a symbol of industrial workers.

★ ''Cara al Sol'', "Facing the sun", its anthem.

★ The red beret of Carlism (after the unification).

★ A flag with red, black and red vertical stripes.

★ The Swan as a symbol of ''Cardenal Cisneros'' (''Frente de Juventudes'' branch).

Early history

The year after its founding, the Falange united with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista of Onésimo Redondo, Ramiro Ledesma, and others, becoming Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.
During the Second Spanish Republic, its political activity focused on spreading social justice in Spain (which Franco later on deleted). The Falange professed Christian values and confronted wealthy land-owners and communists. This explains the fact that the Falange remained a minority party during the Second Spanish Republic, only supported by a few cultivated people like Agustin de Foxá. Its members had to answer street shootings from leftist revolutionaries.
After the electoral victory of the Popular Front, and still in a Democracy the party suffered official persecution and Primo de Rivera was arrested on (6 July 1936). As a result, the Falange joined the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic. On 17 July, the African army led by Franco rebelled. The next day nationalist forces in mainland Spain, including Primo de Rivera's party, followed suit.

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, the Falangists fought on the Nationalist side against the Left-led Republic, being the fastest growing party on their side (from a few thousands to some hundred thousand members before the Unification). This sudden rise can be well explained; Franco used its ideological pillar.
The command of the party rested upon Manuel Hedilla, as many of the first generation leaders were
dead or incarcerated by the Republicans. Among them was Primo de Rivera, who was a Government prisoner. As a result, he was referred to among the leadership as ''el Ausente'', (the Absent One). On 20 November 1936 (a date since known as 20-N in Spain), Primo de Rivera was sentenced to death by the Spanish legal Government in a Republican prison, giving him martyr status among the Falangists. This was possible due to the fact that he had lost his Parliamentary immunity, after his party did not have enough votes during the last elections.
After Franco seized power, on 19 April 1937 Franco united under his command the Falange with the Carlist ''Comunión Tradicionalista'', forming ''Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS'' (FET de las JONS), whose official ideology were the falangist's ''27 puntos''. Despite this, the party was in fact a wide ranging nationalist coalition, closely controlled by Franco. Parts of the original Falangist (including Hedilla) and most Carlists did not join the unified party.
The Falange suffered terribly during the war. None of the vanquished parties in the war suffered such a toll of deaths among their leaders as did the Falange. Sixty per cent of the pre-war Falange membership lost their lives in the war.^[1]
Most of the property of all other parties and trade unions were assigned to the party. In 1938, all trade unions were unified under falangist command.

After the war

After the war, the party was charged with developing an ideology for Franco's regime. This job became a ''cursus honorum'' for ambitious politicians -- new converts, who were called ''camisas nuevas'' ("new shirts") in opposition to the more overtly populist and ideological "old shirts" from before the war.
The Falange also developed youth organizations (''Flechas'', ''Pelayos''; compare to Hitlerjugend and Italian ''Balilla '' and ''Arditi''), a female section (''Sección Femenina'') led by José Antonio's sister, that instructed young women on how to be "good patriots, good Christians and good wives", and a student's union (the ''Sindicato Unificado de Estudiantes (SEU)'') -mandatory till the 50's.
After the opening to the United States and the Spanish Miracle of the 1960s, Franco began working with younger, more technocratic politicians linked to Opus Dei.

Post-Franco era

After Franco's death (20 November 1975, also known as "20-N") the Spanish Crown was restored to the House of Borbón in the person of HM King Juan Carlos, and a move towards democratization begun under Adolfo Suárez, a former chief of the ''movimiento''. The new situation splintered the Falange. In the first elections in 1977, three different groups fought in court for the right to the Falangist name. Today, decades after the fall of the Francoist regime, Spain still has a minor Falangist element, represented by a number of tiny political parties. Chief among these are ''Falange Auténtica'', ''Falange Española Independiente'', ''FE - La Falange'' and ''Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista'', the latter taking its name from the historical party. Vastly reduced in size and power today, these Falangist-inspired parties are rarely seen publicly except on ballot papers, in State-funded TV election advertisements, and during demonstrations on historic dates, like November 20 (death of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and General Francisco Franco). Even then their presence is greatly anecdotal.

Falangism today

Despite changing times, Falangism remains a living political philosophy. The Kataeb, a political party in Lebanon, also espouses a Falangist ideology, and is the most prominent nationalist organization in the region; in Bolivia there is a political party called ''Falange Socialista Boliviana''. In America, one small group, the Christian Falangist Party of America, inspired by Kataeb, was formed in 1985. It is vehement in rejecting racism, antisemitism, and neo-nazism and espousing traditional National Syndicalism, which it claims is neither racist nor socialist in nature. In Spain, the three Falange (Falange Española de las JONS, Falange Española and Falange Auténtica) parties received 27,166 votes in the 2004 legislative election.

Notes

1. Hugh Thomas, ''The Spanish Civil War'' (2001), p. 903

See also

★ Rafael Sánchez Mazas, one of the head ideologues of the original Falange

★ Lebanese Kataeb, a Maronite party inspired by Falange.

★ Falangism in Latin America

★ Integralism

★ Fascism

External links

★ Spartacus article on the Falange including a Falange manifesto

★ Falange Española de las JONS

★ La Falange, Spanish Falange party website

★ Falange Auténtica

★ Falange Española Independiente

★ Christian Falangist Party of America Christian Falange

★ José Antonio's written legacy