Francoist Spain: 1939-1975, Regime and International Relations
Definition
Francoism was a dictatorship imposed by the victors of the Spanish Civil War. In the 1940s, it evolved according to the international situation, moving from a period of totalitarian Falangist influence to one influenced by Catholic political conservatives. In 1957, these conservatives began to be replaced by technocrats of OPUS DEI.
Ideological Foundations
- Authoritarianism: Influenced by fascism and conservative Spanish tradition, with Franco as the political and military chief.
- Nationalist Conception: A centralist and unitary state.
- Economic and Social Conservatism.
- Influence of Catholicism.
- Victory in the Civil War was seen as a title of legitimacy, and its memory was kept alive.
- Need for Constant Repression against the “enemies of Spain.”
Social Support
Those Who Revolted or Supported the Revolt
Financial and landowning oligarchy, large and small owners, the Army, and the Church.
Those Who Benefited
- Distribution of new state charges and “Straperlo” (corruption).
- Black Market.
Those Who Participated in the Repression
The Passivity of the Middle Classes
The Misery, Loss, and Fear of the Popular Classes
Evolution of Politics and International Context
It was a dictatorship that concentrated all powers: Chief of State, Head of Government, controller of the courts and the judiciary, and Head of the Army. Its main pillars of support were:
- The Army
- The Single Party:
- FET de las JONS: Controlled the media and provided government positions.
- Social Control through organizations of all types: Youth Front, Women’s Section, University Students’ Union, National Central Unionists.
- The Catholic Church: It legitimized the Franco regime, and both supported each other:
- Franco was favored.
- Right to appoint bishops.
- Control of morality and customs.
- State grant.
Francoist Families
In addition to these institutions, Franco allowed small differences between his followers, provided that they did not question his authority. These differences appeared in small groups known as “families,” among whom he chose his ministers according to his interests. The main families were:
- Phalangists
- Traditionalists
- Monarchists
- Catholics: Catholic Action or OPUS DEI
The International Context
The Second World War and its results influenced Franco’s policy until 1957. Initially, Spain was an ally of the fascist powers. Secondly, it was a dictatorship isolated and condemned by the international community. Thirdly, it became a state seeking admission into the international community through the Cold War.
World War II (1939-1945)
- Neutrality until the fall of France in June 1940.
- Non-belligerence until 1943: Hendaye, interview with Hitler in October 1940. Blue Division.
- 1943-1945 Neutrality: Theory of the two wars.
After World War II
- Isolation and international condemnation: UN 1946, withdrawal of ambassadors, non-participation in NATO or the Marshall Plan.
- The Cold War favored the breaking of international isolation, starting with the signing of the Concordat with the Vatican and a treaty with the U.S. in 1953.
Institutionalization and Pursuit of International Recognition
All Francoist legislation was based on the will of the dictator and was therefore not democratic. Franco never had a constitution but organized his state according to special laws, which he deemed of higher rank than the others, called the Fundamental Laws of the Movement. With these laws, Franco wanted to organize and present his status as something different from a dictatorship. Also, at the end of World War II, he started giving more importance in his governments to Catholic ministers from a legal group called Catholic Action. With these new ministers, he also sought incorporation into the International Community, which he never quite managed to achieve, but in 1955, Spain was admitted to the UN.
Repression and Exile
Repression was characterized by its massive and brutal character. In 1939, the Justice Department admitted to 280,000 prison inmates. Executions were common and did not start to decrease sharply until 1943. At all times, there was a desire to give exemplary punishment to “uproot the anti-cancer”: the democratic, progressive, and leftist ideas symbolized by the Second Republic, which he said had led Spain to ruin. The new state organization also emerged on a purification/removal of former officials who were not considered reliable. Repression paralyzed Spanish society due to fear, to the point that it took many years to elapse until a new generation of anti-Francoists was replaced in the 1960s, the previous generation massacred in the Civil War and early 1940s.
The Exile
The end of the Civil War forced nearly half a million Spaniards into exile for fear of reprisals. Half returned in the first year following the end of the war, but the other half did not. In the first moments, they were received in France in authentic camps: Saint Cyprian, Argeles. They went to Europe, North Africa, and the Soviet Union. World War II made them travel to Latin America for safety. There was a very important colony in Mexico, where the Cardenas government gave hosting facilities. They assumed an enormous loss of population in all areas of production. In the cultural field, the loss was irreparable. The democratic and progressive secular culture of the Silver Age of Spanish Culture was replaced by an ultraconservative National Catholicism. Nobel laureates Juan Ramón Jiménez and Severo Ochoa were two exiles.
Implications
Franco’s dictatorship isolated Spain from European cultural and economic development. Politically, it was a rarity marked by its fascist origins. “Spain was different,” as Franco said in a slogan, but it was due to the very existence of the dictatorship.