Franco’s Dictatorship: Nature, Support, and Legacy in Spain
The Nature and Support of the Franco Regime
The Franco period (1939-1975) was characterized by a military dictatorship that embodied the values of the victors of the Spanish Civil War. Spain experienced a void of normal politics, and the dictator enjoyed absolute power. Franco, a military Africanist, professed an aggressive and exclusionary Spanish nationalism. He considered the army the essence of national virtues and religious feeling. These values were reinforced by the support of the Catholic Church. Franco saw himself as a providential figure chosen by God to save the country.
Catholicism and aggressive nationalism became intertwined. This was a historical interpretation of Spain, imitating the era of the Catholic Monarchs, the conquest of America, and the rule of the Habsburgs. The decline of Spain and the frustration of its imperial destiny were attributed to the influence of the Enlightenment and liberalism. Liberals, Masons, anarchists, Jews, socialists, and communists were considered enemies. Franco’s idea of Spain and Castile identified with national differences, negatively valuing Catalan and Basque identities. He opposed democracy and the separation of powers, viewing the Spanish people as unfit for democracy.
Nature of the Dictatorship
The dictatorship had three main characteristics:
- A personal dictatorship
- A one-party system
- A system of estates
These elements prevented political pluralism and union. The country was divided between victors and vanquished. Francoism was a version of fascism in Spain. It was the construction of a new undemocratic and totalitarian state that emerged from the crisis of the liberal system of the 1930s. It was marked by a leader, repression, denial of basic freedoms, and a lack of legal guarantees. The Franco dictatorship adapted to new circumstances and international social changes without abandoning its core principles. The regime did not have a single, solid party; the army had a major influence, and the presence of Catholicism in doctrinal formulations was significant.
Support for the Dictatorship
The most prominent supporters were the Church, the Falange, the traditionalists, and the more conservative right. However, none of these groups dominated the others. Franco cleverly distributed political offices, effectively arbitrating the political games of the various factions within the regime. The military was the most devoted and loyal support of the Franco dictatorship. Ministers, senior civilian governors, and the bureaucratic regime were military personnel. The Francoist hierarchy legitimized the power of the Catholic Church. The Church obtained significant concessions, including representation in the highest institutions of the regime. The regime had the right of presentation when a vacancy occurred in a bishopric. However, the Church’s support was not monolithic; some sectors always remained hostile to Francoism. After the Second Vatican Council, part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy began to distance itself from the regime.
The progressive traditionalists, the Falange, and the pillars formed the ideological base. The Falange was a bureaucratic state body. Since 1958, the National Movement, which displaced the previous JONS, constituted the FET and the social power of the Francoist regime and union. There was indirect popular support, largely induced by propaganda, the memory of the civil war, and censorship, which led to the political demobilization of Spanish society.