Franco’s Regime: Pillars, Repression, and Social Control in Spain
Pillars of Franco’s Regime
The three institutional pillars of Franco’s regime were the military, the single party (Falange), and the Catholic Church.
The Military
The army was the most outstanding support of the regime and actively participated in power, as most of the ministers and governors were military career civilians.
The Falange
The single party, called Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS), was commissioned to provide the ideological bases of the regime, controlling the media and providing a good part of the administration’s personnel.
To ensure social support for the regime, the party formed four mass organizations:
- The Youth Front: Dedicated to the training and indoctrination of young people.
- The Women’s Section: Its mission was the training of women in the Christian and National Syndicalist sense.
- The Spanish University Union: It brought together university students.
- The National Syndicalist Center: It organized workers into a single union.
The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church played an important role in the legitimation and construction of the Franco regime, which was defined as a Catholic confessional state. In return, it received very generous public funding, almost total control of the educational system, and the predominance of Catholic values and morals throughout Spanish society.
Social Support for the Dictatorship
The dictatorship had the support of social and economic elites who were able to recover the economic, social, and political power that they had lost during the Second Republic. It also included the membership of small and medium farm owners who had sided with the insurrection.
The middle classes were a politically troubled social sector, as they had been clearly overwhelmed by the social revolution during the Civil War. The trauma of war turned the middle class mostly passive and apolitical.
Finally, many of the popular sectors were considered Republicans. Repression, fear, and the police, along with hunger and poverty, pushed the most popular classes into political passivity.
Instruments of Repression
In order to institutionalize repression, a series of laws were prepared.
Law of Political Responsibility
The first, in general, was the Law of Political Responsibility, which was intended to purge all people who had collaborated with the Republic.
Law for the Repression of Communism and Freemasonry
The Law for the Repression of Communism and Freemasonry was responsible for removing any organization that could not be controlled by the regime.
Military Courts
In the first post-war years, most of the cases were tried by military courts-martial, before which the accused were almost completely defenseless. There were a large number of executions, many during the war. Most of the prison population were women.
Workers’ Battalions
A considerable part of the condemned, and even unprocessed detainees, were sent to Workers’ Battalions and Battalions of Soldier Workers, integrated by recruits considered disaffected and dangerous to the regime, who seemed to be joining the army. These two battalions were dedicated to the accomplishment of reconstruction works, in quarries, mines, etc.
The set of repressive measures taken by the authorities was characterized by the desire for exemplary punishment. It was about spreading terror among the population. Thus, enforced depoliticization was one of the factors that contributed to the survival of the dictatorship.
Confiscation of Property and Purging
Repressive measures against the vanquished were accompanied by a broad process of confiscation and looting of their heritage. Franco also drove the purging of the world of work, targeting everyone who had emphasized in favor of the Republican cause.
He conducted a general purge of officials and employees of public administrations, filling public offices with individuals completely loyal to the regime. A law established that only officials clearly adhering to the National Movement could hold their jobs. The exercise of certain professions was also subject to control from filters that were obligatory for professional colleges. Similarly, private companies were ordered by the authorities to mandatorily dismiss all exiles and detainees on charges of leaving their place of work.