Key Terms of Francoist Spain
Autarky
Autarky is an economic approach whereby the needs of the nation are met within the nation itself. It embraces self-sufficiency, does not need external influences, is not affected by outside influences, and depends on its own resources. Also known as a closed economy, it aims to become self-sufficient. For Franco, it was a necessity and a virtue. It lasted 20 years, from 1939 to 1959. These years proved to be a time of hunger, misery, and difficult survival. The state took part in the regulation of foreign trade, reducing imports, including consumer goods, raw materials, and electricity supply, which led to low industrial production. However, industry was favored with laws, measures, and aid. Spanish monopolies and the creation of new domestic firms were promoted.
Fascism
Fascism is an ideology and a political movement that arose in Europe between the World Wars (1918-1939). The term comes from the Italian word fascio. Its political project aims to establish corporatism, a totalitarian state, and a dirigiste economy. Its intellectual foundation involves the subjection of reason to will and action, a strongly nationalist identity, and elements that lead to violence against those defined as enemies, such as social-communists, demoliberals, and Masons. The theoretical doctrine was secular in character, although many adherents, such as Mussolini and Franco, accepted Catholicism. They were reactionary but gained acceptance from the great majority of the Catholic population, sometimes by force.
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the government intervenes in all spheres of state life. It concentrates all power in the hands of a group or party, abolishing or ignoring political rights and civil liberties. Totalitarian regimes retain political power through the use of secret police, propaganda, media control, regulation or restriction of freedom of the press, suppression of critics, and even the use of terrorist tactics.
Caudillo
The Caudillo is identified with an objective historical destiny in Spain. His mission is to embody and actualize the common values and desires of the community.
Organic Democracy
Organic Democracy was a dictatorial political regime imposed by General Franco from 1942 until the democratic transition. It did not accept universal suffrage or political parties. It imposed only a vertical union structure, including workers and employers, across all branches of production. Political power resided in the head of state, while the Cortes, where towns, heads of household, and the vertical union (sometimes called horizontal) were represented, collaborated in the elaboration of laws.
Stabilization Plan (1959)
The Stabilization Plan allowed Spain to leave the period of isolation that started after the Civil War. The economic measures taken were restrictive in nature, aiming to overcome the limitations of the previous period. The plan aimed to reduce inflation, liberalize foreign trade, achieve the economic convertibility of the Peseta, and liberalize domestic activity. It opened Spain to economic Neoliberalism, foreign investment, and the boom of the sixties.
Collectivization and Workers’ Control
Collectivization and Workers’ Control was one of the objectives of the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia following the start of the Spanish Civil War. It set the foundations for a socialization of the economy in which workers participated directly in the management of their companies and, more indirectly, in the regulation of economic activity through the election of delegates to the Council of Economy of Catalonia.
The hardest hit were certainly the landlords, while small employers retained their factories, although controlled by the workers.
The problems faced by these industries in a war economy included:
- Lack of raw materials (often controlled by Franco’s forces in Spain)
- Fuel shortages
- Blocked exports
- Reprisals from foreign companies whose assets had been collectivized in Catalonia
Secularism
Secularism is a position asserting that states and societies must remain independent of religion, which should be developed, if necessary, in private and personal life. Secularism is therefore a system that excludes any kind of church from exercising political, administrative, or educational influence, among others. Its roots are based on Humanism and the Renaissance, as well as the changes of the Enlightenment.
Land Reform
Land reform is a political process that aims to quickly and deeply change the ownership and operation system of the land to expand the number of small and medium owners and increase agricultural production.