Fascists and Catholics and General Franco
28th January 2011 from the Tribune Magazine Archive
When it comes to civil war, it takes two to tango. In the latest addition to Sussex University's fine series on contemporary Spanish politics, Sid Lowe fills something of an historical void by offering a fresh examination of the right in the years leading up to the Spanish Civil War, providing a major reinterpretation of the basis of Spanish Fascism.
Ambitious in scope yet sophisticated in argument, he examines the influence of two previously ignored organisations on the Spanish right: the Juventud de Accion Popular, the fascist youth movement, and its parent political party, the Confederacion Espanola de Derechas Autonomas. At their peak in the mid-1930s both attracted a membership of millions under their charismatic leader Gil Robles: "He who never makes mistakes!" Though the JAP was only in existence for five years, it played a key role in radicalising the right, eventually providing the core of Franco's fascist regime. Starting in the shadows of the old Spain, with the JAP's Nuremburg-like rally at Phillip II's El Escorial, Lowe vividly describes the soaring military rhetoric and political dealing of what was more than just a youth movement. Lowe argues it was a uniquely Spanish fusion of conservative Catholicism and fascism. While many members had concerns over the totalitarian nature of Nazi Germany, seeking to preserve their own Catholic liberties, their expressed aim of using the state to annihilate socialism showed there was little fear of state power.
Lowe places both movements in the context of a Manichean battle between Spain and anti-Spain. Looking closely at contemporary publications, speeches and extensive primary literature, he argues that the JAP provided a drive and purity to the politics of its amorphous political parent. Thanks to this, CEDA's policy of accidentalism — working with the Republic — was nothing more than a political tactic. When faced with electoral defeat in early 1936, many japistas were more than willing to join the military conspiracy against the Republic. Lowe highlights their importance — rather than the Falange — as auxiliaries linking the populace to the army.
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This is a fasinating and illuminating analysis of how the Spanish Civil War came about. • James Pearson