Franco's Regime in Spain: Dictatorship and Repression (1939-1975)

Franco's Regime and Repression

Franco's Political Thought

During the dictatorship (1939-1975), Spain experienced a vacuum of political normalcy. Francisco Franco was a Spanish military, Africanist, and nationalist. Catholicism and the army were the essence of his ideology. He saw himself as a character chosen by God to save the fatherland. For Franco, the nation and Catholicism were synonymous.

His natural enemies were liberals, Freemasons, anarchists, socialists, communists, and Jews. Franco was firmly against democracy.

Characteristics of Franco's Regime

• Personal and single-party dictatorship.
• Permanent division of the country into winners and losers.
• A version of fascism.
• Lack of principles, replaced by repression and subjugation.
• Significant presence of the army.

Main Pillars of Support

The Army and the Church were Franco's main supports. The army was his most loyal supporter. The ecclesiastical hierarchy legitimized the regime, culminating in the signing of the Concordat with the Holy See in 1953. However, they distanced themselves following the Second Vatican Council.

The Falangists and Carlists, along with the ideological pillars, formed the JONS (a power and social union organizer).

Other Social Support

Due to the tragic Civil War, there were minimal social tensions.

Repression

Repression against democratic movements, demonstrations against the left, and nationalists were commonplace. This included political, cultural, and social repression.

The Law on the Suppression of Masonry and Communism (1940) was applied retroactively. There were filters leading to disappearances. Repression included cultural censorship and the manipulation of books and newspapers.

Opposition (1939-1959)

Labor Movement

The clandestine activity of small groups of the PCE, the PSOE, and the CNT never ceased.

Monarchists

The nobility and upper bourgeoisie plotted. Juan de Borbón called for the restoration of the monarchy under his rule, but without success.

Maquis

Offensives were isolated. The most spectacular was the occupation of the Aran Valley. However, the isolation between guerrilla groups and military repression explain their failure.

Change of Direction

The opposition renounced violence and transformed their practices. There were strikes, and the government responded with acts such as the Act against Banditry and Terrorism, the Public Order Act, and the Act of Collective Agreements.

Opposition from the Technocratic Stage to the End of the Dictatorship (1959-1975)

Opposition members marched to the Munich Congress in 1962. Franco's response was the imprisonment and exile of its participants.

This phase is characterized by the continuing monarchist conspiracy, the gradual strengthening of the opposition, and the terrorist actions of ETA and FRAP.