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fascism in spain

sarah jack
review of stanley payne fascism in spain

In Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977, Stanley Payne explores the unique development of Spanish fascism throughout the twentieth century. To this end, the collection focuses on the Falange movement, which he cites as the only ideologically fascist Spanish party.


Payne’s final perspective on the Falange movement contends that the fascist ideology developed in Spain was entirely unique to the country. Moreover, he takes a nuanced approach and concludes that the ideological movement was not purely fascist. Instead, the political orientations of the popular fascist ideologues José Antonio Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco resembled hybrid fascisms.

The concluding thesis maintains that Spanish fascism was inherently weak and unique from the pure fascism that emerged in Italy and Germany. Spain's historical, cultural, and religious conditions enabled the development of hybrid fascism. Because Spain lacked the elements that allowed fascism to develop organically in Italy and Germany, Spanish fascism emerged as a combination of fascist ideals with long-standing Catholic and traditional cultural values.


The author attributes the fundamental weakness of Spanish fascism to three main factors. First, Spain remained neutral in World War I. Thus, it did not suffer the same consequences that other European countries endured during the postwar era. Neutrality prevented the nationalistic zeal that mobilized other European countries into the war. Without this tool, a unified, national Spanish identity developed slowly and only came to fruition out of fear that the left would revolutionize. Moreover, Spain did not withstand the international humiliation that spurred other European countries, like Germany and Italy, to develop aggressive nationalism. Beyond that, Spain lacked a perceived threat from a foreign power, a demobilized mass army, mass urban employment, imperial ambitions, and the nationalistic resentment that enabled the fascist regimes in Germany and Italy to thrive. In turn, Spanish fascism materialized without a popular base. Without the effects of World War I, fascism in Spain developed as a reaction to the political instability that had plagued the country since Miguel Primo de Rivera’s rise to dictatorship in 1923.


Second, the failure of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship created popular resentment toward authoritarianism and right-wing politics. To this effect, the Falange Española failed to forge political alliances and a mass following. The lower middle class, the broad base of other fascist movements, was mainly democratic during the reign of the Second Spanish Republic. José Antonio’s Falange Española was incapable of mobilizing the working and middle classes of Spain, as the loyalties of these groups were with the largest party on the right, the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA). In fact, CEDA vehemently opposed fascist values. Gil Robles, the party leader, was “frightened by fascism”. The revolutionary tactics the Falange Española espoused alienated the industrial elite, who preferred CEDA's conventional conservative policies. Without an avenue into the political sphere of Spain, the Falange Española struggled to emerge as a traditional mass-based fascist movement.


Third, a durable praetorian tradition in Spain created the expectation that only a military offensive could enact a regime change toward authoritarian nationalism. In this way, the military was Spain's most significant political force. Its strength undermined Falange Española’s attempts to rise to power.


Altogether, these weaknesses prevented a fascist counter-revolution. Instead, the counter-revolution in Spain was “rightist and military, not fascist, in character” .

Next, Payne asserted that José Antonio was not a purse fascist. Instead, he claimed that José Antonio sought to create a differentiated fascism that culminated in a hybrid-fascist ideology. Payne supports this claim by analyzing Antonio’s life experiences, speech patterns, and guiding philosophy. For the son of the failed dictator, fascist ideology was a guiding shepherd that would allow him to restore his family's honor. This tension explains why the fascist ideology Antonio created for the Falange Española was more akin to a marriage between authoritarian Catholic corporatism and cultural neo-traditionalism than pure fascism. Antonio avoided using the term totalitarianism to describe his politics. He spearheaded a somewhat contradictory conception of fascism that included the importance of the individual within a humanistic framework. Antonio saw the individual man as "the bearer of eternal values,” rather than the state. However, much of his framework was vague, underdeveloped, and abstract. Payne argued against the notion that Antonio was a pure fascist. He examined the broad tenets of Antonio’s political philosophy and found that his political orientation was not purely fascist, but rather a blend of fascist ideals and Spanish cultural values.


Lastly, Payne categorized Francisco Franco not as a fascist but as a “semi-fascist” . Analogous to how Payne analyzed Antonio, the historian surveyed the main components of the thirty-six-year regime. The scholar contended that the ideology of Franco’s rule was a patchwork of authoritarianism, nationalism, neo-traditionalism and, most importantly, Catholicism. While the dictator held “pro-fascist” sentiments, the guiding ideology of his regime was fascismo frailuno, which in English roughly translates to monk-like fascism. For both Antonio and Franco, the main point of departure from the pure fascism of Hitler and Mussolini was the importance of the Catholic religion.


In summation, Payne reasoned that the absence of motivating factors that enabled fascism to emerge as a strong force in Italy and Germany gave way to the formation of a weak hybrid-fascist ideology and regime in Spain. The absence of a mass-based nationalist following and the presence of enduring Catholic values allowed hybrid-fascist ideologies and semi-fascist leaders to take power. Payne’s conclusions challenge earlier interpretations of Spanish fascism as a purely fascist phenomenon. His focus on the historical and cultural characteristics of Spain highlights the variation in Spanish fascism from pure fascist ideology.


Payne’s comprehensive history of the Falange movement is the strongest aspect of Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977. The book contains six hundred pages of intricate detail and a wealth of research on the inner workings of the Falange parties. He narrows the fascist movement in Spain down to a single cultural and political phenomenon, the Falange. In this way, the work performs a considerable purpose as an encyclopedia on the evolution of the Falange movement. The scholar displays a command of unparalleled, intimate knowledge through his exhaustive use of details and resources.

However, the acute attention to detail is a double-edged sword to which the author falls victim. This abundance of particulars and specifications abstruse Payne’s historical analysis. He delivers facts but provides little evidence or argument to support them. The author dismisses prior interpretations of Spanish fascism so that only his opinions appear on the page. Moreover, Payne neglects to inform the reader of broader social, political, and cultural developments in Spain. Instead, he utilizes the pages to clarify precise events about the daily lives of Falange leaders. The author exchanges an overview of the Second Spanish Republic, Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, the Spanish Civil War, and Francisco Franco’s regime for exhaustive accounts of conversations between José Antonio and his followers. To effectively understand the content of this book, readers should have prior knowledge of the general history of Spain in the twentieth century.


Furthermore, Payne depicts Francisco Franco and his regime in a rather positive light. He does not provide information about the bloodshed, political violence, or chaos that characterized the dictator's rule. In this book, Payne’s bias is evident. Potential audiences should read with caution, as the view he holds of Franco is unbalanced in the book.


Additionally, the structure of the book fails to facilitate an organized reading. While the author divides the work into four sections, the chapter headings and subheadings are ambiguous. The guiding titles provide the reader with no inclination of what content Payne may discuss. For example, in chapter seven “The Death of José Antonio” he wavers between battle scenes from the Spanish Civil War and interviews with the Falange leader.


Fascism in Spain 1923-1977 provides readers with a breadth of knowledge on the Falange movement in Spain. The work best serves scholars seeking to study the life of José Antonio and the evolution of his politics. Payne’s nuanced perspective provides terrific insight into the variation of Spanish fascism from the Italian and German modes. However, Payne’s plethora of detail, lack of other historical arguments or context, positive views of Franco, and disorderly structure distract from the historian’s academic achievement.


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