FET y de las JONS
|
|
---|---|
Caudillo | Francisco Franco |
Founded | 19 April 1937 |
Dissolved | 13 April 1977 |
Preceded by |
Falange Española y de las JONS Carlist Party |
Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
Newspaper | Diario Arriba |
Student wing | Sindicato Español Universitario |
Youth wing | Frente de Juventudes |
Women's wing | Sección Femenina |
Paramilitary wing | Camisas Azules |
Union wing | Sindicato Vertical |
Ideology | |
Political position |
Far-right or Third position |
Religion | Catholicism |
International affiliation | None |
Colours | Red Yellow |
Far-right or
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS) (English: Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx of the Committees of the National Syndicalist Offensive) was the sole legal party of the Francoist dictatorship in Spain. It emerged in 1937 from the merger of the Carlist Party with the Falange Española de las JONS, and was dissolved in 1977 by Adolfo Suárez's transitional government.
With the eruption of the Civil War in July 1936, the Falange fought on the Nationalist side against the Second Spanish Republic. Expanding rapidly from several thousand to several hundred thousand, the Falange's male membership was accompanied by a female auxiliary, the Sección Femenina. Led by José Antonio's sister Pilar, this latter subsidiary organization claimed more than a half million members by the end of the war and provided nursing and support services for the Nationalist forces.
The command of the party rested upon Manuel Hedilla, as many of the first generation leaders were dead or incarcerated by the Republicans. Among them was Primo de Rivera, who was a Government prisoner. As a result, he was referred to among the leadership as el Ausente, (the Absent One). After being sentenced to death on November 18, 1936, Primo de Rivera was executed on November 20, 1936 (a date since known as 20-N in Spain), in a Republican prison, giving him martyr status among the Falangists. This conviction and sentence was possible because he had lost his Parliamentary immunity, after his party did not have enough votes during the last elections.
After Franco seized power on 19 April 1937, he united under his command the Falange with the Carlist Comunión Tradicionalista, forming Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET y de las JONS), whose official ideology was the Falangists' 27 puntos—reduced, after the unification, to 26. Despite this, the party was in fact a wide-ranging nationalist coalition, closely controlled by Franco. Parts of the original Falange (including Hedilla) and many Carlists did not join the unified party. Franco had sought to control the Falange after a clash between Hedilla and his main critics within the group, the legitimistas of Agustín Aznar and Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis, that threatened to derail the Nationalist war effort.