The Franco Regime, 1936–1975

23. The Franco Regime in Perspective

iJ The Franco Regime in Perspective The definition and classification of the regime obviously presented an increasingly complex problem the longer that Franco's system endured. This was due in part to its very length, spanning the fascist and post-fascist social democratic eras, and even more to the successive metamorphoses of the regime's priorities and policies. Nietzsche once observed that "whatever has a history cannot be defined," and certainly the Franco system had a longer history and underwent more historical change than have most non-Marxist dictatorships. Beyond that, the calculated ambiguity and procrastination of Franco's personal style and modus operandi installed a certain polyvalent character in the regime from the beginning. Hence one of its earliest theorists wrote soon after Franco's death: It turns out to be difficult to understand Francoism because its very development relied on ambiguity and changes of direction. The political forms that Franco established did not undergo direct continuous development, but underwent pauses and superpositions.... I have sometimes thought that preoccupation ofhis against the force ofchance led him to play with two decks when he spread his cards on the table, to have available the greatest number of combinations....1 Any typology is rendered complex and confusing by the two metamorphoses of the Spanish regime, whose history may be divided into three periods: (1) the semifascist, potentially imperialist phase of 1936 to 1945; (2) the decade of National Catholic corporatism from 1945 to 1957 that witnessed the further irremediable subordination of the fascist component ; and (3) the developmentalist phase of so-called technocracy and a 1. Juan Beneyto, La identidad delfranquismo (Madrid, 1979), 10-11. 622 The Franco Regime in Perspective 623 sort of bureaucratic authoritarianism from 1957/59 to the end.2 This in turn has raised the question, frequently answered in the negative, as to whether Franco had any consistent doctrine or ideology other than the conservation of personal power at all costs. He himself never produced a significant work of theory, reserving his doctrinal statements for public speeches, while the Fundamental Principles of 1958 differ fundamentally from and in some ways directly reject key aspects ofthe Twenty-six Points of 1937. Certainly Franco never defined in theory a clear-cut formal ideology comparable to any of the major political theologies of the twentieth century , but he always possessed a fundamental set ofbeliefs whose basic priorities and values changed comparatively little. His political attitudes stemmed to some extent from his Catholic and military background but only took full form during the decade 1926 to 1936, the time in which most ofhis political and economic reading was concentrated. He believed in nationalism, central unity, the Catholic religion, strong authoritarian government without political parties, and a program of modern economic development determined as much as possible by political and nationalistic priorities, with social reform a secondary byproduct of economic growth. Franco's nationalism was grounded in Spanish tradition, aspects of which he revered. He was fundamentally monarchist in political principles , though he was also tempted by some ofthe more radical ambitions of fascism before 1943, temptations to which he never fully succumbed. Like most major political actors, Franco basically used the ideas of others. The eclecticism of the authoritarian coalition which he established during the Civil War was not merely a matter ofopportunism, for to a degree he shared some of the key ideas of each of the major political families ofthe regime while rejecting the full ensemble ofideas ofanyone of them. From the monarchists he accepted the principle of monarchical legitimacy but totally redefined it to suit himself. He shared the nationalism and to some extent the imperialism of the Falangists, together with their insistence on authoritarian rule and the form if not all the substance of their social and economic policies. He praised Carlist traditionalism, Catholicism, and defense of traditional monarchy while rejecting Carlist dynastic politics. He believed in the military sense of patriotism and national security, together with the elitist function of commanders and officers , but rejected any notion of a corporate military function that would give the armed forces institutional independence. In many ways, the right radical program defined by Calvo Sotelo between 1933 and 1936 2. In his Espana 1939-1945: Regimen politico e ideologia (Madrid, 1978), Manuel Ramirez Jimenez labels the periods those of the "totalitarian regime," the "empiricoconservative dictatorship," and "tecno-pragmatic Francoism." 624 IV. Developmentalism and Decay, 1959-1975 most nearly...