It Was What It Wasn’t: Translation and Francoism

Abstract

It would be wrong to call Francoism a fascist regime (see Paxton 2004, especially Chapter 6), though between 1936 and 1945 it bore many features of fascism (see Richards 1998). Francoism (1936/39–75) was an idiosyncratic mixture of (ultra-) Catholicism, fascism and other reactionary ideologies or ingredients. Before the Civil War of 1936–39 and after General Miguel Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship, which ended with his death in 1930, Spain’s democratic Second Republic (1931–36/39) saw two periods. In the first (1931–33), a left-wing government redistributed wealth in drastic ways and engaged in anti-clerical action. In the next (1934–36), a right-wing government suspended the social reforms. When the Republic organized new elections in 1936, which were won by the left-wing coalition Frente Popular, political polarization was complete. In such a climate bonds were created between reactionary opponents of the Second Republic: Spanish fascists, the Catholic Church, and other groups.¹ Those who fought with Franco in the Civil War, including the fascists and the Church (see Casanova 2005), were in fact fighting against the Republic and the opportunities it had given to progressive forces. During and after the Civil War, Franco managed to unify these anti-Republican forces in a party called VET y de las JONS, which stood for F alange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva National Sindicalista. ²