Falange - Early History

Early History

The year after its founding, the Falange united with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista of Onésimo Redondo, Ramiro Ledesma, and others, becoming Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.

The Falange was not an archetypal party of the right. Ronald Hilton has argued that Spanish leftists spoke of José Antonio with respect. The party attracted a considerable number of prominent intellectuals, including Pedro Mourlane Michelena, Rafael Sánchez Mazas, Ernesto Giménez Caballero, Eugenio Montes, José María Alfaro, Agustín de Foxa, Luys Santa Marina, Samuel Ros, Jacinto Miquelarena and Dionisio Ridruejo. The party was republican, modernist, championed the lower classes and opposed both oligarchy and communism. For these reasons the Falange was shunned by other right-leaning parties in the 1936 election, where it performed dismally. It only surpassed one percent of the vote in five provinces, performing best in Valladolid and Cadiz, where it received between four and five percent. Having likely never exceeded ten thousand members in the early 1930s, the Falange lost supporters in the run-up to the Civil War, leaving a core of young, dedicated activists, many in the organization's student organization, the SEU (Sindicato Español Universitario).

Following the elections the left-wing Popular Front government persecuted the Falange and imprisoned Primo de Rivera on July 6, 1936. In turn, the Falange joined the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, supporting the military revolt ultimately led by Francisco Franco and continuing to do so throughout the ensuing Civil War.