By James K. Warner
This is the story of the famous Spanish Falange and its leader Jose Antonio. There had been many pre-falangist organisation in Spain. They were nearly all Catholic and monarchist some to a greater or lesser extent. They were led by men such as Jose Maria Albinana, Ramiro Ledesma Ramos and Onesima Redonda Ortego. They made little impression.
It was at a crucial moment that Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera made his dramatic appearance into politics as a man of the Right. Born in 1903 in Andalusia of an upper middle-class family with a long tradition of military service, Jose Antonio differed sharply from his father, General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who had ruled Spain from 1923 to 1930. Whereas the latter had been a sensual, jovial man, Jose Antonio was modest, serious and given to intellectual pursuits, educated in literature, modern languages and the law. He was, among many other things, an amateur poet, especially fond of Kipling. He paid a visit to Mussolini, although he emphasised that his movement was Spanish, with its exclusively Spanish attitudes.
The Falangists wore blue shirts and used the Roman salute. Their anthem was Cara el Sol and their newspaper was called Arriba. After the murder of Jose Antonio by the Reds the organisation was merged with the Carlists (Monarchists). Jose Antonio’s influence was very great and he still has his disciples to this day.
