Margaritas in the Spanish Civil War
Created in 1919 as a Carlist social aid organization for the poor, they went into decline during the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera as there was less of a perceived need for promotion of their ideals.
The end of the Civil War and the start of the Francoist period saw Carlism become illegal and the Margaritas disbanded, with official restrictions not being lifted until the mid-1940s.
The important contributions of the women of the Margaritas would largely be forgotten and ignored even as the Carlist militia, the Requetés, enjoyed new popularity in the 1950s.
[1] The ordinance of the Margarita was to be "an example of Spanish woman, intrepid defender of the Christian family, vigilant guardian of the traditions of the patria.
During the Dictatorship, the Margaritas were relatively quiet compared to earlier periods as there was less of a perceived need for them to serve in defense of the Spanish family.
It was subsequently taken over by Sindicatos Libres's Severiano Martínez Anido and Civil Governor Milans del Bosch in 1931, which really upset Carlists.
[2] After months of a Second Republic government dismantling institutions supporting and while challenging traditional values of Spain's right, Carlists began to become more politically relevant on the right.
The Centro Tradicionalista Montañés held a conference in December 1931 where María Rosa Urraca Pastor spoke about the need to for women move from the church and to become actively engaged in the political struggle.
[2][11] María Rosa Urraca Pastor's prominence grew during this period, as she traveled around the country advocating her Catholic ideals and calling others to become more involved.
[2][12][13] In the 1933 elections she had run for the Cortes from Gipuzkoa as Carlist representative in Unión Regionalista Gipuzcoana, but had narrowly lost and emerged bitter about the political process.
Urraca Paster was unique in this period in being one of the few Carlists concerned about the class struggle, with the topic coming up in many of her speeches and in her decision to directly speak to workers groups.
As a result, these more middle-class women joined the Margaritas, where they had strong organizational skills, loyalty and a willingness to take on dangerous tasks in support of their beliefs and their hometowns.
[18][1] During the war, the Alfonso Carlos veterans' hospital published a one-page dedication to Margaritas, apologizing to them for requiring their services in masculine roles, saying in part, the "restless bees extract the richest honey of their labour ... accepting with resignation their roles as instructors, pharmacists, office workers and radiologists.
"[18] María Rosa Urraca Pastor went on the radio during the Civil War, encouraging women away from the front because a woman's real glory was in the role of mother and queen of her household.
[1] During the early stages of the Spanish Civil War, many Margaritas were volunteers near the front, working as nurses, or in hospitals, workshops and canteens in support roles.
[2] One of the most important contributions during the Civil War Margaritas was with Asistencia a Frentes y Hospitales organized by María Rosa Urraca Pastor.
[17] During the Civil War, Margaritas operated their own postal service, providing daily mail to troops on the front lines near Somosierra and Guipúzcoa.
They would sometimes use their postal service vehicles to follow requetés to the front, often returning with bodies of their fellow Carlists after delivering the mail.
Her story would subsequently be immortalized in a play based on her life performed in Pamplona on 8 November 1938 as part of Margarita fundraising efforts.
The impact of their teaching had the added goal of bringing Catholicism to parts of the country where it was much less practiced, including Asturias, Andalusia and the Canary Islands.
In February 1947, forty-two members of the Junta of Regional and Provincial Chiefs met to talk about the future of Carlism and its structures.
[1] During the 1950s, the role of the Margaritas and their importance in providing support to those on the front was largely forgotten and erased, even as the Requetés enjoyed new popularity, with their male stories being told in newspapers like El Pensamiento Navarro.
In ceremonies in Navarre commemorating Carlists in the Spanish Civil War, women were never on stage and were ignored by media except in background shots of those attending the festivities.
