Traditionalism (Spain)

Traditionalism is an ultra-reactionary doctrine; it rejects concepts such as democracy, human rights, constitution, universal suffrage, sovereignty of the people, division of powers, religious liberty, freedom of speech, equality of individuals, and parliamentarism.

[27] Politically, the group tended to swallow their anti-absolutism when supporting Fernando VII in his anti-revolutionary zeal; it was only in the late 1820s that the king started to be viewed as wavering and unreliable, with sympathy gradually shifting to his firmly reactionary brother, Don Carlos.

Don Carlos issued a number of manifiestos; they fell short of outlining a political vision[28] and tended to focus on advertising his succession claims,[29] though they also lambasted his opponents as masonic conspirators pitted against religion, monarchy, fueros and traditional liberties.

[58] The Carlist version of Traditionalism is already considered about complete at the time, embodied in political manifestos, press propaganda, theoretical works and – last but not least – in popular sentiment, expressed as a motto which keeps defining the movement until today: "Dios – Patria – Rey".

It was first demonstrated by Alejandro Pidal,[60] who without renouncing his fundamentally Traditionalist outlook in the early 1880s agreed to accept Liberal constitutional realm of Restauración as a hypothesis,[61] rendered attractive by the vision of Catholic Unity;[62] the current he launched is named as Pidalismo.

[73] Until the very late 1890s political Traditionalism lacked a complete lecture comparable to works of Balmes and Donoso; authors like Luis Llauder Dalmases[74] produced general overviews of smaller scope[75] or systematically contributed minor theoretical pieces to the press.

[77] Both offered complete and similar political visions; the former produced it as a single lengthy treaty[78] accompanied by few minor works[79] and the latter as massive and a rather loose collection of press contributions, parliamentary addresses and booklets.

[92] Acción Española, a formation set up during the Republic years in the early 1930s, was according to different authors either an eclectic synthesis of various Traditionalist schools,[93] or political menendezpelayismo,[94] or neo-Traditionalism – especially in case of Ramiro Maeztu[95] – or a blend of Traditionalism and Maurras-inspired nationalism.

On the one hand, the emergent Francoism posed as synthesis of all genuinely Spanish political schools, including Traditionalism; the late Pradera was elevated to one of the founding fathers of the system, and some Traditionalist references were ostentatiously boasted as components of the new Spain.

[130] In popular public discourse Traditionalism is represented mostly by an array of electronic services, maintained by individuals, Carlist círculos, various organizations or informal groupings, and formatted as portals, fora, blogs, shared-content sites, news etc.

Attempts to define own rules – the Traditionalist reading goes – produced emergence of illegitimate political regimes;[138] examples are despotic tyrants who claimed own legitimacy or societies, who declared themselves the ultimate source of power.

[171] Scholars focusing on Spanish political thought do not confirm such a qualification,[172] pointing that a Traditionalist monarchy is to be ruled by a king and various lay intermediary bodies, not by a religious hierarchy, and that the state and the Church have to remain two distinct institutions.

[175] However, in terms of praxis Traditionalists advocated a number of arrangements endorsing Church's participation in power structures, be it re-establishment of the Inquisition in the early 19th century[176] or default presence of hierarchs in bodies like Cortes or Royal Council later on.

[201] A state, as a function of society, is considered not a voluntaristic and contractual being which needs to be acknowledged in a formal deal; its principles are defined by traditional Fundamental Laws which are not an agreement, but a result of development occurring in line with natural order.

[204] Independent political entities existing on the Iberian Peninsula in the medieval era are deemed part of Spain, which might also be the case of Madrid-controlled territories elsewhere in Europe or Spanish possessions overseas, at times envisioned as a confederation.

[232] Effectively, this concept rendered Traditionalist state sort of a federation of geographical entities, professional groupings or functional associations, each of them governing itself as opposed to a society regulated by increasingly homogeneous, universal rules.

In principle fiercely hostile to tyrannical or despotic regimes exercising power beyond appropriate limits, some Traditionalist theorists acknowledged the sovereign right to coerce[260] and agreed – usually as a last resort applicable in extremis – to dictatorial rule.

The closest one is fuerismo, a term at times adopted by the Traditionalists, similarly focused on fueros but made distinct by its limitation to Vascongadas and Navarre, by downplaying the Spanish link and by revindication of pre-1868, but not earlier laws.

Autonomous solutions were in principle rejected as reflecting the erroneous top-down logic and putting a state before a local entity; some also viewed autonomy of Catalonia or Basque Country as anti-foral because fueros were province-specific.

Present-day Traditionalist leaders at times admit their "odio al capitalismo" and declare return to the old regime, though its designation remains highly vague;[296] an official party program demonstrates technocratic approach, pointing towards a regulated and common-good oriented free market economy.

[305] The claimant Carlos VII observed the Balkan campaign against Turkey as tsar's special guest;[306] in the 1890s his son Don Jaime – though he frequented the Austrian military academy[307] – joined the Russian army and he later served in combat missions;[308] at the turn of the centuries Carlist pundits like Enrique Gil-Robles hailed Russia as a bulwark of tradition against the onslaught of plutocracy, secularisation and democracy.

[309] As new lines of the European conflict were getting increasingly clear more and more Carlists began to look to Germany; its dynamic growth to power and its regime were perceived as counter-proposal to rotten, liberalism-driven, decadent French-British alliance.

Some tentative credit given to Hitler was withdrawn following the Dolfuss assassination, but Mussolini was still viewed as an ally; in the mid-1930s some 200 Carlists received military training in Fascist Italy[314] and the Comunión political leader Rodezno signed a related quasi-political agreement.

On the other hand, democratic, secular, liberal, left-wing, modern, casual, and initially fiercely anti-Spanish and anti-Portuguese regimes of the Western world were neither seen as a would-be ally, even though marriage of the Carlist infant with a Dutch princess caused more horror and bewilderment in the Netherlands than in Spain.

[344] Some note that Absolutism might have served as sort of incubus for Traditionalism, as pre-Traditionalists firmly stood by Fernando VII during his Absolutist-driven purge of afrancesados, revolutionaries and Liberals;[345] however, while both aimed to restore antiguo regimén, the Traditionalists dreamt of coming back to pre-Borbonic regime,[346] not to despotismo ministerial of the late 18th century.

What estranged the Traditionalists was in particular: foreign origins of Fascism, considered incompatible with Spanish tradition; the Fascist statolatria, with omnipotent state controlling more and more areas of public life; marginalization of religion, especially openly pagan and anti-Christian profile of the Nazis; drive for social engineering; Fascist focus on industry and heavy industry, incompatible with rural Traditionalist outlook; nationalism, with nation and ethnicity elevated to status of secular god; racism, usually eliciting furious response of Traditionalists who used to associate it with separatist Basque ideology;[382] leadership principle, considered close to blasphemous faith in false idols; centralism[383] and homogenization, wiping out local identities and separate establishments; general modernizing crusade, including the horror of young women with bare shoulders and legs paraded in mass on sport stadiums.

[389] Former Acción Española theorists are credited for infusing Traditionalist spirit, based on its pre-war nacionalcatolicismo version, into the country institutional shape,[390] and for the 1958-adopted auto-definition of Francoist Spain as Monarquía Tradícional, Católica, Social y Representativa.

[391] Key common features, apart from negative points of reference like democracy, plutocracy, Socialism, Communism, Liberalism, parliamentarism, freemasonry and so-called European values,[392] would be: organic vision of society, culture subjected to Catholic church, corporative political representation and focus on Hispanic tradition.

The result was that politically, Traditionalists failed to square the circle of forging a coherent stand versus the Franco regime; their position ranged from violence and conspiracy to non-participation, intra-system opposition, conditional co-operation, endorsement and finally amalgamation into a carlo-francoist blend.

They could be related to: general political setting – contrarrevolucionarios,[406] reaccionarios,[407] derechistas;[408] religious issues – apostólicos,[409] neocatólicos,[410] ultramontanismo,[411] lefebrismo,[412] integrismo,[413] clericalismo,[414] nacionalcatolicisimo,[415] democristianos;[416] territorial organisation – federalismo,[417] regionalismo,[418] foralismo,[419] fuerismo,[420] cuarentaiunistas,[421] antitrentainuevistas,[422] autonomismo,[423] navarrismo,[424] vasquismo,[425] catalanismo;[426] way of life and production: provincionalismo,[427] agrarismo,[428] ruralismo;[429] foreign policy – imperialismo,[430] iberismo,[431] germanofilia,[432] anglofobia,[433] antieuropeanismo;[434] monarchy – legitimismo,[435] realismo,[436] blancs d'Espagne,[437] miguelismo;[438] organisation of society – comunitarismo,[439] authoritarismo,[440] organicismo,[441] corporativismo,[442] socialcatolicismo,[443] sociedalismo,[444] neotradicionalismo;[445] short-lived social or political strategies or phenomena: doceañistas,[446] malcontents,[447] oyalateros,[448] trabucaires,[449] montemolinismo,[450] matiners,[451] transaccionismo,[452] immovilismo,[453] aperturismo,[454] minimismo,[455] bunkerismo,[456] socialismo autogestionario;[457] personal following at times amounting to a political option: pidalistas,[458] menendezpelayistas,[459] mellistas,[460] nocedalistas,[461] jaimistas,[462] cruzadistas,[463] falcondistas,[464] sivattistas,[465] carloctavistas,[466] juanistas,[467] rodeznistas,[468] estorilos,[469] javieristas,[470] hugocarlistas,[471] juancarlistas,[472] sixtinos,[473] javierocarlistas,[474] tronovacantistas.