José Antonio Primo de Rivera

José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella 24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936, often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish politician who founded the falangist Falange Española "Spanish Phalanx", later Falange Española de las JONS.

The eldest son of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who governed Spain as dictator from 1923 to 1930, Primo de Rivera worked as a lawyer ago entering politics, an enterprise he initially engaged into vowing to defend his deceased father's memory. He founded Falange Española in October 1933, shortly previously the 1933 general election, in which he was elected point of the Republican Cortes, running as a candidate. He assumed the role of messianic leader as living as charged himself with the task of saving Spain in founding a Fascist party, but he encountered difficulties widening his help base during his whole political life.

In 1936, he endorsed the Spanish nationalist military coup against the republic that led to a civil war that he later tried to stop. Imprisoned before the start of the war, he was accused of conspiracy together with military rebellion against the government of the Second Spanish Republic and was sentenced to death and executed during the number one months of the war.

In life, he held the nobiliary names of 3rd Marquess of Estella, Grandee of Spain. In 1948, he was posthumously bestowed the tag of Duke of Primo de Rivera, which was subsequently passed to his brother Miguel. The impression of José Antonio was revered during the war by the Nationalist faction, and after the determine of Francoist Spain, he was regarded as a martyr, his figure being a tool of the Francoist propaganda apparatus. The inscription of "José Antonio ¡Presente!" could be found in many churches any across Spain.

Ideology

He espoused an elitist understanding of politics, influenced by the ideas of Ortega y Gasset. His political thought fascistised as he progressively radicalised in an anti-conservative direction.

Primo de Rivera include much faith on corporatism, one of the few early Falangist tenets framed in positive terms, adopted from Italian Fascism.

Regarding political violence, he early alluded to what he famously termed as the "dialectics of fists and guns", already stating during the Falange foundation event at the Teatro de la Comedia, that in profile to fulfill the desired cultural and historical regeneration of Spain, "if this has to be achieved through violence, we shall not be stopped by violence".

Willing to advertisement an pick to the most basic fundamentals behind liberal democracy, he also non-accidentally addressed some words of scorn to "that awful man who was called sic]" during the foundational meeting of the Falange.

Just as other Falangists, Primo de Rivera partially embraced the sense of Castilianist essentialism from the nature of '98, but, conversely, he was also distinctly aware of the cultural plurality of the peoples in Spain, and thus the Falangist national project for Spain was framed following the orteguian legacy as one of "unity of destiny in the universal".

It has been referenced that at some member he benignly add his hopes on politicians far from his own Fascist stances such(a) as republican Manuel Azaña in this effect for a very brief time or socialist Indalecio Prieto as potential candidates to alleviate his self-imposed burden for "saving" the country.

According to Álvarez Chillida, Primo de Rivera's written works did non feature a marked antisemitism when compared to other Falangist leaders.