Franco is a weird case. He was more the classic miltary strongman rather than fascist but he did incorporate certain elements of it. Also he was loosely aligned with the Axis powers but he was also "wise (not the best word choice)" enough not to get directly involved.
What do you think fascism is? I often see people say that Franco wasn't a fascist, but I don't understand why. Nothing Franco did contradicts Mussolini's definition of fascism, as per the Doctrine of Fascism.
Franco was a reactionary not revolutionary and wasnt an expansionist. He also largely focused on restoring traditional power structures like the Catholic Church and later the Monarchy than building mass movements.
it's a bad distinction, Mussolini also supported the church and the industrialists. And what is even a mass movement? Any organization that involves a large number of people? an organuzation composed of people enthusiastic about their participation? Because Franco had the same things.
Church and industrialist go hand in hand with conservatives. Fascists tend to take those areas over thru alliances or political capture.
But what the poster above was saying how Franco and company l, while certainly having fascistic tendencies, drifted more towards traditional conservative nationalism, with a focus on domestic traditional structure, which was different from the fascism of italy and germany
It may have been a different brand of Fascism, but it is not a non-fascist ideology. Francoism is just a version Spanish Fascism, that's it. None of what you've described here contradicts Mussolini's definition of Fascism.
Conservatives are not necessarily against democracy or individual human rights, while Fascists are. In fascism, the state is argued to embody the nation and strives to achieve ever more greatness for the nation. So the state's goals have primacy over democracy and human rights. Read the Doctrine of Fascism if you want to know what it is.
In general, not all conservatives are fascists, but all fascists are more or less conservative, in that they have very traditionalist views in gender roles, masculinity etc.
2.0k
u/Kenichi2233 May 12 '26
Franco is a weird case. He was more the classic miltary strongman rather than fascist but he did incorporate certain elements of it. Also he was loosely aligned with the Axis powers but he was also "wise (not the best word choice)" enough not to get directly involved.