Over the whole of Spain, a cloudless sky. "A cloudless sky over all of Spain

"All over Spain clear sky... "(Spanish: Sobre toda Espana el cielo esta despejado) - this code phrase, transmitted on July 18, 1936 by the radio station of the city of Ceuta (in those years, Spanish Morocco) became the signal for the start of a coup d'etat in Spain led by General of the Spanish Army Francisco Franco.

The Spanish events were ambiguously perceived in Europe and America. Most developed countries proclaimed a policy of non-intervention in Spanish affairs, Italy and Germany supported the rebels, the USSR took the side of the republican government. Italy sent regular troops to help putschists total strength about 100 thousand people, Germany - Legion "Condor". Soviet Union helped the Republicans with arms supplies and volunteers.

During the 3 years of the war, the USSR supplied the Spanish Republic, cut off by the policy of non-intervention from sources of acquiring weapons, 648 combat aircraft, 362 tanks, 120 armored vehicles, 1186 guns, more than 20 thousand machine guns and other weapons. At the same time, during the deliveries, 96 Soviet ships were detained by the Nazis, and 3 of them were sunk.

About 3 thousand Soviet military advisers fought in Spain: tankers, pilots, artillerymen, technicians, sailors, and NKVD workers. Officially, they were considered volunteers - the Soviet government thereby demonstrated that it did not allow direct intervention in the Spanish conflict - but in reality they were seconded by the People's Commissariat of Defense.

Soviet specialists rendered great assistance to the Spanish Republic, forming the backbone of the air force and armored forces. Pilots P.V. fought in Spain. Rychagov, A.K. Serov, M.M. Polivanov, S.I. Gritsevets, tankers S.M. Krivoshein, V.M. Novikov, D.G. Pavlov and others. Ya.K. Berzin, G.M. Stern, P.I. Batov, R.Ya. Malinovsky, A.I. Rodimtsev. The highest form of solidarity was international brigades, formed from volunteers from 54 countries of the world. Moreover, the Soviet Union could not stand aside. The country, which survived the revolution, civil war and intervention, was one of the first to come to the aid of the heroic Spanish people. The USSR provided Spain with great multifaceted assistance, defending the interests of the Spanish people in the League of Nations, sending food, medicines, and various types of weapons. At the municipal cemetery of Fuencorral near Madrid, the names of the dead are engraved on the obelisk Soviet citizens who fought on the side of the Republic. Eternal memory to them!

The memorial is crowned with an inscription in Russian and Spanish: "In memory of Soviet volunteers, 1936-1939" ("A la memoria de los voluntarios soviéticos, 1936-1939"). The names of 182 dead volunteers are carved on the side of the monument, but this list is not only incomplete, but also not accurate.

Monument Soviet pilots who died in Spain near Toledo

"...He left the hut, went to fight in order to give the land in Grenada to the peasants ..."

Soviet tank volunteers in Spain

Soviet volunteer pilots at the I-15 aircraft.

Tankers of the International Brigade.

Soviet pilots in Spain.

International brigade volunteers.

Soviet volunteer pilots who fought for the just cause of the Spanish people. From left to right: B. Smirnov, A. Serov, M. Yakushin. 1938

Soviet volunteer fighter pilots at the airfield at Alcala de Henares

Tank T-26 from the international brigades in Spain.

Soviet tankers at the graves of their comrades who died during the Spanish Civil War.

Soviet tankers in Spain

A cloudless sky over all of Spain
A code phrase that entered the history of Europe, transmitted on July 18, 1936 by the radio station of the city of Ceuta (Spanish Morocco in those years) and served as a signal for the start of a coup d'état in Spain. Led
conspiracy against the legitimate republican government, the general of the Spanish army, Francisco Franco. On July 23, 1936, in Burgos, he formed a government of his adherents, and this was the actual beginning of the civil war in Spain.
The war ended in March 1939 with the victory of the Franco rebels, supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and the establishment of the dictatorship of General Franco. At the parade in honor of his victory, raising his hand in a fascist salute, he declared: "We have done away with the ideas of the encyclopedists in Spain forever."
The period of dictatorship officially ended in 1978, when a new constitution was democratically adopted in Spain, in which the country was proclaimed a republic under the current monarch-guarantor of the constitution.
Quoted: as a phrase-symbol of a conditional signal that starts any process or action.

encyclopedic Dictionary winged words and expressions. - M.: "Lokid-Press". Vadim Serov. 2003 .

See what "A cloudless sky over all of Spain" is in other dictionaries:

- “A cloudless sky over all of Spain” (presumably Spanish. Sobre toda España el cielo está despejado) according to the established opinion, the password (call sign) to the beginning of the military rebellion against the Second Republic in Spain. It is believed that this phrase, ... ... Wikipedia

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Books

Secret pages of history, Frolov Viktor Alekseevich. The book analyzes the fate of a series historical figures about which there is already a stable (but not always objective) public opinion. In the first part of the book - Crucified by history - before ...

Caudillo Franco saved the country as best he could

On July 18, 1936, 75 years ago, Spain took a step away from communism. Francisco Franco differed from all dictators in one essential feature - the absence of many-sidedness, more precisely, the many-sided baseness. The interests of Spain were dearer to him than various defiles. They raised him above the void amid vanity and routine. However, he did not escape the gloomy failures in terror. Rivers of blood shed by him in the name of a cloudless sky over Spain. Francisco Franco definitely did not resemble other rulers who had never fought and had military ranks ...

...Franco was a true combat officer. As part of a foreign legion, he went through a war in Northern Morocco, where Spain fought with the Riff Republic. In 1925 he received the rank of colonel, in 1926 he became the youngest general not only in Spain, but also in Europe, in 1927 he was the head of the Higher Military Academy of the General Staff in Zaragoza, where he proved himself to be mature, educated and professional. trained leader.

Clouds over Spain. In 1931, things were about to change in Spain. The Republicans won the municipal elections, and the radio announced the creation of the Provisional Government. However, General Franco made it clear that he would not support the new government, and categorically forbade the cadets to leave the walls of the academy so that none of them would join the people. Clouds immediately gathered over his head. The head of the new government, Manuel Azaña, ordered the closure of the academy, and a few days later he sent the general himself away as a division commander in Zaragoza. Franco followed orders.

Franco knew how to drive

However, six months later another decline followed. The situation in Spain was alarming, a conspiracy was brewing, and Franco was ordered to go to the provincial La Coruña as the commander of an infantry brigade ... Of course, the service in the province did not satisfy the young and ambitious general: he had life in front of him, and he was kept in La Coruña. But in changing times, life is also changeable.

Fate smiled on Franco. He met the Minister of War, Ignacio Hidalgo, whom he managed to impress. The minister noticed him, and when on October 5, 1934, a political strike broke out in the mining Asturias, which grew into an uprising, Franco was remembered, called and appointed head of the center to suppress the uprising.

The disgraced Franco knew Asturias well and chose a winning tactic for the punitive operation. It was necessary to justify the expectation of the minister, so as not to return to the hateful La Coruña. The fate of the rebels was in the hands of the general. Francisco believed the medieval legend. In it, the Roman soothsayer augur said that the time would come, the caudillo would appear and save Spain. The general felt like such a caudillo. He needed to "save" Spain and at the same time not forget about himself. But the task proved difficult. He wanted to be irreconcilable, but turned out to be cruel, he wanted to stop dissent, but he stopped lives. He had to live up to the minister's expectations at all costs. And he justified it at the cost of huge sacrifices. The promotion finally followed - he became chief of the General Staff.

But the clouds did not dissipate over his head. The situation was precarious, it was too precarious political situation in Spain. The Popular Front won the elections in February 1936, Franco tried to convince the minister to introduce martial law, he was refused, moreover, he was considered a "dangerous" general. Franco was assigned to the Canary Islands.

Under cover of counterintelligence. Still, Franco was not an ordinary general. The entire garrison of the Canaries was under his influence: at a meeting in the forest near Santa Cruz, Franco announced officers about his decision to become the head of a counter-revolutionary uprising in Spain, and he was supported. An employee of the German "Abwehr" - an employee in the trade department, a certain Nieman, was present at a secret officer's meeting. Where did this coincidence come from? The mystery was explained later - Franco had close ties with the head of the intelligence and counterintelligence department of Germany, Admiral Wilhelm Franz Canaris. A trusted officer from Franco went to Canaris directly in Berlin, accompanied by Niemann, and soon returned with Germany's consent to Franco's support as head of the counter-revolution in Spain.

Franco knew how to negotiate with everyone, including Mussolini

By August, the rebel army on German planes under the cover of German ships was transferred to the Iberian Peninsula, the group under the command of Franco began to march on Madrid, the northern group moved to Caceres, where it was planned to connect both armies. A "great civil war" began in Spain.

In July 1936 the group rebel generals created the Junta of National Defense and in September issued a decree transferring Franco the supreme power in the country and conferring on him the title of Generalissimo. AT war time this meant that he became the head of the government.

Germany did not provide assistance to the Francoists for free. Hermann Goering organized industrial organizations in Spain to prepare for the export of Spanish industrial raw materials as compensation. Spain turned into a German intelligence base, the Reich fleet was repaired and supplied in the ports of Spain. And yet, Franco's maneuvers achieved their goal: Spain remained a neutral state and did not conflict with Germany ...

Caudillo. Until 1939, Franco remained head of state (caudillo) and leader national movement(phalanges). All power was in his hands. He had the right to issue decrees having the force of law, to appoint ministers, governors, generals. In 1938, the resistance of the Republicans was broken, and despite the fact that the Francoists failed to take Madrid, after the Battle of Catalonia, won by the power of German arms, Franco declared the civil war over. The success of his actions in Spain contributed to popularity in the highest political circles. Even before the end of the civil war, the Francoist government recognized the countries of the fascist axis. This gave the caudillos confidence and allowed them to act extremely cruelly in Spain itself. The repressions and terror perpetrated on the orders of Franco could not soften even the requests of the highest Catholic clergy, even the Pope himself. Republican institutions were destroyed: the constitution, the Cortes (parliament), the government - all political parties and trade unions were dispersed. For two decades, articles with bloody details of Francoist reality did not descend from the pages of the world press. Franco was depicted in the caricatures with a huge ax in his hands, from the sharp blade of which drops of blood flowed. His intransigence turned into cruelty.

Canaris's agent is smarter than Hitler. In 1939 the Second World War, but Franco had no intention of dragging Spain into it. On 4 September, he made a radio statement and called on the Spaniards to "maintain strict neutrality". And on October 25, 1940, Franco met with Adolf Hitler for the first and last time. Their conversation looked a little strange; Hitler had not been spoken to like that for a long time. Caudillo refused to miss German troops through Spain to capture Gibraltar. Franco argued his refusal as follows: the Fuhrer's plan infringes on the national dignity of the Spaniards - Gibraltar should be taken only by their forces. He reminded of the fate of the Napoleonic troops in Spain - there are still many Republicans in the country, and they will certainly begin guerrilla war against the Germans. Franco knew Spain better. The Fuhrer heeded his arguments, but was dissatisfied with the caudillo. He stated that he would rather have three or four teeth pulled out than to face something like this again. This was Hitler's first diplomatic defeat by his own protégé and ally.

But the Spanish blue division" on the Soviet-German front I still had to send a caudillo. Although, no doubt, he had no desire to please Hitler or take advantage of his victories. Rather, hostility to communism played a role here. Convinced that the Spaniards were suffering huge losses, Franco withdrew the division ...

State of limited dictatorship. In Spain, Franco remained an indisputable authority, and perhaps that is why he could not avoid the fate of most dictators. He, an adherent of discipline, was not disgusted by the unbridled praise with which the newspapers were filled. He, like Mussolini and Hitler, was compared with Charles V the Wise, Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, called the "moral leader of anti-communist Europe", "the pride of the race", "a genius of geniuses", "a champion of freedom", in a word, all those on that servility and hidden self-interest are capable of troubled waters. And the freedom advocate had prisons full of political prisoners. Franco himself once talked with the American ambassador and casually admitted that yes, there are about 26,000 of them (political prisoners). But according to American data, this figure was higher, it reached 225 thousand. The Yankees have always been better at counting in other people's prisons...

And who could argue with him

Still, what mattered was what the dictator thought of the Spaniards. He followed the path from an "absolute" dictatorship to a representative monarchy. In July 1945, the Cortes approved the Charter of the Spaniards. The charter guaranteed the inviolability of the person, the home, the secrecy of correspondence, and arrests could be made exclusively on legal grounds. The freedom of "associations" was declared if they "pursued permitted goals" and "do not encroach on the basic principles of the state." The Francoist regime has even been called a "state of limited democracy" that unites all political parties and groups. In October 1945, the "People's Referendum Law" was passed, which provided for direct consultations with the nation.

Both documents did not limit the power of the caudillo, but the "uncrowned king" Franco did not claim the throne in Spain - in a country where monarchical traditions were strong. He even emphasized this in February 1946, saying that he saw the future of the country in the monarchy. And in July, in confirmation of this, he adopted a new “Law on the succession to the post of head of state”, according to which the head of state was the caudillo of Spain and crusade, Generalissimo of the Armed Forces Francisco Franco Baamonde. The tenure of the caudillo was unlimited. But the limitation of the power of the dictator, albeit somewhat ostentatious, he nevertheless introduced already at that time. Together with him, at the head of the state now stood the Council of the Realm of 17 people and the Council of the Regency of 3 people; President of the Cortes, Bishop and Captain General. The regents prepared the heir for the accession to the throne.

The present and future of Spain. Who was the heir? In 1948, with the son of the last Spanish king, Don Juan de Bourbon, they agreed that the son of the latter, Juan Carlos, would come to Spain. In January 1955, the 17-year-old prince arrived in Madrid. Caudillo looked closely at the candidate for a long time, but was satisfied and, in July 1959, having gathered an emergency session of the Cortes, he proclaimed the prince heir to the Spanish throne. Until his death, Franco remained a mentor to Juan Carlos, taught the prince to find contact with the people, know their needs and try to resolve them.

Caudillo liked to communicate with artists. And they are with him

In the 60s and 70s, Spain was no longer recognizable. New Deal strengthening of the economy led the country to a real economic boom. From a backward agrarian country, it turned into a prosperous industrial one. Investments poured in, tourism took off. Planning measures, centralization of management and subsidies from the state budget have done their good deed. Free medical service, the social security system, the 13th and 14th salaries were paid for Christmas and the anniversary of the Francoist speech. The state began planning the construction of apartments for the population. Opinion polls all showed that the Spaniards highly valued the role of the state in improving their well-being.

Spain began to prosper, but the creator of this miracle was already leaving the stage. On October 1, 1975, he appeared for the last time in front of his fans, on the 14th he had a heart attack. Juan Carlos, who was called to bed by Franco, heard the tutor trying to talk about the unity of Spain. The prince, who ascended the throne under the name of Juan Carlos II, carried out the will of the caudillo. The Spanish king adopted a new constitution, according to which the country became a parliamentary monarchy. Franco's reliance on the traditional values of his people paid off.

He left great

A month after his death, on November 21, 1975, the testament of the caudillo, read by him during his lifetime, was broadcast on the radio: “May everyone forgive me, as I myself forgive from the bottom of my heart everyone who calls themselves my enemies, although I did not see them as such ", - he said…

P.S. Recently, the last statue of Francisco Franco Baamonde that remained in the Spanish capital was dismantled in Madrid. We are talking about a 7-meter equestrian statue of the dictator, which was sculpted in 1956 by the sculptor José Capos. The copper sculpture stood on the central avenue of the city of Castellana. Opponents of the Franco monument, who regard it as a "symbol of fascism" contrary to democracy and the spirit of the Spanish constitution, have for many years insisted that the dictator sitting on a horse be removed from the eyes of Madrid and visitors to the capital. Whatever epithets he was awarded during his long and hectic life! Tyrant, executioner, fascist, obscurantist, inquisitor in Torquemada's worn cloak and religious fanatic, enemy of everything new and progressive.

During the reign of the Spanish dictator, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards became victims of repression. Spanish anti-fascists and fighters of the International Brigades were executed without trial by the Francoists. By order of Franco, mass executions were carried out in the country, opponents of the regime were sent to concentration camps.

This Franco was removed ...

The decision to remove the monument to the dictator was taken by the socialist government of Spain and implemented without delay. The equestrian statue has been sent to a warehouse on the outskirts of Madrid and will be stored there, along with other symbols of the Francoist dictatorship ...

Alexander PROSANDEEV

A code phrase that entered the history of Europe, transmitted on July 18, 1936 by the radio station of the city of Ceuta (Spanish Morocco in those years) and served as a signal for the start of a coup d'état in Spain. Led a conspiracy against legitimate Republican... ... Dictionary of winged words and expressions

A cloudless sky over all of Spain- “A cloudless sky over all of Spain” (presumably Spanish. Sobre toda España el cielo está despejado) according to the established opinion, the password (call sign) to the beginning of the military rebellion against the Second Republic in Spain. It is believed that this phrase, ... ... Wikipedia

sky- noun, s., use. very often Morphology: (no) what? sky, why? sky, (see) what? sky what? sky, what? about the sky 1. The sky is air space above the ground, which you can see if you look up the street. Blue, grey, black... ... Dictionary of Dmitriev

sky- velvet (Nadson); velvet black (Serafimovich); boundless (Smirnov); boundless (Balmont, Barantsevich); bottomless (Bunin, Dravert); silent (Yu. Svetogor); silent (Blok, Bashkin); serene (Kozlov); serenely beautiful (Andreev); ... ... Dictionary of epithets

sky- a; pl. heaven /, sky / s, a / m; cf. see also celestial 1) a) Airspace visible above the ground (opposite: ground/) Blue, black, gray sky/sky. Clear, pure, cloudless sky/bo… Dictionary of many expressions

Russia. Physical Geography: Climate- R. occupies such a large area not only from west to east, but also from north to south, that the climate of its different parts, of course, is very different; but the rather widespread opinion is unfair that all climates from polar to tropical are found in R.: ... ...

Weather* Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Weather- The content of the article: the main features of the doctrine of P.; synoptic meteorology as the doctrine of non-periodic weather changes; areas of low and high pressure; minor forms of distribution atmospheric pressure and P.; Basic Rules… … Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Cloudiness- This is the name of the size of the part vault of heaven covered with clouds. It is customary to denote a cloudless sky by the number 0, completely covered with clouds by the number 10. O. has great importance for the climate, both in terms of light and heat. Closing... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Spanish Civil War- Death of Republican anarchist Federico Borrell Garcia (photo by Robert Capa) ... Wikipedia

Books

Argentina. Cage, Andrey Valentinov. ... Europe, 1936. "A cloudless sky over all Spain", foreign troops enter Spanish soil, echo imminent war even reaches the small French town of Avalan. That's it ... Buy for 159 rubles electronic book
Expansion-2. Cloudless sky in Spain, Yulian Semyonov. "Expansion-II. The cloudless sky of Spain" is a continuation of the novel "Expansion - I", where again Colonel Maxim Maksimovich Isaev [Stirlitz] flawlessly copes with…

"A cloudless sky over all Spain." With this phrase, broadcast on the radio, an uprising of Spanish nationalists began against the left-wing republican government. Three years of a meat grinder and half a million lives - this is the price Spain paid for the liberation from the "red boor" standing at the door.

By that time, the stinking specter of communism had been roaming Europe for nearly 20 years. Although Spain did not participate in the First World War, by the beginning of the 20s. The country was in a deep crisis. Separatist unrest in Catalonia and a humiliating war in Morocco, in which Spain suffered defeat after defeat, the constant threat posed by the anarchists (the number of members of the anarchist trade union CNT reached a million people, violence, murder, arson were a constant companion public life), - to cope with all this was beyond the power of the royal ministers. Like King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, who made Benito Mussolini dictator in 1923, King Alfonso XIII of Spain in the same 1923 establishes the military dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, appointing him prime minister with extraordinary powers.

Alfonso XIII and Miguel Primo de Rivera

Primo de Rivera's government, largely thanks to the talents of the young Minister of Finance Calvo Sotelo, is energetically seeking to improve the situation in the economy, enlisting the support of national capital. An ambitious public works program (building highways and especially railways) gave the regime the appearance of prosperity. The socialist fermentation was frozen, but under a thin crust of external peace, the hellish magmas of the future revolution continued to seethe inside. Miguel Primo de Rivera despised the so-called "liberal public", which alienated both the intelligentsia and most of the officer corps. During the years of dictatorship in society, it was not possible to achieve unity. Every now and then, anarchist unrest breaks out, the military rebels, leftist forces gain influence ... The global economic crisis of 1929 put an end to the grandiose financial plans of Primo de Rivera, and the dictator found himself completely alone.

In 1930, under pressure from society, the king dismissed the government of General Primo de Rivera, not realizing that by doing so he was simultaneously signing the death warrant of the entire Spanish monarchy. A year later, a revolution begins in Spain, there is no one to save the monarchy (Primo de Rivera, after his resignation, leaves for Paris, where he dies after 6 weeks). The king is overthrown, he flees the country (luckily, alive and unharmed), and a republican government is established in Spain. Manuel Azaña, a lawyer and a secret freemason, becomes prime minister (hello to Kerensky!). The volcano explodes: the revolutionary masses, intoxicated with victory, begin to smash churches, blaspheme in monasteries, rape nuns, even elderly and completely ugly ones, simply out of principle (to specifically a nun). Azaña refuses to take action against the participants in these anti-church pogroms, saying that "all the churches in Spain are not worth even one republican." (By the way, the pogromists diligently kept silent about the fact that the Church was the largest charitable organization in Spain, which provides significant assistance to the poor and unemployed, and that most of the Spanish priests were extremely poor and often did not get out of poverty, like their flock.

Manuel Azana

During Azaña's tenure, the concordat of 1851 was abolished (a treaty between Spain and the papacy that legitimized the status of Catholicism as state religion), the Jesuit order was banned, the system of church education was disbanded, and the divorce procedure was facilitated. Church funerals were banned (without providing written evidence that the deceased before death expressed a desire to be buried according to the Catholic rite); and even the organization of religious processions was made dependent on the permission of the authorities. The scale and variety of anti-religious activities of the Republicans caused growing indignation in the Catholic environment.

Azaña's other reforms were also aimed at destroying the traditional public and statehood. Azana halved the number of divisions of the Spanish army, reduced the officer corps by more than 18,000 people and closed the military academy in Zaragoza (which was headed by Francisco Franco - the youngest general in Europe at that time); in addition, all promotions in rank for special merits made during the Moroccan war of 1921-26 were canceled. The head of the republican government sought not only to save money, but also to completely exclude the army from political life. The security of the republic was henceforth predominantly the task of the police units, called the Guardia de Asalto.

In response to the horrors of republican rule in 1933, the "Spanish Falange" begins to form - popular movement to protect the honor and dignity of the Spaniards, to protect Catholic Church...to protect the nuns, after all. Finally, it will be headed by the same General Franco. He will defeat the Republicans and save Spain. But Franco was not the first. The first were precisely the Falangists - a purely popular movement, similar to the Black Hundreds of Kozma Minin in Russia, or the hammerers of Bertrand du Guesclin in France. But if the knight Bertrand was a barely noticeable nobleman (though, for his greatest services, he was awarded the post of constable - commander-in-chief of the troops of France), then the leader of the Spanish Falange was one of the most brilliant Spanish aristocrats - Marquis José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the former dictator. And the fact that he was a brilliant aristocrat did not in the least prevent ordinary petty bourgeois or peasants from going to the Falange. And students and high school students went to Phalanx in droves! (As, by the way, did our White movement during the Civil War.) His father, General Miguel Primo de Rivera, failed to save the monarchy. Now there was no monarchy, and José Antonio had to save Spain itself. There was nowhere to retreat.

Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera

José Antonio's personality had incredible magnetism. Absolutely imperturbable, incredibly fearless, amazingly handsome physically. Athlete, rider, shooter, brilliantly educated aristocrat. His background allowed him, being an unknown figure, to take the high post of vice secretary of the National Union of Monarchists. However, in modern Spanish monarchism, mossy and stuck in the 19th century, José Antonio quickly became disillusioned, and the monarchy in Spain soon came to an end. Primo de Rivera refers to the latest trends in philosophical and journalistic thought, politically shaped in various fascist movements (primarily in Italian).

“Fascism is not a tactic of violence, but the idea of unity. In contrast to Marxism, which affirms the class struggle as a dogma, and liberalism, whose mechanism is the struggle between parties, fascism believes that there is something higher than classes and parties, which has an eternal, transcendent, higher nature: this is a historical unity called the Motherland. Homeland is<…>the inner unity of all in serving one historical mission, a common higher destiny, which outlines for everyone his task, his rights and his victims.- so in March 1933 José Antonio wrote to his friend Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena.

Somewhat later, Primo de Rivera will formulate the classic definition of this new ideological and political movement:

"Fascism is universal way return of the people to themselves.

Fascism was a natural response to the hell that erupted during the First World War, which buried the cozy, reasonable, wonderful world XIX century. It was under the impression of the gigantic massacre and heaps of revolutions that were taking place then that Spengler wrote his "Decline of the West". The world revolution (albeit a failed one) really sought to destroy the traditional social structure and traditional statehood that stood in its way, to deprive the peoples of their essence. Naturally, reactionary (not in abusive, but in the full sense of the word) tendencies of restoration appear in response. “You are destroying our public and statehood, and we will restore it!”

They were everywhere. In England, France - they are noticeable, in Austria - they came to power, in Spain and Portugal - they won, in Italy - they came to power, in Germany ... they lost to the Nazis, they lost the competition (the fascist organization in Germany was not stormtroopers, not the NSDAP, but " Steel helmet", which was abolished by Hitler's rise to power). Therefore, back in 1931 in Spain, the ideas of fascism were picked up by the young philosopher Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, who, together with the zealous Catholic Ortega Onesimo Redondo, created the Junta of the National Syndicalist Offensive (J.O.N.S.). The combination of revolutionary syndicalist ideas and conservative traditionalist values was expressed in very unusual slogans: “Long live the new world!”, “Long live Fascist Italy!”, “Long live Soviet Russia”, “Long live Nazi Germany!”, “Long live our future Spain!”, “Down with parliamentary and bourgeois democracy!”. The exoticism of slogans and the extreme anti-clericalism of Ledesma Ramos, despite her vigorous activity, did not allow H.O.N.S. win over the masses. But what Ramos did not succeed, Primo de Rivere managed to do.

Ramiro Ledesma Ramos

In 1933, José Antonio approached Ramos and published, together with him, the newspaper "Fascia" ("El Fascio"), denouncing liberalism and Marxism, and opposing the path of national dictatorship to them. The newspaper is immediately banned, and the publisher is arrested. But the repression did not stop José Antonio. He travels to Italy to meet with Mussolini himself, and upon his return he establishes (October 29, 1933) his own own movement, calling it the "Spanish Phalanx". Initially, Primo de Rivera thought to call his organization "Spanish Fascism", but for obvious tactical reasons he refused - he did not want to play a monkey, and besides, he knew that the salvation of his country was possible only based on national characteristics:

“We are called imitators because our movement, the movement to return to the true essence of Spain, has analogies in movements that have previously arisen in other countries. Italy and Germany returned to their essence, disillusioned with the myths with which they were trying to sterilize. These countries are returning to their destiny, we want to do the same, but the identity we are striving for will be ours, not German or Italian, so by repeating what the Italians and Germans did, we will become in more Spaniards than they ever were."

Primo de Rivera and his Falangists had three years of hard and dangerous work that required maximum dedication:

“... We want to return Spain to optimism, self-confidence, to indicate a clear and energetic line common life. Therefore, our association is not a party, it is an army; therefore, we are not here to get into deputies, secretaries of state or ministers, but to ensure that everyone in his post fulfills the mission that has been entrusted to him.

In his political activity, Jose Antonio relied on the theoretical developments of philosophical and journalistic thought that were advanced for his time. However, much remains relevant to this day:

“We are all born into some kind of family. We all live in some municipal district. We all work in some institution or in some enterprise. But no one was born and does not live in a political party. A political party is an artificial entity that unites us with people from other municipalities or professions with whom we have nothing in common, and separates us from our neighbors and employees with whom we live together. The true state, as the Spanish Falange wants to see it, will not rely on the vicious system of political parties and the parliament that gave birth to them. It will be based on genuine, important realities: the family, the municipality, the corporation, or the union. Thus, the new state must recognize the inviolability of the family as a cell of society. The autonomy of municipal districts as territorial units and trade unions and corporations as the true foundations of the general organization of the state.- read the "Initial Principles" of the Spanish Falange.

... In response to the "Law of Azaña" that infringes on the army, the most authoritative of the Spanish generals, José Sangerjo, in 1932 withdrew soldiers from the barracks in Seville. Although the rebellion was crushed, it became clear that the army was not with the Republic. Azaña's anti-church policy and the growing discontent in society led to a conflict between the prime minister and the president, and the republican government brought itself to the brink of bankruptcy. September 9, 1933 Manuel Azaña resigned.

As a result of new elections, victory fell to the Confederation de Derechas Autonomas (CEDA) - the "Confederation of the Autonomous Right", formed on the basis of the Catholic Accion Popular (People's Action) party and led by José Maria Gil Robles. Fearing left-wing parties pushed into opposition, President Alcalá Zamora entrusted government formation to a slightly more "leftist" politician, Alejandro Lerrus, the leader of the moderate, centrist Republican Party, for which the elections were almost as successful as for CEDA. From the outside, the situation looked like a revenge of the right, conservative forces but warning voices were heard:

“... There are people who believe that the counter-revolution won in this lottery. Many are so happy. Again, Spain supposedly heals the wound by sewing it up, while the internal process continues. To put it simply, they declare that the revolution is over, while the revolution continues to live inside, more or less covered with a thin layer of ballots.

... We pretend not to notice that the situation is pre-revolutionary. On April 14, 1931, the system collapsed, not just one form of government, but the entire system, that is, the social, economic and political foundations on which this form of government was based. Naturally, those who took this semi-revolution seriously did not limit their ambitions to replacing the liberal monarchy with a bourgeois republic. Therefore, having seized power, they quickly lost the calm manners in which many had pinned their hopes. Azaña and the socialists, real revolutionaries, began to "make a revolution." Then the elections were held. The rightists, having justified grounds for protest and using the best methods, won the majority in parliament. A bourgeois republican government was formed, and for several weeks the conservative masses were in euphoria, imagining that the revolution was "over" like an irritating movie.<…>I must say right away that the revolution is alive and it threatens us.”

These words of José Antonio turned out to be prophetic. The history of Spain two and a half years after the general elections of November 1933 is characterized by a steady slide towards chaos, violence, killings and, finally, to the next round of revolution and civil war. In the conditions of the world economic crisis the positions of the radical left were strengthened, anarchist uprisings took place, which the government brutally suppressed. Largo Caballero, head of the Spanish socialists, called for the creation revolutionary army. It was at this moment that the communists, led by José Diaz and Dolores Ibarruri (nicknamed "Pasionaria"), were instructed by Moscow to strengthen their hitherto modest influence in alliance with other proletarian organizations, and joined (together with the anarchists) with the "Alianzas Obreras" ( Union of Labour) Largo Caballero. Detachments of youth hastily trained and armed.

Dolores Ibarruri and Largo Caballero

In September 1934, José Antonio wrote a letter to General Franco (it was in him that he guessed the future savior of the fatherland):

“... The victory of the socialists is tantamount to a foreign invasion, not only because the essence of Marxism from beginning to end contradicts the eternal spirit of Spain. Not only because the idea of the Motherland is despised under the socialist system, but because the socialists receive instructions in the most concrete way from the International. Any nation that falls under the rule of socialism is reduced to the level of a colony or protectorate.<…>Because of these bleak prospects, because of the chaotic, humiliating, absurd situation when Spain lost all concept of historical fate and all the dreams of fulfilling my mission, I am compelled to address you with this long letter. Undoubtedly, you will find in it topics for reflection ... ".

Franco answered José Antonio not in word but in deed. Less than a month after Primo de Rivera's letter, on October 5, 1934, the UGT ("General Union of Workers", a trade union center formed back in 1888) announced the start of a general strike and headed for an armed uprising. However, the crowd that rushed to the administrative quarters of Madrid was dispersed by several volleys of weapons. In Catalonia, power was seized by an autonomous government headed by Luis Companys, who proclaimed an independent Catalonia, but after a short skirmish with government troops, his troops were forced to surrender.

But in the province of Asturias, the uprising developed successfully: the united detachments of communists, socialists and anarchists cut off all transport routes, captured the arms factory with large forces, 10-15 times the number of local garrisons, moved to Oviedo and Gijón. After the capture of these cities, the rebels intended to proclaim there socialist republic. And it was here that the Republican government needed a veteran of the Moroccan war, General Franco: Minister of Defense Gil Robles invited him as a military expert.

Francisco Franco

Franco, although he did not hold any specific staff position at that time, gladly agreed (perhaps a letter from José Antonio also played a role), and in fact acted as head general staff taking control of government forces. Since communication with Asturias was almost non-existent, and there were no reserves in sufficient numbers in the surrounding areas, Franco advised that troops be brought up from North Africa, which was done. By October 15, 1934, the uprising was crushed.

The right-wing Republicans, led by Lerrus, would very willingly finish off a defeated enemy, but Alcala Zamora warned them against this step. The parties and trade unions of the left took an oath of vengeance. They vehemently accused African soldiers of brutality and warmly welcomed Largo Caballero and Azana, who were arrested but soon released as martyrs of a failed communist revolution. Naturally, the events in Asturias caused horror among the Spanish middle class. Now it seemed to them that almost everything, even a military dictatorship, was preferable to the existing political confusion.

In 1934 (March 4) the Spanish Falange unites with H.O.N.S., Ledesma Ramos is issued membership card No. 1, but the true leader of the new movement is actually José Antonio. This rivalry eventually led to Ramos' departure from the Falange, after his public criticism of Primo de Rivera for contacts with the church and the "upper classes". José Antonio became the leader of the Falange (more precisely, the "national leader": Jefe nacional de la Falange Espaóola de las J.O.N.S).

In the center - Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera

Lerrou continued to be Prime Minister of Spain, making extraordinary efforts to find a middle path that suited everyone in the maelstrom of Spanish politics. After a prolonged government crisis, Lerroux formed new office, which included five representatives from CEDA, including Gil Robles as Minister of War. The new government of Spain (right, Catholic - it seemed that the revolution had been overcome ...) got down to business. A proposal was made to revise certain articles of the Constitution. The nature of regional autonomy was to be modified, a senate was to be organized, laws on divorce and marriage were to be revised... But they failed to reach an agreement on any of these issues. Gil Robles and his CEDA team have resigned. President Alcalá Zamora tried all sorts of party combinations to create a workable administration, but failed time after time. There was no mutual understanding either between the parliament and the government, or within the government. In the end, Zamora decided to dissolve the Cortes (Parliament) and call new elections for February 16, 1936.

Gil Robles and Alcala Zamora

And Jose Antonio (even in the elections of 1933, by the way, he was elected as a deputy from the Falange), writes articles, travels around the country, speaks at rallies, meets with the people, gives interviews, tirelessly warning the Spaniards about the coming “red boor”. Spain heard his speeches, but did not want to listen.

“... The drama of the Phalanx is aggravated by the fact that it is surrounded by false interpretations, both from enemies and from friends. Some bluntly accuse us that our organization intends to redistribute land holdings. Others, with an intellectual bias, consider us to be in favor of the absorption of the individual by the state. Still others hate us as representatives of the blackest reaction. Fourth love us very much, because they see us as future saviors of their digestion. What nonsense about our movement one cannot read and hear! In vain do we travel around Spain and wheeze while making speeches, in vain do we publish newspapers. The Spaniards, firmly convinced that their first conclusions are infallible, reject us, and we ask them, as alms, at least a little attention.- José Antonio wrote in August 1935 in the article "Tradition and Revolution".

At the end of 1935, Primo de Rivera speaks with deadly frankness:

“We don't have Spain. This is the most important thing to say on the eve of the elections.”

Subsequent events confirmed the correctness of these words. In the 1936 elections, the left parties united in a bloc called the "People's Front" (the name was proposed communist party). Election campaign passed relatively calmly, the elections too (for example, the correspondent of the British "Times" reported that the elections were held in "generally exemplary") ... And they won People's Front. Leftist Spain exploded with jubilation. Boundless enthusiasm for the victory of the Popular Front raged everywhere. In front of the building of the Ministry of the Interior in Madrid, shouting "Amnesty!" huge crowds gathered. In Oviedo, armed supporters of the Popular Front, awaiting the results of the elections, opened the gates of the prison where most of the prisoners taken after the attempted revolution in Asturias were kept. Together with them, ordinary criminals were also freed.

On February 19, President Zamora appointed our old friend Manuel Azaña (People's Front candidate) as prime minister. The red wheel has turned again.

Azagna's first act as prime minister was to sign an amnesty for all political prisoners. Another decree from Azaña gave deputies from Catalonia the right to choose their own government. Formed by Azaña himself, the Spanish government is almost entirely made up of representatives of his own party, that is, the republican left. Since the election, violence, killings and arson have swept across the country. On May 1, 1936, the People's Front, as expected, celebrated with a frightening military parade. Above the marching columns waved a sea of red banners, banners with images of Marx, Lenin and Stalin fluttered.

In the terrible days of 1936, José Antonio, already in a Madrid prison (formally he was arrested because unregistered weapons were found on him), wrote an appeal to all the military:

“... You heard on the streets not only the cries of “Long live Russia!” and “Russia - yes, Spain - no!”, but also the monstrously shameless slogan “Death to Spain!” (No one has yet been punished for such cries, but hundreds of people have already been imprisoned for shouting “Long live Spain” or “Rise, Spain!”). The essence of the movement is radically anti-Spanish. Disgrace, encouragement of the collective prostitution of working youth during holidays in the bosom of nature, in which all sorts of shamelessness are happening. Undermining the family, replaced by free love, communal canteens, facilitating divorces and abortions (have you heard Spanish girls screaming these days: “Children yes, husbands no!”?). The denial of the honor that has always determined the affairs of the Spaniards, even in the lower strata. Today meanness reigns in Spain, people are being killed cowardly, attacking one by a hundred. Betrayals and denunciations are praised.

Is this Spain? Is it the Spanish people? We live as if in some kind of nightmare, the old Spanish people (seasoned, courageous, generous) seem to have been replaced by a fanatical, degenerate plebs, under the narcotic influence of communist propaganda.

Your weapons must come into action to save fundamental values, violating a discipline that has become illusory. And so it was always: the last word remained with the weapon. At the last moment - as Spengler said - there is always a detachment of soldiers who will save civilization. The saddest day in the recent history of the Russian army was the day when its officers, wearing red bows, offered their services revolutionary authorities. Shortly thereafter, a “political commissar” was assigned to each officer by the communists, and even later, many of them were shot. As a result of this capitulation of the Russian military, Russia ceased to be part of European civilization. Do you want the same fate for Spain?

Without your strength, soldiers, it will be titanicly difficult for us to win the fight. With your strength, we will win a decisive victory over the enemy. Think of your terrible responsibility. What happens to Spain is up to you. Form the strongest alliance today, without waiting for the hesitant to join. Swear on your honor that you will respond to the signal for battle, which will sound soon. And repeat the words of the old oath: "May God reward us if we do it, and may he ask us if we don't do it." Arise, Spain!

This text was written by José Antonio on March 4, 1936. And on July 17, a radio station in Ceuta (a Spanish fortress opposite Gibraltar) transmitted a code phrase that became known to the whole world: “A cloudless sky over all of Spain.” The right-wing military rebelled against the left-wing revolutionary government.

What did the nationalists save Spain from? For example, from the terrible, purely Bolshevik secret police - “check” - which appeared in those terrible days of 1936 (Not an abbreviation of two letters, because it is not abbreviated in Spanish, but it was written like that, in one word - “checa” I liked the word.) In fact, at all times, in all countries, all peoples had robberies, murders, rapes and other abominations. But there is an argument that hits without a miss, proving that nothing more terrible than the communist regime, apparently, has simply never happened. NEVER. ANYWHERE. No Nazi Germany was even close.

Let's compare what we had in the USSR (and we were the ideal for the Spanish "Reds") with the unsympathetic totalitarian Hitler regime. They killed here and there, there was a secret police there and there. All in all, a pretty ugly guard. And there was no need to get caught in the secret police, right? But this is where the general ends. If you were not lucky enough to get into the Gestapo, what was beaten out of you? They beat the TRUTH out of you - appearances, passwords, accomplices in a crime. And if you got into the NKVD, they knocked out of you FALSE - "sign what I ordered you." And here all comparisons end. Robberies, murders, rapes are secondary. And this is the worst thing. This is what the nationalists saved Spain from - Spain, which for all these five years did not want to be saved.

... At the trial (Primo de Rivera was judged by the so-called "People's Court" of the small provincial town of Alicante, where she was transferred from Madrid) Jose Antonio refused to defend, saying that he was educated enough to independently defend himself before the republican court (according to Education Primo de Rivera was a lawyer). He said this not out of pride, and not even out of doom, but because

"... if I agree to the services of a lawyer, then you will then shoot him, and I do not want to be guilty of the death of even one honest person."

Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera

The events of the Spanish counter-revolution unfolded at lightning speed. The rebels called on the people to disobey the government, offering to support the army, which defended the unity and revival of great Spain. The backbone of the detachments that came out in support of the rebellious military were precisely the Falangists - the work done by José Antonio in these three years was not in vain. And after the death on July 20 in a plane crash of the leader of the rebellious nationalists, General José Sanjurjo, on September 29, the leader (namely, the leader, because along with the assignment of the rank of "generalissimo" he was given the title "caudillo" - caudillo) of the rebels was elected the young general Francisco Franco - the same the general to whom Primo de Rivera wrote his message 2 years ago.

Francisco Franco

And Jose Antonio himself, captivated by the red bastard, on November 20, 1936, with his head held high, went to be shot. There was neither fear nor despair in the big intelligent eyes - nothing but contempt for the enemies. A brilliant aristocrat and intellectual, he died in the prime of life, at the age of 33, but his slogan thundered throughout the country and remained with the Francoists, and with him they defeated the Reds and saved Spain: "? Arriba Espa? a!" - "Arise, Spain!" Calmly going to be shot, he still won, because the revolution in Spain died! Maybe it's time for us to proclaim "Arriua" too?!

Text: Oleg Vozovikov