Syndicalism; Labor, Corporations, mobs
The Spanish Falange under both Jose Antonio Primo De Rivera and later Franco was an explicitly fascist, totalitarian movement when out of power. Franco was authoritarian in power. I'm examining their plank because it is as illustrative of fascism as studying the planks of Nazis, Portuguese Fascists or Italian Fascists.
Most early Fascist parties, especially in the "Mediterranean" fascist countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy & Vichy France), touted syndicalism as a "third way" that would be more just than pure socialism or capitalism. Syndicates are essentially organizations of people combined to promote some common interest.
Unfortunately
- Workers form Syndicates
- Employers form Syndicates
- Mobsters form Syndicates
- This is part of a series:
- Parallels between Falangists and US Fascists
Rerum Novarum and Syndicates
Most of the early Fascist parties were "syndicalist" (corporativist also meant syndicalist to them) and that strain of social welfare drew from Catholic doctrine (specifically Rerum Novarum) and not explicitly from Marx. Indeed the concept of corporatism/syndicalism originates partly in the Catholic Church!
José Antonio Primo de Rivera vision of a Spain organized on "corporatist"/"syndicalist" principles drew its inspiration from other fascist movements, who in turn were inspired by ... Rerum Novarum! Syndicalism itself derived from the exigencies of the labor movement. Workers found that the only way they had a chance against the police, courts, and raw power of those exploiting them was to organize. Labor Syndicalism developed some powerful tools; the general strike, organizing, walkouts, etc... But any tool can be used in different ways by different people. The fascists in Southern Europe created their own version of syndicalism.
An idealized myth
The Fascists were hearkening back to an idealized vision based on the middle ages system of towns, guilds, and "Masters/Journeymen/apprentices. Jonah Goldberg basically concedes this in his rewrite of the history of Fascism, where he brands fascism as a “liberal” philosophy:
“corporatism has many of its roots in Catholic doctrine. The 1891 papal encyclical Rerum novarum proposed corporatism or syndicalism in response to the dislocations of the Industrial Revolution.” [National Review Article]
Socialism as a Pejorative Fails
He then makes the claim that because the fascists, by adopting syndicalism, were a leftwing movement. Claiming that:
“when non-socialists embrace socialism, you can’t still claim they are non-socialists.”
This may be true on its face, but since nearly every culture around the world, except maybe totally anarchist and conflicted places like Somalia or other lawless places, that is lawful, regulates production, distribution and exchange using this definition to describe socialism as a society where:
“the means of production, distribution, and exchange are owned or regulated...” [dictionary] partly or completely “by the community as a whole.”
By definition includes every lawful society in the world! People like Jonah Goldberg want to use "socialism" as a pejorative, but by their broad definition, They are Socialist Too!
Social Democracy Versus Bolshevism
What the Fascists objected to was State ownership and control of the "means of production," not mere lawful regulation. It is why left and right argue past one another. But it is also why "Capitalist" socialism is lawless and inequitable. Private ownership of "the means of production" is fine if we are talking about individuals, small businesses and actual "free enterprise"; but it breaks down when excluding regulation and oversight of businesses. The socialism that the Right attacks pejoratively is that of Marx, whose definition of socialism is;
“1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”
And the fascists were specifically against the second definition:
“2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property.”
The idea that the Norse Countries or other "Social Democracies" are socialist in the second sense because they embrace Representative Government administration or regulation of monopolies and public goods (healthcare, education and the like) is of course absurd. Syndicalist type movements pushed representation for everyone in the Norse Countries. They didn't do away with private property, they simply regulated the powers of land and industrial barons.
Jonah Goldberg confuses the subject by definitional fogging, sophism. His clients are as socialists as the people he criticizes.
Syndicalism Promise versuse Reality
Goldberg's collection of reductio ad absurdum arguments and non sequiturs is a bit of a digression. But the Fascists in the Mediterranean similarly hijacked Syndicalism in a form very different from how it originated. The laborers who pushed syndicalism were seeking a voice in the workplaces they worked at, the councils of government and for employers to govern them by consent. The Mediterranean fascists hijacked Syndicalism and made it a tool for enforcing hierarchy.
Essentially the Fascist use of the word "syndicalist" was a brand rustling and rebranding move on their part as Syndicalism started as a movement of workers seeking some rights and role in the companies they worked for.
Corporate Syndicalism
But here is where it gets juicy. Corporate Syndicalism is alive and well, even if the term is out of fashion. Most Financial Capitalists rest control of the finances, production and distribution of goods, in giant, powerful companies and self anointed barons. They engage in private councils, like ALEX, CNP, etc... to influence politics, politicians, run projects to accomplish their ends and fund ongoing programs to pay for, fund and to plot their moves and projects. All of which derive from the sorts of things syndicates can do.
Corporate Socialism
This makes their socialism fit the Marxist definition even more than Social Democracies that try to enable individual initiative and free people to start businesses and run them independently. Corporate Syndicates create a kind of private socialism where "free enterprise" becomes little more than a kind of free for all freebooting, governed entirely for the profit motive of the few.
They advertised that:Fascist Plank Item 9; Syndicalism
The Fascist version of Syndicates was:
“We shall organize Spanish society corporatively through a system of vertical syndicates for the various field of production, all working toward national economic unity.”
Syndicalism promised a limited voice for workers and recruited labor to their cause with that promise. But “a system of vertical syndicates” in the hands of a one party state becomes a powerful method for shutting down dissent and controlling resources from the top down.
Essentially labor syndicates under the fascists became tools of the state. And that is exactly how it was used. Workers had limited say in how the economy functioned. The corporate syndicates had much more power and got what they wanted. Syndicates were so powerful that when the Fascism passed, they were reformed to be more democratic, but they still exist in Spain and other countries where they were tried. It turns out it is good for business to have labor have a say in the company.
Left or Right on Economics? Plank Item 10; “Third Way:”
Was to repudiate “Capitalism” & “Marxism” for dehumanizing labor & property
The Fascists embraced the right to property.
Social regulation of business is not a bad thing, if it means setting rules that ensure that businessmen behave like citizens and not pirates. Pure capitalism has evil attributes, so does pure socialism. "Third way" was appealing because it offered something that sounded better. The Fascists offered a "third way" that was mostly propaganda. We were endangered recently because people were giving in to ideas that claimed to be middle of the road, but actually shifted resources and wealth to pirates. But that is for another discussion. The Falangists and other fascists offered people a third way, purportedly better for everyone.
Plank Item 11; Eliminate Class Struggle
National Syndicalism claimed to aim at eliminating class struggle, anarchy & stop “selfish interests from abusing others”
But in reality they forced people into Unions/syndicates that were undemocratic and under their thumb. Something similar happened with the Bolsheviks. The problem isn't always the ideology but the dishonesty. The whole "left versus right" dicotomy is a propaganda tool
And like all movements, left, right or purely anyone running for office the Falangists promised to
Plank Item 12: Better the Conditions of the People
The Fascists promised to improve the conditions of the people. They could control the definition of "the people" to exclude their enemies. They could rebrand terms like "liberty" to mean the right to follow orders. The Civil war allowed them to set aside genuine reforms for some future date. After the Civil War, Spain was kept stagnant until Franco died. They were a totalitarian movement, but exhausted from the Civil War, they failed to become a Totalitarian government. But they also were authoritarian and that succeeded.
Not Socialist: Plank Item 13: Recognize Private Property
Fascist movements protect the private property of party members and their movement members. But they viciously attack people they deem "not part of the people". In the case of Germany that was non-Aryan Germans. In the case of Mediterranean fascism generally, and Spain specifically, it was: “finance capital, speculators, and money lenders.” all of which was code for Jews, Gypsies, and separatists by language or location. For the Spanish Fascists "the people" were the ones who spoke good Castilian, were good Catholics and who didn't argue with authority.
Plank Item 14: Nationalization or Privatization?
Plank Item 14 was:
“We shall support the trend toward nationalization of banking services and, through a system of Corporations, the great public utilities.”
So of course what they meant by nationalization was very different from what the Marxist meant. Essentially they were privatizing banking and the public utilities
Plank Item 15: Right to Work, requirement to work
Plank Item 15 was that:
All Spaniards have the right to work. Public agencies must of necessity provide support for those who find themselves in desperate straits. As we proceed toward a totally new structure, we shall maintain and strengthen all the advantages that existing social legislation gives to workers.
That teams up with plank Item 16:
Plank Item 16: Mandate to Work
The real purpose of the Falange was not paradise but Authority:
“Unless they are disabled, all Spaniards have the duty to work. The National-Syndicalist State will not give the slightest consideration to those who fail to perform some useful function and who try to live as drones at the expense of the labor of the majority of people.”
For the Falange discipline was to be paramount:
“All must perform useful function, no drones will be tolerated.
Very chilling that!
Syndicalism, the labor movement, and the Spanish Civil war.
Syndicalism had been practiced by the radical left, but by embracing syndicalism into their plank the Falange and other fascists divided and pulled the teeth of the labor movement and harnessed a good segment of workers to their own cause. During the Spanish Civil War, both the far left and the far right practiced Syndicalism, but the far right won. They won because the far right was sufficiently ruthless and violent to ignore namby pamby principles like:
- The Rights of Workers
- The dignity of labor
- Actual liberty
Observation
There are no pure socialist societies, nor pure capitalist ones. There are either attributes of democracy in society; (participation, opportunity, individual initiative), republicanism (representation, rule of law, checks and balances), or there is social control of people and their resources (dictatorship, Oligarchy, socialism). These are attributes of a societies behavior, ideology either expresses private separate advantage or the common good. I first wrote about this online starting around 2008.
This is still draft. But I think I got the main points for this piece. Syndicalism and Corporatism started as left wing and catholic ideas, were rebranded by the Fascists into a tool for authoritarianism and totalitarianism, and are still present ideologies, just no longer called "syndicalism."
- Corporatism and Fascism
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2009/04/12/corporatism-and-fascism/
- The conscious misuse of Myth, Georges Sorel and Fascism
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2004/11/29/the-conscious-misuse-of-myth-georges-sorel-and-fascism/
- Georges Sorel, the Power of Myth (Review)
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2006/09/10/georges-sorel-the-power-of-myth/
Sources and Further reading
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/falange
- When the Water Cooler Wars Get Dangerous
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2010/08/19/when-the-watercooler-wars-get-dangerous/
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2011/04/18/rebranding-the-new-deal/
- The conscious misuse of Myth, Georges Sorel and Fascism
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2004/11/29/the-conscious-misuse-of-myth-georges-sorel-and-fascism/
- Georges Sorel, the Power of Myth (Review)
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2006/09/10/georges-sorel-the-power-of-myth/
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2006/12/14/strategy-and-tactics-myth-and-reality/
- https://fraughtwithperil.com/cholte/2011/02/20/laying-down-the-gauntlet/
- National Review Article by Jonah Goldberg
- https://www.nationalreview.com/liberal-fascism/corporatism-iii-catholic-church-jonah-goldberg/
- https://www.americanblackshirts.com/single-post/2015/03/04/The-Twenty-Six-Point-Program-of-the-Falange
- http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-life-of-garcia-lorca-and-fascist.html quotes taken in August 2018. I also have them in several of my books and from other webpages.
- https://www.amazon.com/Federico-Garcia-Lorca-Ian-Gibson/dp/0571142249
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falangism
- Quote taken from book;
- "National Identities and Socio-Political Changes in Latin America" By Antonio Gomez-Moriana, Mercedes Duran-Cogan page 112
- https://books.google.com/books?id=PWjhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=One+Nation,+One+Faith,+One+people+Spain&source=bl&ots=wSBJa8Qato&sig=aEsGLSukCZr_2PQE8FwjahO-CKE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjp1YGT09XcAhVNx1kKHW6bC0kQ6AEwB3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=One%20Nation%2C%20One%20Faith%2C%20One%20people%20Spain&f=false
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