Political Parties 1931-1939 (Spain)

Last modified: 2003-07-12 by santiago dotor
Keywords: politics | ceda | cnt | fai | falange espaņola | spanish phalanx | federal democratic party | square (red) | lozenge (yellow) | cross (red) | arrows: 5 (red) | yoke (red) | stars (white) | triangle: hoist (blue) |
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• Carlists (Comunión Tradicionalista)
• Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Parties (Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas, CEDA)
• Anarchists (Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores / Federación Anarquista Ibérica, CNT/FAI)
• Spanish Phalanx (Falange Española de las JONS)
• Socialist and Communist Parties 1931-1939
• Federal Democratic Party (Partido Democrático Federal)

See also:

• Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939)
• Political Parties and Movements (Spain)
• Anarchism Flags
• Spain

Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA)

by Jaume Ollé

Flag of the Acción Popular Española [Spanish Popular Action], right wing party which was the main component of the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas who won the 1934 elections. The party was led by José María Gil-Robles.

Jaume Ollé, 1 February 1999

Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores / Federación Anarquista Ibérica (CNT/FAI)

by Jaume Ollé

Falange Española de las JONS

by Jaume Ollé

The Juntas de Ofensiva Nacionalsindicalista (Nationalsindicalist Offensive Groups) or simply JONS were a quasi-Nationalsocialist party which merged with Falange Española in the early thirties, becoming Falange Española de las JONS.

During the 1936-39 war, Franco forcibly joined this movement with the Carlists in order to avoid separate (and opposed) political groups on his side of the war. The resulting entity was called Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS and became the single state party in the 1938-1977 regime. Many Falangists and Carlists opposed this, and those who openly disagreed were severely repressed (namely José Antonio's successor as National Chief of Falange, Manuel Hedilla) and even shot on charges of high treason.

With the end of General Franco's regime, Falange recovered its independence and several other Falangist parties appeared as well.

Santiago Dotor, 1 February 1999

Partido Democrático Federal

by José Manuel Erbez

Suárez Rosales 1981 says that at the end of the 19th century the Federal Party (of national, not only Canary, scope) proposed a flag for the [hypothetical] Spanish Federal Republic consisting of the red-yellow-purple triband with a blue triangle at the hoist charged with white stars (in no specific number) representing the different federated states. I have never heard of such a flag.

José Manuel Erbez, 7 October 1999

I have occasionally seen a similar flag with a single star, usually a homemade version at demonstrations in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Santiago Dotor, 7 October 1999

Flag used by the Partido Democrático Federal (Federal Democratic Party) in the 1930s, whether as party flag or as their proposal for a flag of the Spanish Federal Republic, or both. Presumably, each star would stand for one of the constituent regions (or "states") of the Spanish Federation. Source: a poster printed in Madrid c. 1936, advertising the party's newsletter Federación, reproduced in Jordi and Arnau Carulla, La Guerra Civil en 2000 Carteles (The Civil War in 2000 Posters), 1999.

José Manuel Erbez, 6 January 2000

Concerning the federalist republican flags I have documents from the early 1930's showing tricoloured flags (i.e. red-yellow-purple) with a light blue triangle at the base with white stars, light blue being the federal colour of the time. But there is still much research to be done in this field.

Emil Dreyer, 21 January 2001