Originally published by: Círculo Hispalense – Seville, February 10th, 2022
Everyone knows that Franco was not an ally of the traditional and representative monarchy, based on his enmity with Carlism itself, chiseled with the genius of Professor Elías de Tejada in the sentence: «Franco and Maroto are the greatest enemies of Carlism in history».
However, it seems that General Franco relies upon nostalgia born of the current corruption, and those who conceive of him as the Spanish «Catholic» medicine to the present situation.
Now then, this conclusion is notable for its superficiality. The Franco regime, whose content was the person of General Franco, considered, at a time of exhaustion of the Axis powers and autocratic impossibility, to align itself with the anti-communist North American foreign policy, allowing the entry of capitalist ideology within the regime. Thus, the rupture of the Franco regime and the constitutional regime is forced due to the continuity between the two. This continuity is not only specified in the subjects, that is, those born under the wings of the Movement who brought about the regime change —which says a lot about the supposed content of the Franco regime—, but also in the legal sphere. For example, Juan Carlos signs the 1978 Constitution with the title of «king» or the transfer of powers is set according to the Courts of the kingdom. ITherefore, if the progressive thesis of the origin of the constitutional powers —which must be immaculately originated by suffrage— lacks rigor, the thesis of the innocence of Francoism with respect to constitutionalism is also lax, since continuity exists.
Having said that, this continuity is not only, as we say, concrete, but in some abstract way, since the content or supposed content of the regime mutated with developmentalism towards liberal capitalism, with the 1978 constitution being the legal coverage of a factual reality whose institutional contrasts had to be pruned, these contrasts were accidental in some way. An example of this is the breakdown of Catholic unity, imperfectly applied by confessionalism, seriously injured by religious freedom introduced by Francoism and consequently buried by non-denominationalism.
For this reason, a critique of the liberal system must detach itself from attenuated conservative liberal modalities, in order to assume the principles that are really and substantially contrary to the revolutionary system, that is, the principles of political Catholicism attacked by the Franco regime and buried by its successors.
Written by Miguel Quesada, Círculo Hispalense
Translated by Alfz M. Scullin, Círculo Carlista Camino Real de Tejas
