Falange Española de las JONS ( Spanish for "Spanish Falange of the Councils for the National Syndicalist Offensive", FE de las JONS or FE-JONS) is a Spanish political party registered in 1976, originating from a faction of the previous

Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (; FET y de las JONS), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...

. The word is Spanish for

phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...

. Members of the party are called Falangists (). The main ideological bases of the party are

national syndicalism National syndicalism is a socially far-right adaptation of syndicalism within the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. F ...

Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented ...

and

ultranationalism Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific i ...

History

FE-JONS was the first political party legalized by the

Spanish Transition The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

, on 4 October 1976. After the death of dictator

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

in 1975, a destabilization campaign led by some sectors of the right, trying to repeat the strategy of the 1930s, began. Originally, FE-JONS was linked with the neofascist terrorism in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, along with other similar groups. A prominent member of the party was linked with the

1977 Massacre of Atocha The 1977 Atocha massacre was an attack by right-wing extremists in the center of Madrid on 24 January 1977, which saw the assassination of five labor activists from the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the Trade union, workers' federation Wor ...

. This strategy continued in the following years, although the party also participated in elections and fully legal activities. In 1980 an "escuadrilla" (squadron) of the party killed Juan Carlos García Pérez in

Ciudad Lineal Ciudad Lineal (, "Linear City") is one of 21 district of Madrid, districts of Madrid, Spain. Geography Wards The district is administratively divided into nine wards: * Atalaya (Madrid), Atalaya * Colina (Madrid), Colina * Concepción (Ma ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. After the electoral defeat in the 1977 general election, in which the candidacies openly defending neo-francoist positions gained less than the 1% of the vote, the party begun a gradual distancing from the Franco regime, highlighting the thoughts of pre-Franco falangists, like

José Antonio Primo de Rivera José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella GE (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish fascist politician who founded the Falan ...

or Ramiro Ledesma. In 1979 the Círculos Doctrinales José Antonio joined the organization, in an attempt to unite neofalangists under a single political party. The same year FE-JONS formed a coalition with Fuerza Nueva and various

Carlist Carlism (; ; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty, one descended from Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain, Don Carlos, ...

political organizations called National Union. The coalition gained 1 MP in the elections of that year, gaining 378,964 votes (2.11%). The party did not participate in the

23-F A coup d'état was attempted in Spain in February 1981 by elements of the Civil Guard (Spain), Civil Guard and the Spanish Armed Forces, Spanish military. The failure of the coup marked the last serious attempt to revert Spain to a Francoist gov ...

coup attempt.

Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta y Merelo (5 October 1896, Madrid – 9 July 1992, Madrid) was a leading Spain, Spanish politician with both the Falangism, Falange and its successor movement the Spanish Traditionalist Phalanx of the Assemblies of N ...

, the "National Chief" of the party since its foundation, resigned in 1983. Diego Márquez Horrillo (1928-2014) was elected as the new chief the same year. Since then the party fully broke with

Francoism Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, declaring itself the successor of the original

Falange Española de las JONS The Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (; FE de las JONS) was a fascist political party founded in Spain in 1934 as merger of the Falange Española and the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista. FE de las JO ...

, and fully rejecting the "Unification Decree" of 1937. In 1999, a sector of the party split, forming La Falange. In 2004, the small faction Falange Española Independiente (FEI) joined FE-JONS. In 2011 the organization elected a new national chief, Norberto Pedro Pico Sanabria. Pico was an ex-member of the FEI. In 2012 another small faction, Mesa Nacional Falangista, joined FE-JONS. In March 2020, Luz Belinda Rodríguez, a member of the Parliament of Andalusia who had left Vox to become an unaffiliated legislator in January 2020, reportedly joined the Falange and vowed to bring the initiatives of FE-JONS to the Parliament of Andalusia. She then quit the Falange to found her own party. On 8 July 2023, the Junta Electoral Central gave permission for the Falange to use their anthem Cara al Sol in advertisement, citing that the lyrics themselves do not violate the Democratic Memory Law and do not incite conflict or hatred against any specific group. On 29 October 2024, La Falange announced it would be rejoining FE-JONS after 48 years.

Ideology

FE-JONS has been described as the main falangist group active in Spain. The party's ideology has been variously described as neo-fascist,

ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...

and

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

Organization

Symbols

Symbols of

Falangism Falangism () was the political ideology of three political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española, the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS), and afterwa ...

: * Yoke and arrows, the symbol of the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

. *The ''blue shirt'', a symbol of industrial workers. *'' Cara al Sol'', "Facing the sun", its

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

. *A flag with red and black vertical stripes. *The

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

as a symbol of Grand Inquisitor Cisneros (1436–1517) (universitarian branch).

Leadership

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Notes

External links

Falange Española de las JONS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falange Espanola de las JONS (1976) 1976 establishments in Spain Falangist parties National syndicalism Neo-fascist parties in Spain Political parties established in 1976 Republican parties in Spain Spanish nationalism Catholic political parties