Gremialismo, or guildism, is a social, political, and economic ideology, inspired in the Catholic social teachings that claims that every correct social order should base itself in intermediary societies between persons and the state, which are created and managed in freedom, and that the order should serve only the purposes for which they were created.

History

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, gremialismo was the main doctrine of the

liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

movement that emerged in the latter half of the 1960s, leading the opposition to the

University Reform University reform is a type of education reform applied to higher education. Examples include: *Bologna Process *Chilean university reform *Reform of French universities **Law on Higher Education and Research (France), Law on Higher Education and R ...

at the

Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univers ...

. As such, it stood against both the left and the center movements. Gremialismo was influeced by francoist-corporatism, even the economic views of it got rejected, they favored it's cultural views. Besides cultural similarities to

integralism In politics, integralism, integrationism or integrism () is an interpretation of Catholic social teaching that argues the principle that the Catholic faith should be the basis of public law and public policy within civil society, wherever the ...

or even

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 ...

, gremialismo rejects

corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...

and other

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

economic systems and supports

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

Gremialismo advocates for the social doctrine of the church,

neo-conservatism Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...

chilean nationalism Chilean nationalism is the nationalism of Chilean people and Chilean culture. It originated as a strain of political thought between 1904 and 1914 with the rise of the Crisis of the Centenary, centenary essayists, the birth of the Nationalist Part ...

and

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

. The principal thinker of gremialismo was

Jaime Guzmán Jaime Jorge Guzmán Errázuriz (June 28, 1946 – April 1, 1991) was a Chilean constitutional law professor, politician, and founding member of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party. In the 1960s, he strongly opposed the Universit ...

, a lawyer and professor who later served as an advisor to Chilean dictator

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

. There has been ongoing debate over whether gremialismo thought was influenced by

Juan Vázquez de Mella Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul (8 June 1861 – 18 February 1928) was a Spanish politician and a political theorist. He is counted among the greatest Traditionalist thinkers, at times considered the finest author of Spanish Traditionalism of al ...

as well (Even if Mella wasn't a capitalist). The gremialist Javier Leturia wrote about the origins of the movement: :We he gremialistaswere orderly, we were those that were not

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

, those that were not left-wing, those that were not potheads. I would say that the people were participative. That is why former school union leaders and people from school unions, the

scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

, and religious movements were picked up. We openly supported the coup. We published a manifesto in the newspaper that read: "Towards a new institutionality through the renounce of Allende." ..What we said was that the crisis was insurmountable and that the only solution was to have the armed forces take charge. We drafted that manifesto as university students, and it was signed by student unions from the

Catholic universities Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

of Santiago and Valparaíso, which were headed by gremialists. I would say that from the moment Allende was elected, many began to support a coup. I mean that we were not going to accept for this country to fall into communism.

Role in military dictatorship youth policy

One of the first measures of the

military dictatorship of Chile An authoritarian military dictatorship ruled Chile for seventeen years, between 11 September 1973 and 11 March 1990. The dictatorship was established after the Presidency of Salvador Allende, democratically elected socialist government of Salv ...

that came to power though the 1973 coup d'etat was to set up the Secretaría Nacional de la Juventud (SNJ, National Youth Office), which was done on October 28, 1973, even before the Declaration of Principles of the junta made in March 1974. It was a way of mobilizing sympathetic elements of the civil society in support for the dictatorship. The SNJ was created by the advice of

and was an example of the dictatorship adopting gremialism. Some right-wing student union leaders like

Andrés Allamand Andrés Allamand Zavala (born February 7, 1956), a Chilean politician, is the founder and one of the past leaders of Renovación Nacional. He is of French, and Basque descent. On January 14, 2011 he was named Minister of Defense by president Se ...

were skeptical to the attempts as they were moulded from above and gathered disparate figures such as

Miguel Kast Michael Kast Rist (18 December 1948 – 18 September 1983), commonly known as Miguel Kast, was a German economist of the Chicago Boys group. He served as Minister of State and President of the Central Bank under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinoch ...

Antonio Vodanovic Antonio Vodanovic (born March 2, 1949, in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean television presenter known for being the presenter of Viña del Mar International Song Festival from 1976 to 2004. From the late 1970s to 1982 he was programming director of ...

and Jaime Guzmán. Allamand and other young right-wingers also resented the dominance of gremialism in the SNJ since they considered it to be a closed gremialist club. From 1975 to 1980, the SNJ arranged a series of ritualized acts in reminiscent of

Francoist Spain 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 ...

. The policy towards the sympathetic youth contrasted with the murder, surveillance, and

forced disappearances An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

that dissident youth faced from the regime. Most of the SJN's documents were reportedly destroyed by the dictatorship in 1988.

References

{{Conservatism Anti-communism in Chile Catholicism and politics Christian democracy Conservatism in Chile Neoliberalism Political ideologies Right-wing politics in Chile