Onésimo Redondo Ortega (16 February 1905 – 24 July 1936) was a Spanish Falangist politician. He founded the Juntas Castellanas de Actuación Hispánica, a political group that merged with Ramiro Ledesma's Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista and

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 ...

Falange Española Falange Española (FE; English: Spanish Phalanx) was a Spanish fascist political organization active from 1933 to 1934. History The Falange Española was created on 29 October 1933 as the successor of the Movimiento Español Sindicalista (M ...

. Together with Ledesma and Primo de Rivera, Redondo was one of the key figures of Francoist

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

Biography

Redondo was born in Quintanilla de Abajo (renamed after him as Quintanilla de Onésimo),

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

to a family of

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individuals ...

. His father was Buenaventura Redondo Iglesias and his mother was Juana Ortega Pico. He studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

and subsequently taught Spanish at the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public university, public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Aca ...

(1927–1928), where he became acquainted with

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. Historian

Paul Preston Sir Paul Preston CBE (born 21 July 1946) is an English historian and Hispanist, biographer of Francisco Franco, and specialist in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 50 years. He is the winn ...

has written that Redondo's

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

derived more from fifteenth century Castile than from Nazi models however, though he did translate

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's ''

Mein Kampf (; ) is a 1925 Autobiography, autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book outlines many of Political views of Adolf Hitler, Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology and future plans for Nazi Germany, Ge ...

'' into Spanish. He worked in

for the Castilian union of

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

harvesters and joined the Acción Nacional during his youth. He was greatly influenced by Enrique Herrera Oria, brother of the founder of the ''Asociación Nacional Católica de Propagandistas'' and editor of ''El Debate'', Ángel Herrera Oria. Enrique Herrera believed that

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

were working to destroy religion and the Fatherland, and encouraged Redondo to read the virulent anti-Jewish tract by Léon de Poncins, ''Las fuerzas secretas de la Revolucion''. When the Second Republic was proclaimed in 1931, and after the elections of June 1931 gave a majority to the Republican-

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

coalition, he rejected

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

and broke from Acción Nacional. On 13 June in Valladolid he brought out the anti-Republican newspaper ''Libertad'', where he wrote violently against

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, Jews (he published an annotated translation of ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

''), and

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

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 ...

, and admired European

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

s. He founded a fascist party, Juntas Castellanas de Actuación Hispánica (the Castilian Hispanic Action Groups) in August 1931 and in November it merged with Ramiro Ledesma Ramos's ''La Conquista del Estado'' to form the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (JONS). They refused to participate in

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

because they believed in

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

. It was anti-democratic and

imperialist Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism fo ...

and sought the "extermination of the Marxist parties". Redondo and the JHAC sought violent confrontation and recruits armed themselves for street fights with the predominantly Socialist working class of Valladolid, a city previously noted for the tranquility of its

labor relations Labour relations in practice is a subarea within human resource management, and the main components of it include collective bargaining, application and oversight of collective agreement obligations, and dispute resolution. Academically, employe ...

. In Redondo's rhetoric,

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

, Jews, and the Left were all merged into one: by asserting that Marxism was a Jewish invention and implied the 're- Africanisation' of Spain, Redondo was identifying Spain's archetypal ''others'', the Jew and the Moor with the Right's new enemy: the Left. The war Spain needed to fight was a new '

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

', and ideologues such as Redondo's offered a 'murderous justification of violence against the left.' In 1932, he collaborated with the frustrated

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

of General Sanjurjo and had to flee to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He returned to Valladolid in April 1933. On 24 March 1934 JONS and

merged. He was arrested on 19 March 1936, and was moved to the prison in

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

in June. He was freed by the Nationalists after the beginning of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. He organized the Falange's

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

s in Valladolid and commanded the so-called "dawn patrols" that were responsible for the murder of hundreds of suspected liberals and leftists in Valladolid. He then left for the Guadarrama mountains, where he died in combat in Labajos, Segovia on July 24. Francoist propaganda extolled him insistently as a

war hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake o ...

Legacy

His widow, Mercedes Sanz-Bachiller, founded Auxilio de Invierno (Winter Aid), after Auxilio Social (Social Aid), which was the

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

agency of Falange, further fully integrated in the Francoist State organization. The Workers' University of Córdoba was established in 1956 as ''Universidad Laboral "Onésimo Redondo" de Córdoba''. A

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

to Redondo was erected on top of , at the southern end of the municipality of

. The Monument to Onésimo Redondo was inaugurated in 1961, and demolished in compliance with the Historical Memory Law in February 2016.

Writings

* ''Protocolos de los Sabios de Sión'', Valladolid: Libertad, 1932 (translation and commentary). * ''Onésimo Redondo, caudillo de Castilla'', Valladolid: Libertad, 1937 (newspaper articles and political speeches) * ''El Estado Nacional'', Valladolid: Libertad, 1938 * ''Obras Completas: edición cronológica'' (2 vols.), Madrid: Publicaciones Españolas, 1954-1955 * ''Textos políticos''. Madrid: Doncel, 1975.

Bibliography

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References

External links