Ramiro Ledesma Ramos (23 May 1905 – 29 October 1936) was a Spanish philosopher, politician, writer, essayist, and journalist, known as one of the pioneers in the introduction of

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 ...

in Spain.

Early life

Born in Alfaraz de Sayago (

province of Zamora Zamora () is a Provinces of Spain, province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Province of Ourense, Ourense, Province of Le� ...

), he was raised in , where his father worked as school teacher. After studying Arts and Sciences at the Central University of Madrid, where he was a disciple of

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; ; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

, and contributing to ''

La Gaceta Literaria ''La Gaceta Literaria'' () was a bimonthly avant-garde literary, arts and science magazine which appeared in Madrid, Spain, between 1927 and 1932. It is known for its leading contributors and editorial board members. History and profile ''La Gac ...

'', '' El Sol'' and '' Revista de Occidente'', Ledesma Ramos began studying the works of

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

. He also wrote a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

for the youth, entitled ''El sello de la muerte'' ("The Seal of Death"). Attracted to both

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

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 the developing

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

movement of

Adolf 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 ...

in Germany, he strove to overcome his "

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

roots," which he saw as an obstacle in reaching out to the revolutionary milieu of Spanish politics in the 1920s. In 1931, Ledesma Ramos began publishing the periodical ''

La Conquista del Estado ''La Conquista del Estado'' (English: "The Conquest of the State") was a magazine based in Madrid, Spain. History and profile ''La Conquista del Estado'' was launched in 1931 by Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. The first issue, issued on 14 March 1931, co ...

'', named in tribute to

Curzio Malaparte Curzio Malaparte (; born Kurt Erich Suckert; 9 June 1898 – 19 July 1957) was an Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. Malaparte is best known outside Italy due to his works '' Kaputt'' (1944) and '' The Skin'' (1949). The ...

's Italian Fascist magazine ''La Conquista dello Stato''—one of the first publications of the Spanish National-Syndicalism. It attempted to bridge the gap between

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and the

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

of the dominant

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...

(CNT), by revising

syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...

altogether. His admiration for Nazism brought him to imitate Adolf Hitler's hairstyle.

''La Conquista del Estado'' and the Falange

In the very first issue of the ''

'' (The Conquest of the State), Ledesma published a

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus ...

program, which promoted

statism In political science, statism or etatism (from French, ''état'' 'state') is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation ...

, a political role for

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, a system of

regionalisation Regionalisation is the tendency to form Decentralization, decentralised regions. Regionalisation or land classification can be observed in various disciplines: *In agriculture, see Agricultural Land Classification. *In biogeography, see Biogeog ...

, and a syndicalist structure for the national economy. The program's paper was in publication throughout the year, and, although a subject of debate in a CNT assembly, it did not have the intended impact. He subsequently led his group into an October 1931 merger with Onésimo Redondo's ''Junta Castellana de Actuación Hispánica'', creating the ''

Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (, JONS) was a nationalist and fascist movement in 1930s Spain. In 1934, it merged with the Falange Española into the Falange Española de las JONS. History JONS was founded on 10 October 1931 as the f ...

'', and its magazine ''JONS''. The group became the ''

Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista Falange () is the name of a political party whose ideology is Falangism. Falange primarily refers to: * Falange Española, a Spanish political party active 1933–1934, it merged with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (JONS) * Falange ...

'' (FE-JONS), after it fused with

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 ...

's group in 1934; he personally designed the movement's badge, the

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in dif ...

, and the arrows, while he also coined the

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

s ''Arriba España'' and ''Una, Grande y Libre'', both of which were kept in use in

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 ...

Death and legacy

The group remained stable, despite the fact that Ledesma left over disagreements with Primo de Rivera. He formed the group ''La Patria Libre'', which, displaying the same favorable attitude to the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

trade unions, stood in disagreement with the Falange. The outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

caught Ledesma in Republican Madrid, far from the forces of

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 ...

. Imprisoned by the Popular Front government because of suspected

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

throughout the summer and early autumn of 1936, he was soon executed by the Republican militia. Ledesma remained a key figure of Francoist propaganda. Though he'd issued invitations to the Catholic Church to participate in the task of the "national revolution," Ramiro Ledesma was nonetheless viewed with suspicion by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

—which had even threatened to censor his works through the ''

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...

''.

Quotes

* n himself:"''The red shirt of

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

fits Ramiro Ledesma and his comrades better than the black shirt of Mussolini.''"

Works

* ''Discurso a las juventudes de España'' (Speech to the Youth of Spain) * ''¿Fascismo en España?'' (Fascism in Spain?) * ''La Conquista del Estado'' (The Conquest of the State) * ''Escritos filosóficos, &c.'' (Philosophical Writings, etc.)

References

External links

Nuestra Revolución
website about Ramiro Ledesma Ramos

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledesma Ramos, Ramiro 1905 births 1936 deaths People from the Province of Zamora Executed politicians People from Francoist Spain Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Spanish essayists Spanish novelists Spanish Falangists Spanish male novelists National syndicalists Acción Española Executed Spanish people People killed by the Second Spanish Republic People executed by Spain by firing squad 20th-century Spanish novelists 20th-century Spanish essayists 20th-century Spanish journalists Spanish magazine founders