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Historical contextPage 1 of 3
Authors: Kira Mahamud, Miguel Somoza, Ana Badanelli
Introduction This chapter presents a summary of the social, political, end educational characteristics of Spain under the Franco regime.
Paragraph 1: Historical Characterisation of Francoism Francoism (1936-1975), initiated as a military insurrection against the government of the Second Republic (1931-1939), achieved power after a bloody civil war and maintained a political system based on direct and open repression until the end of its days. It was institutionalised as a military dictatorship established upon the military forces in alliance with the Catholic Church, the great landowners as well as the leading financial and industrial capitalists, and a mass of urban and rural middle classes. The latter also suffered the burden of illiteracy of the past which placed them in a position of total dependence and submission. There is an almost unanimous consensus amongst historians in characterising it as an authoritarian military dictatorship stamped by a national-Catholic ideology. It included Fascist organisations although, as the regime established itself and became institutionalised, they lost influence within its internal structure of power in favour of other sectors, such as the Catholic Church. It was also Catholic sectors that led a technocratic process of economic modernisation which was initiated in the 1960’s. The support of the Catholic Church from the very beginning of the military insurrection against the Republic is evident, to the extent of providing the ideological legitimacy of a “crusade for national salvation” to Francoism. Especially after the end of the Second World War, given the need to distance itself from the defeated Fascist powers, the Franco government granted the Catholic Church the undisputed leading role in the field of education. The law of Primary Education1 in 1945 constitutes a clear manifestation of the firm alliance between the Francoist regime and the most radical Catholicism. From this point onwards, and for many years, a National-Catholic rhetoric and practice, characterised by chauvinism, militarism, and ultramontanism, took control of the entire educational system. From the perspective of Francoist ideology, the objective and the ideal model for society was the return to a traditional society, its values and principles, shattered by the arrival of the Republic. It is not until the 1970 Education Act2 which Spain sees the beginning of change in education, following the onset of social and political transition.
117th July 1945 Primary Education Act. Official Bulletin of the State, number 199, of 18th July 1945. 2 1970 Law of 4th August on General Education and Financing of the Educational Reform. Official Bulletin of the State, of 6th August 1970.
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