The Many Heads of the Hydra: Local Parafascism in Spain and Europe, 1936-50

Abstract

This article aims to draw attention to a body of research that is now more than two decades old in Spain: the workings and composition of local government under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. Recent research into provincial governments, city halls, and provincial and local Assemblies of Spanish Traditionalist Phalanx of the JONS (Falange Espan˜ola y Tradicionalista de las JONS, FET-JONS) during the Spanish Civil War and first period of Francoism from 1936 to 1950 can contribute greatly to wider discussions on fascism in Europe and redress how historians of fascism have sidelined Francoism despite its longevity and unique characteristics. This article argues that by defining parafascism in its own right, by what it was rather than what it was not, and by defining fascistization as a dynamic process, studies of Francoism at the local level can fill a gap in debate on generic fascism and help to construct a decentralized transnational history of fascism, parafascism, and conservatism.