José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella GE (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish national syndicalist politician who founded the Falange Española ("Spanish Phalanx"), later Falange Española de las JONS.
José Antonio was the eldest son of General Miguel Primo de Rivera (2nd Marquess of Estella), dictator of Spain from 1923 to 1930. He worked as a lawyer from 1927 to 1933 before entering politics through the National Monarchist Union, an enterprise he initially engaged in because of his vows to defend his recently deceased father's memory. After becoming disillusioned with the traditionalist monarchist policies, he founded the short lived Movimiento Español Sindicalista alongside Julio Ruiz de Alda. Soon after he founded Falange Española in October 1933, shortly before running as a candidate in the 1933 general election, in which he won a seat in the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic. He assumed the role of messianic leader and charged himself with the task of saving Spain in founding a national syndicalist party, but he encountered difficulties widening his support base during his entire political life.
In 1936, he endorsed the Spanish nationalist military coup against the Second Spanish Republic that led to a civil war that he later attempted to stop. Imprisoned before the start of the war, he was accused of conspiracy and military rebellion against the government of the republic and was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad during the first months of the war.
In life, he held the nobiliary title of 3rd Marquis of Estella, Grandee of Spain. In 1948, he was posthumously given the title of Duke of Primo de Rivera, which was subsequently passed to his brother Miguel. The image of José Antonio was revered during the war by the Nationalist faction, and after the establishment of Francoist Spain he was regarded as a martyr, and used as a tool of the Francoist propaganda apparatus. The inscription of "José Antonio ¡Presente!" could be found in many churches all across Spain.
Biography Early life José Antonio Primo de Rivera was born on Calle de Génova (Madrid) on April 24, 1903, the eldest son of the military officer Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja (who would later govern Spain as dictator from 1923 to 1930) and Casilda Sáenz de Heredia y Suárez de Argudín. From his father he inherited the title of Marquis of Estella. He never married.
His mother died when he was five years old, and he was subsequently raised by his father's sister, Maria Jesus Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja. He was privately taught at home, and learned English and French... When at university, he did not attend lectures until the second year of his undergraduate studies.R. Gonzalo, 2009: "José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia ." Blog Diario. Chapter 186. He spent his summer holidays at the country estate of an uncle, where he practiced horseriding and hunting.Leoncio Jiménez Cano, 1980: "", El Arenal. Ávila. Ed. Antonio Álvarez Cadenas.
Primo de Rivera went on to study law at the University of Madrid between 1917 and 1923. He helped to organize the student union there, Federación Universitaria Escolar, which opposed the higher-education policies of his father. He took undergraduate and graduate courses simultaneously and he obtained both his Bachelor and Doctor degrees in the same year, 1923.Juan Velarde Fuertes: "José Antonio, en la Universidad." Fundación José Antonio Primo de Rivera.
After graduating, he chose the "One-Year Volunteer" option to do his military service while his father was dictator. He served with the Ninth Dragoons of St. James cavalry regiment, stationed at Barcelona. In 1930, he was court-martialed for punching a superior officer, the future Nationalist army leader, Brigadier General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano. The incident occurred at the Lyon d'Or café in the Calle Alcalá and resulted in Primo de Rivera being dishonourably discharged.Preston, Paul (2023). Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Anti-Semitism in Franco's Spain. London, UK: William Collins. p. 253. Queipo de Llano had written a defamatory letter against an uncle of José Antonio and against the Dictator himself. José Antonio, ready to defend the honour of his family abused by the Republican general, went to the café where the latter used to socialize, and after asking whether he was the author of the writing, and after receiving the general's affirmative reply, delivered a spectacular punch that made the general roll on the floor, sparking a free-for-all between the companions of José Antonio and the companions of the general.
Queipo de Llano had been a Republican in the time of the Rivera dictatorship, but is today remembered mostly as a notorious Francoist war criminal in the Civil War. At the time, it led to increased right-wing suspicions of Queipo de Llano.Preston, Paul (2023). pp. 253, 265.
Primo de Rivera became a registered lawyer in 1925, and opened an office on a side street of Madrid very near the confluence of three principal avenues."José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia", España desde 1931.
A relatively successful lawyer not involved nor expected to be involved in politics before 1930, the José Antonio Primo de Rivera decided to do so after the death of his father in his Parisian self-exile in 1930; this was for him a way to defend the memory of his father, whose work at government had often been derided.
In February 1931, Primo de Rivera served as the witness for Ramón Serrano Suñer at his wedding with Ramona (Zita) Polo y Martínez-Valdés, Franco's sister-in-law.Preston, Paul (2023). Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Anti-Semitism in Franco's Spain. London, UK: William Collins. p. 10.
In 1931, he was invested "Perpetual Dean of the Illustrious College of Lawyers of Madrid".Jesús López Medel: .
He ran for office under the banner of the National Monarchist Union but failed to get elected.Semblanza de José Antonio Primo de Rivera.
He was detained briefly in 1932 for collaboration in General José Sanjurjo's attempted coup.
Falangist leader
On October 29, 1933, Primo de Rivera launched the Falange Española ("Spanish Phalanx"), a nationalist party, inspired in part with some ideas, such as the necessity of authority, hierarchical order of society, and grassroots populism, that were being expounded in Italy in the Fascist movement. The foundational convention was held in the Teatro de la Comedia of Madrid. He was the keynote speaker and his first address was a criticism of liberal democracy. In the speech he claimed the liberal state was not justified in its existence, criticised Rousseau, claimed democracy was hypocritical, and called on violence against the Spanish government.Fernando Díaz-Plaja: "Discurso de José Antonio Primo de Rivera exponiendo los puntos fundamentales de Falange española, pronunciado en el Teatro de la Comedia de Madrid, el día 29 de octubre de 1933." Documentos. During the speech he made remarks stating that violence was needed. Rivera claimed that certain goals could only be achieved through violence, and that the situation called only for insurrection.. Informe Semanal. November 20, 1986. Part II, minutes 0:31 to 1:08.
Stanley G. Payne argues that Rivera's view that violence was acceptable if done for a just cause was paralleled by that of the Spanish Left, who held similar views on the use of violence; unlike the Italian fascists, the Falange never developed a sophisticated theory for their doctrine of violence. Payne argues that because his father had ruled as a dictator with relatively minimal violence during the quieter 1920s, Rivera naively assumed he could impose a new authoritarian system with relatively limited violence, but he would eventually find himself caught in a spiral of killing that he could not control.Payne, Stanley G. Spain: A unique history. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2011, p. 204 When he founded the Falange, Antonio was more reluctant to use violence than other leading members of the party; he did not seem to expect violence from the political Left to be directed against the party. However, after Juan Cuéllar's death, he seemed to overcome his reluctance and thus intermittent killings on both sides would continue.Thomàs, Joan Maria. José Antonio Primo de Rivera: The Reality and Myth of a Spanish Fascist Leader. Vol. 3. Berghahn Books, 2019, pp. 136, 143
Rivera's closing words on the eve of the 1933 Spanish general election made explicit his Romantic nationalism. Stating that the people of Spain would need to make sacrifices in the name of nationalism. And claiming that right-wing parties in the election would not attain his desired result. Despite being a candidate he stated "I take part in these elections without faith or respect." Finally closing with a statement for political action outside of the official government.
He was a candidate in the general election of November 19 for the umbrella organization "Unión Agraria y Ciudadana," part of the broad conservative coalition Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA). He was elected to the Parliament as a representative of Cádiz.
In his first parliamentary intervention he answered Gil-Robles—the founder of CEDA—who had just spoken out against all totalitarian forms of government for arrogating to themselves the attributes of God and crushing the personality of the individual. Rivera was elected under a shock coalition formed between the Radical Republican Party and CEDA, meaning he entered government. The agreement would collapse support for the Radicals, which had previously Spain's largest Republican party during the 1936 Spanish general election. In the speech he moderated some of his positions, claimed no individual or social class holds all the power in society. Also stating that the state should follow Rousseau's ideals of representing the will of the people. Claimed that "goodness and truth are perennial tributaries of reason" and closed calling for unity towards a "permanent aspiration.""Sobre el Concepto del Estado", Obras Completas de José Antonio. Rumbos.
On February 11, 1934, Falange merged with Ramiro Ledesma's Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista to create the Falange Española de las JONS under José Antonio's leadership. The antisemitic positions within FE de las JONS were mainly led by Onésimo Redondo, with Ledesma and Primo de Rivera largely indifferent to the issue; however, Falangists attacked the Jewish-owned SEPU department stores in the spring of 1935;Álvarez Chillida, Antisemitismo, pp. 342–43 In the view of Gonzalo Álvarez Chillida, both José Antonio and Ledesma probably thought that such antisemitic raids could enhance mobilization within the purportedly threatened small-business sector. He shared with other rightists the belief that violence was legitimate against a Republic that he perceived as influenced by communists, Jews and Freemasons.Preston, Paul (2023). Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Anti-Semitism in Franco's Spain. London, UK: William Collins. pp. 4-5.Sancho Dávila and Julián Pemartín, Hacia la historia de la Falange: primera contribución de Sevilla (Jerez: Jerez Industrial, 1938) pp. 24–27.
The upper-class José Antonio abandoned the tie and suit and took on the new blue-shirt Falange uniform (despite later mocking JAP militants because of this, the Falangists were originally dressed in suit and tie); the uniform, adopted in October 1935, was deliberately chosen as a reference to Italian Fascism.
In 1935 Primo de Rivera collaborated in editing the lyrics of the Falangist anthem, "Cara al Sol" (Face to the Sun).César Vidal: "¿Quién redactó el "Cara al sol"?." Libertad Digital.
Every member of the Falange had to obey unquestioningly. They were told: