The fascist side in the Spanish civil war...

[Unclebananahead]

What exactly was the appeal? Franco and his fascists were a rebellion against the republic, so that means that there was something 'appealing' to inspire potential members into joining up. Sure, the fact that Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy threw their weight behind it might have augmented their prestige and made Franco's side seem a good deal more likely to succeed. But what would induce the average Spaniard to want to advance the cause of fascism by force of arms against a popularly elected government in the interests of landlords and industrialists? I don't get it.

[The Grey Blur]

you have to take into account the extreme catholicism of a large part of the populace, and the social power of the church. especially in somewhere like navarra where the politics was defined by a potent blend of legitimism, catholicism and nationalism. there was a popular appeal to sections of the workers, just like in italy or germany you had a 'workerist' element to the fascists, the middle classes, the big business and land owners, and sections of the small property-holding peasants. a lot of this support was predicated on geographic factors, regionalism, etc. the levels of illiteracy, the depressed economic situation etc also all counted against the incumbent republicans.

to be frank though franco succeeded by inducing fear, not by eliciting mass support. the atrocities carried out by the rebels point to the facists carrying out a surgical attempt at eliminating progressive political thought from spain - anyone with a union card was massacred, even the mildest republicans or regional nationalists were murdered or imprisoned, thousands were forcibly conscripted etc...franco's forces never truly pacified their rear, there were guerilla groups in the countryside and anarchist/communist worker resistance groups in the cities throughout the war and even until the late 50s these remnants fought on.

[Rooster]

Franco also flew in a large chunk of the Spanish Army of Africa. The most professional and well trained part of the Spanish Army at that time.

Also, worth having in mind, was the way the countryside used to be run. You'd have your landlords who would hire gangs of youths and undesirables (with police assistance) to attack and control the local populace. Usually these were very Christian and nationalist in mentality. So it's not like life would have changed much for the people under Franco's control. Same sort of repression. At least, I think that's what I remember reading.

[Luís Henrique]

What exactly was the appeal? Franco and his fascists were a rebellion against the republic, so that means that there was something 'appealing' to inspire potential members into joining up. Sure, the fact that Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy threw their weight behind it might have augmented their prestige and made Franco's side seem a good deal more likely to succeed. But what would induce the average Spaniard to want to advance the cause of fascism by force of arms against a popularly elected government in the interests of landlords and industrialists? I don't get it.

Well, first of all the landlords and industrialists, or most of them anyway, supported Franco - and they certainly had money to buy people who weren't actually committed to any ideology.

Second, Franco commanded a wide alliance, which included most of Army officials, plus varied right-wing groups, ranging from the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas to the Carlists to the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista, some of which had strong support among the petty bourgeoisie.

There was also widespread fear of the more radical tendencies in the Republican camp; many people were scared of anarchists or the PCE, and the killings of priests didn't help to dispell such fears. The inability of the Republic to provide stability to the country also alienated people. And the strong support for the Republic in Euzkadi and Catalunya probably caused converse support for the Francoists by more chauvinist Castillians.

People do not necessarily understand the actual consequences of what they are doing. Moreso if they belong to the petty-bourgeoisie, which has no actual long term project for society.

Luís Henrique