Franco supporters attack Liberal Spain

20 Nov 2005 ^ | 20 Nov 2005 | Elisabeth O'Leary

[ncountylee]

MADRID, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Cheering and waving Spanish flags, supporters of Francisco Franco assembled in Madrid on Sunday to mark 30 years since the death of the Fascist dictator.

To cries of "Viva Franco!", around 2,000 people, including old soldiers from the army which kept Spain in a vice grip for four decades, declared allegiance to their hero and denounced the present Socialist government.

"Only after (Franco) died did they manage to pull him down from his horse," one speaker told the cheering crowd in a reference to the removal of the last statue of the dictator in Madrid earlier this year.

"Spain is dying, or rather, Spain is being murdered (by the Socialists) ... we are called to defend our Spain," the speaker added, to more cheers and Fascist salutes.

With a Socialist government in power since March last year, Spain is now discussing historically thorny issues such as more autonomy for its regions and a new school curriculum which downgrades religious study.

Those changes, and the approval this year of gay marriage, have enraged some of the old guard who backed Franco, as well as others who are nevertheless proud of the country's now well-established democracy

[Namyak]

In other news, Francisco Franco is still dead...

[domenad]

A culture mourning for the days of fascism. And they say America is the biggest threat to world stability....

Then again, which is worse? The socialist government they have, or the fascist government they had? Or does it realy matter?

[Tax-chick]

Franco ping!

[ncountylee]

The Socialists have been a disaster.

[B-Chan]

Franco was a hero. Someday the decadent, libertine West will realize that. Until that happy day, I pray for his soul and for the souls of all those who lost their lives in Franco's war to save Spain from communist slavery.

[Khepera]

Is that a sloth around Franco's neck?

[etradervic]

A culture mourning for the days of fascism. And they say America is the biggest threat to world stability....

Franco's Gov was preferable to the alternative which was at the time a Stalin supported communist rule. The US made a big blunder during Spain's Civil War and actually supported the Left which made the other side dependent on guess who - Germany. Spain became fascist out of necessity to avoid the communist alternative.
At least their are a significant number in Spain, unlike France, who realize that socialism is a failed enterprise.

[jscd3]

A culture mourning for the days of fascism

Franco wasn't a fascist. Dictator, yup. Totalitarian, nope.

The lable fasciast was appended by the socialists, marxists, and other assorted leftists and nihilists that he defeated in the Spanish civil war.

[jscd3]

Spain became fascist out of necessity

Spain never became fasciast. The Nationalists took aid where they could get it, and as soon as the Loyalists were defeated declared nuetrality.

[Regulator]

A culture mourning for the days of fascism. And they say America is the biggest threat to world stability....

Both Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet were reviled for their actions. But both of them turned power back over to civil government and institutions when the danger of Communist terror was past.

In Spain, Franco restored the Monarch Juan Carlos, who participated in allowing a gradual liberalization of Spanish law and culture. The fact that an idiot like Zapatero has gone off the cliff with his asinine slate of freak Left wing policies merely shows the danger that Franco understood.

Say what you want. Spain is still there, and is prospering. The parts of Europe which came under the control of the Russian Communists are still struggling to come back to life after a century of madness. Who was worse?

[chudogg]

The US made a big blunder during Spain's Civil War and actually supported the Left

And guess where all those we supported went --U.S. Government and U.N. positions.

[Tax-chick]

That is a good question. Whatever it is, it looks dead.

[Seniram US]

Agreed. The Lincoln Brigade (Communists) originated in theh United States. Franco was neither Communist or Facist; rather, history will eventually call him a Francist.

Franco was of course supported by Hitler and Facsist against the Communists and Anarchists. Hitler's Condor Legion became a testing ground for weaponry used during WWII.

Another often obscure fact is that the Soviets came to the aid of the Spanish Communists and when the Russian ships arrived the people cheered, but they were not told that part of the deal was that Spain's gold reserve was transported to Russia for safekeeping. In addition many Spanish children were transported to Russia. Neither the gold nor the children were returned to Spain.

The intervention of Hitler also inadvertently saved the Catholic Church in Spain. The Communists and anarchists were pillaging the Church, burning them and murdering the priests and nuns. Had Franko lost, the Catholics in Spain would have been annihilated and the Churches obliterated. The press rarely mentions that the preservation of Catholicism in Spain was due to the victory of Franco.

When World War II began and for the duration, Spain under Franco remained neutral, despite the fact that Franco owed his victory to Hitler and Mussolini. Spain's neutrality prevented Hitler from moving through Spain. Allied forces had long expected the Germans to use Spain as a funnel, but Franco never permitted it.

Franco's forces (Nationalists) with the help of the Germans and Italians took Seville on August 9 1936, tore down the Reds' flag, replaced it with the flag of the old Republic of Spain and held a huge parade, which included a float carrying a sttatue of the Blessed Mother.

Meanwhile Largo assumes position of Prime Minister in Madrid with a coalition of Communists, Socialists and Anarcists.

At Toledo. Franco's force was surrounded by the Republicans. They received an ultimatum to surrender and the commanding officer, Colonel Jose Moscardo, holding at the fortress of Alcazar was told his son was captured and would be killed if the surrender was not forthcoming. Moscardo's son was permitted to speak with his father and he said: "Father they will shoot me if you don't surrender. What should I do?" Moscardo then tells his 17-year old son: "Commend your soul to God. Pray for courage and let your last cry be Long Live Christ the King. The boy is shot by a firing squad, but the fortress holds.

Meanwhile, France does not enter the war directly, but the French leader, Leon Blum continues to permit the French to flow large numbers of weapons into Spain to aid the Republicans. Consequently, Hitler decides to send help to Franco by committing the Condor Legion (planes tanks and artillery), while Mussolini dispatches about 50,000 troops to aid Franco's Nationalists.

By this time Stalin enters the picture, but the Russian ships do not arrive until the gold is given to the Communists. The Bolshevik's ships arrive at Barcelona during the latter part of October 1936. Stalin's commitment brings Communists into Spain from all across Europe and from the United States (Lincoln Brigade).

The Communist forces are dubbed the International Brigade, led by Lazar Stern, a Hungarian, who is called General Emillo Kleber. Each of the battalions of the International Brigade is named after a hero of the Communist cause.

Franco is declared head of state in that part of Spain held by the Nationalists and called El Caudillo, a title given to Christian leaders which drove the Moors from Spain during the 15th Century. He is also called Generalissimo in his fight to rid Spain of the Communists Reds.

The Anarchists are led by Buenaventura Durruti. Combined with the Communists, the anti-Catholic forces massacred several thousand Catholic priests and nuns.

By May of 1937, Portugal is giving aid to Franco. Heavy fighting continues into 1938. Franco's forces reach the Mediterranean Sea during 1938. The climax begins during late July after 100,000 Republicans cross the Ebro River to try to halt Franco. However, at the Battle of Ebro, the Communists are overwhelmed. The remnant Republican forces retreat to France.

Barcelona falls to Franco on January 26th. 1939 and the conflict ends on March 28th 1939 when the Republicans surrender unconditionally.

Franco enters Madrid. After wards about 200,000 Reds are either imprisoned or shot by firing squads. More than 600,000 Spaniards die during the conflict.

The Communists are driven from Spain and Spain remains at peace while most of the world is at war.

The United States recognizes the government of Franco on April 1st 1939. Source: Portrait of The Stars and Stripes Volume II

[libstripper]

And they stuck to it. If they'd joined the Axis in 1939 Britain and the west would have lost WWII. All Spain had to do was open its borders to German troops and they could have taken Gibraltar out from behind.

[jscd3]

The press rarely mentions that the preservation of Catholicism in Spain was due to the victory of Franco.

Well put and an excellant post.

The press even more rarely mentions that it was the destruction of chrches and killing of priests that was the primary motivation for Franco in the first place, not politics.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Why does the left loathe Franco so much?

Before he became Generalissimo fascism was a thriving ideology in Spain, and the Falangists a potent political force.

After his reign had concluded fascism-as an animating political philosophy-had ceased to exist.

There would still be large portions of the Spanish populace who believed in fascism, were it not for Franco, who was a pragmatist, not a fascist.

You figure the leftists-who incessantly caterwaul and beat their breasts about how much they despise fascism-would want to honor, not denigrate, the man who crushed it.

[Tax-chick]

Why does the left loathe Franco so much?

For the best of reasons ... because he stomped their sorry ass#s into the ground.

By now, when everyone from Ronald Reagan to George Bush to Arnold Schwartzenegger has been called a "fascist," conservatives ought to think very hard before using the term. Even Mussolini, who coined the name, and Hitler, to whom it's reasonably applicable, were socialists, too.

[livius]

Excellent summary! Are you particularly interested in Spanish history?

There are a number of younger Spanish historians who are trying to take back Spanish history from its Socialist captivity.

Did you know, btw, that the Zapatero government had city workers come in the middle of hte night to pull down the statue of Franco? I was in Madrid when this happened and it was truly bizarre. The minister (ok, ministrix) in charge of these things said it bothered her to see the statue when she walked to work, hence it had to go.

Somewhat later, a cardboard (large - about life size) equestrian "statue" of Franco appeared in the plaza in front of the modern art museum (Reina Sofía). It was papered with Corte Inglés shopping bags. No one was exactly sure who did this, how they got away with it, or what it meant. The city hauled that one off to the dump, too.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

LOL.

Leftist tough guys at their finest!

Too bad those PSOE POS slimeballs had to wait until he was six feet under to talk smack about him.