Bartolí on Fascist Spain
"Will to Empire"
The notion of Catholic and traditional Spain promoted by Franco’s regime included the desire for an Imperial Spain. The Rif War (1921-1927) was a catalyst for the fascist habitus, as World War I was for German Nazism and Italian Fascism.
Morocco's independence in 1956 prompted commentary in New York exile newspapers and Bartolí’s graphic art for years, until 1969, when Ifni was returned to Morocco.
For more on the connections between empire and fascism, see Justin Crumbaugh and Nil Santiáñez. Spanish Fascist Writing. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2021.
Falange
Bartolí published several drawings about the Spanish fascist party, Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FE-JONCS). Although the Falange seems to be helping Franco in these cartoons, Bartolí was mocking their alliance as disastrous. Bartolí used the technique of drawing the enemies as animals or violent monsters. Nonetheless, these violent monsters, men, and animals are mocked by the artist who makes them fall from trees, be poorly patched up, act pretentious, and need protection from the Church or the Opus Dei, rendering them more stupid than dangerous. Falangists were also compared to Communists and Nazis.
Censorship of the Press and the Arts, Education, and Socialization of the Youth
Antifascist satire attacked Spanish censorship, which controlled the public sphere. The Law of the Press (1938) gave the regime complete control over the press, which became a mere apparatus of Franco’s propaganda. By 1940, the Press of the Movement was formally instituted, and not only did the Falange have control over publications, but in the 1940s, there was also a proliferation of fascist imperialist literature in Spain, despite the failed negotiation with Hitler for Spain to enter the Second World War (Crumbaugh and Santiáñez 33).
The Catholic Church controlled education by publishing lists of prohibited books, repressing teachers, and reading autos de fe from the imperial and inquisitorial past (Viñas 31).
While scientific and intellectual education were dismissed in Franco’s Spain, football and flamenco were promoted to entertain the people. Bartolí builds on Franco's stereotypical vision of football, bullfighting, and folclóricas and redirects his readers’ attention to the exile intellectuals and scientists.
Crumbaugh, Justin and Nil Santiáñez. Spanish Fascist Writing. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2021,
Viñas, Ángel. La otra cara del Caudilllo. Mitos y realidades de la biografía de Franco. Barcelona: Crítica, 2019, 31.
Violence
After the coup, Franco’s rule was characterized by brutality and cruelty; anyone who did not support him was considered unpatriotic and an enemy to be eradicated. The extreme violence perpetrated in North Africa was inflicted in Spain during the Civil War. Once a city fell under the rebels' control, the "cleansing " process began. During and after the war, military leaders recruited and armed local authorities and civilians, who killed anyone accused of unpatriotic liaisons, often by generalized denunciations caused by fear, paranoia, or personal vendettas (Nieto Ruiz 12, 20, 26). The celebration of 25 years of peace in 1964 included posters in all towns and cities celebrating the purge of Reds and atheists (Nieto Ruiz 31).
Poverty, corruption, and the black market were other ways to oppress the population into submission.
Nieto Ruiz, José. “Prólogo.” Bibliografía del régimen franquista 1939-195. Tiranía. Represión. Fascismo. Presos políticos. Consejos de guerra. Fusilamientos. Asesinatos. Unpublished manuscript.
Prisons and Prisoners
Prisons and camps were overcrowded with dissidents in Franco’s Spain, over 10 to 15 times their capacity. Hundred died because of the unhealthy conditions (Nieto Ruiz 27).
Nieto Ruiz, José. “Prólogo.” Bibliografía del regimen franquista 1939-195. Tiranía. Represión. Fascismo. Presos politicos. Consejos de Guerra. Fusilamientos. Asesinatos. Unpublished manuscript.
