From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
José Antonio Primo de Rivera was born in Madrid, Spain in 1903. He was the son of general Miguel Primo de Rivera, which became dictator of Spain until 1931. José Antonio became a lawyer, and was an editor for the right-wing journal El Fascio and the periodical ABC.
He founded Falange Española (Spanish Falange) in 1933, which wanted to make Spain a fascism-inspired state, transcending the class fight. In the general election in 1936, Falange won only 0.7 % of the votes, but Falange growed rapidly and by July it had more than 40,000 members.
Primo de Rivera was a supporter of the military rebellion in July 1936 against the republican government and during the Spanish Civil War, the Falange became the dominant political movement of the Nationalists.
He was captured on the 6th of July 1936, and held in captivity until being executed in Alicante on 20th November 1936.
Francisco Franco's regime held a cult of personality for José Antonio. He was a "martyr of the Crusade" (see El Ausente). On the outer wall of every parish of Spain, there was a plate naming local soldiers dieing during the war (Caídos por Dios y por España, "Fallen for God and Spain"). José Antonio's name was the first in every plate. José Antonio became a very common name in Spain.
José Antonio's sister founded the Sección Femenina (female branch of Falange).
Franco ordered the building of the Valle de los Caídos mausoleum with forced labor, where José Antonio's corpse lies now. On another 20th November (1975), Franco died (there are suspicions that the agony was artificially prolonged to meet the significant date). Franco's corpse was interred besides José Antonio.
Hence 20th November is a symbolic date for Spanish extreme right.
