On Stability and Continuity IV

G. E. Gorfu

If we look at most dictators of the last century their story is more or less the same. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin... Their end is sad, and their hard work in vain. Once gone, edifices they built with their hard work are demolished. They leave little or nothing to perpetuity. What then was it all for, sheer egotism? Even Stalin, who after he died, was given full honor and laid next to Lenin, was exhumed, discredited, and buried in a corner of the cemetery.

Dictators even if they die in peace, their works are systematically dismantled almost overnight. Take Chairman Mao. No sooner had he died than his wife and her “Gang of Four” along with their followers was thrown in prison. And “Communist China” started on the long road of Capitalism. The “Cultural Revolution” was seen as a bad idea, nay an evil nightmare! The Chinese today are rebuilding ancient sites and cultural centers they destroyed during the revolution. They are reviving, restoring, and preserving their history to pass it to the next generation. When all is said and done, in the long history of China, spanning thousand of years and several dynasties, the Cultural Revolution will be nothing more than a brief paragraph or a simple caption with little or no consequence.

Let us now look at another dictator who seemed to have understood all that, and tried to leave behind legitimacy and stability. A contemporary of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Mao, Generalissimo Franco has left a different legacy in Spain. Let us look at that.

Francisco Franco came to power during the troubled times of The Spanish Civil War. He was the youngest army general with service experience in Morocco. Spain’s Left wing and Right wing clashed with Socialism versus Hitler’s & Mussolini’s Fascism & Nazism. At first Franco seemed to side with Hitler and Mussolini and got cash, arms, and soldiers.

Franco was not an ideologue. He was a pragmatist who cared little for Right wing or Left wing politics. His National Movement Party wanted only what was best for Spain. When he became the uncontested leader, he managed to do the unimaginable and literally fused the Right wing, the Left wing, and even the Monarchists of Spain under his command. He steered Spain clear from the worst influences of extremists of either wing – Right or Left.

In 1940 Hitler met Franco and asked him to join the war on the side of the Axis Powers. Franco kept asking for more money, more food, more arms, more soldiers, etc., and they never reached an agreement. Franco was a ruthless dictator and held Spain by sheer force. But he saved it from a second ruin by not entering into the World War. His final genius came into play when he planned for a stable succession. He had declared Spain was a Monarchy as early as 1947, but no monarch was crowned, and he himself remained the sole dictator. But in 1969 Franco designated Prince Juan Carlos, who had a more direct claim to the throne than the previous monarch, and named him successor. When Franco died in 1975 Prince Juan Carlos took over peacefully, and Spain is still a democracy.

Leading Spain through the difficult times of The Spanish Civil War, keeping it out of World War II, and instituting legitimacy & stability through the restoration of the traditional monarchy are among Franco’s most enduring legacies. More to come…

To be continued…