From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Political party in Spain
Popular Action
(
Spanish
:
Accion Popular
), until 1932
National Action
(Spanish:
Accion Nacional
), was a Spanish
Roman Catholic
political party active during the
Second Spanish Republic
.
The group was formed after the fall of the monarchy and the defeat of monarchist parties in the
1931 elections
, in order to defend the interests of Roman Catholics in the new Spanish Republic.
[2]
It emanated from the
Asociacion Catolica Nacional de Propagandistas
and effectively formed a political party drawn from this hard-line
monarchist
movement.
[3]
The main leader of Popular Action was editor of
El Debate
and future cardinal
Angel Herrera Oria
.
[4]
In 1932, National Action had to change its name, because parties and political movements were prohibited to use the word "national" in their names.
[5]
The Popular Action sought to unite the right-wing, monarchist and Catholic camp and thus became the core of a conservative federation of parties, the
Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups
(CEDA), established in 1933.
[2]
Even after the formation of CEDA the party's youth movement,
Juventudes de Accion Popular
(commonly known as the Greenshirts) continued to organise.
[4]
However, in the spring of 1936, the decline of Popular Action was underlined when 15,000 Greenshirts left the movement to join
FE de las JONS
instead.
[6]
On the eve of the
Spanish Civil War
, Popular Action had around 12,000 members.
[7]
When
Francisco Franco
announced his decree establishing the
Falange Espanola Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista
on 19 April 1937, Popular Action was one of a number of parties absorbed into this new pan-
right
group.
[8]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Blinkhorn, Martin (2002),
Democracy and Civil War in Spain 1932-1939
, Routledge, p. 15
- ^
a
b
Hugh Thomas,
The Spanish Civil War
, Pelican Books, 1971, p. 95
- ^
Edouard de Blaye,
Franco and the Politics of Spain
, Penguin Books, 1976, pp. 26-7
- ^
a
b
de Blaye,
Franco
, p. 27
- ^
Romero Salvado, Francisco J. (2013),
Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War
, Scarecrow Press, p. 26
- ^
Antony Beevor
,
The Battle for Spain
, p. 45
- ^
Thomas,
The Spanish Civil War
, Phoenix, 2007, p. 141
- ^
Beevor,
The Battle for Spain
, p. 285