Franco's Initial Policies

• Franco adopted a range of policies in the early years of the 'new state'. These policies were designed to consolidate the new regime's position by winning over the old elites to secure his own position and to transform Spain into the conservative and devout country Franco envisioned.
• Franco won the support of landowners by reversing the policies of the previous Republican government. He ended land reforms, returning farmland to the landowners who had controlled it before the establishment of the republic. Landowners no longer lived in fear of having land seized by peasants.
• Franco also appealed to leading industrialists by abolishing many of the rights that workers had won during the republic. This meant industrialists no longer had to deal with assertive trade unions or strike action.
• Franco's government continued the wartime policy of violent suppression of political opponents. Independent trade unions, communist groups, anarchist organisations, Catalan or Basque separatist groups were forcibly shut down and in many cases individuals involved were imprisoned, beaten up or killed.
• Franco knew that a policy of outright repression of Spain's unions would be unpopular with working people. Therefore, although he outlawed the CNT and UGT, he introduced new state-backed organisations for working people. In 1940, the government-run Organizacion Sindical Espanola (OSE), also known as the Sindicato Vertical, was founded.
• The OSE reflected the example of Italian fascism, and to some extent, the practices of Hitler's Germany. The Falange originally played a large role in the OSE as fascist corporations were supposed to generate unity between all producers. Rather than seeing a division between workers and owners, fascists argued that both workers and owners played an important economic role as 'producers'.
• Within the OSE, there were syndicates which represented all of the producers in each industry. In theory, all the syndicates would decide collectively on wage rates and production targets, and in so doing resolve the tensions between workers and owners that existed under capitalism.
• In practice, although the OSE did guarantee some basic workers' rights, such as a minimum wage, it was heavily weighted in favour of business owners. For example, strikes were outlawed and therefore workers' power to bargain within the system was limited. In this sense, Franco could control working people while creating the illusion of national unity.
• Franco's policy was designed to create a new society that reflected the values of order and national unity. There were divisions among the Nationalists about what kind of society they wanted to create. Some wanted to build a dynamic new fascist society, similar to Germany and Italy whereas others stressed the importance of traditional Catholic values as the basis for the new Spain.
• Between 1938 and 1942, Serrano Suner played a key role in developing social policy in Spain. Serrano Suner was president of the Falange from 1936 and wanted closer ties between the 'new state' and Germany and Italy. He was critical of the influence of the Catholic Church as he believed the church was an obstacle to the construction of a truly fascist regime.
• Franco's social policy was never fully fascist and policy statements always referred to the importance of the Catholic Church. Suner helped introduce policies and new laws that restricted the rights of women.