Fighting Fascist Spain: Worker Protest From the Printing Press by Montse Feu

Author:Montse Feu [Feu, Montse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Anarchism, Spain & Portugal, Europe, Media Studies, Political Ideologies, Social Science, Political Science, History, General
ISBN: 9780252043246
Google: BpsjygEACAAJ
Goodreads: 49904901
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2020-05-07T09:14:16+00:00

7

Theater—Género Chico and Antifascism

In one of Aurelio Pego’s satirical sketches, published in España Libre on October 3, 1952, Francisco Franco berates Colombian president Laureano Gómez for having made a telling comment: “Do you think, fool, that El Cid Campeador was some sort of Muñoz Seca on horseback? Men who have a historical mission to accomplish neither laugh nor allow jokes to be told.”1 This reference to El Cid evokes the myth of imperial Spain, which was at the core of Spanish fascism. Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, one of the main Spanish fascist ideologues and founder of one of the fascist groups, Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (JONS), became convinced that Spain needed to affirm its military and Catholic power and annex Latin America.2 In Pego’s sketch, when instructing a Latin American president on how to be seriously commanding, Franco cites El Cid as a symbol of Catholic imperialism. El Cid, a medieval Spanish warrior, was known for his victories on the battlefield against the Moors. In Pego’s sketch, Franco affirms that El Cid is a cultural reference to the greatness of Spain; he cannot be compared with Pedro Muñoz Seca, a popular playwright who combined comedy and farce during the Second Republic. Muñoz Seca’s humorous skits belonged to a popular stage dating back to Lope de Rueda and Miguel de Cervantes that manifested in the género chico (minor or popular genre) during the Second Republic. With the reference to these two historical figures, Pego’s satirical chronicle contrasts fascist Spain with a republican and popular one.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.