The Syndical Organization

This is a membership card for the National Syndicalist Centre (called the Syndicalist Organization after 1971), the vertical union of the Francoist regime.

The vertical syndicate was the instrument through which the Francoist regime would execute its social policy. It also had to impose discipline among the elements involved in production and carry out the "national-syndicalist revolution." The creation of a Ministry of Organization and Syndical Action in January 1938 seemed to give prominence to Falangist ideas. However, Franco placed someone who had been a senior official in the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) at its head. The traditional elites—traditionalists, Catholics, and the financial oligarchy— were opposed to the fascist plans.

The Law for Union Unity and the Law for the Bases of the Syndical Organization, enacted in December 1940, laid out the structure of the National Syndicates. These were organized in terms of specific industries. Although all workers were required to be part of the syndicates, pressure from Catholics and traditionalists meant that taking out an official membership remained voluntary. The membership data reveals the workers' apathy toward the Francoist policies. Between 1940 and 1945, membership increased from 2,000,000 to nearly 3,900,000. However, starting in the second half of the 1940s, the number stagnated at around 4,000,000, and later, the annual growth rate around only 1 per cent.

Both these laws proclaimed the principle of unity, which was expressed in two ways. On one hand, they rejected freedom of association by prohibiting any other union organization from existing. On the other, they required both employers and workers—the "producers"—to integrate harmoniously into the national syndicates. This overcoming of class struggle was established on paper, but not in practice as each syndicate had separate sections for employers and workers, the Economic section and the Social section, respectively.

The starting point of the entire Francoist syndical structure was the company. All companies, whether public, private, or mixed, would have a syndicate. Workers and technicians formed the syndical section, which was led by the union liaisons and delegates who could elect delegates, who were the most direct representatives of the workers. The liaisons would operate in any company with more than five workers, with their number depending on the size of the company. Delegates, on the other hand, were qualified representatives in large companies—those with more than 50 permanent employees. Falange members worked with the police to ensure that people deemed “subversive” were not candidates for these positions, threatening and, at times, beating up those who did not get the message.

ORB