Juan Vázquez de Mella
Encyclopedia
Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul (Cangas de Onís, Asturias, 8 June 1861, Madrid 26 February 1928) was a Spanish scholar and politician, closely associated with the Spanish legitimist and traditionalist movement known as Carlism
.
Mella was most famous as an orator. He was a charismatic speaker whose speeches attracted thousands of observers (one Carlist historian claimed that 40,000 people attended one particularly large rally).
Mella served as a Carlist deputy in the Cortes. He twice turned down the opportunity to become a minister, in his youth under Cánovas
and later in life under Antonio Maura.
He broke with Carlist claimant Don Jaime I in 1919 over Jaime’s support for the French in World War I, as well as personal conflicts with the “King” and his advisors.
Mella’s major achievement was to systematize the ideas and doctrine of the Carlist movement. He claimed that Carlism could be considered “modern” because it had viable solutions for modern social and political problems.
Mella strongly criticized Liberalism
and the French Revolutionary tradition, including thinkers like Rousseau. He condemned the rationalizing and centralizing impulses of these ideologies and deplored the destruction of intermediary social bodies like guilds, religious organizations, and local and regional governments. The problems caused by the destruction of traditional society, Mella believed, could only be fixed by either an omnipotent, tyrannical state or a restoration of traditional institutions. His solution, in general terms, was national unity and the healing of social conflict through tradition, monarchy
, Catholicism
, and a corporatist
and decentralized
political order.
Mella proposed a “federative” or “representative monarchy” based on the ideas of the “Persians” and Aparisi. He also favored the formation of a corporatively elected Cortes (that is, a Parliament whose members would not be elected by mass vote but by social groupings like regions, professional organizations, the clergy, etc.).
, Antonio Maura, and Miguel Primo de Rivera
.
His main pupil was Victor Pradera.
Mella’s collected works were published posthumously by the press of the Traditionalist Carlist Communion in 1931.
Key figures in the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War
were familiar with Mella’s ideas. After their victory in the war, there were some unsuccessful proposals to implement his ideas in the new state, but “by no stretch of the imagination” could the Franquist state be said to be closely inspired by Mella’s thought.
Carlism
Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread...
.
Career
Mella was a convert to Carlism, and in 1885 began to write for the Carlist and traditionalist newspapers El Pensamiento Galaico and La Restauración. From 1889 to 1919, Mella wrote for the major national Carlist daily, Madrid-based El Correo Español. After his break with the Carlists in 1919, he had his own national periodical, El Pensamiento Español.Mella was most famous as an orator. He was a charismatic speaker whose speeches attracted thousands of observers (one Carlist historian claimed that 40,000 people attended one particularly large rally).
Mella served as a Carlist deputy in the Cortes. He twice turned down the opportunity to become a minister, in his youth under Cánovas
Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was a Spanish politician and historian known principally for his role in supporting the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy to the Spanish throne and for his death at the hands of an anarchist assassin, Michele Angiolillo.-Early career:Born in Málaga as the son of...
and later in life under Antonio Maura.
He broke with Carlist claimant Don Jaime I in 1919 over Jaime’s support for the French in World War I, as well as personal conflicts with the “King” and his advisors.
Ideas and intellectual achievements
“The political work of the French Revolution consisted mainly in destroying that whole series of intermediate organisms—family inheritances, guilds, autonomous universities, municipalities owning their own goods, regional administrations, the very assets of the Church—that extended between the individual and the state as protective bodies.” -Juan Vázquez de MellaMella’s major achievement was to systematize the ideas and doctrine of the Carlist movement. He claimed that Carlism could be considered “modern” because it had viable solutions for modern social and political problems.
Mella strongly criticized Liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and the French Revolutionary tradition, including thinkers like Rousseau. He condemned the rationalizing and centralizing impulses of these ideologies and deplored the destruction of intermediary social bodies like guilds, religious organizations, and local and regional governments. The problems caused by the destruction of traditional society, Mella believed, could only be fixed by either an omnipotent, tyrannical state or a restoration of traditional institutions. His solution, in general terms, was national unity and the healing of social conflict through tradition, monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
, Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, and a corporatist
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
and decentralized
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
political order.
Mella proposed a “federative” or “representative monarchy” based on the ideas of the “Persians” and Aparisi. He also favored the formation of a corporatively elected Cortes (that is, a Parliament whose members would not be elected by mass vote but by social groupings like regions, professional organizations, the clergy, etc.).
Influence
During his lifetime, Mella gained the respect and praise of figures like Marcelino Menéndez y PelayoMarcelino Menéndez y Pelayo
Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo was a Spanish scholar, historian and literary critic. Even though his main interest was the History of ideas, and Hispanic philology in general, he also cultivated poetry, translation and philosophy.He was born at Santander where he showed that he was an infant prodigy...
, Antonio Maura, and Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte, Knight of Calatrava was a Spanish dictator, aristocrat, and a military official who was appointed Prime Minister by the King and who for seven years was a dictator, ending the turno system of alternating...
.
His main pupil was Victor Pradera.
Mella’s collected works were published posthumously by the press of the Traditionalist Carlist Communion in 1931.
Key figures in the Nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
were familiar with Mella’s ideas. After their victory in the war, there were some unsuccessful proposals to implement his ideas in the new state, but “by no stretch of the imagination” could the Franquist state be said to be closely inspired by Mella’s thought.