National Synarchist Union
Encyclopedia
The National Synarchist Union is a Mexican
political organization. It was historically a movement of the Roman Catholic extreme right, in some ways akin to clerical fascism
and falangism
, violently opposed to the leftist and secularist policies of the revolutionary
(PNR, PRM, and PRI) governments that ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000.
Lázaro Cárdenas
. "It is absolutely necessary that an organization composed of true patriots exists," the Manifesto declared, "an organization which works for the restoration of the fundamental rights of each citizen and the salvation of the Motherland. As opposed to the utopians who dream of a society without governors and laws, Synarchism supports a society governed by a legitimate authority, emanating from the free democratic activity of the people, that truly guarantees the social order within all find true happiness." The group's date of formation, 23rd May, was celebrated annually in León, Guanajuato
by the membership.
The UNS was led by Salvador Abascal
, a hard-liner, from 1940 to 1941 when he stood down in order to set up a synarchist commune in Baja California
with the more moderate Manuel Torres Bueno
becoming leader.
Rerum Novarum
of Pope Leo XIII
, which also influenced the regimes of Engelbert Dollfuss
in Austria
, Antonio Salazar in Portugal
and Francisco Franco
in Spain
. It stressed social co-operation as opposed to the class conflict
of socialism
, and hierarchy
and respect for authority
as opposed to liberalism
. In the context of Mexican politics, this meant opposition to the centralist, semi-socialist and anti-clerical
policies of the PRI regime. As a result, UNS members were denounced as fascists and persecuted by the Cárdenas government and the group had little real impact in Mexican politics.
The question of synarchism became an issue for U.S. Intelligence analysts during World War II
. In a now declassified U.S. report dated April 22, 1942, Raleigh A. Gibson, First Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, sent the U.S. Secretary of State an English translation of an editorial from El Popular, the newspaper of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, published on April 21, 1942. It reads in part as follows:
Mexican author Mario Gill argues that the synarchist movement in Mexico was essentially co-opted by right-wing Catholic elements in the U.S., led by Cardinal Francis Spellman and Bishop Fulton Sheen. This assessment was echoed by El Popular, which in its December 14, 1943 issue wrote as follows:
during World War II
and its propaganda increased in this direction following the increase in anti-American feeling engendered in Mexico by the Sleepy Lagoon murder
. President Manuel Ávila Camacho
placed a ban on the UNS holding public meetings in June 1944 at a time when factionalism was dividing the movement. The movement split in two in 1945 when Carlos Athie replaced Torres Bueno as leader, resulting in the deposed leader's breaking away to start their own group (with both claiming the UNS name).
In 1946 the Torres Bueno faction regrouped as the Popular Force Party
(Partido Fuerza Popular). In 1951, however, when it was clear that the more moderate National Action Party
(PAN) had become the main party of opposition to the PRI government, the Synarchist leader Juan Ignacio Padilla converted the movement to an "apolitical" one promoting conservative Catholic social doctrine, promoted through co-operatives, credit union
s and Catholic trade unions.
Synarchism, which had become largely localised to Guanajuato
, revived as a political movement in the 1970s through the Mexican Democratic Party
(PDM), whose candidate, Ignacio González Gollaz, polled 1.8 percent of the vote at the 1982 presidential election. In 1988, Gumersindo Magaña
polled a similar proportion, but the party then suffered a split, and in 1992 lost its registration as a political party
. It was dissolved in 1996. The Torres Beuno-Athie split was never ended and to date there are two organisations, both calling themselves the Unión Nacional Sinarquista. One has an apparently right-wing orientation, the other is apparently left-wing, but they both have the same philosophical roots.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
political organization. It was historically a movement of the Roman Catholic extreme right, in some ways akin to clerical fascism
Clerical fascism
Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition...
and falangism
Falangism
Falangism is the political ideology of the Spanish Falange as well as derivatives of it in other countries. In its original form, Falangism is widely associated as a fascist ideology, the Spanish Falange denied this, claiming it was not a copy of any foreign movement...
, violently opposed to the leftist and secularist policies of the revolutionary
Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that held power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the few...
(PNR, PRM, and PRI) governments that ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000.
Formation
The UNS was founded in May 1937 by a group of Catholic political activists led by José Antonio Urquiza, who was murdered in April 1938. The group published the "Sinarquista Manifesto," opposing the policies of the government of PresidentPresident of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
. "It is absolutely necessary that an organization composed of true patriots exists," the Manifesto declared, "an organization which works for the restoration of the fundamental rights of each citizen and the salvation of the Motherland. As opposed to the utopians who dream of a society without governors and laws, Synarchism supports a society governed by a legitimate authority, emanating from the free democratic activity of the people, that truly guarantees the social order within all find true happiness." The group's date of formation, 23rd May, was celebrated annually in León, Guanajuato
León, Guanajuato
The city of León, formally León de los Aldama is the sixth most populous city in Mexico and the first in the state of Guanajuato. It is also the seat of the municipality of León...
by the membership.
The UNS was led by Salvador Abascal
Salvador Abascal
Salvador Abascal was a Mexican politician and leading exponent of Mexican synarchism. For a time the leader of the National Synarchist Union , Abascal represented the orthodox Catholic tendency within the movement.-Background:...
, a hard-liner, from 1940 to 1941 when he stood down in order to set up a synarchist commune in Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
with the more moderate Manuel Torres Bueno
Manuel Torres Bueno
Manuel Torres Bueno was a Mexican politician and jefe of the National Synarchist Union. He was aged 30 in 1943.A lawyer by profession, Torres Bueno abandoned his practice in December 1941 to take over as leader of the Union from Salvador Abascal, who had left to start a sinarquista colony in Baja...
becoming leader.
Ideology
The ideology of the UNS derived from the current of Catholic social thinking of the 1920s and 1930s, based on the papal encyclicalEncyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...
of Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
, which also influenced the regimes of Engelbert Dollfuss
Engelbert Dollfuss
Engelbert Dollfuss was an Austrian Christian Social and Patriotic Front statesman. Serving previously as Minister for Forest and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government...
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Antonio Salazar in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It stressed social co-operation as opposed to the class conflict
Class conflict
Class conflict is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes....
of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, and hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
and respect for authority
Authority
The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
as opposed to 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,...
. In the context of Mexican politics, this meant opposition to the centralist, semi-socialist and anti-clerical
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
policies of the PRI regime. As a result, UNS members were denounced as fascists and persecuted by the Cárdenas government and the group had little real impact in Mexican politics.
The question of synarchism became an issue for U.S. Intelligence analysts during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In a now declassified U.S. report dated April 22, 1942, Raleigh A. Gibson, First Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, sent the U.S. Secretary of State an English translation of an editorial from El Popular, the newspaper of the Confederation of Mexican Workers, published on April 21, 1942. It reads in part as follows:
- "The French sinarquistas rushed into furious strife against French and European democracy; those of Mexico organized to combat Mexican and continental democracy. The French sinarquistas were adopted by Abetz, the Ambassador of Hitler in France; the Mexican sinarquistas were recruited, were given a name, were educated and directed by Nazi agents in Mexico and by FalangeFalangeThe Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....
directors who are working illegally among us. And this is so apparent, so conclusive, that it eliminates the need of concrete proofs of the organic connection between them. The fundamental proof is that sinarquism is not a unique and exclusive Mexican product, as its leaders untruthfully argue. That Sinarquism, even bearing the identical name, does exist in other parts of the world and is an international movement formed by those who are under the supreme orders of Hitler."
Mexican author Mario Gill argues that the synarchist movement in Mexico was essentially co-opted by right-wing Catholic elements in the U.S., led by Cardinal Francis Spellman and Bishop Fulton Sheen. This assessment was echoed by El Popular, which in its December 14, 1943 issue wrote as follows:
- "There is no doubt that the recent visit to Mexico of Msgr. Sheen, the pro-fascist 'black leader' of North American clericalism, contributed towards obtaining the conversion of the Mexican Synarchists to a new policy in tune with the demands of the situation of the new world."
Decline and revival
The UNS was firmly pro-Axis powersAxis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and its propaganda increased in this direction following the increase in anti-American feeling engendered in Mexico by the Sleepy Lagoon murder
Sleepy Lagoon murder
Sleepy Lagoon murder was the name that newspapers and radio commentators used to describe the alleged murder of Jose Diaz, whose body was found on the Williams Ranch near a lagoon in southeast Los Angeles, California, on August 2, 1942...
. President Manuel Ávila Camacho
Manuel Ávila Camacho
Manuel Ávila Camacho served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946.Manuel Ávila was born in the city of Teziutlán, a small town in Puebla, to middle-class parents, Manuel Ávila Castillo and Eufrosina Camacho Bello. He had several siblings, among them sister María Jovita Ávila Camacho and...
placed a ban on the UNS holding public meetings in June 1944 at a time when factionalism was dividing the movement. The movement split in two in 1945 when Carlos Athie replaced Torres Bueno as leader, resulting in the deposed leader's breaking away to start their own group (with both claiming the UNS name).
In 1946 the Torres Bueno faction regrouped as the Popular Force Party
Popular Force Party
The Popular Force Party or People's Force Party was created in 1945 as the electoral arm of the National Synarchist Union to participate in the 1946 presidential election, in which it supported the independent Jesús A...
(Partido Fuerza Popular). In 1951, however, when it was clear that the more moderate National Action Party
National Action Party (Mexico)
The National Action Party , is one of the three main political parties in Mexico. The party's political platform is generally considered Centre-Right in the Mexican political spectrum. Since 2000, the President of Mexico has been a member of this party; both houses have PAN pluralities, but the...
(PAN) had become the main party of opposition to the PRI government, the Synarchist leader Juan Ignacio Padilla converted the movement to an "apolitical" one promoting conservative Catholic social doctrine, promoted through co-operatives, credit union
Credit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
s and Catholic trade unions.
Synarchism, which had become largely localised to Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
, revived as a political movement in the 1970s through the Mexican Democratic Party
Mexican Democratic Party
The Mexican Democratic Party was an ultra-Catholic social conservative political party in Mexico that existed between 1979 and 1997.-Origins:...
(PDM), whose candidate, Ignacio González Gollaz, polled 1.8 percent of the vote at the 1982 presidential election. In 1988, Gumersindo Magaña
Gumersindo Magaña
Gumersindo Magaña Negrete is a Mexican politician, former member of the right-wing and now dissolved Mexican Democratic Party , who represented his party in the 1988 presidential election...
polled a similar proportion, but the party then suffered a split, and in 1992 lost its registration as a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
. It was dissolved in 1996. The Torres Beuno-Athie split was never ended and to date there are two organisations, both calling themselves the Unión Nacional Sinarquista. One has an apparently right-wing orientation, the other is apparently left-wing, but they both have the same philosophical roots.
External links
- National Synarchist Union blog (Website in Spanish)