1st Edition

José Antonio Primo de Rivera in Latin America The Pursuit of a Fascist Usable Past during the Cold War (1939–1989)

By Daniel Gunnar Kressel Copyright 2025
    130 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book explores a distinctive neo-fascist movement that emerged in Latin America and Spain during the Cold War. At times self-labeled “Jose Antonians,” the book’s protagonists evoked the memory and ideology of José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The author first elucidates who this Spanish fascist was and why his memory loomed large among Latin American rightists. Second, the book explores how, by prompting political violence and jeopardizing democratization processes, these neo-fascist ideologues impacted their respective societies. In doing so, the book initiates a much-needed debate on fascist memory in the Cold War.

    This concise monograph will be of interest to researchers of transnational fascism, the Cold War, and Spanish and Latin American history.

    Introduction                                                                                                                                 

    Neo-Fascism in Cold War Latin America

     

    1. José Antonio Primo de Rivera                                                                                              

    Ideology, Myth, and Initial Reception in Latin America 

     

    2. The “Intellectuals”                                                                                                                 

    Reviving National-Syndicalism vis-à-vis the Populists and the Technocrats (1945–1962)

     

    3. The “Militias”                                                                                                                         

    The Struggle against Marxism and “Subversion” (1963–1974)

     

    4. Three Peculiar Visitors in 1974 Spain                                                                                  

    Neo-Fascist Performance in the Twilight of Francoism

     

    5. The “Hardliners”                                                                                                                   

    Resisting the Democratization of the Third Wave

      

    Conclusion                                                                                                                                                

     

    Appendix: Four Official Programs and Points 

    Selected bibliography                                                                                                                              

     

    Index                                                                                                                                                           

    Biography

    Daniel Gunnar Kressel is a research fellow at the Department of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.