Las tradiciones ideológicas de la extrema derecha española

Abstract

The term «extreme right» encompasses a range of «traditions» which have in common a rejection of political pluralism, a defence of authoritarian or totalitarian systems, a pessimistic view of man and an anti-revolutionary social policy. But these traditions are distinguished from each other in several aspects. We can separate several traditions on the extreme right: «political theology», based on the religious factor; the «radical» tradition, which emphasises secular factors such as race and nation, and the «revolutionary» or fascist tradition, based on a synthesis of socialistic, nationalistic and populist elements and an anti-liberal and anti- Marxist perspective. These traditions can be classified, according to their prevalence in society, as «hegemonic», «residual» or «emerging». In the author`s view, the characteristic feature of the Spanish situation is the maintenance of «political theology» as a hegemonic tradition well into the twentieth century, and the subordinate importance of the radical and revolutionary positions.