THE FALANGE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25377, 27 December 1947, Page 7

THE FALANGE

INFLUENCE SAID TO BE. WANING FORMATION OF COUNCIL OF THE REALM (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 26. The Council of the Realm now being formed of 13 members, representing Church, Army, law, local affairs, labour unions, universities, and professional groups in Spain, seems likely to replace the National Council of the Falange in its advisory functions to General Francisco Franco (says the Madrid correspondent of Reuters). In the last few years a great part of the once imposing Falange political machine has either been gradually discarded, or its functions have been absorbed by normal administrative services. It is true that the Falange still claims 1.000,000 members, but many of these are purely nominal and the general impression'is that not more than perhaps 3000 or 4000. mainly of the “Old Guard” (leaders of the days before the civil war), actively work for and defend the original principles of the party. ♦ To-d ay the headquaron . ®® a drid s Calle Alcala show nt “ e sign of the great activity of which they were once the centre Many departments have been closed, including the section which organised Falange groups among Spanish residents abroad. Others are purely Sk £l eto a ° r * ans with no functions left. DffiJni Faange ? ar . ty has not had an official representative in the Cabinet since 1945. and its firm hold on provincial administration has been greatly reduced. The size of the National „ DCI J J he Falan fi e » which originally had 100 members, each of whom automatically held a seat in Parliament, was reduced last year to 50. Even its annual meetings, formerly held every July and addressed by General Franco, have been given un. It is, naturally, not easy for an observer to assess how far’ the gradual reduction in the powers of the Falange has been due to deliberate policy followed year by year by General Franco, and how far it was due to the Falange preferring to disappear from public attention, particularly in the international scene during the early post-war years because of the campaigns waged against any State whose political organs resembled in any way those of the defeated Axis Powers.

Most competent and dispassionate observer" in Spain, believe that the Falange’s eventual limited role in Spain’s affairs was indicated definitely and conclusively ,as General Franco’s policy as long ago as 1938, when he refused to permit the creation of a private army for the Falange on the lines of the German Elack Shirts and Brown Shirts. General Franco apparently wants to steer Spain back towards a more constitutional normality, and. although the Falange remains the one political party, its positive influence is now no more or less limited to the political education of the young people—and even in this it has to share much of its task with the Catholic Church.