ICS Working Papers Nº2/2016

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ICS WORKING PAPERS 2016
representation as an alternative to liberal democracy, namely as constituencies of legislative
chambers or councils that were established in many authoritarian regimes during the 20th
century However, there were differences between the Catholic corporatist formulations of
the late-19th century and the integral corporatist proposals of some fascist and radical-right-
wing parties. When we look at fascist party programmes and segments of the radical right,
like the Action Française-inspired movements, the picture is even clearer, with many
reinforcing ‘integral corporatism’ vis-à-vis the social corporatism of Catholicism. Two
examples are sufficient to illustrate this tension.
In the Spanish Second Republic, the Spanish Confederation of the Independent Right (CEDA –
Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas), formed in 1933 through the unification of
a number of conservative Catholic groups and the first party based ‘on a politically-mobilized
mass Catholicism’ (which for electoral reasons was poorly defined), called for the
establishment of ‘a corporatist, Catholic and conservative republic’ similar to the one created
by Salazar in neighbouring Portugal and that of Dolfuss in Austria When José Antonio Primo
de Rivera established the Spanish Falange (Falange Española), it was immediately suggested
parliament be replaced by a system of corporatist representation that recognized the family,
the municipality, the union, the business organization and the corporation ‘as the authentic
basis of state organization’. However, in an attempt to differentiate its political programme
from that of CEDA, the Falange strengthened its revolutionary programme, which included
the nationalization of the banks, and José Antonio managed to unmask some of the
conservative dimensions of the corporatist state.
In inter-war Belgium, where the Catholic unions believed the authoritarian models – even
those of the Portuguese New State – were ‘statist’ and not to be followed (they even avoided
using the word), the right-wing of the Catholic party was inclined to view them positively.
For those on the extreme right of the Catholic party, corporatism had to be ‘the basis of
political representation and a means of organizing the working class, which had lost all of its
independence’ ‘Some Catholics were sympathetic towards the authoritarian regimes in
Portugal and Austria. Corporatism was an important aspect, but few Catholics wanted to
replace democracy with a corporatist and authoritarian regime’ Despite the differences
between Flemish and Walloons in a Catholic subculture more sensitive to the working class in
the former and more mistrustful of the ‘masses’ in the latter, corporatism permeated the
political culture of the conservative elites – particularly the Catholic elite; however, their
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