The Social Relief of Falange (1936-1940): between total war and the Francoist 'New State'

This essay examines the origins of the Falangist Auxilio Social, the principal aid organisation of the Franco regime (1936-1975), as the product of a context marked by two essential characteristics. First, the mobilizing trends that the Spanish Civil War, an example of total war', forced upon society. Second, the tensions within the right-wing coalition that, in support of the rising, favoured the ascent of the Falangists during the war and their decline once Victory' was attained. In short, the postwar period was in a different context: the demobilization that followed the war and the shift in the division of power among the members of the coalition. Both factors impacted on the aid and education system that the Auxilio Social embodied from 1939, especially on the network of children's homes that would shelter what were called children of the Auxilio Social'. Este articulo analiza el origen del Auxilio Social de Falange, la principal institucion asistencial del regimen de Franco (1936-1975), como el producto de un contexto marcado por dos rasgos esenciales. Uno, la Guerra Civil espanola, un ejemplo de guerra total' que impondria a la sociedad sus tendencias movilizadoras. Otro, las tensiones dentro de la coalicion derechista que apoyaron la sublevacion, que favorecieron el ascenso de los falangistas durante la guerra y su declive una vez conseguida la Victoria'. La posguerra, en definitiva, fue un contexto distinto, tanto por la desmovilizacion que siguio a la experiencia belica como por los ajustes en el reparto de las esferas de poder entre los integrantes de dicha coalicion. Ambos factores se dejaron sentir en el sistema asistencial y educativo que encarno a partir de 1939 el Auxilio Social, en particular la red de hogares infantiles que albergo a los llamados ninos del Auxilio Social'.