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| Renovación Española | |
|---|---|
| Name | Renovación Española |
| Native name | Renovación Española |
| Country | Spain |
| Founded | 1933 |
| Dissolved | 1939 |
| Position | Right-wing to far-right |
| Headquarters | Madrid |
| Leader | Antonio Goicoechea |
Renovación Española was a Spanish monarchist political party active during the early 1930s that sought restoration of the Bourbon monarchy and opposed the Second Spanish Republic. Founded by conservative activists, aristocrats and Catholic traditionalists, the party engaged with paramilitary groups, negotiated with other right-wing formations and participated in the coalitionary politics that led into the Spanish Civil War. It combined legitimist monarchism with corporatist and authoritarian proposals, aligning with military conspirators and international conservative currents.
Renovación Española emerged in the context of the fall of the Alfonso XIII monarchy, the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic and the political upheavals following the April 1931 municipal elections. Its founders included figures linked to the Restoration era, veterans of the Melilla campaigns and opponents of the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. The party participated in debates around the Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia and the Estatuto de Núria negotiations, opposing regionalist and secularizing reforms. During the lead-up to the 1933 elections Renovación Española coordinated with factions of the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas and elements of the Traditionalist Communion and the Carlist movement, while later aligning tactically with the Falange Española and supporters of Francisco Franco during the conspiracies culminating in the July 1936 coup.
The party advocated restoration of the House of Bourbon under a conservative, possibly authoritarian monarch, opposing the programs advanced by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the Spanish Communist Party. Its platform emphasized Catholic social teaching linked to the Quadragesimo anno and principles associated with the Action Française school, while promoting corporatist institutions akin to proposals from Giacomo Acerbo-like corporativists and Italian National Fascist Party policies. Renovación Española criticized the reforms associated with the Labour Laws advanced by the Republican Left and opposed secularizing legislation similar to measures from the Azaña ministry and the Bienio Reformista. Economically, it favored protectionist and agrarian interests tied to the Latifundia system in Andalusia and the Basque industrial elites around Bilbao and Santander.
The party's principal leader was Antonio Goicoechea, who engaged with military officers from the Army of Africa and rallied supporters among aristocrats with ties to Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia and other members of the Bourbons in exile. Its internal structure included local committees active in provinces such as Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Zaragoza and Alicante, and coordinated with veterans' associations like the Somatén and with right-wing youth groups that mirrored the organization of the Juventudes de Acción Popular or the Falange de las JONS brigades. The party maintained contacts with émigré networks in Paris and Lisbon, and exchanged communications with conservative cabinets in Lisbon, Rome and London. Key personalities associated with Renovación Española included aristocrats, former ministers from the Maura ministry era and legalists from the Council of State.
During the Second Spanish Republic, Renovación Española acted as a focal point for monarchist resistance to the 1931 Constitution and collaborated with conspirators such as officers linked to the Army of Africa, the Carabineros detachments sympathetic to the uprising, and civil organizations preparing for insurrection. After the Asturian October and the Revolutionary strike of 1934, the party intensified contacts with the Nationalist faction planners, participated in negotiations with generals like Emilio Mola and eventually supported the Nationalist Spain coalition under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Its members served in administrative and diplomatic roles in Burgos and later in Nationalist provisional institutions, influencing policies implemented in territories controlled by Franco's government.
In the 1933 elections and subsequent contests Renovación Española contested lists both independently and within coalitions with monarchist and rightist groups, sometimes coordinating with the CEDA and at other times positioning itself alongside Integrist and Carlist candidatures. It failed to secure broad mass support comparable to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party or the Republican Left but secured representation in municipal councils in cities like Madrid, Seville and Córdoba. The party's strategic alliances also encompassed negotiation with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista and later tactical cooperation with the Falange Española de las JONS as the Nationalist bloc consolidated under Burgos governance.
Renovación Española used monarchist symbols tied to the Bourbon coat of arms and traditionalist iconography common to the Spanish Catholic movement and conservative militias like the Requeté. Its publications included party bulletins, periodicals circulated in Madrid and provincial capitals, and periodical contributions to conservative newspapers linked to groups allied with the party such as ABC and El Debate. These outlets promoted monarchist restoration, critiqued the Azaña government and printed manifestos in dialogue with conservative intellectuals like those connected to the Instituto de Estudios Politicos and clerical journals patronized in Toledo and Salamanca.