The destruction of agrarian and rural associations and the totalitarian project of Falange in the construction of the Francoist order (1936-1947)

Historiography on the Spanish civil War has paid limited attention to the social aspects of the conflict. This article aims at presenting the historical dimensions of the destruction of agrarian associations, which translated the pluralism of rural society. To do so we explain the end and prohibition of free and voluntary associations that had developed under liberalism, from the 1880s onwards. This process appears to be closely related to the building up of a totalitarian order in the rural world. The conflicts, results, limits and consequences of the deployment of this Falangist project are analysed in the second part of the article.