Function Words

Roman fasces


Guillermo del Toro was interviewed on Fresh Air yesterday.
My first reaction was to be very impressed with his erudite speech about film, child psychology and the history of the Spanish Civil War.
My second reaction was to decide I have to see Pan's Labyrinth.
Then I began thinking about what I know about the Spanish Civil War, Francisco Franco and fascism.

I started with wondering about the etymology of fascism and wondering whether it had ever had positive connotations.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary 'fascism' is derived from 'fasces' the Latin plural of 'fascis' bundle
a fasces is a bunde of rods bound around an ax with the blade projecting, carried before ancient Roman magistrates as an emblem of authority.

From the definition "bundle" Mussolini adopted fascism to describe a political group led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition, emphasizing aggressive nationalism.

So my conclusion is that Fascism has always had negative connotations.

Now, some random thoughts about Franco and the Spanish Civil War.
Franco was still in power when I lived in Spain. I experienced the fascist regime in 3 ways.
1-The ubiquitous Guardia Civil in their funny patent leather hats made me feel safe as a foreigner (as long as I didn't deviate from any of the rules).
2-The abrupt and startling arrival of armed troops swooping down on university gathering-places like the cafeteria or library.
We would be sitting have lunch when suddenly the army would march in rousting everyone from the building. They used bull horns to tell everyone to go home. It was rather frightening for an american kid who had never seen that kind of breach of civil rights, let alone being face to face with so many guns.
3-At home, my landlady, Isabel, had many bitter stories about how her family suffered during the Civil War. Family members killed, tortured, displaced from their homes and left destitute. At the time, 25 years later, she had to take in boarders to survive.

I visited el Valle de los Caidos, Franco's hollowed-out mountain mausoleum which he claimed was bigger than St. Peter's. I don't remember how many people died building the damned thing. It may have been more than 30! The irony of workers dying while building a "monument" to honor the war dead was not lost on me.

Now I really want to see Del Toro's movie!