Somaten

The somatén was a Catalan institution of a parapolice nature. In its beginnings it was an armed civil protection body, separate from the army, for self-defense and the land. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) extended it to all of Spain, making it one of the pillars of the regime. It was dissolved in 1931 by the Second Spanish Republic, except for the Catalan rural Somatén, and reestablished under the Franco dictatorship. The final abolition occurred in 1978 after the reestablishment of democracy.

History

Middle Ages

Its beginnings come from the sagramental, whose origins are found in the compilations made by the Cortes of Catalonia in 1068 and in a usatge ('feudal use' 39;) called Princeps namque. Both legal texts configure the character that is both police (at the local level) and military (at the general level) conferred on the somatén.

Another of the somaten's tasks was to raise the alarm to alert neighboring towns. This was carried out by bonfires lit from peak to peak, the sound of a horn, the blowing of a trumpet or the ringing of bells. In this last way, the ringing of bells (or so emetent, in Catalan) is where the later name arises, which prevails over that of sacramental from especially on in the century XVI. The members of the somatén were all the neighbors in a position to provide such service. They had the obligation to keep weapons in their homes and to receive periodic training in their use.

According to Jaume Vicens Vives, in the medieval somatén «when the king or his officials believed it convenient and necessary, the royal people of a certain district or veguería were summoned to come with arms in defense of their lord. The monarch had the right to claim this armed assistance, a right that derived from the ancient patronage formulas.

Modern Age

The mass mobilization of citizens was called general somatén and reached its peak during the 12th and 13th centuries. During the following two centuries it was still common. In the 16th and 17th centuries it acquired a fundamentally police role – against bandits, Huguenots and pirates – defined by the Constitution of 1561, in force until the middle of the century XVII.

As a result of the defeat of the Catalan supporters of Archduke Charles in the War of Spanish Succession (1714), Philip V promulgates the New Plant Decrees, one of whose effects is the suppression of the somaten, led by General Moragues during war. Despite this temporary suppression, the somatén was reestablished in 1794 by the Count of the Union during the Roussillon War (1793-1795), mainly due to the poor situation of the army. It was used again during the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), against the French in Rosas, Barcelona and Tarragona.

19th century and early 20th century

It was reconstituted in 1855 by the large rural landowners, with the name of Sometent Armat de la Muntanya de Catalunya and adopted the motto of Pau, pau i semper pau (peace, peace and always peace). From then on, the somatén acquired the character of an auxiliary body of public order in rural areas, intended to protect the domains of large landowners. It was abolished again in the First Republic, but was reestablished shortly after to fight the Carlists in the Third Carlist War.

The Manresa Bases reserved an important task for the somaten, which was not completed because the Bases were not applied.

Subsequently, the somatén acted in collaboration with the authorities and far-right groups on several occasions. Thus, for example, they collaborated in the arrest of the pedagogue Francisco Ferrer Guardia (1909), accused of complicity in the attack by the anarchist Mateo Morral against Alfonso XIII, and against the strikers in Alella, in the years before the military dictatorship of Rivera's cousin. The somatén's popular support was scarce, due to its repressive activity and favoritism treatment with the upper classes, creating an entire black legend around it.^{[citation required]} The March 25, 1919, Joaquín Milans del Bosch decreed that any civilian who did not belong to Somatén and who carried weapons would be guilty of military rebellion.

Extension of Somatén to all of Spain under the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera

On September 17, 1923, just two days after the triumph of the coup d'état that established the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Military Directorate promulgated a royal decree by which it extended the Catalan institution of Somatén to all the provinces of Spain. According to the Royal Decree, the National Somatén, which was the first official name it received, would be recruited within a period of one month by the captains general, being placed under the command of a Brigadier General. In the Decree, Primo de Rivera explained that the Somatén was not only an auxiliary force for the maintenance of public order but also a "spur of the spirits" to stimulate citizen collaboration with the new regime. Although Primo de Rivera in a speech given before Mussolini on November 21, 1923 tried to equate it with the "black shirts" fascists, the somatén "was an armed body of orderly bourgeois, created from, by and for power", although some workers from the Free Unions were also integrated into it. As Primo de Rivera said, Somatén "has as its motto peace, justice and order, which are the three postulates of true democracy."

According to the Royal Decree, men over 23 years of age with proven morality could enlist in the Somatén. Its structure and mission – initially the model of the Catalan Somaten was copied – were established by a Royal Order of the Ministry of War of June 13, 1924 on the Organic Regulations for the Corps of Armed Somatens of Spain, and in successive decrees they were extended its members the legal privileges of law enforcement officers, even when they were off duty. Thus the somatenistas "achieved a practical exemption from civil or criminal responsibilities for events that occurred during the fulfillment of their missions," concludes historian Eduardo González Calleja.

To stimulate enlistment and boost social support for the institution, countless civic acts were organized, the ritual of which González Calleja describes as follows: "popular reception of the military representative of the Directory (civil or military governor or government delegate); magazine to the local Somatén; campaign mass officiated by the bishop or the parish priest in the main square with the assistance of the garrison forces, where appropriate, and the personalities of the town and the region (mayor, secretary, councilors, teachers, doctor, etc.), and even youth organizations such as the Explorers of Spain; speeches by the godmother of Somatén, the district corporal and the concurrent civil or military authority; blessing of the flags of the Institution; Somatén parade (care was taken to avoid excessive identification with military customs, discouraging the execution of any step rhythm or the uniform holding of the long weapon, and prohibiting the use of bands of bugles and drums), and civic banquet at the Town Hall, in a public hall or in the home of a prominent neighbor, often a close relative of the godmother.

The National Somatén had a notable role in the "police of good customs" in charge of establishing a certain conservative bourgeois civic behavior, with a strong religious component. One of his powers as an agent of authority was to prosecute blasphemy, and some bishops, such as that of Pamplona, Mateo Múgica, encouraged their parishioners and the priests of their dioceses to collaborate with Somatén. In fact, it was placed under the patronage of the Virgin of Montserrat, who was already the patron saint of the Catalan Somatén, and in its "civic acts" The campaign mass was never missed.

In practice, we can differentiate between the rural Somatén, aimed at the repression of common crimes, such as theft, and the urban Somatén, which acted under the tutelage of the Army and the Police in the repression of the so-called " social crimes, such as strikes.

On the other hand, joining the Somatén—and also the Patriotic Union, the sole party of the Dictatorship—became an important starting point for political advancement in the regime or for the defense of certain interests, and also to maintain the positions acquired, which is why many chiefs of the old politics of the parties of the day also enlisted, giving rise, according to González Calleja, to the formation of armed groups at the service of the large landowners, which undermined the social valuation of Somatén.

The number of Somatén members varied throughout the dictatorship. A few months after its founding it had about 175,000 men, which increased to 182,000 at the end of 1925. The maximum was reached in August 1928 with 217,584, starting from then on a gradual decline, due to the fact that it lost a good part of its reason for being to improve public order and the fact that it failed to take root outside of Catalonia; "The caciquil mechanisms of local power prevented the independent development of a civic and truly apolitical protection organization," says González Calleja. Another reason for its decline was the cold reception that the popular classes gave it due to to its bourgeois component since it was made up almost exclusively of "respectable people" (merchants, industrialists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, owners, etc.).

Thus the Somatén progressively became "a simple choreographic adornment of the regime's splendor, parading with its insignia, weapons and flags at any party or official commemoration that required its presence," states González Calleja. However, Primo de Rivera, just two and a half weeks before presenting his resignation, still believed in the validity of the Somatén when, at an event with Somatenistas held in Madrid on January 12, 1930, he stated:

The Somatén and the Patriotic Union are perfectly organized and have such a force of cohesion, such a decision to act noblely and citizenly, that I do not believe since with the existence of these entities can return to Spain days of turbulence, of concern and of zobra, as we all have known.

After the fall of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and the end of censorship, a good part of the press denounced the excesses, and even the crimes committed by its members, and demanded its dissolution. This occurred, except for rural Catalonia, by an order of the Provisional Government of the Second Spanish Republic issued on April 15, 1931, just one day after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.

Second Republic, Civil War and Franco's Dictatorship

On April 15, 1931 it was dissolved, except in Catalonia, by the Government of the Second Republic, although it was reestablished in 1936 after the uprising that caused the Civil War. Once this was over, in 1939, the somatén was dissolved again, but not for long, since in 1945 Franco's government reorganized it, already extended to almost all of Spanish territory, under the name of "Somatén Armado", with the main purpose of collaborating with the Civil Guard in combating the maquis and clandestine labor organizations. The members of the somatén, who had their rifles assigned to the Civil Guard posts and a short weapon license (very limited in Spain), could not act alone, but they could remain in charge of the Civil Guard barracks if it was necessary for them to do so. all the guards would go to an emergency, go off duty pairing up with a guard, etc.

It was dissolved by the Government in 1978.

El Somatén in Andorra

Currently, the somatén is only recognized in Andorra as an official institution, although it only comes into service during national emergencies such as during the 1982 floods or in official events such as the visit of the President of the French Republic and the Bishop of Urgel as Co-Princes of Andorra, calling all male Andorrans over 18 years of age to the levy. However, it has no other use or greater permanence, since internal security is the responsibility of the Andorran police and, in case of violation or threat to the sovereignty, independence or integrity of the Andorran territory, of Spain and France.