SINARQUISM

Spanish Sinarquismo (from Spanish sin, without, anarqua, anarchy), fascist movement in Mexico, based on the Unin Nacional Sinarquista, a political party founded in 1937 at Len, Guanajuato state, in opposition to policies established after the Revolution of 1911, especially in opposition to the anticlerical laws. It originated at the instigation of a German professor of languages in Guanajuato, Hellmuth Oskar Schleiter, who was a member of the Nazi Party and a German intelligence agent during World War I. The movement opposed communism, liberalism, and the United States and supported the fascist dictators Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. The program of the Sinarquistas called for a return to Mexican traditionsRoman Catholicism, Spanish heritage, and a Christian social order centred on the home and village. The movement was also critical of abuses in local government. By 1941 Sinarquism claimed 1 million adherents, but it was subsequently weakened by splits and by a general improvement of the economy. In 1952 the Partido de Accin Nacional recruited Sinarquista agrarian reformers to broaden its popular appeal. In the 1950s and '60s the remaining Sinarquista political activists continued to press for the restoration of the former powers of the Roman Catholic church, but their influence was slight.