Labour Universities: physical education and the indoctrination of the working class

Abstract

This paper explores the role of Physical Education in Labour Universities (1955-1978) during Franco's regime as an instrument of indoctrination and declassing of the working class. The conclusions obtained after the study and the analysis of various primary sources indicate that, initially, Physical Education was used as an instrument of indoctrination for the purposes of achieving the social and ideological model of Franco's regime after the Fascist uprising (1936-1939). However, this initial orientation became less relevant in the Sixties, in favour of the inherent aspects of sport, which contributed to the declassing of the young workers. In fact, Labour Universities became national benchmarks in the area of sports within the education system. Physical Education lost its indoctrinating and declassing roles after the General Law of Education was passed in 1970, and the focus shifted instead to its role as an activity for participation, education, and comprehensive training. 2 Teresa González Aja, 'Contamos contigo. Sociedad, vida cotidiana y deporte en los años del desarrollismo (1961 1975)', in Atletas y ciudadanos. Historia social del deporte en España (1870-2010), ed. Xavier Pujadas (Madrid: Alianza, 2011), 323-356. '(…) castles for the new reconquest, where you, and especially your children, will be trained not only to be good workers, which is little, and it's all that your enemies would want. We are going to create huge centers, where we can train not only technically better workers, but also fully formed men, able to deal with the battles of intelligence, trained to deal with the battles of the spirit, politics, and power. We are going to create different men (…)' 13. 8 González Aja, 'Contamos contigo', 330. 9 Ibíd., 331-332. 10 Payne, franquismo. Primera parte, 22. 11 'All the sports (…): a three thousand square meters sports gym, an Olympic pool, a large athletics track, fields for basketball, handball, hockey, football, etc. These infrastructures are complemented by a good Department of Physical Education that includes observation rooms, bodybuilding studio, etc. Among them, the following sports are practised: athletics, football, judo, personal defense, hockey, bastketball, handball, fronton...' 43. For the then Secretary of Work, Romeo Gorría, at Labour Universities: '(…) exceptional circumstances concur, summed up in a triple consideration: Who do they serve? What are they instruments for? And, where are they going? They serve the youth, the spirit of the youth, and on the other hand they are an instrument of the social policy' 44. 39 Ibíd., 13. 40 'Orden de 12 de julio de 1956'.

Sports, morality and body: The voices of sportswomen under Franco’s dictatorship

“…Actually, what happened from 1939 was the replacement of the liberal sports system by a system of political control in the hands of Movimiento Nacional and, within it, of the Secretaría General del Movimiento, which was controlled by the domain of the sector that was ideologically identified with the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS) [Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive] (Pastor Pradillo, 1997 Estado, 1941), is defined as a field in which the Phalanx State found one of the main tools for the global education of the Spanish man. Therefore, it was not a purely associative and pedagogical activity anymore and became an instrument with the main aim of disseminating the social and political model of an authoritarian state, particularly in the working class, which had to be taught in order to transform them into 'new men and women' who followed Francoist ideology (Delgado-Granados and Ramírez-Macías, 2014).…”

Memoria y reconstrucción de la educación franquista en Segovia. La voz de la infancia de las clases populares.

“…Para ello, el gobierno franquista había planteado un proyecto educativo que, tomando como base los planes de estudio de los Institutos Laborales y las Escuelas de Formación Profesional, buscaba desposeer a la clase trabajadora de su identidad. En este tipo de centros, dirigidos prioritariamente por la Iglesia católica, jóvenes y adultos fueron capacitados laboralmente bajo una pedagogía adoctrinadora, que constituyó la principal cobertura educativa para iniciar el desarrollo económico del país en años sucesivos (Alvargonzález, 1991;Bravo, 2016;Delgado, 2005;Delgado & Ramírez, 2014Díaz, 2017;García Álvarez, 2001;Pérez, 2015;Sánchez, 2006;Zafrilla, 1999).…”