Spanish philosopher (1920–2004) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Spanish name, the first or paternalsurname is Gambraand the second or maternal family name is Ciudad.
Rafael Gambra Ciudad (21 July 1920 – 13 January 2004) was a Spanish philosopher, a secondary education official, a Carlist politician and a soldier. In philosophy he is considered key representative of late Traditionalism; his works fall also into theory of state and politics. He is best known as author of books focusing on secularisation of Western European culture in the consumer society era. As a politician he is acknowledged as a theorist rather than as an active protagonist, though after 2001 he briefly headed one of the Carlist branches.
Rafael's paternal ancestors for generations have been related to Valle de Roncal; until today Casa Gambra and Casa Sanz are iconic mansions of the area.[1] The Gambras made their name fighting the French in 1809.[2] Rafael's grandfather, Pedro Francisco Gambra Barrena (died 1930),[3] married descendant to a distinguished Carlist military Sanz family;[4] himself he rose to high positions in Ministry of Economy.[5] His son and Rafael's father, Eduardo Gambra Sanz (1878-1964),[6] became an architect.[7] Key Gambra's works are offices of Sociedad Gran Peña along the Gran Vía[8] and refurbishment of Palacio del Marqués de Miraflores,[9] marked by attempt to re-capture the splendor of historical Spanish architecture.[10] In 1915[11] he married Rafaela Ciudad Villalón (died 1947),[12] born in Seville[13] though raised in Madrid.[14] She came from a distinguished family of civil servants; her father José Ciudad Aurioles[15] in the early 20th century was a Cortes deputy,[16] until the early 1920s a longtime senator,[17] and in 1917-1923 served as President of Tribunal Supremo.[18] The couple had only one child.[19]
Born and raised in Madrid, Rafael spent much of his childhood in Valle de Roncal and later cherished his Navarrese heritage; in historiography he is referred to as a navarro rather than as a madrileño, sometimes dubbed "maestro navarro", "arquetipo navarro", "buen navarro" or "vasco-navarro roncalés".[20] He was brought up in profoundly Catholic ambience;[21] politically his father sympathized with Carlism[22] and his mother, though coming from a Liberal family, also displayed a conservative penchant.[23] He was first educated at the Madrid Marianist Colegio del Pilar; already during his schoolboy years he was attracted to letters and read books while his colleagues played football;[24] during his early adolescent years he was engaged in Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas.[25]
Valle de Roncal, view from upper part of the Belagua section
In July 1936 the Gambras were spending their summer holidays in Roncal, where they were caught by the military coup.[26] As a 16-year-old Rafael volunteered to the Requeté unit of Tercio de Abárzurza,[27] in few days time taking positions at Alto de León pass[28] and attempting to break through Sierra de Guadarrama.[29] José Ulíbarri, the Catholic parish priest from Úgar and temporary commander of the unit, remained Gambra's friend and sort of mentor for life.[30] He spent the next 2 years at the stationary frontline in the Sierra, until in July 1938 he left to attend alférez provisional training.[31] In February 1939 he was seconded to Tercio del Alcázar,[32] commanding a platoon in the 4. Infantry Company.[33] Having reached Lliria at the moment of Nationalist victory,[34] he was decorated with many military awards.[35]
Rafael Gambra was married to María del Carmen Gutiérrez Sánchez (1921-1984), translator, scholar[36] and as Miguel Arazuri author of fairly popular novels.[37] She was also the founder and manager of Fundación Stella, an independent radio venture.[38] The couple had three children.[39] Of their two sons, Andrés Gambra Gutiérrez is professor of medieval history[40] and the university official,[41] while José Miguel Gambra Gutiérrez is scholar in philosophy,[42] both in Madrid. The two are active Traditionalists,[43] the latter leading the sixtinos Carlists since 2010.[44]
In 1939 Gambra enrolled at the faculty of letters and philosophy at Universidad Central.[45] Influenced by Manuel García Morente and Salvador Minguijón Adrián,[46] he graduated in 1942.[47] One year later he entered Cuerpo de Catedráticos Numerarios de Institutos Nacionales de Enseñanza Media.[48] Promoted to Inspector Nacional de Enseñanzas Medias,[49] in 1945 Gambra obtained his PhD laurels as Doctor en Filosofía, his thesis dedicated to post-Hegelian approach to historiographic methodology.[50] The work, promoted by Juan Zaragüeta y Bengoechea, boiled down to highly critical review centred on Marx and Feuerbach[51] and was published in 1946.[52]
Already in the early 1940s Gambra assumed teaching at the Madrid Academia Vazquez de Mella, a semi-official Carlist educational and cultural enterprise; he was giving lectures on Traditionalist theory of philosophy, state and politics.[53] In 1943 he moved to Pamplona, where he was employed by Instituto Príncipe de Viana,[54] a cultural outpost of Carlism managed by the provincial authorities. During the next 12 years Gambra served in the Institute as professor of philosophy,[55] in the early 1950s apparently hoping to join a would-be Universidad del País Vasco-Navarro, a high-education establishment advocated at the time.[56] However, when Universidad de Navarra materialized as a private Opus Dei enterprise in 1952, Gambra did not enlist; he rejected also an opportunity to pursue research and possibly scholarship in England.[57] In the mid-1950s he returned to the capital,[58] engaged in governmental attempt to re-shape the secondary education structures.[59] He assumed teaching in newly created "centros modelos de segunda enseñanza", first in Instituto Miguel de Cervantes and in the mid-1960s moving to Instituto Nacional de Enseñanza Media Lope de Vega,[60] becoming its vicedirector later on.[61] As education official he was anxious to prevent "erosión de la espiritualidad", and in the early 1960s he opposed technocratic changes, proposed and eventually introduced in education.[62] He co-operated also with Universidad Complutense, particularly with the associated San Pablo CEU college, run by ACdP. Gambra continued collaborating with CEU from the mid-1960s to 1994,[63] also after San Pablo had formally separated from Complutense and became an independent university.[64]
Apart from professional engagements, Gambra continued his teaching career also with a number of semi-scholarly institutions. Until the early 1960s Gambra was giving lectures at Ateneo de Madrid, at that time led by Florentino Pérez Embid,[65] and Instituto de Cultura Hispánica, an establishment created by Francoist authorities to cultivate the Latin American link.[66] In the press referred to as "catedrático",[67] he was active in once-off conferences, also beyond Madrid,[68] and in periodical Catholic cultural-scientific initiatives, like Conversaciones Intelectuales de El Paular[69] or sessions organized by Hermandad Sacerdotal.[70] In the mid-1960s he commenced engagement in Madrid-based Centro de Estudios Históricos y Políticos General Zumalacárregui, a think-tank set up to disseminate Traditionalist thought and counter progressist designs on Carlism. In the late 1960s he stood as a recognized authority, at least within the Traditionalist realm.[71] He continued giving lectures in the 1980s,[72] as late as 1989[73] and 1992.[74] In 1998 he celebrated 50 years of teaching.[75]
The principal thread of Gambra's thought is repudiation of rationalism-based civilization[82] and promotion of a Traditionalist outlook. Human life is understood as commitment to divine order[83] and human identity as spanned between own self and community belonging.[84] A man is perceived primarily as a social – not autonomous[85] – being, expressed mostly by his role in society; similarly, life is about contributing to common good, incompatible with individualism or liberalism.[86] The society itself is governed by nature, animality and rationality, though religion as a transcendent factor is indispensable element of social equation.[87] Such a polity is best expressed as a "society of duties", united by common purpose and religious inspiration.[88] As he believed a public organization not based on accepted orthodoxy can never be stable, leading to mere co-existence rather than community,[89] Gambra advocated public embracement of the doctrine[90] with respect for privately held heterodoxy.[91]
According to Gambra social self of a human is best expressed by tradition, viewed as accumulated and irreversible evolution that provides a principle governing historical societies[93] and incompatible with revolutionary patterns of change.[94] In case of Spain the tradition is embodied in hereditary monarchy as opposed to elective heads of state,[95] federative structure[96] as opposed to unitary nation states,[97]organic representation[98] as opposed to corruption-prone and individual-centred parliamentarian democracy,[99] Catholic orthodoxy as opposed to secular or neutral regime[100] and generally withdrawn admin structures as opposed to modern, omnipotent state.[101] Politically the guardian of such a tradition[102] was Carlism,[103] not merely political grouping or romantic sentiment but rather the very essence of Spanish self.[104]
Recurring thread of Gambra's thought, by some considered its key component,[105] was confronting modern format of religiosity. He held Maritain and Teilhard de Chardin responsible for undermining Christianity[106] and turning it into a "new humanist religion",[107] admitting defeat in 150-year-old struggle[108] against secular Revolution.[109] Fiercely critical of Vaticanum II[110] he considered Dignitatis humanae incompatible with tradition,[111] the innovative effort of Vatican producing demolition of Christianity[112] and reduction of Catholic integrity to mere "Christian inspiration".[113] Indeed, he is often referred to as an Integrist.[114] Faced with progressist stance of the Church, Gambra started assuming anti-clerical positions from the far-right perspective.[115] He often combined his critique with onslaught on European idea, considered a euphemism denoting a militant, anti-Christian ideology,[116] and opposed its implementation in Spain.[117] He was not that much anti-democratic as rather opposing deification of democracy,[118] and especially the central if not exclusive position it claimed within public space.[119]
Most popular Gambra's works were textbooks in history of philosophy: Historia sencilla de la filosofía (1961) and Curso elemental de filosofía (1962); tailored for the beginners, they were reprinted in countless editions and served as immensely popular introductions to philosophy for generations of Spanish students[120] until the early 21st century.[121] The first edition of Curso was nominally co-authored by Gustavo Bueno; in the subsequent re-runs the publisher dropped Bueno, who after the fall of Francoism claimed that the result of his own labor had been merely re-edited by Gambra.[122] In 1970 these works were supplemented by La filosofía católica en el siglo XX.[123]
Gambra's view on theory of society and state was laid out in three works: his PhD dissertation La interpretación materialista de la historia (1946), La monarquía social y representativa en el pensamiento tradicional (1954)[124] and Eso que llaman estado (1958).[125]La monarquía, together with almost simultaneously published similar work of Elías de Tejada,[126] became a cornerstone of Traditionalist theoretical vision, while Eso que llaman was widely discussed in the press of the era;[127] both earned Gambra prestigious standing in scholarly discourse.
The works which made most impact among the wide public were 4 books focusing on contemporary culture: La unidad religiosa y el derrotismo católico (1965),[128]El silencio de Dios (1967),[129]Tradición o mimetismo (1976)[130] and El lenguaje y los mitos (1983).[131] The first two centred on secularization of Western polities; they confronted Christian-Democratic vision[132] and Vatican II alike,[133] explored roots of perceived cultural decline, tried to re-define tradition versus progress[134] and strove to demonstrate how multifold advances of the last centuries have given man a false sense of mastery.[135]Tradición turned dramatically out of tune with the transición spirit, withdrawn by the editor and distributed by the author himself.[136] Finally, El lenguaje deconstructed modern communication; its objective was to prove that the progressist tide manipulated the language and turned it from means of communication into means of promoting cultural revolution.[137]
shopping mall, Spain
Apart from translations,[138] booklets,[139] compilations[140] and single though some of them original historical attempts,[141] most of 775 titles in digitalized version of Gambra's writings, released in 2002, are contributions to reviews and daily press.[142] Since the 1940s Gambra was moderately engaged[143] in Calvo Serrer directed Arbor.[144] Later he switched to La Ciudad Católica, turned into Verbo, unofficial review of the Spanish Integrists,[145] contributing also to other Catholic titles like Tradición Católica or conservative ones like Ateneo. He supplied a number of Carlist reviews and bulletins:[146]Siempre p'alante, La Santa Causa, Montejurra and Azada y Asta, gradually eradicated from the last two by their progressist management.[147] Through many decades he was key author of El Pensamiento Navarro.[148] During late Francoism and afterwards he collaborated with El Alcázar and Fuerza Nueva. In the 1990s and later he appeared in nationwide press mostly as author of letters to the editor;[149] his last item identified is from 2003.[150] In the 1950s he engaged in private Carlist ventures Editorial Cálamo[151] and Ediciones Montejurra.[152]
early Francoism
Released from the Carlist Requeté unit, during academic years in Madrid Gambra engaged in the Traditionalist Academia Vázquez de Mella.[153] In the increasingly fragmented realm of post-war Carlism, headed by vacillating and hardly contactable[154] regent Don Javier, he seemed leaning towards a candidature of Dom Duarte Nuño; the two had an amicable interview in 1941,[155] but the young Gambra stayed within the limits of loyalty to the regent[156] and eventually abandoned his pro-Braganza penchant,[157] converted to supporter of the Borbón-Parmas.[158] Having moved to Navarre in 1943 he assisted the French monarchists from fleeing the Nazi terror across the Pyrenees into Spain.[159] In the late 1940s he gained weight within Navarrese Carlism; in the early 1950s he was already listed among "dirigentes locales"[160] who "tenían en el país vasconavarro una indudable influencia";[161] in 1953 he formally entered Junta Provincial.[162]
Since emergence of pro-Francoist Carloctavista branch in the mid-1940s Gambra was increasingly anxious about protracted regency of Don Javier.[163] Uncompromising towards another collaborative branch, the Rodeznistas,[164] in the early 1950s he concluded that Don Javier should reinvigorate the movement by terminating the regency and declaring his own claim to the throne. When this eventually happened in 1952, Gambra was co-author[165] of Acto de Barcelona, a proclamation issued by the pretender and viewed also as major re-definition of the Carlist dynastical reading.[166] Books on Traditionalist monarchy established his firm position as a recognized party theorist. In 1954 he entered sub-commission of culture within Comisión de Cultura y Propaganda of the Carlist executive, Junta Nacional.[167]
When discussing the mid-1950s some authors count him among the immovilistas, non-collaborative followers of Manuel Fal,[168] while others scholars suggest he charged Fal with lack of intransigence and together with other Navarros like the Baleztenabrothers he opposed him from even more anti-Francoist positions.[169] Once Carlism changed its strategy towards cautious rapprochement, Gambra stuck to his guns and lambasted the official collaborationist path of the new leader, José María Valiente.[170]
Uneasy about continuous vacillation of Don Javier,[171] Gambra was cautiously supportive of inviting his son Don Carlos Hugo into the Spanish politics; he first met him in 1955[172] and though perplexed by unfamiliarity of the francophone prince with the Spanish affairs,[173] it was Gambra who introduced him at the 1957 Carlist gathering at Montejurra.[174] In the late 1950s Gambra appreciated his energetic style and focus on dynastic loyalty; he also liked young personalities from Don Carlos Hugo's entourage,[175] especially Ramón Massó, a former Gambra's disciple from Academia Vázquez de Mella. Appreciating him as a young Catalan easily communicating with the crowd,[176] at the turn of the decades Gambra collaborated with Massó and others;[177] he did not realize that they exploited Mellist and federalist threads[178] but considered him a rotten reactionary[179] and approached his teaching highly selectively.[180] It was only in the early 1960s that Gambra realized that Huguistas tried to outsmart the Traditionalists; having failed to prevent their increased presence in the party structures, around 1963 Gambra dissociated himself from Carlohuguismo to launch an openly confrontational bid.
Carlist meeting, 1966
In 1963 Gambra co-founded Centro de Estudios Históricos y Políticos General Zumalacárregui;[181] though affiliated with Movimiento Nacional,[182] it was intended as a think-tank disseminating Traditionalism and countering progressist vision of the Huguistas.[183] Apart from publications and minor events,[184] its activity climaxed in two Congresos de Estudios Tradicionalistas, staged in 1964 and 1968.[185] As supporters of Don Carlos Hugo were gaining momentum,[186] Gambra was leaning towards rapprochement among all Carlist branches separated from the party during the last 20 years: Rodeznistas, Carloctavistas, Sivattistas and the recently expulsed politicians like José Luis Zamanillo or Francisco Elías de Tejada.[187] Parking dynastical issues,[188] they were supposed to be united by loyalty to Traditionalist principles and opposition to socialist penchant.[189] The plan did not work out until the early 1970s, it is until emergence of ephemeral structure styled as ex-Requeté organization.[190]
Gambra's efforts of the time were mostly about further refinement of Traditionalist thought in specialized reviews and conferences;[191] they climaxed in ¿Qué es el carlismo? (1971), concise lecture of the doctrine co-authored with de Tejada and Puy Muñoz. Also in the mid-1970s he was very engaged in propaganda war with the Huguistas. The latter lambasted his accord with "ultra-fascist line" of El Pensamiento Navarro[192] and his "posición ultramontana";[193] Gambra mobilized Traditionalists to challenge progressist grip on Carlism and prior to the 1976 Montejurra gathering, which effectively produced fatal casualties, called for "asistencia masiva de los verdaderos tradicionalistas, que acallará gestos y voces, 'declaraciones' y 'manifiestos', sencillamente inadmisibles, intolerables".[194]
During final years of Francoism and during transición Gambra, always opposed to Falangism and Francoism,[195] neared the post-Francoist búnker[196] when confronting the change;[197] voicing against the 1978 constitution,[198] he sided with Blas Piñar'sFuerza Nueva until the party was dissolved in 1982.[199] Embittered by ongoing change he tried to confront it in newspapers;[200] he compared the setting of late transición to that of the mid-1930s, when Spain was struggling infected with deadly political viruses.[201] He remained on the sidelines of politics; when mushrooming Traditionalist grouplets united in Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista in 1986 Gambra focused rather on youth Carlist organizations,[202] his spotlight on cultural heritage and education.[203] His objective was to promote Traditionalist values in the increasingly secular, modern consumer Spanish society.
In the late 1980s and the early 1990s Gambra was considered supreme authority on theory of Traditionalism.[204] This was acknowledged during homage celebrations organized in 1998,[205] though formal recognition came 3 years later. In 2001 Don Sixto, the younger son of Don Javier styled as Abanderado de la Tradición (though falling short either of claiming the throne or even claiming the Carlist regency) nominated Gambra chief of his Secretaría Política.[206] Not all the Traditionalists recognized Gambra's authority; the Carloctavistas and Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista - not admitting allegiance to any dynastical line - dissociated themselves from the nomination.[207] Assuming political leadership of the sixtinos Carlists, the 81-year-old considered his elevation another cross to bear, though as an octogenarian Gambra remained fairly active; his last public appearance took place during the Cerro de los Ángeles feast in 2002.[208]
Carlist standard
Gambra emerged as a notable Traditionalist theorist in the mid-1950s. In the late 1960s he was already a recognized authority within the movement and beyond,[209] with first homage sessions organized in 1968;[210] at that time his books on culture and Christianity earned him name also among wider national audience. With the commencing transición of the late 1970s his works went out of fashion up to the point of withdrawing them from bookstores.[211] Following the 1983 publication of El lenguaje y los mitos he started to disappear from public discourse, publishing either in specialized reviews or partisan press titles.[212] Within Traditionalism he grew to an iconic figure, honored by 1998 homage session[213] and a monograph by Miguel Ayuso, published the same year.[214] Though he gained a number of prizes, all of them were awarded by conservative institutions.[215] His 2004 death was noted by some though not all nationwide newspapers[216] and acknowledged by monographic issue of Anales de Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada.[217]
Taxonomy of Gambra's work is unclear. Today he is usually vaguely referred to as "thinker",[218] an application used also by the Spanish press during his lifetime, alternating with "publicista", "catedrático", "profesor" or "ensayista".[219] When it comes to detailed designation his work is usually classified as philosophy,[220] though some see it as part of historiography[221] or political science.[222] In general Spanish encyclopedias he usually merits very brief notes.[223] Some philosophy-dedicated dictionaries ignore him,[224] some just mention his name[225] and in few he is treated at length.[226] In some manuals he appears in entries dealing with Traditionalism, though featured as a secondary theorist who failed to provide original contribution and was rather a renovator[227] of earlier thought.[228] As a historian by some he is denied sound credentials, counted among pseudo-scientific "historiografia neotradicionalista",[229] others challenge this approach.[230] As education official he is considered opponent of modernising technocratic changes.[231] He is sometimes counted among members of "generación de 1948".[232]
Within Traditionalism Gambra remains one of the all-time greats. His opus is applauded as grand contribution,[233] a synthesis[234] and a holistic "cosmovisión católica y española",[235] though few authors consider his input an update rather than an original contribution.[236] Gambra's followers see him as "pensador tradicionalista contemporáneo más importante",[237] "esencia del tradicionalismo"[238] or even "el más grande y el más fiel filósofo español de la segunda mitad del siglo XX",[239] himself and counter-revolution being one and the same thing.[240] However, also within the Traditionalist realm he found some of his concepts – especially his intransigence - challenged, like in case of a 2003 polemics with Alvaro d'Ors.[241] During the 2014 conference on Traditionalism[242] Gambra was dedicated one paper and featured prominently in a number of others; apart from that, both his sons acted as speakers.[243] In the 2015 synthesis of Traditionalist thought he is the second – after Elías de Tejada - most featured author.[244] Some of Gambra's essay books are being re-published, especially El Silencio de Dios enjoyed a number of editions and was translated into French[245] and English.[246] A new book was released posthumously.[247]
compare Qué visitar section at the Ayuntamiento de Roncal web page, available hereArchived 2016-06-01 at the Wayback Machine, or Roncal section at the vallederoncal tourist service, available here
in the late 1870s he was jefe de administracion honorario employed in Dirección General de Propiedades y Derechos de Estado, see Guía Oficial de España 1879, p. 642, available here. In the late 1880s he served as administrador de contribuciones in the province of Madrid, see La Iberia 28.05.89, available here, becoming Delegado de Hacienda in Valladolid in 1896, see La Iberia 28.01.96, available here. In 1911 he rose to debt and budget administration in the ministry, Guía Oficial de España 1911, p. 514, available here
Boletín del Círculo Tradicionalista Carlista San Mateo 39 (1998), Rafael Gambra Ciudad 1920-2004, [in:] filosofia.org service, available here, José de Armas, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. Fidelidad a los principios y lealtad a las personas Rafael Gambra en mi personal "Camino de Damasco", [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), p.170
Miguel Ayuso Torres, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. Rafael Gambra en el pensamiento tradicional español, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), p. 163. When in his 50s Gambra appreciated the role of Acción Católica, though not that of CEDA, Tyre and Bloque Nacional, see Miguel Ayuso Torres, Koinos: el pensamiento politico de Rafael Gambra, Madrid 1998, ISBN9788473440424, p. 33, Jacek Bartyzel, Nic bez Boga, nic wbrew tradycji, Radzymin 2015, ISBN9788360748732, p. 105
Gambra's own account of fightings on the Alto de León pass in the summer of 1936 ignores his own role, compare Rafal Gambra, 1936: El Alto de Leon, [in:] Siempre P'alante 1993, available here; for pro-Republican account of the same war episode see Mariano Maroto García, El 18 de julio en Leganes (II), [in:] Ciudadanas y Ciadadanos por el cambio 31.07.11, available here
Luis Hernando de Larramendi, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. Los Gambra y los Larramendi: una mistad carlista, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), p. 172
Medalla de la Campaña 1936-1939, Cruz Roja del Mérito Militar, Cruz de Guerra and Medalla de Voluntarios de Navarra, Rafael Gambra, gran filósofo tradicionalista, [in:] Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco, Rafael Gambra Ciudad 1920-2004, [in:] filosofia.org
in UCM, UNED, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Colegio Universitario Domingo de Soto (Segovia), Universidad Francisco (Vitoria) and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, see D. Andrés Gambra Gutiérrez, [in:] Universidad Rey Juan Carlos service, available here; for some of his works see dialnet.unirioja service, available here
see Profesores del Departamento, [in:] Universidad Complutense, Departamento de Lógica y Filosófia de la Ciencia service, available here; for some of his works see dialnet.unirioja service, available here
see e.g. Andrés Gambra, acting as official at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, in public confronting marginalisation of Christianity and deification of progress, La Razón 15.02.11, available here
see e.g. José Miguel Gambra, nuevo jefe de la Sec. Política de S.A.R. Don Sixto Enrique Bornón, [in:] Radio Cristianidad service 09.03.10, available here
see Sumarios y extractos de las Tesis Doctorales leídas desde 1940 a 1950 en las secciones de Filosofía y Pedagogía, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Madrid, pp. 61-66
Gambra was highly critical of hitherto organization of the secondary education, writing: "lo peor de estos centros es su constitución misma, esto es, la forma como están concebidos y organizados. La estructura decimonónica, individualista y meramente oficial (...) el orden existente en un instituto es meramente reglamentario o externo; fundamentalmente, la mera sujeción a un horario de asistencia a clase (...) Los institutos se hallan montados sobre la sagrada independencia de cátedra (...) El claustro como entidad de gobierno, casi inexistente en la actualidad, no entiende tampoco de asuntos internos pedagógicos o educativo", quoted after Ángel Lorente Lorente, Cincuenta años de regulación de las formas de coordinación docente en los institutos de educación secundaria, [in:] Guillermo Vicente y Guerrero, (ed.), Estudios sobre la historia de la Enseñanza Secundaria en Aragón, Zaragoza 2011, ISBN9788499111759, pp. 402-403
Gambra claimed that "erosión de valores", and "erosión de la espiritualidad" might impair development and adversely affect equality of opportunities. Proponents of technocratic changes, J. A. Pérez Rioja and A. Abad, gained the upper hand, giving rise to the reform period dubbed "segunda sisactía", Emilio Castillejo Cambra, Mito, legitimación y violencia simbólica en los manuales escolares de historia del franquismo (1936-1975), Madrid 2014, ISBN9788436268645 pp. 170, 671
Gabriel de Armas, Rafael Gambra y la unidad católica de España (I), [in:] Verbo 39 (1965), p. 533, also Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, La crisis del tradicionalismo carlista, [in:] Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, Ana Martínez Arancón, Juan Olabarría Agra, Gabriel Plata Parga, Raquel Sánchez García, Javier Zamora Bonila (eds.), Historia del pensamiento político español. Del renacimiento a nuestros días, Madrid 2016, ISBN9788436271041, page unavailable, see here
Ayuso Torres 1998, p. 307. He opposed the 1967 Ley de la Libertad Religiosa as opening the gates to "penetración protestante y judaica", Juan Antonio Monroy, Un protestante en la España de Franco, Madrid 2015, ISBN9781496404244, page unavailable, see here. He perceived it as bowing to invasion of progressism and Europeisation, coming from Italy, France and the Vatican - Santa Cruz 2004, p. 176
for a sample of Gambra's highly sympathetic though not openly anti-Vatican rebellious views on Lefebvre see e.g. Algo más sobre Monseñor Lefebvre, [in:] La Nación 14.06.95, available here
at times this concept was applied to unlikely cases like a family saga from Colorado, screened on Spanish TV in the early 1980s, see Carmelo López-Arias Montenegro, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. Rafael Gambra y el sentido del tiempo, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), p. 168
Juan B. Vallet de Goytisolo, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. La luz que agradezco a Rafael Gambra, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), p. 180
Ayuso Torres 1998, pp. 310-311, Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis in Historia Contemporánea, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia], Valencia 2009, pp. 407-9, Bartyzel 2015, p. 127
according to another summary, for Gambra the essence of Traditionalism was: 1) society as community united by common orthodoxy, 2) family as basis; 3) corporative purpose-guided structure (jerarquización teleológica); 4) subsidiarity principle of all public power; 5) organic representation, Bartyzel 2015, p. 74
Jordi Canal, El carlismo, Madrid 2000, ISBN8420639478, p. 406; not to mention against Maurras, considered "tradicionalismo de izquierdas", González Cuevas 2016
Ayuso Torres 2004, pp. 163-4, Santa Cruz 2004, p. 177; he later referred to the Council as Los heraldos del anticristo, see Boletín de Comunión Católico-Monárquica 11-12 (1985), available here
Bartyzel 2015, p. 289, Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El final de una ilusión. Auge y declive del tradicionalismo carlista (1957-1967), Madrid 2016, ISBN9788416558407, p. 271
Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 475, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 155. Gambra has not rejected the authority of Vatican; disillusioned about Paul VI, he noted that in John Paul I's public statements he heard about discipline, a word long forgotten in Vatican, and about faith instead of social problems, see El Imparcial, available here. Cautiously optimistic prior to the 1982 John Paul II's visit to Spain - see e.g. Siempre p'alante from 1982, available here, he assumed a decisively skeptical stance in the late 1990s. He was anxious about ecumenical activity of the pope, see e.g. Fuerza Nueva 1997, available here or noted that while John Paul II in public hailed integrity of Italian state and spoke against separatism of right-wing Lega Nord, he has never supported Spanish territorial integrity and has never spoke against the left-wing Basque separatism, see Fuerza Nueva 1996, available here
e.g. in El Pensamiento Navarro he lambasted clergymen for systematically turning sermons into subversive political lectures, apparently with no reaction on part of official ecclesiastical authorities, referred after Mediterráneo. Prensa y radio del Movimiento 23.03.75, available here. Gambra's views on cardenal Tarancón were extremely critical and he did not refrain from mocking the head of Spanish church in public, compare an article with already abusive title La 'cana al aire' del cardenal Tarancón, [in:] Fuerza Nueva 06.08.77, available here
Historia sencilla was published by Rialp, related to Opus Dei, Rafael Gambra Ciudad 1920-2004, [in:] filosofia.org; some counted him among opusdeístas, Gregorio Morán, El Maestro en el Erial: Ortega y Gasset y la Cultura Del Franquismo, Madrid 1998, ISBN9788483100493, p. 125. Historia sencilla enjoyed 25 re-editions, while Curso elemental had 17 re-runs
190 pp, Rafael Gambra: La unidad religiosa y el derrotismo católico. Estudio sobre el principio religioso de las sociedades históricas y en particular sobre el Catolicismo en la nacionalidad española, Sevilla 1965, available online at Fundación Larramendi service here
with particular attention paid to terms like "democracy", "equality", "evolution", "progress", "humanism", "human rights" etc, Ayuso Torres 1998, p. 305, Bartyzel 2015, p. 207. El lenguaje y los mitos provided a counter-reference to another book on public communication, issued a few years earlier and having been a lecture of media manipulation, elevated to the status of art and science; the book was fathered by former Gambra's disciple and Carlist collaborator turned his enemy, Ramón Massó, De la magia a la artesanía: el politing del cambio español (1980)
especially his Valle de roncal (1955, 71 pages) enjoyed a few re-editions, see online at Fundación Larramendi service here. Far less popular was a compilation La Cristianización de América (1992), available online at Fundación Larramendi service here. The work which attracted scholarly discussion was La primera guerra civil de España 1821-23 (1950), referred to as "catastrophic interpretation of Trienno Liberal as conflict between the peasants and the liberals", Ignacio Peiró Martín, Días de ayer de la historiografía española. La Guerra de Independencia y la "conversión liberal" de los historiadores en el franquismo, [in:] Pedro Rújula López, Jordi Canal i Morell (eds.), Guerra de ideas: política y cultura en la España de la Guerra de la Independencia, Madrid 2011, ISBN9788492820641 p 458
Mercedes Vázquez de Prada Tiffe, El papel del carlismo navarro en el inicio de la fragmentación definitiva de la comunión tradicionalista (1957-1960), [in:] Príncipe de Viana 72 (2011), p. 395
Mercedes Vázquez de Prada Tiffe, El nuevo rumbo político del carlismo hacia la colaboración con el régimen (1955-56), [in:] Hispania 69 (2009), p. 193, Bartyzel 2015, p. 251
Robert Vallverdú i Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936-1975), Barcelona 2014, ISBN9788498837261, p. 138
Lavardin 1976, pp. 15, 18; others claim that differences were rather of personal nature, Ramón María Rodon Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939-1976) [PhD thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015, p. 115
for 1956 see Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 67; for 1957 letter see Gambra's letter to Valiente, reading that "La política de acercamiento al régimen (o de acogida de un supuesto llamamiento del Generalísmo), que Ud. siempra ha propugnado, producirá, a mi juicio, [...] los siguentes efectos: 1) resultados políticos nulos; 2) situación de ridículo general ante el país; 3) desaliento, división y aun violencias graves entre los Carlistas", quoted after Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 293, see also Vallverdú i Martí 2014, p. 157; for 1958 see Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 78
for 1955 see Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 33; in 1956 he edited a memorandum aimed against a would-be reconciliation with the Alfonsists, prepared in wake of rumors of Don Javier preparing such a deal, Vázquez de Prada 2016, pp. 37-38
"primero habla [in Montejurra 1956] un estudiante catalán, que tiene el acierto de coger enseguida la onda de la emoción popular y de hablar con frases breves y rotundas. El público entra de maravilla, aplaude, interrumpe, completa y redondea las frases del orador", quoted after Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 385
"La obra de Gambra sirvió de base teórica para quienes prepararon, adoctrinaron y lanzaron políticamente al primogénito de los Borbón Parma, Carlos Hugo", Martorell Pérez 2009, pp. 361, 397-409
Jacek Bartyzel, Tradycjonalizm a dyktatura. Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola wobec frankizmu, [in:] Marek Maciejewski, Tomasz Scheffler (eds.), Studia nad Autorytaryzmem i Totalitaryzmem 36/2 (2014), p. 7. In general, during the 1960s Carlism was tolerated as semi-legal grouping. When a formal case was lodged before the court by an Alfonsist monarchist, who indicated that Comunión Tradicionalista, noted in the press, is illegal organisation, the answer was as follows: "El Tribunal de Orden Público abrió el correspondiente sumario pero a la postre resolvió abstenerse de entrar en el fondo del asunto y archivar las actuaciones porque La Comunión Tradicionalista, según el Decreto d 19 de abril de 1937, integró con Falange Española una entidad de carácter nacional, en tanto se declaraban disueltas las demás organizaciones y partidos políticos, de donde se obtiene una legitimidad de origen y, por consiguiente, una imposibilidad de subsumir a dicha Comunión en las previsiones penales sobre asociaciones políticas, pues ni esta prohibida por la Ley ni ha dejado de cumplir los requisitos o trámites exigidos para constituirla. Añade que su actuación, como integrante del Movimiento y sometida a su régimen juridico, queda al margen de la Ley de Asociacines, por lo que cualquier irregularidad para poder ser estimada exigiria como requisito previo a modo de condición objetive de procedibilidad el que la misma fuese declarada por el propio Movimiento", quoted after Rodon Guinjoan 2015, p. 222-223
starting mid-1960s the Javierista Montejurra feasts turned into massive public events, the largest in Spain save for official, religious or football gatherings. See the attendance numbers in Jeremy Macclancy, The Decline of Carlism, Reno 2000, ISBN9780874173444, p. 275: initially attracting few thousand attendants, in the early 1960s they attracted over 50,000 and in the mid-1960s over 100,000
organized by Catholic, Carlist, conservative and finally post-Francoist groupings: Ciudad Católica, Jornadas por la Unidad Católica, Homenaje a Mella, Centro Zumalacárregui, Patronato de Fundación Elías de Tejada, Priorato de la Hermandad de San Pío X, Movimiento Católico Español, Fuerza Nueva
"Gambra fue filósofo y escritor tradicionalista, siempre partidario firme de la línea no colaboracionista" - Vázquez de Prada Tiffe 2009, p. 187. According to one scholar, Gambra was the only firmy anti-Francoist among the 4 key Traditionalist theorists of the era, as Elías de Tejada moved from enthusiastic supporter to opposition, d'Ors has always been sympathetic and Canals displayed increasingly pro-regime penchant, Bartyzel 2015, p. 252
starting the late 1960s Gambra criticised the regime for its increasingly liberal course, perceived as opening to laicism and inorganic democracy, see El Pensamiento Navarro 30.05.74, quoted after Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 166. Following the fall of Francoism Gambra began to view the regime mostly in terms of etatism, bureaucracy, dirigisme and technocracy, with falangismo, sindicalismo, nacional-catolicismo etc merely ideological smokescreen cover-up, Bartyzel 2015, p. 261
because the draft did not refer to God as supremr authority, Gambra with some 60 other pundits signed a letter calling to reject the project in a referendum, Bartyzel 2015, p. 294
indeed a number of young people admitted having been captured by his arguments, also on TV, see de Armas 2004, Víctor Ibáñez, Rafael Gambra y las Juventudes Tradicionalistas, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 2004 (10), pp. 164-166, López-Arias Montenegro 2004
Premio Patronato Olave (1949), Premio Vedruna (1965), Premio Víctor Pradera (1973), Premio de Fundación Oriol-Urquijo (1975), Premio Manuel Delgado Barreto (1996)
"pensador", see e.g. Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, Tradicionalismo, [in:] Javier Fernández Sebastián (ed.), Diccionario político y social del siglo XX español, Madrid 2008, ISBN9788420687698, p. 1172. Some authors almost explicitly admit difficulty in getting Gambra classified when they refer to him as "pensador tradicionalista en un sentido amplio", Edualdo Forment, El pensamiento cristiano, [in:] Manuel Garrido, Nelson R. Orringer, Luis M. Váldes, Margarita M. Váldes (eds.), El legado filosófico español e hispanoamericano del siglo XX, Madrid 2009, ISBN9788437625973, p. 422, also "myśliciel" in Bartyzel 2015, p. 16
see e.g. Javier Castro-Villacañas, El fracaso de la monarquía, Madrid 2013, ISBN9788408036678, p. 47, Robert A. Herrera, James Lehrberger, Melvin Eustace Bradford (eds.), Saints, sovereigns, and scholars: studies in honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen, Virginia 1993, ISBN9780820419299, pp. xxi, Alexandra Wilhelmsen, La formación del pensamiento político del carlismo, 1810-1875, Madrid 1995, ISBN9788487863318, p. 108, Danilo Castellano, Patrie Regioni Stati e il processo di unificazione europea, Roma 1999, ISBN9788881148134, p. 108
compare e.g. very brief entry in Oncins 1993, p. 4389; apart from basic facts from his biography, the note lists his major works but does not spare a single word on what his thought was all about
Heleno Saña, Historia de la filosófia española, Madrid 2007, ISBN9788496710986, p. 255; Gambra is mentioned in the chapter titled "Franco-falangismo y nacional-catolicismo" as one of many authors whose principal aim was to provide "politico-philosophical coverage" to "Gloriosa Cruzada Nacional"; he is specified as belonging to "sector más especificamente católico"
Alfonso Bullón de Mendoza, Jordi Canal, El Carlismo [review], [in:] Aportes 45 (2001), p. 155; wider discussion also in Alfonso Bullón de Mendoza, La parcialidad de los historiadores españoles, [in:] John Vincent, Introducción a la Historia para gente inteligente, Madrid 2013, ISBN9788497391351, pp. 9-38
among Rafael Calvo Serer, Álvaro D'Ors, Francisco Elías de Tejada, Gonzalo Fernández de la Mora, Antonio Fontán, Hans Juretschke, Juan José López Ibor, Vicente Marrero, Vicente Palacio Atard, Florentino Pérez Embid, José Luis Pinillos and Jaume Vicens Vives, see Antoni Raja i Vich, El Problema de España bajo el primer franquismo, 1936-1956. El debate entre Pedro Laín Entralgo y Rafael Calvo Serer, [PhD thesis Universitat Pompeu Fabra], 2010, p. 16
Gambra replied to d'Ors in Quíen busca la destrucción del carlismo?, [in:] Boletín Carlista de Madrid, 70 (2003), referred after Bartyzel 2015, pp. 315-316, detailed discussion in Miguel Ayuso Torres, In memoriam. Álvaro D'Ors y el tradicionalismo (A propósito de una polémica final), [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp. 183-197
El Exilio y el Reino. La comunidad de los hombres y sus enemigos, Madrid 2009, ISBN9788493664268
Julio César Alvear Téllez, La comprensión del Estado laico y de la secularización del poder político según Lellinek, Gauchet, Schmitt y Gambra, [in:] Revista de Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso 43 (2014), pp.765–799
Julio Alvear Téllez, Drama del hombre, silencio de Dios y crisis de la historia. La filosofía antimoderna de Rafael Gambra, Madrid 2020, ISBN9788413247694
Julio Alvear Téllez, Rafael Gambra: una denuncia profética, la libertad religiosa, la tradición de los clérigos y la agonía de la ciudad humana, [in:] Verbo 473-474 (2009), pp.225–242
Gabriel de Armas, Rafael Gambra y la unidad católica de España, [in:] Verbo 39 (1965), p.551-556
José de Armas, Fidelidad a los principios y lealtad a las personas Rafael Gambra en mi personal "Camino de Damasco", [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp.169–171
Miguel Ayuso Torres, In memoriam. Álvaro D'Ors y el tradicionalismo (A propósito de una polémica final), [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp.183–197
Miguel Ayuso Torres, Koinos: el pensamiento politico de Rafael Gambra, Madrid 1998, ISBN9788473440424
Miguel Ayuso Torres, Rafael Gambra en el pensamiento tradicional español, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp.162–164
Miguel Ayuso Torres, El tradicionalismo de Gambra, [in:] Razón española: Revista bimestral de pensamiento 89 (1998), pp.305–311
Jacek Bartyzel, Libertades concretas y libertad cristiana en el pensamiento de los maestros del tradicionalismo: Francisco Elías de Tejada, Rafael Gambra y Álvaro d'Ors, [paper delivered at Maestros del tradicionalismo hispánico de la segunda mitad del siglo XX conference], Madrid 2014
Jacek Bartyzel, Nic bez Boga, nic wbrew tradycji, Radzymin 2015, ISBN9788360748732
Francisco Canals Vidal, Rafael Gambra y la deformación nacionalista, [in:] Verbo 421-422 (2004), pp.24–30
Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El naufragio de las ortodoxias: el carlismo, 1962-1977, Pamplona 1997, ISBN9788431315641
Emilio Castillejo Cambra, Mito, legitimación y violencia simbólica en los manuales escolares de historia del franquismo (1936-1975), Madrid 2014, ISBN9788436268645
Juan Luis Ferrari Cortés, El pensamiento político de la revista "Verbo" [PhD thesis UNED], Madrid 2015
Edualdo Forment, Rafael Gambra, [in:] Manuel Garrido, Nelson R. Orringer, Luis M. Váldes, Margarita M. Váldes (eds.), El legado filosófico español e hispanoamericano del siglo XX, Madrid 2009, ISBN9788437625973, pp.422–424
Pedro Carlos González Cuevas, El pensamiento político de la derecha española en el siglo XX, Madrid 2005, ISBN8430942238
Juan B. Vallet de Goytisolo, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. La luz que agradezco a Rafael Gambra, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp.179–181
Luis Hernando de Larramendi, Los Gambra y los Larramendi: una amistad carlista, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp.171–174
Víctor Ibáñez, Rafael Gambra y las Juventudes Tradicionalistas, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 2004 (10), pp.164–166
Carmelo López-Arias Montenegro, Rafael Gambra y el sentido del tiempo, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp.166–169
Ángel Lorente Lorente, Cincuenta años de regulación de las formas de coordinación docente en los institutos de educación secundaria, [in:] Guillermo Vicente y Guerrero, (ed.), Estudios sobre la historia de la Enseñanza Secundaria en Aragón, Zaragoza 2011, ISBN9788499111759, pp.401–416
Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis in Historia Contemporanea, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia], Valencia 2009
Ramón María Rodon Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939-1976) [PhD thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015
Manuel Santa Cruz [Alberto Ruiz de Galarreta], Rafael Gambra. un hombre cabal, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 2004 (10), pp.174–179
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