Symbols of Francoism right and extreme left, often degenerating into violence. On the right, the traditionalist Carlist movement revived. In 1933, the aristocratic José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the former dictator, founded the far-right Falange movement, similar to the Italian Fascists. In February 1934 the Falange merged with the "Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista" (J.O.N.S), another right-wing group. Left-wing trade unions staged industry-wide or citywide strikes, and in Catalonia Marxist and Anarchist groups competed for power. Landless laborers seized land, occupied estates and burned churches. At a time of political crisis, on 17 July 1936, General Francisco Franco led the Spanish colonial
Spanish Patriotic Union Spanish Patriotic Union The Spanish Patriotic Union (, UPE) was the political party created from above by Spanish dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, conceived as a support to his conservative dictatorship and integrating political catholicism, technocrats, and the business-owning classes. The party's power was dependent upon the power of its founder and leader, not any popular mandate. Following the dismissal of Miguel Primo de Rivera in January 1930 by King Alfonso XIII, the party was succeeded by the "Unión Monárquica Nacional" ("National Monarchist Union"). There is no reliable information on membership figures. The party review "Unión Patriótica" claimed in 1927