José Antonio Primo de Rivera Dean of the Illustrious College of Lawyers of Madrid". In 1931, he constituted "Agrupación al Servicio de la República" (Assembly at the Service of the Republic) "and" paradoxically ran for office under the monarchist banner of "Unión Monárquica Nacional"—he failed to get elected. He was detained briefly in 1932 for collaboration in General José Sanjurjo's attempted coup. On October 29, 1933, Primo de Rivera launched the Falange Española ("Spanish Phalanx"), a nationalist party, inspired in part with some ideas, such as the necessity of authority, hierarchical order of society, and grassroots populism, that were being expounded in Italy in the
Miguel Primo de Rivera to open a brief parenthesis in the constitutional life of Spain and to re-establish it as soon as the country offers us men uncontaminated with the vices of political organization." In other words, he believed that the old class of politicians had ruined Spain, that they sought only their own interests rather than patriotism and nationalism. Although many leftists opposed the dictatorship, some of the public supported Primo de Rivera. Those Spaniards were tired of the turmoil and economic problems and hoped a strong leader, backed by the military, could put their country on the right track. Others were enraged