Tomàs Caylà i Grau

Tomàs Caylà i Grau
Born Tomàs Caylà i Grau
1895
Valls, Spain
Died 1936
Valls, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Ethnicity Catalan
Occupation publisher
Known for politician
Political party
 Comunión Tradicionalista
Religion Roman Catholicism

Tomàs Caylà i Grau (1895-1936) was a Catalan publisher and a Spanish Carlist politician

Family and youth

comarca of Alt Camp

Tomàs d'Aquino Caylà i Grau was descendant to a well-off Catalan family. His grandfather was member of the emerging Tarragona bourgeoisie. His father, Josep Caylà i Miracle (1856-1919), studied law in University of Barcelona; following 1881 graduation he settled in Valls, the capital of Alt Camp county in the Tarragona province.[1] He became secretary and then co-owner[2] of the newly created Banc de Valls,[3] growing to its director in 1914;[4] he was also administrator of rural holdings belonging to the local Vaciana and Miguel families.[5] Active in the local business milieu, he co-founded the local landholders’ organization Sindicato Agrícola de Valls[6] and represented it on various fora,[7] becoming also president of the local Asociación de Propietarios.[8] In 1894 Josep married Teresa Grau i Torner (1865-1943).[9] The couple had 3 children; two sons died in their early infancy.[10]

Tomàs was brought up in fervently religious ambience; both his parents were profoundly Catholic. Josep Caylà served as president of the local Ateneu Católic and secretary of Germandat de Cristaires in the local parish, apart from performing other minor functions. Nothing is known of his political preferences apart that he was attached to traditional values; he nurtured the idea of society organized along religious lines and animated by the spirit of harmonious co-operation. Demonstrating vivid interest in social question, he was committed to his vision of social responsibility[11] and promoted the idea when presiding over the proprietors’ association.[12] He is credited for bringing the concept into life when dealing with local vineyard tenants affected by the phylloxera plague.[13] During unrest triggered by massive strike in the Catalan electricity sector in 1919[14] he was assassinated on the Valls street in what was probably an anarchist ambush.[15]

Following his earlier education in 1916 Tomàs moved to Barcelona, where he started to study law;[16] he graduated in derecho in 1921[17] and commenced practicing in his native Valls,[18] gaining anecdotal reputation for his honesty and dedication.[19] Inheriting fervently religious outlook he commenced activities in various lay Catholic organizations; he was co-founder and active member of the local Congregacio Mariana de la Verge de la Candela[20] and helped to set up its review Estel Maria.[21] Caylà has never married; as he explained to his mother, he intended to dedicate himself entirely to the cause of God served by means of Traditionalism.[22]

Restoration and dictatorship

Carlist standard

In 1919 young local activists led by Caylà founded a Valls based weekly titled Joventud. Spanning across modest 4 pages[23] and appearing with the sub-heading Per la fe i per la pátria,[24] the periodical was issued in Valls and partially other comarcas of the Tarragona province; its circulation remains unknown. Contemporary scholar classified its political line as conservative,[25] another present-day biographer underlines that it was based on ideas of Christian humanism and justice.[26] Caylà and the co-founders explained their political identity in a clear-cut manifesto, declaring themselves to be first Catholics,[27] then Spaniards,[28] then Catalans,[29] then Traditionalists[30] and finally legitimists.[31] Caylà emerged as the moving spirit, manager, chief author and organizer of the weekly, which remained sort of his personal tribune for the next 17 years.[32] He contributed under his own name or using various pen-names, most commonly "C.V."[33] and "Almogáver";[34] his contemporaries admired him for writing ease.[35]

Freshly graduated, launching his law career and active in the local Circol Jaumista, in 1922 Caylà ran on the Carlist ticket in elections to the municipal council and was elected regidor as one of the most popular candidates.[36] His career did not last long; the coming of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship in 1923 spelled replacement of elected bodies with the appointees;[37] Joventud could have only lambasted the new regime for its corrupted political machinery.[38] Things went from bad to worse in 1924, when Caylà and the young Jaimistas attempted to stage Festa dels Veterans and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Carlist takeover of the province; the regime reacted by closing circulos, suspending Joventud for 2 weeks and detaining Caylà,[39] who spent 5 days in Tarragona prison and was ordered a month of exile in Lleida.[40] Also during the years to come Joventud refused to endorse attempts to institutionalize the regime[41] and rebuked its inefficiency and disregard for genuine representation, in result suffering 5 fines, 2 suspensions and 2 detentions.[42]

S.M. Jaime III

Joventud was euphoric about Primo’s fall.[43] During dictablanda Caylà was administratively reinstated as member of the local council[44] and actively resumed his public activities, like staging the Carlist Fiesta de los Mártires de la Tradición celebrations in 1930.[45] Since Spanish politics seemed dominated by bewilderment, he advocated Catholic principles as general guidance and prayer, sacraments and mass as 3 ordinary day duties.[46] In terms of political solutions he championed spiritual role of Vatican and papal teaching,[47] which translated into his hostile stance towards Liberalism.[48] Though loyal to the Carlist king Jaime III, unlike most Carlists he was not vocal as a monarchist. Demonstrating some accidentalism and what was already becoming his typical conciliatory and non-belligerent tone, he rather advocated common work for Spain, be it a kingdom or a republic, far more important having been a new constitution, centered on traditional values.[49]

Republic

Republic declared, Barcelona 1931

Like many Carlists Caylà welcomed the fall of Alfonsist monarchy,[50] unlike most of them he did not demonstrate hostility to the Republic and – clearly against most Carlists – he hoped that it would produce a genuine democracy.[51] In his Joventud editorials Caylà remained cautious and preferred not to jump to conclusions as to the new regime. As a monarchist loyal to the carlist claimant[52] he acknowledged with little enthusiasm that the majority of Spaniards opted for republican solution, though he seemed to respect the choice. He called his fellow Carlists not to renounce their vision, suggesting to see whether the Republic would turn into an orderly state or whether the project would fail. In his trademark style he warned that extremism was the key enemy of the new regime.[53]

Militant secularism of the Republic started to turn Caylà into its enemy;[54] he was also increasingly embittered by what he perceived as arrogant Republican-Socialist domination in the Valls council.[55] In 1932 he unsuccessfully ran for the Catalan parliament;[56] following triumphant Esquerra victory he was forced to walk out of l’Ajuntamient[57] and later kept denouncing decomposition of local authorities[58] and growing chaos in Valls.[59] Fearing the forthcoming revolution Caylà started to present Traditionalism as the only bulwark which could stop it,[60] with the government controlled by freemasonry and serving foreign interests.[61] As the Joventud line hardened, it became target of administrative sanctions;[62] the periodical was suspended from August to November 1932[63] with support for Sanjuriada quoted as a justification.[64] Other penalties soon followed, be it either heavy fines,[65] further suspensions or detentions.[66]

better kill than be slaves, Catalonia Oct. 1934

Gradually Caylà started to emerge as a one of the most dynamic politicians of the Catalan Carlism.[67] In late 1931, already as part of the ongoing unification of three Traditionalist branches, he was nominated the provincial Tarragona jefe[68] and soon took part in re-organization of Comunión Tradicionalista, engineered by its new leader Manuel Fal. Its revitalized paramilitary section was called into action during the October 1934 insurgency, as Caylà ordered mobilisation of provincial Requeté.[69] Some sources claim that he prevented the Catalanists from seizing power in Tarragona,[70] other works suggest that his role was marginal.[71] Afterwards he lambasted Generalitat for launching a potentially most inhuman and uncivilized mayhem that Catalonia has ever seen.[72]

Caylà was busy organizing and speaking at many Carlist meetings in 1934[73] and 1935,[74] the most impressive having been the gathering in Poblet in June 1935, with 40,000 people attending.[75] At that point Tarragona Carlism was boasting 30 circulos, 4 periodicals and 400 local councilors.[76] The Catalan Carlist leader Lorenzo Maria Alier Cassi[77] resigned after the February 1936 elections;[78] though some scholars claim that due to his Catalanism Caylà was increasingly alienated within the national Carlist executive,[79] in March it was him nominated the new regional lead[80] and assuming jefatura of probably the third most important Carlist region.[81] Given his rather non-belligerent untypical Carlist profile it is not clear what mechanism led to the nomination; probably his fervent religiosity and indeed his Catalanism were not marginal factors.[82]

Catalan question

castell

The national question remained one of key threads of Caylà’s writings, perhaps second only to his fierce defense of the Catholic faith. Throughout all public career he vehemently supported Catalan cultural and political ambitions, yet always combined with the Spanish raison d’etat.[83]

In the 1919 declaration Caylà listed his Catalan identity as third in terms of importance, put after the Catholic and Spanish ones; the statement clearly implied that being Catalan and being Spanish were complimentary selves.[84] Supporting various cultural initiatives[85] he also acknowledged Catalan political ambitions, best embodied in the autonomous project; for Caylà, separate regional establishments were rooted in the Carlist vision.[86] His concept embraced Catalonia federated with Castile, the Madrid king ruling as Comte de Barcelona provided he swears to the local fueros. The regional diet was supposed to have decisive say on administrative, fiscal and economic issues, with diputación forming the Catalan executive and municipalities allowed large degree of their own autonomy. Though all Catalans were obliged to defend the country, according to Caylà Madrid was not allowed conscription.[87]

During dictatorship Caylà kept supporting Catalan ambitions, highly sympathetic to Macia and highly critical towards governmental measures applied against him[88] after the Prats de Molló affair. He retained his juvenile autonomous vision later on, presented in a series of articles published in Joventud in 1930. A contemporary scholar compared it to the radical La Habana version[89] and another one claimed that it was not far from endorsing political independence.[90] Also in present-day Catalanist publications his articles from that period are quoted when referring to unity of Spain as “a parody”,[91] however this particular phrase was intended not to question the Spanish integrity as such but rather to mock the inefficient and propaganda-embroided late primoderiverista version.[92] It is not clear to what extent Caylà contributed to the official Carlist autonomy project revealed in 1930;[93] it was founded on similar highly federative concept, elaborated in more detail and embracing organic elections to the local diet. Following the advent of the Republic Carlism backtracked, prompting defection of some of its most pro-Catalanist members; Caylà was not among them.[94]

anti-statute meeting

The turn of Catalan case during the Republic left Caylà hugely disappointed. Enthusiastically supportive about the ongoing talks on autonomous statute, he refused to join the militant anti-Spanish Catalanization wave[95] and opposed separatism,[96] at best lukewarm about the ultimately prevailing, allegedly integral vision of the Republic. He believed that in the autonomous agreement the Catalan rights should have taken precedence instead of having been subordinated to the Spanish constitution.[97] Last but not least, Caylà was profoundly unhappy about secular character of the autonomy[98] and accepted the statute not as an ultimate solution but rather as a stepping stone towards his vision.[99] Disappointed about final shape assumed by the accepted statute, Caylà was desperate about its practical embodiment and political stance assumed by the Generalitat. Always sympathetic to the conservative Lliga, he was alarmed by militancy of Companys and the Catalan Left, denouncing “el feixisme esquerrá”[100] and what he considered potentially barbarian course of October 1934.

Social question

Christian way: primate Goma

Caylà inherited social sensitivity from his father, possibly reinforced rather than weakened by the fact that his parent was killed as result of the social conflict. As early as during the late Restoration period he kept discussing the issue on gatherings of the Valls Traditionalists.[101] Acknowledging that “el problema social [...] és el primer problema de l’Estat espanyol”, he approached the question mostly in religious terms, perceiving it as consequence of dechristianisation or at best religious indifference of modern societies, which attempted to substitute God with false idols.[102] Ringing a typically Carlist tone he saw Liberalism as primordial source of evil, anti-Christian, anti-fuerista[103] and anti-social, leading to alienation of enslaved proletarian masses.[104] To Caylà the popular movements of the Left, undistinguished into Anarchism, Socialism or Communism and approached jointly as “red syndicalism”, were deceiving the masses by utopian visions of fictitious liberty[105] and turning the Catalonian idea into “branch of the Russian ideology”.[106]

According to Caylà, there were two concepts of tackling the burning social issue: the Socialist one and the Christian one, the latter laid out in papal teachings of Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno. Instead of class warfare it offered a harmonious vision of a society, stemming from Catholic principles and achieved by means of various regulatory bodies.[107] However, none of the sources consulted mentions Caylà as engaged either in typical Christian-democratic initiatives of this era, like Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas and Juventud Católica, or in various political incarnations of Social-Catholicism.[108] His criticism of laissez-faire has also never amounted to general onslaught on capitalism; considering private property and individual self foundations of civilized society[109] he followed Vatican in its harsh judgment of “capitalisme liberal” and unlimited accumulation of wealth.[110]

Marxist way: José Díaz

Political and social toolset intended to defuse the social conflict was very much dependent on Christian trade unions and various associations of employers and employees. Though not an entrepreneur, Caylà tried to lead by example; in Valls he set up Agrupació Social Tradicionalista,[111] animated its Casa Social[112] and served as its treasurer.[113] He kept encouraging co-operative initiatives like Cooperativa Electrica de Valls,[114] perceived as an alternative to anonymous commercial enterprises. He also encouraged new Christian syndicates of the Tarragona province,[115] Gremios Obreros and Gremios Patronales, confederated in Agrupacion Gremial de Trabajadores.[116] When running for the provincial Catalan parliament he did not join Dreta de Catalunya, endorsed by the then Catalan Carlist jefe Junyent, but preferred to compete as member of the Unión Social de Tarragona list.[117]

Final months

monument to Catalan requetés

There are conflicting accounts of Caylà’s position towards the Carlist anti-Republican buildup during the last few months prior to the July 1936 coup. According to one version, following the frentepopulista electoral victory Caylà threw himself into conspiracy.[118] According to another, he confronted the insurgent line promoted by Rodezno and Fal and voiced against the alliance with the rebellious military,[119] but was overruled by the Carlist executive.[120] According to yet another account, Caylà himself conspired with the generals, but he considered insurgent initiatives premature[121] and urged the plotters to step in only as reaction to a would-be coup attempted by the Left.[122] Finally, the most detailed biographical work claims that in the early summer of 1936 Caylà made a tragic figure, horrified by protorevolutionary turn of the Republic but unwilling to join a conservative rebellion against it.[123]

During the July 1936 coup the Catalan Requeté organization was allegedly prepared to field 3,100 volunteers in the first line and further 15,000 as auxiliaries;[124] mobilisation of Carlist paramilitary was directed by its regional leader José María Cunill, yet regardless of his pacifist outlook Caylà must have approved of the process. During the outbreak of hostilities he was running his daily party business in Barcelona; though he was leading Carlism in its third most important region some authors claim that he learnt of the insurgency from the radio broadcast.[125] He left leadership of the Requeté to Cunill and witnessed failure of the coup in the Catalan capital, in 2 days the Carlist volunteers reduced to total disarray, some killed, some captured, some fleeing and some going into hiding.

Plaça del Pati, Valls

Caylà himself initially stayed in his usual hotel residence, but following the news of Cunill and other Requeté leaders having been captured[126] he realized the danger and after few days went into hiding by his relatives in Barcelona. He refused to flee the Republican zone; in a letter to his mother he considered it a treason to Traditionalist cause.[127] Confronted with a tragic choice between two bad options he preferred to face whatever the future brings.[128] In early August the Valls committee of Milícies Antifeixistes[129] launched their search of the Carlist leader. Having intercepted Caylà’s correspondence they learnt his whereabouts and a dedicated militia detachment was sent to Barcelona on a capture mission.[130] In mid-August Caylà was arrested in his hideout, driven by car to Valls and executed on Plaça del Pati immediately after arrival.[131] According to some accounts, the Republicans staged sort of a feast afterwards with locals forced to pass by his corpse;[132] according to the other, militiamen used his cut off head as a football.[133]

Legacy

Don Carlos Hugo, 1964

Already during the Civil War Caylà was commemorated in a hagiographical booklet published in 1938, presenting him as champion of the Catholic, national and anti-bolshevik cause.[134] Following the nationalist conquest of Catalonia in 1939 Caylà and other executed or fallen vallencs were re-buried in the newly constructed Panteó dels Mártirs on the Valls cemetery.[135] A street in the old town was named after him and its remains so until today, though the present-day initiative to purge Catalan public space of fascist heritage covers also carrer Tomàs Caylà.[136] In the 1940s Caylà remained a hero of the Tarragona Carlists, serving as a role model for the branch opposing Francoism[137] and for those who chose to side with the regime, supporting the claim of self-styled claimant Carlos VIII.[138] Juventud, the Falangist weekly launched in Tarragona in 1943 was styled as continuation of Joventud; issued in Spanish and subtitled Semanario nacional sindicalista it had little in common with the original Caylà's periodical.[139]

Following the period of oblivion, Caylà started to figure prominently in the Carlist political discourse some time in the late 1960s. At that time the progressist supporters of socialismo autogestionario, grouped around the young Carlist prince Carlos Hugo, launched their bid to take control of the movement. Their political vision was supported by an attempt to re-define Carlist history as popular social struggle, with genuine Carlists pitted against aristocratic, clerical and conservative aliens who infiltrated into the party;[140] Caylà started to serve as an exemplary case of a genuine, tolerant, humanist, progressist, democratic, proto-socialist, anti-capitalist and popular Carlist.[141] His second highly hagiographical biography published in 1997 fits well into this progressist outlook;[142] also some fiercely anti-capitalist, anti-globalist groupings of Spanish or Catalan extreme Left keep presenting Caylà as their predecessor.[143] The Traditionalists failed to reclaim the memory of Caylà, though during the transición period of the late 1970s it was the post-Francoist Fuerza Nueva grouping which hailed Caylà as “la moral del Alzamiento”.[144]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Joan Guinovart i Escarré, Tomàs Caylà, un home de la terra, Valls 1997, ISBN 8492147679, 9788492147670, pp. 15-16
  2. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 19
  3. ↑ for details see Francesc Costas i Jové, El Banc de Valls (1881-1979). Esborrany històric amb records i comentaris personals, Valls 2002, ISBN 8486083508
  4. ↑ Francesc Nadal Piqué, Jordi Martí Henneberg, Cambio agrario y paisaje vitivinícola en la Cataluña occidental durante el primer tercio del siglo xx, [in:] Ería: Revista cuatrimestral de geografía, 88 (2012), p. 180
  5. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 15
  6. ↑ Nadal Piqué, Martí Henneberg 2012, p. 180; the organisation is also referred to as Federacion Agricola del Alt Camp, see Eduardo Montagut Contreras, Tomàs Caylà Grau, [in:] Historiaideologias blog 2011, available here
  7. ↑ La Vanguardia 24.12.19, available here
  8. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 20
  9. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 16, 23
  10. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 15-16
  11. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 15
  12. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 20
  13. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 15-16
  14. ↑ Francesc Rom Serra, Martí Rom, El Centre Obrer de Mont-roig del Camp (1911-1925), Barcelona 2003, ISBN 8496035344, 9788496035348, p. 136
  15. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 19, Jaime Tarrago, Tomas Caylà o la moral del Alzamiento, [in:] Fuerza Nueva 19.08.78, p. 10
  16. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 63
  17. ↑ La Vanguardia 27.01.21, available here
  18. ↑ Tarrago 1978, p. 10
  19. ↑ Tarrago 1978, pp. 9-10
  20. ↑ Tarrago 1978, p. 10
  21. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 63
  22. ↑ his mother is quoted as acknowledging his choice as follows: “mucho me satisfaría que Tomás contrajera matrimonio, pero si, corno él dice, manteniéndose soltero puede servir mejor a la causa, estoy muy contenta de que permanezca soltero”, quoted after Tarrago 1978, p. 10
  23. ↑ Pere Altés i Serra, La premsa local en el meu record, [in:] Quaderns de Vilaniu, 24 (1993), p. 68
  24. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
  25. ↑ Laura Vives Solanes, La premsa de la ciutat de Valls al segle XX, [in:] Quaderns de Villaniu 42 (2002), p. 173; Joventud is not listed among Carlist periodicals in Eduardo González Calleja, La prensa carlista y falangista durante la Segunda República y la Guerra Civil (1931-1937), [in:] El Argonauta español 9 (2012)
  26. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 25
  27. ↑ guided by Rerum Novarum and convinced that politics serves religion, never the opposite, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
  28. ↑ determined to serve Spain’s greatness and prosperity, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
  29. ↑ dedicated to Catalan spirituality, regional rights, language, character, modo d’esser; they supported “autonomia integral” and believed that either Catalonia is Catholic or there is no Catalonia, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 31
  30. ↑ “allistas sots le benderes d’un partit de noble história, que ha sapigut formar els seus homes en la oposició i que avui té de lluitar més que amb sos naturals emics”, quoted after Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 31
  31. ↑ who support the Carlist dynasty and stay loyal subjects of Don Jaume de Borbó, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 31-2. The entire declaration of identity, including its very sequence, almost ideally reflected the traditional Carlist ideario: “Dios, Patria, Fueros, Rey”
  32. ↑ he also collaborated with El Correo Catalan and La Cronica de Valls, Contreras 2011
  33. ↑ standing for “Carlí Vallenc”, The Valls Carlist
  34. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 29
  35. ↑ Altés i Serra 1993, p. 69
  36. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 169, Vicenç Gascón Altés, Francesc Vallès Serra, La dictadura de Primo de Rivera en la perspectiva de Valls, [in:] Quaderns de Vilaniu 27 (1995), p. 68
  37. ↑ Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 48
  38. ↑ Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, pp. 48-49
  39. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 35
  40. ↑ El Sol 07.07.24, available here, also Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 35
  41. ↑ like Union Patriotica, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 36
  42. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 47, Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 59
  43. ↑ Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 67
  44. ↑ during dictablanda the Valls Ajuntement was re-constructed by incorporating 11 top taxpayers and 10 regidors most voted in 1917, 20 and 22 elections, Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 68
  45. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 36
  46. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 68, 72
  47. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 83
  48. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 76
  49. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 275
  50. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 209
  51. ↑ literally “veritable democrácia”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 210. It is not clear what exactly was meant, though the reference was not unique and kept coming back in Caylà’s writings, compare “per els que seguim les doctrines tradicionalistes representades per la Comunió legitimista han estat els presents uns dies de dol, dol que ens arriba al fons del cor, perqué la monarquia tradicional, eminentment popular i democrática, tenia arrels fondissimes en el mode d’esser i governar-se de les terres ibériques”, quoted after Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 39. The draft of Catalan Autonomy Statute of 1930, possibly influenced by Caylà, envisioned "organic" representation and indeed some Right-wing theorists considered organicism genuine democracy compared to not enough democratic popular voting, see John N. Schumacher, Integrism. A Study in XIXth Century Spanish politico-religious Thought, [in:] Catholic Historical Review 48/3 (1962), pp. 351-352
  52. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 39, 110
  53. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 209-210; though interesting that he remained firm opponent of a dynastical alliance with the Alfonsinos, Robert Vallverdú, Catalanisme i carlisme a la Catalunya republicana (1931-1936), [in:] L. Duran (ed.), El catalanisme en el nostre passat nacional, Solsona 2010, ISBN 9788497799683, p. 100
  54. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 38
  55. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 211
  56. ↑ Isidre Molas, Lliga Catalana: un estudi d'estasiología, vol. 2, Barcelona 1972, ISBN 8429708588 9788429708585, p. 242
  57. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 107, 109
  58. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 109
  59. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 110; in May 1936 Caylà represented the opposition Valls councilors in their lawsuit against allegedly illegal decisions of the ayuntamiento, filed before Tribunal Provincial del Contenciós-Administratiu, Josep Santesmases i Ollé, De les eleccions del 16 de febrer de 1936 a l'entrada dels "nacionals". Notícies de les actes municipals de Vila-rodona, [in:] La Resclosa 7 (2003), p. 108
  60. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 38
  61. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 268
  62. ↑ the first came as Joventud defended the Tortosa Traditionalist periodical La Tradición, fined by the Republican administration; Joventud referred to the Republican regime as “new dictatorship”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 41
  63. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 42
  64. ↑ Caylà denied the charges, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 44
  65. ↑ maximum fine imposed was 2000 pesetars; a typical daily worker’s pay was some 10 ptas; the penalty was administred following a 1934 article published on 3rd anniversary of the Republic, denouncing collapse of publc order and stating that in case the anarchy continues, the only thing left is to cry “visca el Rei” Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 48-9
  66. ↑ Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 61; in 1934 Caylà interevened with comisario del Orden publico, La Vanguardia 15.05.34, available here
  67. ↑ at that time the leader of Catalan Carlism Manuel Junyent i Rovira, soon to be replaced by Lorenzo María Alier; subjefe regional was Mauricio de Sivatte; Antonio Benito Torralba de Damas served as regional secretary; important provincial leaders were Juan Lavaquial for Lérida leader and Juan María Roma for Gerona; Casimiro de Sangenls served as Carlist MP in the Cortes, the group of leaders completed with the names of Joaquín Bau and Joaquín Bru, see El Siglo Futuro 18.19.34, available here
  68. ↑ La Vanguardia 25.11.31, available here, also El Siglo Futuro 09.08.34, available here
  69. ↑ Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936-1939, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499709758, p. 842, Julio Aróstegui, Eduardo Calleja, La tradición recuperada: El requeté carlista y la insurrección, [in:] Historia Contemporanea 11 (1994), p. 45
  70. ↑ Tarrago 1978, p. 9
  71. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 276-278
  72. ↑ “descabellada revolució política de la Generalitat de Catalunya ha fet córrer el peril a la nostra terra de presenciar ‘espectacle més inhumá i contrari a la civilizació que pugui registrar la história”, quoted after Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 278
  73. ↑ La Vanguardia 20.10.34, available here
  74. ↑ La Vanguardia 17.05.35, available here
  75. ↑ Joaquín Monserrat Cavaller, Joaquín Bau Nolla y la restauración de la Monarquía, Madrid 2001, ISBN 8487863949, pp. 57-58; other sources claim 25,000 people, with 424 buses, 2 special trains and a number of private vehicles, see La Vanguardia 27.09.99, available here. Joaquín Bau claimed credit for staging the event, noting only that “mis amigos los señores Bru y Caylá, que tan bien me han ayudado y han cooperado a la realización de la gran concentración do Poblet”, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, pp. 57-8
  76. ↑ El Siglo Futuro 20.06.35, available here
  77. ↑ since 1934, when Junyent resigned, Vallverdú 2010, p. 100, also also La Vanguardia 07.04.36, available here
  78. ↑ ABC 15.01.42, available here
  79. ↑ allegedly due to the Integrist and Mellist influence, Vallverdú 2010, p. 102, though he gives no sources
  80. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 317, also El Siglo Futuro 07.04.36, available here
  81. ↑ after Navarre and the Vascongadas; the provincial Tarragona jefatura was ceded to director of Correo de Tortosa, José María Bru Jardi, El Siglo Futuro 20.6.35, available here; Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 58-59 claims that when the national Carlist jefe Manuel Fal left the regional Catalan gathering it was Joaquín Bau taking over the presidency; this might be indicative that Caylà was not brillant during public meetings, though it might also reflect a hagiographical tone of the Bau’s biography
  82. ↑ Manuel Fal, the national Carlist jefe, was a former Integrist and a fervent Catholic, who attended the mass daily; it is not unikely he easily found common ground with Caylà; Fal was known for his supportive stance towards regional identities, see Manuel Martorell Pérez, Antonio Arrue, Euskaltzaindiaren suspertzean lagundu zuen karlista, [in:] Euskera 56 (2011), 858-9
  83. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
  84. ↑ dedicated to Catalan spirituality, rights, language, character and “modo d’esser” they supported “autonomia integral”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 31
  85. ↑ Caylà and Joventud were active as animators of “renaixenga castellera” local Catalan folk and festive tradition of building human towers; one of the group they supported, Colla Vella, gained fame as ”Colla deis carlins”, see Josep Miralles Climent, Aspectos de la cultura política del carlismo en el siglo xx, [in:] Espacio, Tiempo y Forma 17 (2005), pp. 147-174; Caylà and Joventud advocated declaring Catalan the only official language of Catalonia, Vallverdú 2010, p. 101
  86. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 32; they often used to refer to the oath, taken in name of the Carlist claimant Carlos VII by his general Rafael Tristany in Olot on 1.10.74, and pledging to defend and respect Catalan fueros, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 34. For historical overview of Carlism and Catalanism see Jordi Canal, ¿En busca del precedente perdido? Tríptico sobre las complejas relaciones entre carlismo y catalanismo a finales del siglo XIX, [in:] Enric Ucelay Da Cal (ed.), El nacionalismo catalán: mitos y lugares de memoria, Barcelona 2005, ISBN 8497425073, 9788497425070
  87. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 33
  88. ↑ Vallverdú 2010, p. 100
  89. ↑ José Carlos Clemente Muñoz, El carlismo en el novecientos español (1876-1936), Madrid 1999, ISBN 8483741539, 9788483741535, p. 80
  90. ↑ Fermín Pérez-Nievas Borderas, Contra viento y marea. Historia de la evolución ideological del carlismo a través de dos siglos de lucha, Estella 1999, ISBN 8460589323, p. 97, Josep Carlos Clemente Muñoz, Historia general del carlismo, Madrid 1992, ISBN 9788460446217, p. 370
  91. ↑ Clemente Muñoz 1999, p. 80, Clemente Muñoz 1992, p. 80
  92. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 407
  93. ↑ named Proyecto de Estatuto de Cataluña, see Vallverdú 2010, p. 95, for the full text see Juventudes Carlistas service available here
  94. ↑ the secessionists were Esteban Ferré i Calviá, Josep M. Ferré i Moragó, Joan B. Roca i Caball, Josep Cirera, Josep M. Trias Peitx, Anton Olivares, Frncisco Balanyá, Francisco Guarner, Vallverdú 2010, p. 98
  95. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 47-8
  96. ↑ Catalonia „no fuera tradicionalista si defendiera la tesis de la separación, tesis tan bien combatida por el maestro de catalanismo Prat de a Riba”, quoted after Vallverdú 2010, p. 101
  97. ↑ Vallverdú 2010, p. 102; Joventud of 18.05.32 wrote: “Ha faltado la voz que proclamase bien claro que los drechos de Catalunya son superiores a los del estado integral”
  98. ↑ he believed that “either Catalonia is Catholic or there is no Catalonia”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 31, 418
  99. ↑ “No quiere decir eso que el proyecto de Estatut no tenga puntos aceptables y que constituya un paso hacia el total reconocimiento de los derechos de Catalunya. En este sentido y como táctica de procedimiento, marcada por la mayorìa que regenta los destinos de Catalunya, puede aceptarse y votarlo. Lo que no se ha de consentir es que se tome como finalidad última lo que solo es un paso. De hacerlo engañariamos a los catalanes y engañariamos a los ciudadanos de las otras tierras ibéricas. El Estatut será seguramente aprobado, pero el pleito de Catalunya quedará en pie”, Joventud 15.07.31
  100. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 261
  101. ↑ like the lectured titled La qüestió social en nostra ciutat, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 25-26
  102. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 380
  103. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 32
  104. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 380
  105. ↑ “El sindicalisme roig invandint-ho tot trepithava tota justicia. Les masses populars, enlluernades per un fictici sol de llibertat, no veien com els seus predicadors, tot sentat que la propietat era un robatori, anaven fincant-se i adquirint valors com qualsevol borges desocupat”, quoted after Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 40
  106. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 285; Caylà was hostile to what he considered dictatorships in Mexico and the Soviet Union, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 79
  107. ↑ “Dues concepcions contraposades es disputen en la práctica el terreny de les solucions: la concepció solcialista i la concepció cristiana”, quoted after Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 391
  108. ↑ Caylà is not mentiond a single time in Jose Luis Orella Martínez, El origen del primer católicismo Español, [PhD thesis], Madrid 2012
  109. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 40
  110. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 76
  111. ↑ in 1932
  112. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 299-300; the centre focused on mosty on leisure activities, like theatre or sports
  113. ↑ El Siglo Futuro 18.04.33, available here
  114. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 85-6
  115. ↑ in 1935
  116. ↑ Bau claimed he was the founder with Caylà reduced to the the approving role, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 78
  117. ↑ La Vanguardia 08.11.32, available here
  118. ↑ “a partir de la victòria del Front d’Esquerres, la Comunión Tradicionalista de Tomàs Caylà va dedicar-se exclusivament a la conspiració contra la República i a donar suport als sectors reaccionaris i posteriorment, a l’alçament feixista”, Tomàs Caylà Grau entry, [in:] Inventari simbologia. Subversió per la Llibertat. Fora simbologia espanyola i francesa dels nostres carrers!, s.l. 2008, p. 32, Joan Villaroya i Font, Violéncia i repressió a la reraguardia catalana 1936-1939 [PhD thesis Universitat de Barcelona], Barcelona 1988, p. 1002
  119. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 12
  120. ↑ “Rodezno y Fal Conde habian vencido a Tomàs Caylà, jefe regional carlista de Cataluña, que se habia manifestado contrario al alzamiento al lado de los militares” Josep Carlos Clemente, Los días fugaces. El Carlismo. De las guerras civiles a la transición democratica, Cuenca 2013, p. 39, Clemente 1992, p. 370, Pérez-Nievas Borderas 1999, p. 97
  121. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 319; according to Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis], Valencia 2009, p. 217, Caylà “había mostrado sus dudas sobre la oportunidad de la insurrección”
  122. ↑ Jordi Canal i Morell, Banderas blancas, boinas rojas: una historia política del carlismo, 1876-1939, Madrid 2006, ISBN 8496467341, 9788496467347, p. 326
  123. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 12
  124. ↑ Vallverdú 2010, p. 102
  125. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 11
  126. ↑ Cunill and his adjutant Josep Maria Rosell i Calbo were captured on 20 July, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 321
  127. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 324
  128. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 12
  129. ↑ Valls was a leftist and especially the anarchist stronghold, compare Andrew Charles Durgan, BOC 1930–1936. El Bloque Obrero y Campesino, Barcelona 1996, ISBN 8475843115, 9788475843117
  130. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 327
  131. ↑ the exact date is unclear. Some sources claim he was shot in the very early hours on August 15, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 333, La Vanguardia 20.06.36, available here. There are authors who indicate that the date was August 14, see Recordando a D. Tomàs Caylà i Grau (1885-1936), [in:] Carlistas. Historia y cultura blog 2008, available here or Villaroya i Font 1988, p. 1002; some even say that on 13, see Cossetania service available here, Jose Carlos Clemente, El Carlismo En Su Prensa, 1931-1972, Madrid 1999, ISBN 9788424508159, p. 71
  132. ↑ Tarrago 1978, pp. 9-10
  133. ↑ Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931-1939, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 9780521207294, p. 260
  134. ↑ Juan Soler Janer, Tomás Cayla Grau, ejemplo y guía de patriotas. Vida y muerte, San Sebastián 1938
  135. ↑ Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 344-348
  136. ↑ Fora simbologia espanyola i francesa dels nostres carrers!, s.l. 2008, available here
  137. ↑ Carlist anti-Francoist Tarragona groups distributed leaflets aimed against Joaqúin Bau and other collaborative Carlists, reading “El Requeté de los Caylá y de los navarros exige justicia, el Requeté de la Tradición insobornable, el que no admite unificaciones ni pactos, escupe a los politiquillos disfrazados de carlistas que se apoyan en nosotros para su medro personal y les exigirá cuentas de sus actos. POR DIOS POR LA PATRIA Y EL REY”, quoted after Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 217
  138. ↑ An internal Falangist document describing Tarragona in the early 1940s divided Carlists into 3 groups: 1) “Una parte bastante considerable está firmemente unida a Falange y la campaña de Carlos VIII ha aumentado bastante la fracción. Son los Tradicionalistas del grupo auténtico que siguió a Caylá. Gente sana y ruda que constituye un grupo excelente por su españolismo decidido”; 2) “Otra parte del carlismo autentico, algo superior en número al anterior, forma el núcleo rebelde. Su jefe provincial es un pobre diablo de Reus llamado Sugrañes [...] pero su jefatura no la acatan mis que en su pueblo y en alguna localidad vecina. Se mueven dentro del Falcondismo y andan de capa caida” 3) "existe el núcleo que sigue a la trilogia Bau, Sentis, Prat. Los carlistas puros están en contra porque les acusan de haberse vendido al juanismo franquisme tarragona". In another paragraph of the same document Bau is presented as leading “una fracción moderada frente al integrismo del Sr. Caylá de Valls”, quoted after Joan Maria Thomàs, El Franquisme des de dins: un informe sobre Tarragona, [in:] Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d'Estudis Històrics 9 (1998), pp. 152-153
  139. ↑ see index of Vallencs publications available here
  140. ↑ compare Josep Carles Clemente, Historia del Carlismo contemporaneo, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 9788425307591: “ingresaron el el Carlismo grupos de la derecha integrista. Esas minorias, aunque intentaron influir en la ideologia y en la línea del partido, nunca arraiganon en él” (pp. 13-14), also “integrismo infiltrado en sus filas” (p. 23), "la infiltración se iba desarrollando", José Carlos Clemente, Breve historia de las guerras carlistas, Madrid 2011, ISBN 8499671691, 9788499671697, p. 150. Later and more elaborated versions of this theory in Clemente 2013, p. 28
  141. ↑ Jacek Bartyzel, Bandera Carlista, [in:] Umierac ale powoli, Krakow 2006, ISBN 9788386225743, p. 307, Jacek Bartyzel, Don Carlos Marx, Wroclaw 2011, ISBN 9788393274116, p. 52. For the latest sample of this vision see Vallverdú 2010, p. 100: “Sus campañas ciudadanas durante el periodo republicano fueron siempre al servicio de intereses populares y destacaron por el sentido federalista y anticapitalista de sus comentarios. [...] Tanto en política como en religión fue un precursor de las corrientes progresistas abiertas al socialismo que se desarrollaría treinta años más tarde en el carlismo con la llegada del príncipe Carlos Hugo”. This vision has recently been elaborated further on in Robert Vallverdú Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del Déu, Pàtria i Rei a l’Assemblea de Catalunya (1936-75), Montserrat 2014, ISBN 9788498837261
  142. ↑ re-defining also a number of other Carlist figures, like the claimant Jaime III, presented – in line with the general progressist interpretation – as disposed to tolerance rather than to intransigence, see Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 39
  143. ↑ see e.g. Tomàs Caylà Grau: Catalanismo, la única solución, [in:] Legitimista Digital. El Carlisme contra la Globalizacio. Mes Societat i menys mercat! website, available here
  144. ↑ Tarrago 1978, p. 10

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