The ideology of the UNS derived from the current of Catholic social thinking of the 1920s and 1930s, based on the papal encyclical "Rerum novarum" of Pope Leo XIII, which also influenced the regimes of Engelbert Dollfuss in Austria, António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal and Francisco Franco in Spain. Taking its impetus from the same strand of rightist politics that had informed the Cristiada movement, the group sought to mobilise the peasantry against "atheistic and communist tendencies". It stressed social co-operation as opposed to the class conflict of socialism, and hierarchy and respect for authority as opposed to liberalism. In the context of Mexican politics, this meant opposition to the centralist, semi-socialist and anti-clerical policies of the PRI regime. As a result, UNS members were denounced as fascists and persecuted by the Cárdenas government and the group's ability to impact Mexican politics was hindered.