page_title: María Rosa Urraca Pastor
section_title: Carlist
hierarchical_section_title: María Rosa Urraca Pastor / Carlist
caption_attribution_description: Español: La señorita María Rosa Urraca Pastor.
context_page_description: María Rosa Urraca Pastor was a Spanish Carlist politician and propagandist. She is known mostly as a thrilling orator, one of the best public speakers of the Second Spanish Republic. She is also noted as head of Delegación Nacional de Frentes y Hospitales, the Nationalist wartime organization catering for the wounded.
context_section_description: When detained, active in joint right-wing women groupings or collecting funds to pay fines, Urraca started to meet and forged closer relations with female Carlists; she was particularly impressed by María Ortega de Pradera, local ACM leader and wife of the Traditionalist theorist Victor Pradera. She later claimed having been fascinated by their unshaken Christianity, valiance and fortitude, especially against the bewilderment of the Alfonsine monarchism. During the winter of 1931-1932 she neared the Carlists, starting to appear on their public rallies and quickly becoming sort of a rising star of the Carlist propaganda; her earlier combined experience in ACM, broadcasting, schools and newspapers turned her into a thrilling orator. Already in 1932 she was speaking at Carlist and Catholic meetings all over Spain, appearing among top Traditionalist politicians and most distinguished female activists. Urraca contributed also to Carlist press, activity which triggered further fines. In 1933 she was already sort of a Carlist celebrity, acclaimed by their political leaders. and called omnipresent. She was noted by political opponents: Indalecio Prieto ridiculed her in the press stating that "the cavemen got their miss", to which the Carlist Requetés responded by greeting her with "Long Live Miss Cavemen" cry.
  In the 1933 elections she ran for the Cortes from Gipuzkoa as Carlist representative in Unión Regionalista Gipuzcoana; greeted by the Republican press as „candidatura de la Edad Media, típicamente troglodita", she narrowly missed the election. Embittered by backstage political haggling Urraca was disillusioned by parliamentary politics; she went on with hectic propaganda activity across Spain, gaining nationwide recognition as an inflammatory and thrilling orator and greeted by homages from the Right and abuse from the Left. As Carlist leaders realized how important the female votes were she gained weight within the movement and entered correspondence with the Carlist queen, María de las Nieves.
  Following organizational shakeup of the party executive in 1934, the new leader Manuel Fal entrusted her with re-modeling the Secciones Femeninas of Comunión Tradicionalista. Female groupings, known as Margaritas, operated as affiliated with local circulos; apart from boosting membership and launching new activities, Urraca was entrusted with turning the organization from very loose federation into a nationwide structure; since the task has never been fully completed she did not assume formal presidency, though some scholars name her de facto leader. Up to 1936 Margaritas recruited 23,000 women, mostly in Valencia, Navarre and Vascongadas. Urraca encouraged them to take courses in nursing (and took it herself), getting ready to the anticipated violent overthrow of the Republic. In 1936 she unsuccessfully run for the parliament again, this time from Teruel. Urraca continued her favorite social activities setting up Socorro Blanco, the Carlist relief organization. In the movement's press she campaigned for Spiritual Crusade of Prayer. In April 1936 she was detained for illegal possession of a pistol but was smuggled out of custody and spent the last few months of peace hiding in a village of Arcos de la Llana near Burgos.
caption: Urraca speaking, 1934
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