page_title: Antonio Pérez de Olaguer
section_title: Carlist: early decades
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Pérez de Olaguer / Carlist: early decades
caption_attribution_description: Català: Portada de El Requete de Cataluña, no. 11 (jul. 1959)
context_page_description: Antonio María Pérez de Olaguer Feliu was a Spanish writer and a Carlist militant. As a man of letters he was recognized by his contemporaries for travel literature, novel and drama, gaining much popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Today he is considered mostly a typical representative of early Francoist culture and his works are denied major value. As a Carlist he remained in the back row, though enjoyed enormous prestige among the Catalan rank and file. For decades he worked to bridge the gap between two groups of Catalan Carlists, the Javieristas and the Sivattistas.
context_section_description: Pérez de Olaguer's ancestors lived mostly overseas and seemed detached from daily Spanish politics; the only information on their preferences available is that his father was a fervent Catholic. The young Antonio initially did not reveal any penchant; it is only in the early 1930s that his writings got saturated with Traditionalism. Exact mechanism of his access to Carlism is not known, yet in 1933 it seemed apparent, perhaps confirmed in 1934. His writings and publications aside there is no confirmation of his engagement in Carlist structures. It is not clear whether Antonio joined requeté military gear-up and whether on July 19 he engaged in the coup. In the mayhem that followed he left Barcelona for Genoa. He entered the Nationalist zone some time before November 1936 and offered his services to Junta Nacional Carlista de Guerra; Pérez de Olaguer was seconded to its Prensa y Propaganda section, touring the area controlled and gathering information on the fallen requetés. He also kept advancing the Carlist cause in numerous books and press publications. His position versus the Unification Decree and buildup of the Francoist regime is not clear; after 1937 his activity as author declined sharply, yet in 1939 Franco watched the victory parade in Barcelona from the balcony of Casa Pérez Samanillo.
  Pérez de Olaguer spent part of the early 1940s overseas and there is no information on his Carlist activities, except hosting Fal Conde during the 1942 Montserrat festivities. During growing bewilderment of Carlism Pérez de Olaguer did not engage in the daily party business yet due to his standing as a writer, though also thanks to his easy-going, serene, and modest conduct he enjoyed great prestige among the Catalan party rank and file. He remained loyal to leadership of Fal and to sovereignty of Don Javier; the regent appreciated him personally. Taking advantage of his position in the mid-1940s Pérez de Olaguer tried to mediate between two increasingly hostile fractions of Catalan Carlists: cautious supporters of Fal Conde, who stuck to the regentialist solution, and activist supporters of regional leader Maurici de Sivatte, who demanded that Don Javier openly challenges Franco and declares his own reign. In 1947 he addressed the claimant with a letter, asking to take action and prevent forthcoming breakup. Himself he tended to side with the Sivattistas, noting that Spain needed "legitimate chief of state". Don Javier took notice but did not take action and the conflict escalated. In early 1949 Fal travelled to Barcelona seeking last-minute reconciliation, but Pérez de Olaguer informed him that "por aquel camino el carlismo no podía continuar". Few months later in another letter he advocated more open anti-Francoist stand and noted that caudillo's fate might be this of Hitler and Mussolini. However, Fal's strategy prevailed and Sivatte was dismissed from the Catalan jefatura.
caption: Don Javier, Carlist press
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