page_title: Mellismo
section_title: 1919 breakup
hierarchical_section_title: Mellismo / 1919 breakup
caption_attribution_description: English: Jaime de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma, called Duke of Madrid Русский: Хайме де Бурбон, герцог Мадридский (принц Хайме Карлович Бурбонский) в форме штабс-ротмистра лейб-гвардии Гродненского гусарского полка.
context_page_description: Mellismo was a political practice of Spanish ultra-Right of the early 20th century. Born within Carlism, it was designed and championed by Juan Vázquez de Mella, who became its independent political leader after the 1919 breakup. The strategy consisted of an attempt to build a grand ultra-Right party, which in turn would ensure transition from liberal democracy of Restauración to corporative Traditionalist monarchy. Following secession from Carlism Mellismo assumed formal shape of Partido Católico-Tradicionalista, but it failed as an amalgamating force and decomposed shortly afterwards. Theoretical vision of Mella is usually considered part of the Carlist concept and does not count as Mellismo; the strategy to achieve it does. In historiography its followers are usually referred to as Mellistas, though initially the term Mellados seemed to prevail. Occasionally they are also named Tradicionalistas, but the term is extremely ambiguous and might denote also other concepts.
context_section_description: In 1918 Mellismo seemed to have been losing ground: electoral alliances failed to produce major gains, course of the Great War made pro-German attitude pointless and undermined position of its advocates, some regional jefaturas kept voicing dissent and de Cerralbo, increasingly tired of his own double-loyalty, finally managed to get his resignation accepted, temporarily replaced by another Mellista, Cesáreo Sanz Escartín. In early 1919 the claimant was released from his house arrest in Austria, arrived in Paris and after 2 years of almost total silence came out with 2 manifestos. In somewhat unclear circumstances published in early February in Correo Español, they explicitly denounced disobedience of unnamed Carlist leaders failing to sustain neutral policy and indicated that command structures of the party would be re-organized.
  The Mellistas concluded that the strategy employed previously in struggle for domination in the party – cornering the claimant to elicit his conformity – would no longer work and that an ultimate all-out confrontation was imminent. They mounted a media counter-offensive, going public with charges disseminated privately in 1912 and presenting Don Jaime as a ruler who lost his legitimacy: for years he remained passive and inactive, pursued hypocritical policy declaring neutrality but in fact supporting Entente, departed from Catholic orthodoxy, ignored traditional Carlist collegial bodies embarking on Cesarist policy, toyed with the party and – clear reference to his lack of offspring – behaved irresponsibly; all in all, his latest moves were nothing but a "Jaimada", a coup within and against Traditionalism. None of the conflicting parties referred to the question of political strategy as to the point of contention.
  Though initially it might have appeared that the strengths of both sides were comparable, Don Jaime soon tilted the balance in his favor. His men reclaimed control over El Correo Español and he replaced San Escartín with former germanophile politicians who seemed pro-Mellistas but turned loyal to the royal house, first Pascual Comín and then Luis Hernando de Larramendi. When Alfonsist and Liberal press cheered anticipated demise of conflict-ridden Carlism, many party members earlier demonstrating unease about Don Jaime started to have second thoughts. Vázquez de Mella, conscious of his strong position among MPs and local jefes, responded with a call to stage a grand assembly. Though he explicitly referred to Carlism and Traditionalism, some scholars claim that at that point he already acknowledged that the struggle to control Jaimist structures was pointless; they interpret this appeal as decision to walk out and build a new party. The showdown lasted no longer than two weeks. By the end of February 1919 the Mellistas opted for an own organization, setting Centro de Acción Tradicionalista as their temporary headquarters in Madrid.
  Many Carlist deputies and senators of the early 20th century turned Mellados: apart from Vázquez de Mella also Luis Garcia Guijarro, Dalmacio Iglesias Garcia, José Ampuero y del Rio, Cesáreo Sanz Escartín, Ignacio Gonzales de Careaga and Víctor Pradera Larumbe; among regional leaders the key to be mentioned were Tirso de Olazábal, José María Juaristi, marqués de Valde-Espina and Luis Lezama Leguizamón (Vascongadas), Antonio Mazarrasa (Alava), Doña Marina and Florida (New Castile), Teodoro de Mas, Miguel Salellas Ferrer, Mariano Fortuny Portell, Tomas Boada Borrell and duque de Solferino (Catalonia),  Manuel Simó Marín and Jaime Chicharro Sánchez-Guió (Valencia) and José Díez de la Cortina (Andalusia); the group was completed by two prolific journalists, Miguel Fernández (Peñaflor) and Claro Abanades Lopez. Most of the breakaways came from 2 regions: Vascongadas (especially Gipuzkoa) and Catalonia. Some of regional Jaimist dailies adhered to Mella, though the most important ones, El Correo Español, El Pensamiento Navarro and El Correo Catalán, stood by the claimant. The impact on the rank-and-file was far less material. In regions where Carlism was a minor for
caption: Jaime de Borbón
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