Tomàs Caylà i Grau

Tomàs Caylà i Grau

Born	Tomàs Caylà i Grau 1895 Valls, Spain
Died	1936 Valls, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Citizenship	Spanish
Occupation	publisher
Known for	politician
Political party	Comunión Tradicionalista

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

Family and youth

Tomàs d'Aquino Caylà i Grau was descendant to a well-off Catalan family. His grandfather, Tomás Caylá y Sardá (1810-1888), was member of the emerging Tarragona bourgeoisie. He fought for the liberal side against the Carlists in the First Carlist War (1833-1840) and was then mayor of Reus and a friend of General Prim. 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. He became secretary and then co-owner of the newly created Banc de Valls, growing to its director in 1914; he was also administrator of rural holdings belonging to the local Vaciana and Miguel families. Active in the local business milieu, he co-founded the local landholders’ organization Sindicato Agrícola de Valls and represented it on various fora, becoming also president of the local Asociación de Propietarios. In 1894 Josep married Teresa Grau i Torner (1865-1943). The couple had 3 children; two sons died in their early infancy.

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 and promoted the idea when presiding over the proprietors’ association. He is credited for bringing the concept into life when dealing with local vineyard tenants affected by the phylloxera plague. During unrest triggered by massive strike in the Catalan electricity sector in 1919 he was assassinated on the Valls street in what was probably an anarchist ambush.

Following his earlier education in 1911 Tomàs moved to Barcelona, where he started to study law; he graduated in derecho in 1916 and commenced practicing in his native Valls, gaining anecdotal reputation for his honesty and dedication. 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 and helped to set up its review Estel Maria. 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.

Restoration and dictatorship

In 1919 young local activists led by Caylà founded a Valls-based weekly titled Joventut. Spanning across modest 4 pages and appearing with the sub-heading Per la fe i per la pátria, 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, another present-day biographer underlines that it was based on ideas of Christian humanism and justice. Caylà and the co-founders explained their political identity in a clear-cut manifesto, declaring themselves to be first Catholics, then Spaniards, then Catalans, then Traditionalists and finally legitimists. 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. He contributed under his own name or using various pen-names, most commonly "C.V." and "Almogáver"; his contemporaries admired him for writing ease.

Freshly graduated, launching his law career and active in the local Circol Jaumista, in 1920 Caylà ran on the Carlist ticket in elections to the municipal council, but was reprimanded by the party leader of the province, Joaquín Avellá, who made public that Caylà had not been nominated by the party. Local Carlists responded by claiming that Avellá only intended to favour the candidacy of his own brother, a member of the Conservative Party. Caylà could not get elected. However, in 1922 he ran again and was elected regidor as one of the most popular candidates. His career did not last long; the coming of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship in 1923 spelled replacement of elected bodies with the appointees; Joventut could have only lambasted the new regime for its corrupted political machinery. 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 Joventut for 2 weeks and detaining Caylà, who spent 5 days in Tarragona prison and was ordered a month of exile in Lleida. Also during the years to come Joventut refused to endorse attempts to institutionalize the regime and rebuked its inefficiency and disregard for genuine representation, in result suffering 5 fines, 2 suspensions and 2 detentions.

Joventut was euphoric about Primo's fall. During Dictablanda Caylà was administratively reinstated as member of the local council and actively resumed his public activities, like staging the Carlist Fiesta de los Mártires de la Tradición celebrations in 1930. Since Spanish politics seemed dominated by bewilderment, he advocated Catholic principles as general guidance and prayer, sacraments and mass as 3 ordinary day duties. In terms of political solutions he championed spiritual role of Vatican and papal teaching, which translated into his hostile stance towards Liberalism. 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.

Republic

Like many Carlists Caylà welcomed the fall of Alfonsist monarchy, 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. In his Joventut editorials Caylà remained cautious and preferred not to jump to conclusions as to the new regime. As a monarchist loyal to the carlist claimant 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.

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

Gradually Caylà started to emerge as one of the most dynamic politicians of the Catalan Carlism. In late 1931, already as part of the ongoing unification of three Traditionalist branches, he was nominated the provincial Tarragona jefe 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. Some sources claim that he prevented the Catalanists from seizing power in Tarragona, other works suggest that his role was marginal. Afterwards he lambasted Generalitat for launching a potentially most inhuman and uncivilized mayhem that Catalonia has ever seen.

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

Catalan question

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.

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 complementary selves. Supporting various cultural initiatives he also acknowledged Catalan political ambitions, best embodied in the autonomous project; for Caylà, separate regional establishments were rooted in the Carlist vision. 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.

During dictatorship Caylà kept supporting Catalan ambitions, highly sympathetic to Macia and highly critical towards governmental measures applied against him after the Prats de Molló affair. He retained his juvenile autonomous vision later on, presented in a series of articles published in Joventut in 1930. A contemporary scholar compared it to the radical La Habana version and another one claimed that it was not far from endorsing political independence. Also in present-day Catalanist publications his articles from that period are quoted when referring to unity of Spain as “a parody”, however this particular phrase was intended not to question the Spanish integrity as such but rather to mock the inefficient and propaganda-embroidered late primoderiverista version. It is not clear to what extent Caylà contributed to the official Carlist autonomy project revealed in 1930; 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.

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 and opposed separatism, 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. Last but not least, Caylà was profoundly unhappy about secular character of the autonomy and accepted the statute not as an ultimate solution but rather as a stepping stone towards his vision. 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” and what he considered potentially barbarian course of October 1934, though he opposed suspension of the autonomy.

Social question

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. 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. Ringing a typically Carlist tone he saw Liberalism as primordial source of evil, anti-Christian, anti-fuerista and anti-social, leading to alienation of enslaved proletarian masses. 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 and turning the Catalan idea into “branch of the Russian ideology”.

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. 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. His criticism of laissez-faire has also never amounted to general onslaught on capitalism; considering private property and individual self foundations of civilized society he followed Vatican in its harsh judgment of “capitalisme liberal” and unlimited accumulation of wealth.

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 Carlist social association Agrupació Social Tradicionalista, animated its Casa Social and served as its treasurer. He kept encouraging co-operative initiatives like Cooperativa Electrica de Valls, perceived as an alternative to anonymous commercial enterprises. He also encouraged new Christian syndicates of the Tarragona province, Gremios Obreros and Gremios Patronales, confederated in Agrupacion Gremial de Trabajadores. When running for the provincial Catalan parliament he competed in Tarragona as a member of the rightist coalition Unió Ciutadana, while Carlists from Barcelona formed Dreta de Catalunya, endorsed by the then Catalan Carlist jefe Junyent.

Final months

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. One day after the anti-republican coup had started in Spanish Morocco, he hoped that the insurrection would succeed. According to another, he confronted the insurgent line promoted by Tomás Domínguez Arévalo and Fal and voiced against the alliance with the rebellious military, but was overruled by the Carlist executive. According to yet another account, Caylà himself conspired with the generals, but he considered insurgent initiatives premature and urged the plotters to step in only as reaction to a would-be coup attempted by the Left. 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.

During the July 1936 coup the Catalan Requeté organization led by was allegedly prepared to field 3,100 volunteers in the first line and further 15,000 as auxiliaries; mobilisation of Carlist paramilitary was directed by its regional leader José 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. 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.

Caylà himself initially stayed in his usual hotel residence, but following the news of Cunill and other Requeté leaders having been captured he realized the danger and after few days went into hiding by his relatives in Barcelona. He refused to flee the Republican zone, since he considered it a treason to Traditionalist cause. Confronted with a tragic choice between two bad options he preferred to face whatever the future brings. In early August the Valls committee of Milícies Antifeixistes 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. In mid-August Caylà was arrested in his hideout, driven by car to Valls and executed on Plaça del Pati immediately after arrival. According to some accounts, the Republicans staged sort of a feast afterwards with locals forced to pass by his corpse; according to the other, militiamen used his cut off head as a football.

Legacy

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. 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. A street in the old town was named after him and it remains so until today. In the 1940s Caylà remained a hero of the Tarragona Carlists, serving as a role model for the branch opposing Francoism and for those who chose to side with the regime, supporting the claim of self-styled claimant Carlos VIII. Juventud, the Falangist weekly launched in Tarragona in 1943 was styled as continuation of Joventut; issued in Spanish and subtitled Semanario nacional sindicalista it had little in common with the original Caylà's periodical.

Except singular cases of homage on part of intransigent anti-Francoist Sivattistas the memory of Caylà went into oblivion; he 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; Caylà started to serve as an exemplary case of a genuine, tolerant, humanist, progressist, democratic, proto-socialist, anti-capitalist and popular Carlist. His second biography - also highly hagiographical, though pursuing the opposite vision than the earlier one - was published in 1997 and it fits into this progressist outlook well; also some fiercely anti-capitalist, anti-globalist groupings of Spanish or Catalan extreme Left keep presenting Caylà as their predecessor. Other militantly Left-wing groups keep considering Cayla an enemy; carrer Tomàs Caylà is covered by a present-day initiative to purge Catalan public space of fascist heritage. 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”.

Footnotes

El Eco de Valls 09.08.1888, available here
Joan Guinovart i Escarré, Tomàs Caylà, un home de la terra, Valls 1997, ISBN 8492147679, 9788492147670, pp. 15-16
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 19
for details see Francesc Costas i Jové, El Banc de Valls (1881-1979). Esborrany històric amb records i comentaris personals, Valls 2002, ISBN 8486083508
Francesc Nadal Piqué, Jordi Martí Henneberg, Cambio agrario y paisaje vitivinícola en la Cataluña occidental durante el primer tercio del siglo xx, Ería: Revista cuatrimestral de geografía, 88 (2012), p. 180
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 15
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, Historiaideologias blog 2011, available here
La Vanguardia 24.12.19, available here
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 20
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 16, 23
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 15-16
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 15
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 20
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 15-16
Francesc Rom Serra, Martí Rom, El Centre Obrer de Mont-roig del Camp (1911-1925), Barcelona 2003, ISBN 8496035344, 9788496035348, p. 136
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 19, Jaime Tarrago, Tomas Caylà o la moral del Alzamiento, Fuerza Nueva 19.08.78, p. 10, available here
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 63
Pàtria 10.11.16, available here
Tarrago 1978, p. 10
Tarrago 1978, pp. 9-10
Tarrago 1978, p. 10
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 63
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
Pere Altés i Serra, La premsa local en el meu record, Quaderns de Vilaniu, 24 (1993), p. 68
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
Laura Vives Solanes, La premsa de la ciutat de Valls al segle XX, Quaderns de Villaniu 42 (2002), p. 173; Joventut 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), El Argonauta español 9 (2012)
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 25
guided by Rerum Novarum and convinced that politics serves religion, never the opposite, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
determined to serve Spain's greatness and prosperity, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
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
“allistats sots les banderes 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
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”
he also collaborated with El Correo Catalan and La Cronica de Valls, Contreras 2011
standing for “Carlí Vallenc”, The Valls Carlist
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 29
Altés i Serra 1993, p. 69
Joventut 03.02.20, available here
La Crónica de Valls 14.02.20, available here
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 169, Vicenç Gascón Altés, Francesc Vallès Serra, La dictadura de Primo de Rivera en la perspectiva de Valls, Quaderns de Vilaniu 27 (1995), p. 68
Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 48
Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, pp. 48-49
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 35
El Sol 07.07.24, available here, also Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 35
like Union Patriotica, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 36
Vallverdú 2008, p. 15, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 47, Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 59
Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 67
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
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 36
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 68, 72
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 83
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 76
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 275
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 209
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, Catholic Historical Review 48/3 (1962), pp. 351-352
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 39, 110
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), L. Duran (ed.), El catalanisme en el nostre passat nacional, Solsona 2010, ISBN 9788497799683, p. 100
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 38
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 211
Isidre Molas, Lliga Catalana: un estudi d'estasiología, vol. 2, Barcelona 1972, ISBN 978-84-297-0858-5, p. 242
a provincial Tarragona alliance with Lliga and Partido Republicano Radical, engineered by Caylà himself, Vallverdú 2008, pp. 114, 117; List available here
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 107, 109
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 109
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, La Resclosa 7 (2003), p. 108
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 38, though he denounced fascism as counter-reaction to militant Leftism, see Vallverdú 2008, p. 220-221
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 268
the first came as Joventut defended the Tortosa Traditionalist periodical La Tradición, fined by the Republican administration; Joventut referred to the Republican regime as “new dictatorship”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 41
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 42
Caylà denied the charges, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 44
maximum fine imposed was 2000 pesetars; a typical daily worker's pay was some 10 ptas; the penalty was administered following a 1934 article published on 3rd anniversary of the Republic, denouncing collapse of public 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
Gascón Altés, Vallès Serra 1995, p. 61; in 1934 Caylà intervened with comisario del Orden publico, La Vanguardia 15.05.34, available here
at that time the leader of Catalan Carlism Miquel Junyent i Rovira, soon to be replaced by Lorenzo María Alier; subjefe regional was Mauricio de Sivatte; Benedicto Torralba de Damas served as regional secretary; important provincial leaders were Juan Lavaquial for Lérida leader and Juan María Roma for Gerona; Casimiro de Sangenís served as Carlist MP in the Cortes, the group of leaders completed with the names of Joaquín Bau and José Bru, see El Siglo Futuro 18.19.34, available here
La Vanguardia 25.11.31, available here, also El Siglo Futuro 09.08.34, available here
in terms of number of Traditionalist centres the Tarragona province was 8th in Spain, in terms of Margaritas centres it was 7th, in terms of number of juntas it was 10th, in terms of number of Juventud centres it was 15th, Vallverdú 2008, pp. 247-260
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, Historia Contemporanea 11 (1994), p. 45
Tarrago 1978, p. 9
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 276-278; according to yet another version, his non-belligerent and pacific stance prevented violence and was praised by the Republican authorities, Vallverdú 2008, p. 194
“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
La Vanguardia 20.10.34, available here
La Vanguardia 17.05.35, available here
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; another version in Vallverdú 2008, p. 265
El Siglo Futuro 20.06.35, available here
since 1934, when Junyent resigned, Vallverdú 2010, p. 100, also La Vanguardia 07.04.36, available here
ABC 15.01.42, available here
allegedly due to the Integrist and Mellist influence, Vallverdú 2010, p. 102, though he gives no sources; the subject is slightly more elaborated in a single paragraph in Vallverdú 2008, p. 128
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 317, also El Siglo Futuro 07.04.36, available here; according to Vallverdú 2008, pp. 300-301, Fal asked the Catalan organization for suggestions; the Barcelona council proposed Caylà, the Girona council proposed a triumvirate composed of Juan Roma, Joaquin Gomis and Joaquin Bau
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 brilliant during public meetings, though it might also reflect a hagiographical tone of the Bau's biography
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, Euskera 56 (2011), 858-9
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 30
dedicated to Catalan spirituality, rights, language, character and “modo d’esser” they supported “autonomia integral”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 31
Caylà and Joventut were active as animators of “renaixenca 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, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma 17 (2005), pp. 147-174; Caylà and Joventut advocated declaring Catalan the only official language of Catalonia, Vallverdú 2010, p. 101
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, Enric Ucelay Da Cal (ed.), El nacionalismo catalán: mitos y lugares de memoria, Barcelona 2005, ISBN 8497425073, 9788497425070
during the meeting of Carlist Catalan executive of late 1932 he initiated two motions aiming at underlining the role of municipal and comarcal autonomy, Vallverdú 2008, p. 124
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 33
Vallverdú 2010, p. 100, Vallverdú 2008, p. 38
see Vallverdú 2008, pp. 26-27, 38-40
José Carlos Clemente Muñoz, El carlismo en el novecientos español (1876-1936), Madrid 1999, ISBN 8483741539, 9788483741535, p. 80
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
Clemente Muñoz 1999, p. 80, Clemente Muñoz 1992, p. 80
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 407
named Proyecto de Estatuto de Cataluña, see Vallverdú 2010, p. 95, for the full text see Juventudes Carlistas service available here Archived 2015-05-28 at the Wayback Machine; even dedicated sub-chapters in specific studies do not clarify what was the role of Cayla in forging the Carlist proposal, see Vallverdú 2008, pp. 41-43
the splitters were Esteban Ferré i Calviá, Josep M. Ferré i Moragó, Joan Roca i Caball, Josep Cirera, Josep M. Trias Peitx, Anton Olivares, Francisco Balanyá, Francisco Guarner, Vallverdú 2010, p. 98
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 47-8
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
Vallverdú 2010, p. 102; Joventut of 18.05.32 wrote: “Ha faltado la voz que proclamase bien claro que los derechos de Cataluña son superiores a los del estado integral”
he believed that “either Catalonia is Catholic or there is no Catalonia”, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 31, 418
“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 Cataluña. En este sentido y como táctica de procedimiento, marcada por la mayoría que regenta los destinos de Cataluña, 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 Cataluña quedará en pie”, Joventut 15.07.31; see also Vallverdú 2008, pp. 45-56
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 261
Vallverdú 2008, pp. 204-205
like the lectured titled La qüestió social en nostra ciutat, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, pp. 25-26
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 380
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 32
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 380
“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
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
“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
Caylà is not mentioned a single time in Jose Luis Orella Martínez, El origen del primer católicismo Español, , Madrid 2012
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 40
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 76
in 1933, see El Siglo Futuro 18.03.33, available here
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 299-300; the centre focused on mostly on leisure activities, like theatre or sports
El Siglo Futuro 18.04.33, available here
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 85-6
compare co-operative efforts of another Carlist politician, Marcelino Oreja Elósegui
in 1935
Bau claimed he was the founder with Caylà reduced to the approving role, Monserrat Cavaller 2001, p. 78
an alliance formed also by anti-separatist Lerrouxistas. As Lerroux and his vehemently anti-clerical Radicals have traditionally been Carlist enemies, with history of Carlist-Radical relations marked by violence and bloodshed, the alliance raised many eyebrows; Cayla presented his case in Joventut, see here
La Vanguardia 08.11.32, available here
and afterwards concluded that one of the reasons for defeat was Carlism “s’avia allunyat del poble treballador”, quoted after Vallverdú 2008, p. 122
“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, 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 , Barcelona 1988, p. 1002; in fact, he fathered the idea of organizing contraband of arms from France by sea, in a fishing ship, Vallverdú 2008, p. 305
according to the account of Josep Cabaní, who was at the time the director of Barcelona's Carlist newspaper El Correo Catalán, after realizing that the rebellion had taken place in Africa, the night before July 19 he told Cabaní that it would be in the morning. Caylà also showed interest in the organization of Catalan Traditionalists and was hopeful about the coup's success, Joan Sariol Badía, Petita historia de la guerra civil: vint-i-tres testimonis informen, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 8472353044, p. 115
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 12, Vallverdú 2008, p. 310
“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
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 319; according to Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil , Valencia 2009, p. 217, Caylà “había mostrado sus dudas sobre la oportunidad de la insurrección”
Jordi Canal i Morell, Banderas blancas, boinas rojas: una historia política del carlismo, 1876-1939, Madrid 2006, ISBN 8496467341, 9788496467347, p. 326, Jordi Canal i Morell, El carlismo: dos siglos de contrarrevolución en España, Madrid 2000, ISBN 8420639478, pp. 326-327
there were at least 957 acts of violence recorded against the Roman Catholic Church between mid-February and mid-July 1936, Manuel Álvarez Tardío, Roberto Villa García, El impacto de la violencia anticlerical en la primavera de 1936 y la respuesta de las autoridades, Hispania Sacra 65 (2013), p. 705; Catalonia was one of the least affected regions, with Andalusia, Valencia and New Castile topping the chart, detailed list pp. 721-762
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 12
Vallverdú 2010, p. 102; somewhat different figures in his earlier work, Vallverdú 2008, pp. 318-319
Vallverdú i Martí 2008, pp. 312-315
"Els traditionalistes catalans eren el grup més importants del carslimo espanyol, després de Navarra i les provincies basques", Vallverdu i Marti 2008, p. 294
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 11
Cunill and his adjutant Josep Maria Rosell i Calbo were captured on 20 July, Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 321
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 324
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 12; already when appointed the regional jefe he realized that in the charged ambience the post might cost him life, see Vallverdú 2008, p. 302
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
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 327
according to his certificate of death, he died on August 14, see here. There are authors who also indicate this, see Recordando a D. Tomàs Caylà i Grau (1885-1936), Carlistas. Historia y cultura blog 2008, available here or Villaroya i Font 1988, p. 1002 However, 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; 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
Tarrago 1978, pp. 9-10
Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931-1939, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 9780521207294, p. 260
Juan Soler Janer, Tomás Cayla Grau, ejemplo y guía de patriotas. Vida y muerte, San Sebastián 1938
Guinovart i Escarré 1997, p. 344-348
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; Guinovart, Caylà's personal secretary, in the 1948 local elections ran against the Falangist candidate and won, Robert Vallverdú Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936-1975), Montserrt 2014, ISBN 9788498837261, p. 110
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, Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d'Estudis Històrics 9 (1998), pp. 152-153
see index of Vallencs publications available here Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
in 1961 they tried to unveil a commemorative plaque in Valls; it read "Tomás Caylá ejemplo vivo. Con firmeza jamás vencida, el hijo ilustre de Valls, D. Tomás Caylá y Grau, Jefe de los Carlistas de Cataluña, aqui dio valerosamente la sangre y la vida por los ideales de Dios, Fueros, Patria y Rey". The event was accompanied by building a castell and dropping leaflets, César Alcalá, D. Mauricio de Sivatte. Una biografía política (1901-1980), Barcelona 2001, ISBN 8493109797, pp. 161-162
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
Jacek Bartyzel, Bandera Carlista, 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 (almost identical wording in Vallverdú 2008, p. 302): “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
written by Caylà's personal secretary of the mid-1930s; the work re-defines 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
see e.g. Tomàs Caylà Grau: Catalanismo, la única solución, Legitimista Digital. El Carlisme contra la Globalizacio. Mes Societat i menys mercat! website, available here Archived 2015-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
Fora simbologia espanyola i francesa dels nostres carrers!, s.l. 2008, available here
Tarrago 1978, p. 10, available here

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