Transnational, Conservative, Catholic Mexicans: The Unión Nacional Sinarquista in Southern California during the late 1930s and early 1940s

The Catholic, anti-communist, and Mexican nationalist Unión Nacional Sinarquista (UNS or National Synarchist Union) formed in 1937 to counteract the power of the left-leaning postrevolutionary Mexican state, which embodied anti-clericalism, a strict separation between church and state, secular education, and land reform. While most scholars focus on the UNS within the borders of Mexico, this paper emphasizes the transnational dimensions of the organization in Southern California in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Los Angeles regional sinarquista committee not only established a presence in the city, but established new chapters throughout Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties. This paper argues that the organization established a foothold among conservative Catholic Mexicans across Southern California, utilizing their collective power to attempt to transform the religious and political situation in Mexico from afar.