Transition to Democracy in Spain

Posted on Oct 26, 2024 in History

Unit 13: Transition to Democracy in Spain (1975-1978)

Introduction

Following Francisco Franco’s death in 1975, Spain embarked on a complex political transition from dictatorship to democracy. This process was unique due to its relatively peaceful nature. The democratization of the country was primarily driven by the moderate opposition and reformist sectors within the Franco regime.

1. The Political Transition (1975-1978)

1.1. Political Forces

  • Within Franco’s supporters, there was a division between those who favored limited change and those who opposed any reform (the “Bunker”). The Bunker was led by Carrero Blanco, the head of government who was assassinated by ETA in 1973.
  • Arias Navarro, head of government in 1974, attempted a limited reform known as the “Spirit of February 12,” but it proved inadequate.
  • Adolfo Suárez became head of government in 1975 and initiated the transition with a reformist approach.

1.2. Opposition Forces

  • Right-wing Liberals: This group was weak and centered around figures like Ruiz Giménez and supporters of Juan de Borbón, the father of the future King Juan Carlos I.
  • Left-wing: The Spanish Communist Party (PCE), led by Santiago Carrillo, was the most organized and active. The Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) was organized around Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra. The Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) was the most powerful union, while the UGT began to reorganize.
  • Anti-Franco forces operating from outside Spain formed two groups: the Democratic Junta, created in Paris in 1974, and the Platform for Democratic Convergence in 1975. After Franco’s death, they united as the Democratic Coordination, also known as Platajunta, to present a united front for a democratic transition.

1.3. The Restoration of the Monarchy: Juan Carlos I

  • Initially, Juan Carlos I inherited similar powers to those held by Franco. The monarchy had three options: maintain a weakened Francoist regime, pursue a reformist approach, or initiate a complete democratic break.

1.4. Arias Navarro’s Government (November 1975 – July 1976)

  • The King initially opted for continuity, retaining Arias Navarro in an attempt to unite the reformists and the Bunker. The “Spirit of February 12” laws were too restrictive and did not allow for the existence of political parties.
  • A public conflict arose with the Church, as part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, led by Cardinal Tarancón, criticized the regime’s lack of freedoms.
  • Social unrest increased (mass mobilizations), the economy deteriorated due to the 1973 oil crisis, and terrorist actions escalated.
  • The King, dissatisfied with Arias Navarro’s performance, dismissed him in July 1976.

1.5. Suárez’s Government: Beginning of Reforms

  • Suárez’s project aimed to promote a gradual reform of the system through the evolution of Francoist laws and institutions. He needed to overcome resistance from Francoist elements within state institutions and attract the democratic opposition to his project.
  • The main achievement of Suárez’s first government was the drafting and approval of the Law for Political Reform (LRP):
    • It proclaimed the democratic nature of the Spanish State based on national sovereignty and recognized fundamental individual rights.
    • Thanks to the skill of Torcuato Fernández-Miranda and the King’s support, it was approved after intense negotiations.
    • The law was ratified in a referendum with 94% of the votes in favor.
  • The far-right opposition carried out attacks, such as the Atocha massacre in January 1977.
  • Suárez negotiated the military’s neutrality in the reform process in exchange for a promise not to legalize the PCE. However, he later decided to legalize the PCE in 1977, which angered the military. Despite this, a feared coup did not occur, demonstrating a shift within the armed forces.

1.6. The First Democratic Elections (1977)

  • Political Parties:
    • Left-wing: PCE, PSOE, PTE, MCE, ORT
    • Right-wing: AP, Fuerza Nueva
    • Center: UCD
    • Nationalist: PNV, PDC, ERC, BN-PG, PSG
  • The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) won 166 seats, and the PSOE came in second with 118. Although Suárez did not have an absolute majority in the 350-seat Congress, he formed the first democratic government in Spain since the Civil War.

2. The 1978 Constitution

  • A committee of elected members from all parties represented in the Cortes (parliament) was formed to draft the Constitution. The drafting process was characterized by consensus politics (negotiation and agreements between the major parties).
  • Features:
    • Defined Spain as a democratic and social state, organized as a parliamentary monarchy.
    • Included a broad declaration of fundamental rights and civil and political liberties.
    • Had a progressive nature, but with some ambiguity and eclecticism due to the consensus approach, allowing for future legislation to be interpreted by both the left and the right.

3. The Autonomous Process and the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia

  • The Constitution allowed for the creation of Autonomous Communities, which could establish their own Statutes of Autonomy outlining their powers. These statutes had to be approved by the Cortes.
  • The process was carried out in two stages:
    • Pre-autonomy: Granting provisional autonomy to regions that requested it.
    • Autonomy: Formal establishment of autonomy once the Constitution regulated the system.
  • Article 151 of the Constitution specifically addressed “historical nationalities” (Catalonia, Galicia, and the Basque Country), which had previously approved Statutes of Autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic.
  • Article 143 governed the process for the majority of the other autonomous communities.

3.4. The Statute of Autonomy of Galicia

  • The absence of institutions in exile and the weakness of Galician nationalist forces complicated the process. The Statute was not approved until 1981. A committee of 16 members drafted the text, which was submitted to a referendum in 1980. Nationalist forces considered it insufficient and campaigned against it.
  • The Statute established a parliamentary model of self-government for Galicia, with the Galician Parliament and the Xunta de Galicia as the main institutions of power.

4. Economic Crisis and the Moncloa Pacts

  • The 1973 oil crisis severely impacted Spain. Unemployment and inflation rose alarmingly. To stabilize the economy, the main political forces signed the Moncloa Pacts in October 1977, a series of consensus-based measures to address the financial difficulties.

4.1. Causes of the Crisis – Domestic

  • A. Political Factors: Lack of attention to economic policy by governments focused on institutional transformation.
  • B. Economic Transition: In the final years of the Franco regime, the government, believing the oil crisis to be temporary, decided not to pass on price increases to consumers, leading to massive deficits in the current account balance that persisted until 1984.
  • C. Legacy of the Franco Regime: The industry that developed during the Franco regime had serious weaknesses due to its anti-liberal and interventionist policies. For example, low competitiveness due to protectionist policies and strong energy dependence.

5. The Moncloa Pacts (1977)

  • The goals were to reduce inflation and implement reforms to share the costs of the crisis equitably. The measures included:
    • Combating Inflation: Restrictive monetary policy, budget control, reduction of public spending, tax reform, devaluation of the peseta, modernization of the financial system, and moderate wage growth.
    • Policy Reforms: Reform of social security and a new framework for industrial relations.

Unit 12: Consolidation of the Franco Regime (1959-1975)

Summary

This phase of the Franco dictatorship was marked by economic development, social changes, and political stagnation. The regime’s persistence in maintaining a dictatorship in a modernizing society led to its eventual decline, especially from 1969 onwards. Franco’s death in November 1975 made it impossible to maintain the regime, as Spanish society was ready to embrace the Western European model.

The Government in 1957: Technocracy and Bureaucratic Authoritarianism

  • Franco, advised by Carrero Blanco, restructured the government to assert his authority. The influence of the Falange declined, and emphasis was placed on technocrats.
  • New ministers were professionals or technicians, many of them members of Opus Dei, such as López Rodó, Ullastres, and Navarro Rubio.
  • Despite these changes, the government’s base remained military (7 out of 17 ministers).
  • A military court was created to deal with extremist activities like strikes and demonstrations (1958).
  • Laws against military rebellion and terrorism were passed (1960).
  • The Valley of the Fallen was inaugurated, and Eisenhower visited Spain (1959).

Economic Development

This period was characterized by significant economic development, particularly in the 1960s, which began to slow down towards the end of the decade until the 1973 crisis. This coincided with a period of economic growth in Europe, although Spain’s development started later. The basis for this development was the Stabilization Plan, a set of legislative measures implemented by technocrats between 1957 and 1959 to modernize the Spanish economy. These measures included devaluation of the peseta, limitations on public spending, wage freezes, tax increases, and incentives for foreign capital investment.

The plan reduced inflation and prevented bankruptcy, but it also led to a recession: income levels decreased, unemployment increased, and intense migration ensued. However, it laid the foundation for the development of the 1960s and intensified Spain’s reintegration into Western institutions. In 1958, Spain joined the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (later OECD) as an associate member, and in September, it joined the International Monetary Fund. In mid-1959, Spain received international aid worth over $500 million.

Factors of Economic Growth

Economic development was spectacular, as evidenced by the annual GDP growth rate (7% between 1960 and 1973) and increased levels of social welfare and consumption (per capita income rose from $300 in 1960 to $2000 in 1973). Several factors, both domestic and external, contributed to this rapid growth:

  • a) Favorable international economic situation.
  • b) Massive foreign capital investments and increasing activity of American, German, Swiss, French, and British multinationals, particularly in the chemical, electronics, and automobile industries, attracted by low labor costs.
  • c) Revenue from tourism, as tourists flocked to Spain due to its low prices.
  • d) Remittances from Spanish migrants working in Europe.
  • e) Huge state investment in public works (Development Plans), for example, in hydraulic infrastructure (dams).

Limitations of Economic Development

Despite the spectacular economic expansion (the “Spanish miracle”), which helped prevent social tensions and ensure the regime’s continuity, it was unbalanced and insufficient, leading to major problems:

  • a) Uneven sectoral growth: Economic growth occurred in the secondary and tertiary sectors, but not in the primary sector (agriculture received little investment, and profitability was low).
  • b) Intense internal and external migration: Internal migration, the rural exodus, led to the abandonment of rural areas and the disorderly growth of large urban centers like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao, where slums and shantytowns emerged. External migration, primarily to Germany, Switzerland, and France, affected about 1.5 million workers from underdeveloped rural areas (Andalusia, Extremadura, and Castile). This migration masked the limitations of the Spanish economy, which was unable to generate enough jobs to absorb the working-age population.
  • c) Increased regional imbalances: Some regions grew more than others. More than half of the industrial facilities were located in traditionally developed areas (Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Madrid), while other large areas experienced deindustrialization despite government development plans.
  • d) Ecological disasters: Uncontrolled development in tourist regions and industrial pollution of rivers caused significant environmental damage.

Consequences of Economic Boom

  • Rapid social transformation.
  • Depopulation of the countryside and rural exodus.
  • Economic problems: price controls, corruption, rising inflation in the final years of the regime, mass emigration of workers, limited public revenues, and deficiencies in public services.

Further Economic Imbalances

Other factors limited development:

  • A poor system of social benefits and state services.
  • An unfair tax system, with most taxes collected indirectly and a high degree of tax evasion and fraud that benefited a wealthy minority.
  • The 1973 oil crisis caused a setback in economic expansion. Spain was particularly vulnerable due to its dependence on foreign energy. The crisis led to a decline in tourism, exports, and emigration to Europe. It mainly affected the steel, textile, footwear, shipbuilding, construction, and banking industries. This crisis coincided with the final years of the Franco regime but had a greater impact during the transition, causing significant social unrest.

Social Change

Economic growth led to changes in social behavior. Industrialization transformed Spanish society from a predominantly rural to an urban one in the 1960s. Most of the population became engaged in activities related to the secondary and tertiary sectors. This caused a considerable increase in two social groups: the industrial proletariat and the middle class. Both contributed to changing habits and customs. The former demanded better working conditions and fueled the resurgence of the labor movement. The latter, more educated and with more leisure time, adopted European habits and desired a gradual change in Spanish society. The importance of this middle class contributed to the stability of the democratization process.

Other important social changes included the gradual incorporation of women into the workforce, which transformed family structures. Consumption levels increased, especially cultural consumption like theater, cinema, magazines, and paperback books. Religious values declined, and new views on fashion and music emerged (trousers, long hair, miniskirts, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones). In short, Spanish society became more secular, open, and tolerant.

The state contributed to improving living conditions with its social policies, such as the 1963 Social Security Law, which aimed to incorporate the entire workforce into social security, and educational reforms with the 1970 General Education Law.

By the early 1970s, Spanish society looked to Europe and desired a democratic political system.

Political Aspects: Opposition and Political Stagnation

Economic progress and social change led to increased opposition to the regime within Spain. Despite the challenges it posed to the dictatorship, it reflected the discontent of significant segments of the population. The opposition had three main drivers:

  • The University: From 1964 onwards, universities experienced constant protests: strikes, demonstrations, and demands for the return to a parliamentary system, despite strong repression.
  • The Workers’ Movement: In the 1960s, worker protests increased considerably, even though they were illegal. The labor movement benefited from the possibility of negotiating collective agreements after the approval of the 1958 Collective Agreements Law. The most conflictive areas were large cities and industrial zones. Leaders from the Communist Party and Catholic leftist movements infiltrated the Francoist union, leading to the emergence of the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) in 1966, which became the most important force within the labor movement.
  • Catholics: They increasingly distanced themselves from the regime due to the lack of freedoms. This distance grew with the influence of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Many Catholics adopted a political stance against the regime and played an important role in disseminating democratic ideas (e.g., through the Catholic magazine “Notebooks for Dialogue,” founded in 1963, which became a focal point for opposition groups). In 1968, a significant sector of the religious hierarchy openly criticized the regime. The Conference of Bishops defended the right to free association. The appointment of Vicente Enrique y Tarancón as Primate of Spain (1971) strengthened the Church’s commitment to social movements (e.g., worker priests).

Political Opposition

The political context saw the resurgence of nationalism and the consolidation of the democratic opposition.

Nationalism

  • In 1959, ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) was founded, a radical splinter group from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) that opted for armed struggle from the early 1960s, becoming a terrorist organization by 1966-1968.
  • In Catalonia, opposition to the Franco regime organized around the Coordinating Commission of the Political Forces of Catalonia (1969), which included communists, socialists, and Christian democrats. In 1971, the Assembly of Catalonia was created as a platform that encompassed almost all political and social opposition groups.

Democratic Opposition

The democratic opposition was organized into various small organizations: Christian Democrats (Gil Robles), Social Democrats (Dionisio Ridruejo), Liberals (Joaquín Satrústegui), Republicans (led by Rodolfo Llopis), and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). The PSOE experienced a split between its internal and exiled members. In 1969, Enrique Tierno Galván created the Socialist Party of the Interior (later PSP). The Spanish Communist Party (PCE), led by Santiago Carrillo, had the largest and best-structured organization within Spain and was directly involved in student mobilization.

In 1962, opposition representatives from both inside and outside Spain (Christian Democrats, Liberals, Monarchists, Republicans, and Nationalists, but excluding Communists) met in Munich and called for the restoration of democracy. This meeting, known as the Munich Conference, signaled a potential for reconciliation, as it brought together figures from previously antagonistic sides, such as Gil Robles (Catholic) and Salvador de Madariaga (Republican). The conference also advocated for Spain’s integration into Europe. Franco reacted violently against the meeting, labeling it the “Munich conspiracy,” and created the Public Order Court (TOP) to try political crimes.

Spanish society demanded change, but Franco resisted. Political stagnation was a reality. In 1967, the Organic Law of the State was approved, the last fundamental law of the Franco regime. It aimed to ensure the regime’s continuity. It attempted to appear democratic but maintained the fundamental principles of the dictatorship. Spain was structured as an “organic democracy,” a term that tried to suggest political progress but where representation was not exercised by individuals but by families, municipalities, and the state-controlled unions. The figure of the President of the Government was introduced, but Franco continued to hold both positions until June 1973, when he appointed Carrero Blanco as President of the Government.

The law did not introduce any significant changes or address the transformations in Spanish society. The only relevant aspect was the direct election of a portion of the Cortes members by heads of households. It also allowed for the creation of political associations, but only if they respected the principles of the Movement. Political parties were strictly prohibited.

Limited Openings

There were attempts at liberalization, but they were limited in scope. However, they contributed to the transformations that occurred later:

  • Press Law (1966): Censorship was abolished, but the state retained the right to inspect publications and control foreign news through the EFE agency. It could also seize publications and impose fines (as it did with various publications, including the “Madrid Diary”).
  • Law of Religious Freedom (1967).
  • General Education Law (1970).

The Agony of the Regime

The regime’s continuity seemed assured by a series of measures taken by Franco. In July 1969, the Cortes accepted Juan Carlos as Franco’s successor as Head of State. In June 1973, it was decided that in case of Franco’s death, Juan Carlos would act as King (Head of State) and that Admiral Carrero Blanco would exercise the functions of Head of Government. It seemed that Carrero Blanco would be the successor of the system. However, a series of circumstances from 1969 onwards led to the regime’s decline:

  • Social opposition continued to grow. Strikes and student protests persisted.
  • Frequent strikes organized by clandestine unions paralyzed cities.
  • In 1971, the joint assembly of bishops and priests adopted a resolution asking for forgiveness for not promoting reconciliation. In 1973, the bishops requested a review of the concordat and the separation of church and state. Many priests were arrested, and a large sector of the Church identified with and worked with the poorest (e.g., José María Llanos and Alfonso Carlos Comín).
  • Terrorist attacks and kidnappings increased. In 1970, members of ETA were tried by a court martial in Burgos. The death penalty was requested, and the trial lacked any guarantees. This triggered major mobilizations in the Basque Country and other Spanish cities, and even the Church asked for clemency. The mobilizations led to the commutation of the sentences, but the regime’s harshness highlighted the growing disconnect between society and the regime.

The assassination of Carrero Blanco on December 20, 1973, eliminated a key figure for the regime’s continuity. The assassination provoked harsh reactions from the government, including long prison sentences for the main leaders of the CCOO union (the “1001 case” against the union was held on December 20).

The regime was dying but resisting. After Carrero Blanco’s death, Carlos Arias Navarro was appointed Head of Government (January 1974). He raised some expectations, but his limited reforms, known as the “Spirit of April 12,” failed. The government’s actions demonstrated its unwillingness to change, leading to confrontations with the Church, with more modern sectors of the military, and even with reformist ministers who resigned (Pío Cabanillas, Minister of Information and Tourism, and Cruz Martínez Esteruelas, Minister of Finance).

  • The approval of the Statute of the Right of Political Association in December 1974 also failed to satisfy anyone, as it required respect for the principles of the Movement and was not even accepted by the regime’s reformists.
  • The democratic opposition became more active. Social unrest increased, and new terrorist groups emerged, such as the FRAP (Revolutionary Anti-Fascist Patriotic Front).
  • The democratic opposition organized: in July 1974, the Democratic Junta was created in Paris, led by Santiago Carrillo’s Communist Party. In June 1975, the Convergence Platform was formed, led by Felipe González’s PSOE (since October 1974, after the Suresnes Socialist Party Congress, the PSOE was led by internal opponents of the Franco regime, Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra).
  • In October 1975, they joined forces in the Platajunta. The anti-Francoists wanted a democratic rupture (openly expressed in the Democratic Junta’s manifesto of July 29, 1974). They believed that the transition process after Franco’s death should be managed by these forces. The regime was increasingly isolated.
  • Spanish society as a whole wanted and demanded change. The executions of September 1975 (two ETA members and three FRAP members) further discredited the dictatorship. Franco’s death in November 1975, after a long illness, paved the way for regime change. A complex but hopeful period of democratic transition began. The recovery of the democratic model was irreversible.