1975-1982 Sebastian Eduardo Carias
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ABSTRACT Title of Thesis: MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION IN THE SPANISH TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY: 1975-1982 Sebastian Eduardo Carias, Master of Arts, 2017 Thesis Directed By: Dr. Jeffery C. Herf, History Department This thesis examines the Spanish transition to democracy from 1975 to 1982. It is an analysis of important political leaders of Spain and important political parties. The research questions are why after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco’s did Spain become a constitutional monarchy? How did the political leaders work together towards a consensus to democratic transition without causing another civil war? I analyze three things: political amnesty of prisoners and exiles, the creation and ratification of the 1978 Constitution, and the rise and success of the Spanish Socialist Party. Ultimately, the political leaders worked together and had a policy of reconciliation to move towards a democratic nation. MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION IN THE SPANISH TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY: 1975-1982 by Sebastian Eduardo Carias Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, 2017 Advisory Committee: Professor Jeffery C. Herf, Chair Professor Alejandro Cañeque Professor José M. Naharro-Calderón © Copyright by Sebastian Eduardo Carias 2017 Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... ii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................... iii Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Beginning of the Transition and the Question on Amnesty and Legalization of Political Parties (1975-1977) .................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2: The 1978 Constitution, Consensus, and the Push for Regional Autonomy: 1977-1978 ................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3: The Rise and Victory of the Spanish Socialist Party: 1979-1982 ............. 81 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 111 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 121 ii List of Abbreviations AP: Alianza Popular or Popular Alliance CCOO Comisiones Obreras or the Workers Commission partnered with the Communist Party CEOE Confederacion Española de Organizaciones Empresariales or Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations ETA: Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna or Basque Homeland and Freedom GRAPO: Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre or Antifascist Resistance Groups First of October PCE: Partido Comunista de España or The Spanish Communist Party PNV: The Basque Nationalist Party PSOE: Partido Socialista Obrero Español or The Spanish Socialist Party UCD: Unión de Centro Democrático or the Democratic Center Party UGT Unión General de Trabajadores or the General Union of Workers partnered with the Socialist Party iii Introduction This thesis examines the history of the Spanish transition to democracy that began on November 20, 1975 after the death of Francisco Franco and ended with the 1982 elections. It describes the history of compromise that made possible the transition away from authoritarian rule without major political turmoil. The Franco dictatorship existed for 39 years from 1936 until his death in 1975. The political leaders of the democratic left and right sought a consensus over the tragic past of Spain dating back to the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). They following pages describe the key decisions made by political leaders during the Spanish transition. In its history, Spain has had failed attempts of a democracy. This transition succeeded because political leaders understood the past and learned from the 1930s when the Second Republic existed (1931-36). While the transition was not completely peaceful, the Spanish leaders on the left and the right were able to negotiate over freedom, political amnesty, and the 1978 Constitution. During the first years of the transition, Spain went through long and difficult negotiations over political amnesty of political prisoners and the 1978 Constitution. However, the democratic transition would not have been as successful as it was without the decisions made by King Juan Carlos, the resignation of Carlos Arias Navarro (Franco’s last Prime Minister), and the leadership of Adolfo Suárez as a reformer. Suárez became prime minister1 with support from the King on July 3, 1977 1 In Spanish, the word used in my Spanish sources and translations is presidente (president). However, I also use Prime Minister for most of my thesis. Both terms are use interchangeably. 1 until he resigned on January 29, 1981. The transition’s first three years had major success in transforming Spain into a democracy. Since Franco’s death, it took almost 3 years for Spain to have its first democratic elections in June 1977 and to approve a new constitution in December 1978.2 Suárez and other leaders of the new UCD party (the Democratic Center Party), needed to include all parties on both sides for the transition to succeed. Despite the violence from ETA (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna or Basque Homeland and Freedom), GRAPO3 and a failed coup d’état in 1981, the Spanish transition succeeded. The sharp divide amongst Spaniards inside and outside Spain showcased the difficulties of the transitional period to democracy. The responses made by the left and the right provided historians and political scientists’ key analytical questions. How did Spaniards after Franco’s death lead to a consensus amongst the political leaders on both sides? Why did men such as Adolfo Suárez and King Juan Carlos support amnesty? Why did they reinstate the opposition political parties such as the PSOE (the Spanish Socialist Party) and the PCE (the Spanish Communist Party)? How did Spanish leaders become influenced by the memories of the Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War during the transition? What is the Spanish model and how did that model successfully push forward peaceful democratic elections and lead to the rebirth and success of the PSOE in 1982? Lastly, what were the consequences of the transition to democracy in Spain? 2 Pamela Beth Radcliff, Making Democratic Citizens in Spain: Civil Society and Popular Origins of the Transition, 1960-78 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), p. 1. 3 ETA is a Basque terrorist organization. GRAPO stands for Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre (Antifascist Resistance Groups First of October). They are a leftist terrorist organization. 2 The evidence on which this thesis rests includes the following sources: the Cortes (Spanish parliament) records post 1977, newspapers, magazines, and publications by party leaders. These newspapers and magazines include: El País, ABC, El Socialista (the Socialist Party newspaper), Mundo Obrero (the Communist Party newspaper), the New York Times, Diario 16, and Ya (a Catholic newspaper published in Spain). Furthermore, I analyze the reports from the United States embassy in Madrid to the U.S. State Department during the President Gerald Ford and the Jimmy Carter Administrations. While this thesis is about events in Spain and Spanish political leaders, the U.S. Embassy in Madrid had reports of significant during the transition. The U.S. State Department Central Files from the National Archives provides diplomatic statements and concerns over the amnesty debates in 1976 and 1977, specifically about the legalization of the Communist Party. While American diplomatic sources focused on Spain and NATO, these documents have vital information on the Spanish transition. One of the significant aspects of this thesis is the emergence of the free press after Franco’s death. Magazines such as Cuadernos para el Diálogo (Notebooks for Dialogue) and Cambio 16 (Change 16) became more comfortable writing critically about the Franco regime. El País was born after Franco’s death and became a significant source during the transition. These sources are central for the study of Modern Spanish history. The Constitutional debates in the Spanish parliament contained leaders of the major political parties, except for the Basques, and their arguments about the creation of the Spanish Constitution. These debates have speeches from each major party of Spain during the parliamentary debates in the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. These debates, along with the 1978 Constitution, provides significant information about how 3 these politicians compromised. Leaders of the Socialist Party wrote a significant amount of publications from 1975 to 1982 about the goals of the party and the debates about Marxism in a post-Franco Spain. For example, Felipe González was the Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party. In an essay, González wrote, “How was this unusual transition possible? To the personal and authoritarian regime there has been a monarchy that tries to institutionally connect to the demands of freedom and democracy of the people, facilitating in the political superstructure the precise adjustments demanded by broad popular sectors.”4 The monarchy was King Juan Carlos and he proved to support the people’s demands for democracy. In Chapter