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LETTERA 36 OLIVETTI, MACHINE A ECRIRE PORTATIVE ENTIEREMENT ELECTRIQUE ',
\ i .. , " Franco llnd friends:
197 1 Nixon ...... 1972 Scheel .. .
... Sc human ...... Home SPAIN IN THI COMMON MARKIT? In December 1972 Generalissimo Franco is 80. For the opposition in Spain today does not stand Everyone is waiting for what the official press for a popular front, still less for radical or violent prefers to call « the biological event ». change. Memories of the civil war are still very much alive and it is realised that a popular uprising Behind the scenes, the opposition is marking time, is impossible in the face of a modern army. having already agreed on a programme for the The establishment, well aware that the last of the . post-Franco period : re-establishment of political « great » fascists will soon be leaving the scene, parties, the right to form trade unions, freedom for is distancing itself from him more and more, seek the mass media, regionalisation, and amnesty for ing to establish an alibi which will enable it to go prisoners of the Franco regime. on ruling after he has gone.
The banks, which have always backed playing at opposition. Franco's successor, Prince Juan Carlos, the regime, are cultivating new men, So today Franco's only ally, and the holds court at Zarzuela with those who not compromised by their past. The only believer in the future of Franqu will be his men when he takes over. big « modern » firms are doing the ism, seems to be Admiral Carrero They are not his friends - they are same. Even the former collaborators of Blanco, backed by part of the army there because that is where the power the regime, now out of power, are and by the Falange. is most likely to lie.
I LJ The European alibi most of all with western Europe, is al with the western militaro-econowic ready well advanced. This· applies to complex. The first step came with the The « opposition » - from the mon everything from trade to military prefential trade agreement with the archist A reilza; a former Ambassador bases. EEC which came into effect on Oct to Paris and Washington, to Catholics ober I, 1970 - the Dutch having like Ruiz Jimenez, Tierno Ga/van's According to the figures available the abandoned their opposition in order .,. ' Socialists, and even the Communists biggest single sources of investment to win a similar deal for Israel. of Santiago Carillo, - have one thing are the EEC countries (Germany is in common : they· are « for Europe ». the biggest single investor), Switzer But the new arrangements with th~ , In the present situation in Spain, this land and the United States. It is of EFTA countries not joining the en is an elegant way of being against the course impossible to ascertain the real larged EEC threaten to leave Spain regime . . For. institutionalised integrat origin of the capital. Most of the fig as the only western European country ion with the rest of the continent must ures quoted are misleading, because not to have an industrial free trade necessarily mean the end of Fascism, they take account only of the invest area with the Community. ment projects that involve acquisition at least in the forms it takes today ... The European Commission has sought of over 50 % of the capital in a given to remedy this situation, without Tactically, the opposition can exploit firm. This takes no account of the breaching the past refusal of associat the fact that the European Community possibility of controlling a company by continues to reserve membership for ion or membership, by proposing an holding well under half tbe capital overall settlement embracing all the those European countries which have and leaving the rest in the hands of Mediterranean area countries (though similar political structures to its own allies or nominees. members. But the reality is rather diff with Spain probably benefitting most). erent. In trade terms the enlarged European If this comes off - anp negotiations Community is far and away the count on it are due to start early in 1973 - Spain is already effectively a member ry's biggest supplier - and custom then Spanish industrialists and foreign of the capitalist club that is western er : around 40 % of Spanish imports firms located there will be bound to Europe today. It is enough to look at come from EEC, and nearly half her feel the squeeze of tougher industrial the pattern of her foreign trade, the exports are to the nine countries. competition without any say in what flow of investment, the movement of is happening. In that case they can be migrant workers, the ever-growing Nearly one million Spanish men and expected to pressure Franco ( or is flood of tourists from the rest of women are migrant workers in other . successor) to move towards democra Europe, the strategic and military co western European countries - making C:Y, as a means of getting Spain acc operation with other governments .. . nearly two million people in all. The epted as a member of the club. money they send home - an estimat European capitalism is the objective ed 500 million dollars a year in foreign The message for socialists and dem ally of Franco's regime and its strong currency - plus income from the ocrats in western Europe is that the est support. The continued opposition tourist trade is enough to balance out barriers still up against having Fran of certain countries to Spanish memb the 3,000 million dollar deficit on the co' s Spain inside the Community are ership of the European Community is Spanish balance of trade. vitally important. If there is to be an no more than gesture, salving the overall Mediterranean pact, hard to Though not formally a member of consciences of politicians like Brandt, refuse since Greece, and now Portu NATO, Spain is in reality an integral Nenni, Saragat or Mansholt. For none gal, get industrial free trade, then part of the American military alliance of them opposed the conclusion of a Spain should be told to meet certain covering western Europe. Under an preferential trading agreement between conditions in order to benefit from it. agreement with the USA dating from the Community and Spain. (In this connection, a speech made on August 1970, and a defensive pact November 6 in Madrid by Fernandez The big losers in all this are the renewed in June 1972, there are four workers. Capitalists from the rest of Miranda, secretary-general of the Pa major bases in Spain used by US milit lange, is significant : Spain, he said, Europe invest in Spain, which is not ary forces. The naval and air base at would not accept any conditions : « to only a tax heaven, but one where work Rota, 11 km. from Cadiz (guarding re-introduce political parties would be ers are badly paid, have no ngnc co the entrance to the Mediterranean) has a fundamentally anti-democratic chan strike and no real right of collective 75 underground fuel storage tanks and ge ... »). negotiation on wages or working cond moorings for giant air-craft carriers, itions. Because of this exploitation of and is the only base apart from Holy But it is when Franco goes that the their comrades in Spain, workers in Loch in Scotland that housed Polaris left will have to be most vigilant. the rest of" Europe fa ce having their submarines equipped with nuclear war There is sure to be a wave of pressure factories shut down for lack of invest heads. Twenty kilometres outside Ma from conservative and industrial circ ment capital or because of low-cost drid is the Torrejon de Ardoz air les inside the Community to take competition from plants in Spain. base. The others are at Saragoza and whatever slight liberalisation occurs Worse still, faced with a strike in a Moron de la Frontiera near Sevilla. then (or even the mere fact of his democratic country, the multinationals US military investment in Spain so far death) as an excuse for taking Spain can safely switch production to Spain. totals 400 million dollars. in.
A capitalist bastion Into Europe The left should take its cue from the recent statement of the Spanish Comm The process of integrating Spain with All that remains for the regime is to unists (see below) that they want to the rest of the capitalist world, ~md institutionalise this state of integration work with those forces whose goal 20 is a democratic and socialist Comm where arbitrary imprisonment and a long time now controlled both the unity to replace the Community of the torture are the order of the day. Only financial establishment and the gov trusts. if the democratic forces inside Spain ernment. are prepared to agree, should the veto This would mean debating with the Out of eighteen ministers, 14 belong on Spain in the Market be lifted. directly or indirectly to Opus De~ : \ forces that want a democratic Spain Until then, the Spanish capitalists and - the socialists, communists and they include the minister for f?r~1gn the Spanish right should continue to affairs ( Lopez Bravo), the mm1ster their allies - what line to take on be told that the goodies of full mem "' _jpanish membership. Spain is not Secretary to the Presidency ( Lopez bership will be withheld from them Roda) and the ministers of education · going to change overnight from a until Spain in again a democracy. country where there are no elections, ( Viler Palasi), industry ( Lopez de Le no civil liberties, and no trade unions, Paolo Giuliani. tona), trade (Fontana Codina), finan ce (Monreal Luque), war (Castanon Mena), information (Sanchez Bella), the head of the sole trade union (Gar cia de[ Ramal) and the Attorney Gen eral (Herrero Tejedor). Opus Dei has a total of about 20,000 members, organised according to a fRANco·s PDWIR STRUCTURI militaro-ecclesiastical hierarchy. It in cludes both priests and Lay people. Even high-ranking lay members take Lobo on that of the Catalana de Se The Army vows of chastity and often wear a guro (insurance). The army sees itself as the guardian cilicio (a metal band with points press of the established order, which it def Lower down, the colonels, who did ing into the flesh, which means perm ends and will go on defending at any not take part themselves in the civil anent self-inflicted pain : women wear price. war, get their share of the cake too : it on their thighs, men on other parts they are allowed to combine their of their body). Opus Dei is a Catholic After Franco dies, it will be the army military careers with posts in the civil and technocratic elite, with no hold that determines the limits within which administration or in the police. Thus over the workers or peasants. It is Juan Carlos can operate, and the polit Colonel Blanco is also head of the detested by all the democratic forces ical choices open to him. The leading security service and a lieutenant col in Spain. Still tied both to Franco's military figures range from ultra onel in the artillery, Lanza, is deputy regime and to the mediaeval catholic Fascists like General lniesta to pseudo director of the cinema school. .. ism of the old Spain, it seems destin liberals like General Diez de Alegria. ed to decline in importance. But there But they are all aware that they have The Secret Police does exist a so-called « liberal » wing, to remain united if they are to survive seeking to establish a new image, and the shock of the dictator's departure. The ordinary police is a part of the flirting with the opposition in the hope The main components of the army's Armed forces and does what it is told. of remaining close to the sources of attitude are deep-rooted anti-comm Then there is the Social and Political power (the group producing « Ma unism, fierce hostility to regionalisat Brigade in charge of repression. There drid », the paper shut down last year ion (which in Spanish terms means is another police force, responsible by the government, belonged to this national autonomy for the Basques, directly to Carrero Blanco, the likely wing of Opus Dei : Calvo Serer, Catalans and Galicians) and hatred strong man of the post-Franco period, Fontan). of cultural development, which is seen and headed by Colonel San Martin. It as a breeding-ground of revolution. has its men not only in all opposition The Falange This is the kind of law and order circles but also in the various minist ri~s and regional organisations. At Known as the National Movement, attitude well calculated to appeal to this is the sole legally authorised polit President Nixon and to the CIA : it is first, this secret force was hidden under the guise of an export-import agency ical party in Spain. In recent years it not for nothing that the Spanish and has turned into a paid bureaucracy. American forces carry out joint exerc with offices in the Calle Serrano in Madrid. But since 1970 it has been It has a lot of members, but most of ises in the Mediterranean area, though them are civil servants and technocrats Spain is not formally part of NATO. officially attached to the Vice Pres ident's office. Opposition circles conc with no political motivation, member The army is closely involved in the erned at their close contacts with the ship of the Falange being a condition capitalist structure of Spain today - C.I.A., fear a Greek-style coup after for getting a government job. The on another element encouraging it to give Franco goes. ly thing that holds the Falange to unrestricted support to the regime. gether is the administration of power at the various levels, right down to Several generals on active service are Opus Dei even on the boards of the big firms, regional and local goverrunent. especially state firms or those close to « The Work of God » continues to This pseudo-party, which is supposed the state ; others are « supported » by furnish the intellectual basis for the in theory to run the country, is itself multinational companies. General Ga regime. Totally compromised by its run by a National Council with one /era is on the board of Tabacalera, the thirst for power, this technocratic hundred members, meeting behind state tobacco monopoly, and General Fascist-religious organisation has for closed doors with Franco present.
21 The leading figures in the Falange are quashed by the police), are raking in Catholics and the technocrats of Fernandez Miranda (chairman), the the profits, and understandably supp the establishment who are not minister of agriculture Tomas Allende, ort the regime. compromised by their relations with the minister of labour Licinio de la the regime. If the army will let him, The Spanish banks, on the other hand, Fuente, the speaker of the « Cortes » it seems he would like to become a seem to be changing their tune, as the (the pseudo-parliament) Rodriguez de democratic constitutional monarch. · Valcarcel, and the president of the old men at the top are replaced by supreme court, Ruiz Jarabo. young managers, and in preparation for the change that must come, pro The many faces of the oppositioIJ..._ r One wing of the Falange, nevertheless, European attitudes are the order of With the exception of the government opposes the present regime, which it the day. itself, almost everyone in Spain today holds to be too closely tied to the is playing at opposition to Franco. But capitalists. Three men it does not always mean they want to bring about changes in the political, General Francisco Franco : the man The Traditionalists economic or social set-up in the count- responsible for 33 years of ruthless ry. repression. 200.000 people have This is an ultra-conservative group Precisely because the « opposition >> involved with the big farming interests. died since the end of the civil war, covers the whole political spectrum It includes the minister of justice tortured to death or executed. Fran from extreme left to extreme right, it Antonio Oriol and the chairman of co continues to govern as he has is necessary to make a distinction the Council of State, Joaquim Bau. always done, playing off the polit between opposition to the present ical and economic forces against governments and opposition to the each other. He is suffering from regime itself. The Church arterio-sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, and will give up his power We shall outline here the various The Church is a political force, which only when he dies. No-one will in trends within this second group, in dominates the life of the country and herit the power that was France's. cluding the regional aspect : in Cata will largely determine its future. Signif lonia today there are the beginnings icantly, its role in the present govern Admiral Carrero Blanco : Vice-Pres of a << national anti-Fascist front », ment is relatively limited. ident, a Fascist, a Franquist and a the like of which does not yet exist soldier. elsewhere in Spain. It is only the older bishops, the heirs to the old << black » church, who play any part, and who support Franco. There is one bishop in the Council of State, and three others have seats in the Cortes. The Assembly of Bishops, on the other hand, wants a democratic re PORTRAIT Of THI OPPOSITION gime. And the younger priests are on the side of the forces of the left, helping to organise Christian workers in close contact with the socialists and communists. Not a few of the A devoted and loyal follower of This report is based on talks with sev parishes have become veritable train Franco, he will ensure the stability eral of the leaders of an opposition ing centres for political militants. The of the army in the post-Franco which is deprived of the right to meet, re are currently forty priests imprison period. Of limited intellectual abil or to express its views, still less to discuss its strategy and its goals in ed in a special « prison for priests » ity, he is at times manipulated by at Zamora. Opus Dei, which runs the state for public. Forms of repression which are him, a task of which he would be not · just violent but more and more incapable. His Mazarins are Lopez sophisticated prevent the new leaders The economic and financial Rado and Lopez Bravo, cynical and from establishing themselves with pub establishment greedy for power. lic opinion, even through clandestine meetings. This not only makes imp Franco and his regime have tradition Juan Carlos, Franco's successor : ossible any assessment of the strength ally been able to rely on the backing Appointed by Franco as his succ of support for the various groups ; it of the five top Spanish banks (grouped essor in 1969, Juan Carlos is the also means that the names that are in the Consejo Superior Bancario), the key to any possible «legal » change. known to the general public are still Son of the Count of Barcelona, a insurance companies (Sindicato del those of the men who were active liberal monarchist, Juan Carlos is Seguro), the state enterprises (INI) and before or during the civil war. These the state oil company (Petrobras). gradually shedding his former image as the docile, not-very-intelligent are the rare individuals who have The multinational companies, for puppet whom the army and Opus survived the blood-bath of the post whom Spain is a « tax paradise » as Dei could use at will. He is now war years, which has never entirely well as offering a « peaceful social in regular touch with the non ceased in the 35 years that have foll climate » (all strikes illegal, and Fascist right-wing opposition, the owed, adding to the million dead of the war years a gruesome toll of Franco's former ministers The socialists 200,000 people executed (out of 250,000 condemned by the military Several of them (Frage Iribarue, Jose The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party tribunals), plus a further 500,000 Solis Ruiz ... ) play at opposition to rid (PSOE) covers the whole country, and democrats who fled into exile. themselves of the stigma of their past. is especially wel organised in the 1 Basque country and in Barcelona. It It is this policy of cold-blooded ext- The Monarchists enjoys the sympathy of many Span ermination, on a scale amounting to iards, and would be potentially one --~nocide, coming on top of the mass A group of liberal monarchists aims of the most powerful forces in the ac·res of the civil war, which explains at « legal » change ( A reilza, Satruste country in the event of free elections. the revulsion from violent change that gui). Pablo Castellano, a « young Turk » of pervades the whole opposition scene. the generation too young to have But is also that the economic . boom The Catholic right known the civil war, has been using of recent years has raised living stand the PSOE a broader base in the coun ards to a point where the Spaniards, Federico Silva, a former mm1ster try. whether workers or members of the whom many observers see as likely to In Madrid the situation is more comp bourgeoisie, react in essentially the become the key man with Juan Carlos lex, with several dissident trends, same way as the vast majority of their in a period of transition, leads a group some following Llopis, others the opposite numbers in the rest of west within the Catholic propaganda organ grand old man of Spanish socialism, ern Europe, and are not prepared to isation (ACNP). Tierno Galvan. see their standard of living - and their lives - endangered by a violent The PSOE are very close to the left revolution. and the opposition wing catholics, and Castellano and Ruiz Jimenez, leader- of the Catholics, Nothing brings this out more clearly to the regime work effectively together. than the conclusions of the 8th Cong The Catholics The socialist party makes it· presence ress of the Spanish Communist Party, felt in union affairs through the Gen held in October somewhere in Spain The Catholic opposition is not yet eral Workers' Union, in which it holds (neither the date nor the place have openly organised as a new Christian an absolute majority. been disclosed) : the party's top prior Democrat grouping, the Church, it ity is a return to basic democratic seems, having refused to agree to the The Communists liberties. move. But it uses the existing Catholic organisations, and does constitute pot The traditional Spanish Communists The opposition to the entially the strongest political force in are split between two parties : the Spain. PCE - Partido Comunista de Espa present government. .. na, led by Santiago Carrillo, which is Having marked themselves off from independent of Moscow ; and the PC The ultras Franco and his regime, the progressive (Partido Comunista), of Enrique Lister, Catholics are able to keep up excellent which maintains allegiance to Moscow. The group « Fuerza Nueva », led by relations with the communists and soc The former is far more important. Blas Pinar. The AUN (Association ialists. for National Unity) has 500 militant Both parties protest their opposition members, who maintain links with The progressive wing is led by Ruiz to reformism, but will keep their French and Italian neo-Fascist groups. Jimenez, leading figure behind the forces in hand while awaiting a return They see themselves as defenders of important political magazine « Quader to democracy in Spain. The field of the church, and hold commemorative nos para el Dialogo », and the group most people in Spain against the very services for Hitler and Mussolini. En IDE (Spanish Democratic Left). The word « communist » - for this brings joying government-tolerated immunity conservative wing centres on Gil with it the threat of remaining out for their activities, they would be avail Robles and his Democratic Social lawed even after a change of regime. able to provoke urban fighting to just Christian group and the CEDA (Span The communis_ts would resort to viol ify the use of the army, if ever there ish Conference of the Autonomous ent revolution only as a last resort. were a coup d'etat a la grec 23 ' _.. The Marxist groups Galicia from the life of the country. For over twenty years the hundreds of thous There are several active revolutionary Galician Communist party groups, some using violence. The main ands of politically aware individuals Galician Socialist party who live for the end of the Franco one is the PCI (International Comm UPG (Union of the Galician people), regime have had not the slightest unist Party, which is Trotskyist. The Catholic-inspired margin of manreuvre, kept docile b1 others are the Marxist-Leninist party, this legal straightjacket. the Communist revolutionary league (Trotskyist), the FRAP (Anti-Fascist Catalonia The range of instruments which malfu. and Patriotic Revolutionary Front) This is the only region of Spain where up this « legalised " repression, and which follows a pre-Chinese line. the forces of the opposition have link which can be applied in any comb ed up in a « national front » - the ination, includes : Comisi6n coordinadora de las Fuerzas Other groups • a special « law and order " court politicas catalana. This includes : A Republic Falangist group (FEN) of five judges, sitting in Madrid but A left-wing monarchist group with PSUC (Unified Catalan Commun competent for the whole of Spain, growing influence among the follow ist party) operating under crimi.rial law and ers of Don Carlos, a pretender to the able to impose vast fines, with pris throne in the nineteenth century. PSOE (Spanish Workers' Social on for those who cannot pay ist party) • widespread use of legislation on and the opposition UD (Democratic Union), Catholic public order against political opp in the regions run onents MSC (Catalan socialist movement) • military tribunals, like the notorious The Basque country FRONT, a Liberal group one that operated in Burgos at the PNV (Basque nationalist party) - end of 1970 bourgeois, nationalist, Catholic la Esquerra Catalana, a bourgeois radical movement • labour courts that can order the ETA (the prevailing wing of which sacking of workers from a plant, is revolutionary marxist) Only the Catalan social-democrats, with virtually no right of appeal Comunistak (Basque Communist par fierc!!ly anti-Communist, say no to any ty) coordination. • academic disciplinary tribunals, which since the summer of this year ( 1972) have begun to demand from all students and professors a certificate of good conduct issued by the police • tribunals on « threats to society » lAW AND TDRTURI run by a single judge, empowered to rule without trial in cases involv ing drugs, young people or workers • the special tribunal for the press They often say in Spain that there are i0ns for the guild of Madrid lawyers, and printing trade. two kinds of people in opposition : due to be held in December if the the torturable and the non-torturable. government does not ban them, are After 22 years, the fear of being subj Workers and students come into the likely to see a challenge to the official ect to the arbitrary « justice » of one first category, liable to be tortured, to candidate. That this should be so imp of these seven courts has become an << disappear H , to lose their jobs or be ortant is the measure of the total lack effective deterrent to active opposit thrown out of the university, with no of political freedom in Spain. ion . At the present time there are 1500 hope of protection or support. The political prisoners in Spain, but an opposition among the bourgeoisie, in Jt is sometimes asked why the govern other 15 ,000 cases are pending before cluding in particular the liberal prof ment does not simply impose martial one or other of these special courts. essions, is rarely the object of physical law since it does not have to suspend Often the court's ruling is intention persecution. constitutional guarantees to act as it ally delayed, the threat of what it can does. The reason is simple : in 1950, impose being a more effective way of Judging skilfully when to criticise and as Spain finally emerged from its post neutralising opponents than actually when to keep quiet, they succeed in war period of reprisals and exterminat sending them to prison. Forms or rep creating tensions within Franco's re ion, the regime << legalised » the means ressive action the regime can take gime. They criticise the government's of repression. Physical violence was without sending people to prison in economic policy, or its policy towards cut back to what was strictly needed, clude withdrawal of a driving licence, Europe, protest about corruption, and and a whole barrage of sophisticated of a passport, or of the permit to make a point of running democratic legal machinery was set up, making exercise a particular profession : in candidates in the elections for posts in it possible to deal with those whom short, a civil death sentence. professional bodies lih' the lawyers' the regime sees as a threat either by associations - the only ones that hold emprisonment or by the more subtle democratic elections. Thus the elect- tactic of effectively excluding them 24