FRANCO'S SPAIN ON RUROPE'S DOORSTEP
By Ramdén Vazquez
Under the title: “One of the Leaders of Spanish Socialism Told Me," the Paris daily Le Figaro published in its March @ issue a long interview which its Madrid correspondent Jacques Guillemé~Brulon arranged with Professor Tierno Galvan, This was on the eve of consideration by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Com-=
munity of Francots bid to enter the Common Market. The two events are scarcely a coincidence, Lo:
A process of economic evolution has, in fact, been underway in Spain, a process of which the main lines were laid down by the Stabilization Plan (1959) and the Development Plan (1963-67), with their corollaries: massive emigration of Spanish workers (850,000), ruin of small business, proletarization of small peasants, big private investments and state loans for Spain, relative industrialization of certain regions, creation of new modern industries (chemical, for example), etc., etc,
The aim of this process is, of course, to transform the old Spanish economic structure based on autarchic finance capital and agriculture, with its two poles peculiar to underdeveloped countries -- immense landholdings on the one hand and innumerable tiny plots on the other -- into a more "modern" structure; that is, monopoly capital closely linked with and, in the final analysis, dependent on the inter~ national trusts. Spain's entry into the Common Market constitutes an important step in this evolution.
It is quite evident that such a process entails contradictions and serious friction, both political and economic, domestic and foreign. It is no secret that Spain's entry into the Common Market faces strong resistance, Certain countries, including Italy, Belgium and Holland, are opposed, hiding their real reasons for this opposition under reluctance to admit into the "concert of demooratic European nations" -~- which, as everyone knows is the Common Market -the dictatorial regime of General Franco,
Contrary to this, the governments which are interested in.bringing Francoist Spain into the Common Market (primarily Paris and Bonn), are exerting pressure on the "recalcitrants" and’ on public opinion, seeking to demonstrate that the Spain of today is “liberalizing" itself, that a "dialogue™ has begun among certain leading circles and the "opposition," even the Socialists, etc. .
The interview with Tierno Galvan is part of this campaign, It is even implicitly acknowledged in the editorial note accompanying ~ the interview: "If this informative interview can contribute in a modest way to evoke, in the future, new fruitful constructive exchanges between two political worlds, which simple common sense calls for on both sides, we shall be very pleased, since we are among those who cherish the hope of seeing this land of Spain, which has suffered so much, taking her place in accordance with her true dimensions in the concert of nations." Farther on they dedicate the document to the "necessary reconciliation between Spaniards. . ." We note in passing the identity in views between the Le Figaro and the Spanish Communist party on "national reconciliation, A significant meeting of minds!
As for the Franco regime, it has every reason. to display a more tliberal" look in relation to Europe in general and the European
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Social Democrats in particular, We should not forget that the Social Democracy is preparing to play the role of a relief team for several | governments where it already holds important posts, If the threat of an economic recession were to mount, the chances for the Social Democrats would increase, in accordance with the old tactic of the bourgeoisie of letting so~called workers parties carry the responsibility for periods of austerity.
To return to Spain. A number of signs indicate that certain leading circles are preparing to fabricate "an opposition to the throne," a highly respectable one, of course, but with a "social" or “socialist" label, This operation will run up against the "hardcore" of Francoism: certain generals, the big landlords, certain Falangist circles, etc.
Of course, this "hard core" often represents the social layers who have benefited from the autarchic economy of yesterday, who are afraid that the present evolution, entry into the Common Market, and the conquest. of the Spanish market by the international trusts and their Spanish associates will end in a catastrophic economic situation for them, With particular characteristics due to the politicoeconomic conditions of, our country and the Franco regime, which has been in power for twenty-five years, the same contradictions which other European countries have experienced and are still experiencing, between monopolistic "neocapitalism" and a conservative and aged capitalism, have been born in Spain,
Thus we can place the publication of the interview with Tierno Galvan, above all the freedom with which he spoke about socialism (at least what he understands this term to mean, which has nothing in common with the real thing), as a sign of this “liberalization," guided by remote control from above, It is not the only one. Ruiz-Gimenez, ex-minister of national education, a personal friend of Franco and one of the leaders of the Christian Democrats, published an article several months ago under the significant title: “Notebooks for the Dialogue."
RuizeGimenez, like the other leaders of the Christian Democrats, is convinced that his party is destined to come to power in Spain, In his "Notebooks" he undertakes a dialogue between the "liberals" of the present government on the one hand, and Socialists of the Tierno Galvan typo and Christian Domocrats, on the other, noting the common tink,
Another symptomatic fact is the recent trial of Spanish Social~ ists which was dragged out for years and in which the defendants were condemned to token punishment, Since they had already spent months in prison and years of freedom on probation, they left the court free as air, Certain observers, however, were surprised that they were given even virtually symbolic sentences, These observers hoped that the evolution would proceed faster, In reality, because of the contradictions between political and economic interests, the evolution can occur only in zigzags, a “liberal” measure being followed by an
"authoritarian" one, and this disconcerts those who take only a superficial view of the problems,
The trial was nothing less than a magnificent tribune for socialism "in the European style," Certain lawyers like Jimenez-Fernandez (leader of the Left Christian Democracy), insisted on how inoonsistent it would be, at a time when Spain is crossing the threshold into Europe, to condemn men who profess the same ideas as the future partners of the Spanish government -- Spaak, Nenni, Wilson, without doubt, and why not Brandt or Defferre? The court, which in accordance with the recent law was civil and not military, willingly. recognized "the nobility of the ideas of the defendants" but since the law proscribed (for how much longer?) their activities, they applied the law. —
The trial had barely ended when rumors circulated in Madrid, a Swiss journal even echoing them, that some of the defendants had talked with certain members of the Franco government, particularly Franco's present crown prince, Vice-President Munoz Grandes, about > constituting a-legal, respectable Spanish Socialist party, independent from the PSOE [Partido Socialista Obrero de Espana], whose leadership, as everyone knows, has been in exile since 1959, It is difficult at the moment to get to the bottom of these rumors, Were they, perhaps, started so as to reach the ears of the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community?
In any case, it seems that Tierno Galvan was alluding to them when he said in his interview: "Spanish socialism is a whole, Although various regional groupings with their respective objectives have been able to rise here and there, it seems improbable to me ~ that a Socialist party detached from its origins could become an effective factor of order and political squttibrium. * These “origins"
for Tierno Galvan are evidently not Marxism but the PSOE, In short, Tierno Galvan, after having been the editor of the manifestoes of the Spanish Union (monarchist), and having been associated with Dionisio Ridrue jo, recently entered the PSOE, He at first demanded wide autonomy for the socialists inside the country. This was refused by the leadership in exile. Tierno Galvan bowed, or at least made it look like he was bowing, to party discipline.
‘The only conclusion we can draw from all this is that once again in history, in response to the call of the bourgeoisie, the social reformists are answering, "Present" .
Tierno Galvan, who calmly said that in "Spain the opposition has the nature above all of moral protest in which are found all the social classes, temperaments, etc.," (the interview cited above) is completely ready to collaborate with the Spanish bourgeoisie in the farce of "liboralization," He is not the only one to shake the tinsel of a certain “socialism," the better to dupe the working class and the better to betray them to the profit of the predominant layers of the Spanish bourgeoisie of today: the monopolistic capitalists,
If part of the Spanish Socialists are ready for the "European"
game of the capitalists, the Gommunist party,. for its part, on aban~ doning the class struggle for "national reconciliation," is proposing a soecalled antimonopoly program to the masses which in practice coinsides with the demands of certain "left" Falangist circles who represent the interests of the middle layers,
Neither the PSOE nor the Communist party today represent the genuine interests of the working class. But the working class is there, and the workers struggle can only grow dnd become organized, And the whole world, the Communist party and the PSOE included, must take it into account, We will return to this.
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL DENOUNCES RABAT VERDICT
The United Secretariat of the Fourth International issued the following statement to the press on March 15:
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