Definition of Spanish Transition

A model for some, incomplete for others, the period of recent Spanish history known as “la transition” (Spanish transition) has been and is the object of study.

It is the one that brings democracy to Spain after the dictatorship of General Franco.

Franco died, officially, on November 20, 1975. The country's situation did not leave much room for maneuver for the future; the timid opening of the regime in its last years, together with the wishes of democracy of a very broad part of society, led to having to contemplate a change of political regime as a way out, but the question was how implement democracy.

The idea that was taken was to make a gradual change in a few years, jumping "of the law to the law”(A phrase that explained the concept of transition and that ended up making a fortune) through laws approved in the Congress of Deputies that annulled or modified previous ones, of the time Francoist.

Immediately after Franco's death, Juan Carlos de Borbón was proclaimed King of Spain under the name of Juan Carlos I.

The transition began at that time, although since the final years of Franco, various elements of the same regime and the opposition had already been preparing the change.

The transition was carried out by members of the Franco regime, as well as by the internal opposition, as well as exiled politicians.

Among these names, stand out Manuel Fraga Iribarne (Francoist minister), Adolfo Suárez (Falangist), Torcuato Fernández Miranda (President of government Franco), Dolores Ibárruri (known as “the Passionflower”, A communist leader), or Santiago Carrillo (communist leader).

Catalan and Basque nationalisms were also integrated in the process.

The idea of ​​the state of the autonomies arises precisely in this process, as a way of giving an agreed exit to the aspirations of these two historical nations, integrating them as equals with the rest of the territories that are part of the State Spanish.

This treatment of equal to equal between the different regions aroused some misgivings in the historical nationalities, the case of the President of the Generalitat Josep Tarradellas, whose return from exile and recognition as President of Catalonia was encouraged to collaborate with bliss integration.

Finally, this homogenizing effort but recognizing the particularities of the historical nationalities, was popularly baptized as the “Coffe for everybody”.

The entire transition process was not without tension and even physical violence.

In addition to terrorist attacks on organizations like ETA and GRAPO, there was also a violence of the extreme right, aimed at derailing the transition process and returning to the old dictatorial regime, simply by changing the names of those who ruled.

Among these actions of the extreme right, the murder of several lawyers stands out for its brutality laborists in the so-called “Atocha massacre” for having been perpetrated on the street that carries such Name.

The Communist Party was a touchstone of the transition process, danger and at the same time a lifeline of that process.

The danger represented it for the right wing, which wanted to keep it outlawed, but this could have entailed serious disturbances and disaffection with the transition process of a more moderate part of the left, such as the match socialist (PSOE).

Santiago Carrillo, a communist leader in exile and who had played a prominent role during the Civil War, had returned to Spain incognito, although his presence in the country was common knowledge, which the police authorities took advantage of to arrest him, although this generated tension politics and he was released a few days later.

The PCE (Communist Party of Spain) was legalized in exchange for some resignations, such as the establishment of the republic.

The first elections since the Republican era were called for June 1977.

Some historians date the end of the transition in this fact, although others point later in time, specifically to the attempt to coup d'état of February 23, 1981, the result of which was totally contrary to what the coup plotters expected, since it reinforced the system democratic.

The elections of 77 gave victory to Adolfo Suárez, a technocrat who emerged from the ranks of the Franco regime.

The following years, and until 1982, were moved, politically speaking; After the coup attempt in 1981, in the 1982 elections he won the PSOE, bringing a left-wing party to power for the first time since the republic (Suárez's UCD was center-right).

At that time, there were fears in certain sectors for a radicalization of Spanish politics, but the PSOE respected without questioning the figure of the king (even being a formation of republican tradition) and the status quo inherited from the center-right predecessor governments.

With its lights and shadows, the Spanish transition was a valid model of the transition from a political situation of dictatorship to a democracy.

Due to the circumstances, with veiled but constant threats from different military and political sectors, the transition had to be carried out without passing accounts with those who had been part of the repressive apparatus of the Franco regime in any of its stages, something that today is still criticizing.

This is the case of Rodolfo Martín Villa, Minister of Trade Union Relations in 1975, and against which a judge Argentinian issued an international arrest warrant, which the Spanish authorities did not want to attend to.

In Spain, then, there have been no a posteriori processes, contrary to what has happened in Argentina, for cite a country in which accounts have been held with at least part of the repressive apparatus Francoist.

The aforementioned "Coffe for everybodyIt has also ended up causing territorial tensions, visible both in the Basque case and, especially now, in the Catalan case.

Photos: Fotolia - Joserpizarro / Alfonsodetomas

Issues in Spanish Transition