(Militant No. 333, 26 November 1976 p. 6-7)
20th November was the first anniversary of the death of Spain’s blood soaked former dictator Franco. By way of ‘celebration’, and to show that nothing has changed for them under Franco’s royal heir Juan Carlos, eight days earlier at least one and a half million Spanish workers staged a one day general strike.
In the industrialised and traditionally militant areas of Spain – Barcelona, Bilbao, Asturias, Seville and Madrid, workers in the motor, steel, shipbuilding, metal working, engineering and construction industries responded to the strike call of the underground trade unions. This was despite the arrest of more than 250 union activists in the days leading up to the strike!
These events are the culmination of a massive display of power and strength by the Spanish working class, who have battered away at the already shaky foundations of the Juan Carlos dictatorship in the past year. In the weeks before the national stoppage 7,000 striking Madrid bus workers had fought daily battles with riot police who indiscriminately used rubber bullets, smoke bombs and tear gas against them.
The bus workers were beaten and starved back to work, some of them … “weeping openly” (‘Financial Times’ 5.11.76), and some forced to get into their cabs at gun point! The bus workers had followed the earlier strikes of Madrid’s postmen and garbage collectors. The government dared not “militarise” the postmen, i.e. draft them into the army, as they had done earlier this year for fear of open defiance … “if tens of thousands of militarised government employees then refused to obey orders, the government’s authority would be seriously undermined” (‘The Times’ 28.9.76). In the Basque country there have been two general strikes in the past few months to protest against brutality of the police and to demand “total amnesty” for political prisoners. Forty people have been killed in the past year, most of them by police.
Barricades were thrown up in some areas and the populations of even the smallest towns showed their anger and hatred of the police. “In the town of Sesto, thousands of strikers fought a free-for-all with police who used rifle butts to beat them back. Twenty paramilitary civil guards encircled by the strikers fired bursts of machine gun fire into the air” (‘Irish Times’ 15.9.76).
The strike movement of the Spanish working class has reached almost unprecedented proportions under a dictatorship. According to even official government statistics, in 1974 18 million hours were lost in strike action. In 1975 10 million were lost. But in the first three months of this year 50 million were lost and 70 million in the first six months! The government itself, grossly underestimating the numbers, gave the figure of 1,300,000 participating in strikes in the first three months of this year.
One of the signs of the imminence of revolution in Russia in 1916 and 1917 was the increase in the number of workers who were involved in strikes, particularly political strikes. 310,000 workers participated in political strikes in Russia in 1916 and 575,000 in January-February 1917. Yet the Spanish workers have completely eclipsed in numbers and power the mighty movement of the Russian working class.
Strikes of a directly political character have been combined with those for wage increases, shorter hours and improvements in conditions of work. “Amnesty for the imprisoned fighters, restoration of jobs for our victimised leaders”, has been the consistent demand in almost every strike. On two occasions in the Basque country alone almost a million workers have struck on political issues!
The Juan Carlos dictatorship and the gang of criminal capitalists and landlords who support it are hanging by a few strands. Fearing the wrath of the Spanish people they are salting their loot in Swiss banks, against the “evil” day when the dictatorship is overthrown. At the same time the big bankers are taking what steps they can to insure themselves against a repetition of what happened in Portugal.
Thus the ‘Economist’ reported that former Interior Minister Fraga Iribarne … “has persuaded a group of bankers that for a modest £16 million a right wing party could be launched” (16.10.76). His party “Popular Alliance” has already reported to have received £4 million from the banks as an “insurance” against bank nationalisation once the present regime is overthrown! When they contemplate the actions of the working class today and particularly the bank workers themselves no wonder they are uneasy at what the morrow holds.
The strike movement has reached practically every corner of Spain. Even the Canary Islands, from which Franco launched his coup in 1936 has not remained untouched. Thus in Santa Cruz de Tenerife police jeeps were recently used against bank workers who staged a sit-down strike in the town’s main square. The ‘Economist’ also report that “Castillian landowners are getting together to form a ‘Partido Agrarista’” to campaign against the “danger of agrarian reform” (7.2.76).
“Democracy”
The former pillars of the regime are crumbling. The Archbishop of Madrid turned down the request for a special mass for Franco on the anniversary of his death. And in the Basque town of Tolosa the captain of the Civil Guard – which has always been seen as an army of occupation – was recently imprisoned for refusing to order his men to fire on a crowd of demonstrating workers. The workers responded with a petition which proclaimed … “Long live the Captain of the Civil Guard!”
The army and even the police are riven with divisions and dissatisfaction. The opposition to the regime by a section of the army officers is reflected in the underground movement, the “Military Democratic Union”. But more ominous for the capitalists is the growing opposition in the rank and file of the army. Small reports, little more than paragraphs, such as the recent item which reported the arrest of 30 army privates in Barcelona shows that the seething discontent of the Spanish workers is also reflected within the military.
The regime, and the capitalists and the landlords who have sustained the dictatorship for the last four decades, are frantically searching for a way of escaping the retribution of the Spanish working class. Like a wounded animal Juan Carlos twists and turns to find a way out. One section of the Spanish capitalists, probably the most decisive, is frantically urging political reforms from the top in order to prevent revolution from below.
Their feelings were recently summed up by ‘The Times’: “The mood of Spanish people being not nearly so compliant as it was a year ago or even a few months ago, observers feel that the possibility of a breakdown of authority is real and could lead to violent situations.” (28/9/76)
They are prepared to see a loosening grip of the dictatorship and even the establishment of capitalist ‘democracy’ so long as their profits, their ownership of wealth and industry and the privileges that go with it are maintained.
Juan Carlos has responded to their pleadings with a proposal for a referendum to establish a two Chamber Parliament next year, with an Upper House or Senate, four fifths elected, and a Lower House chosen by a restricted form of proportional representation. The aim is to maintain the dictatorship but to widen its base by allowing the legalisation of the capitalist parties and some of the workers’ parties and unions, the Socialist Party (PSOE) and its union (UGT), while maintaining the ban on the Communist Party (CP).
The refusal of PSOE to register as a “political party” under the dictatorship unless all rights are extended to all parties prompted the regime to ban the holding of its recent Congress scheduled to be held in Madrid.
But even these minimal reforms are fraught with difficulties for the regime. The fascist “Parliament”, the Cortes, has to approve them which would be tantamount to signing its own death warrant! When Suarez, the Prime Minister, recently addressed the National Council of Spain’s only legal political party, the fascist National Movement, this body voted against the proposals. The fascist clique around the Cortes, the army generals and the gangsters who control the police and “unions” (aptly called “the Bunker” after Hitler and his last band of devotees) want to drown the workers’ movement in blood.
Any attempt to use these, the traditional methods of Franco, in the changed situation in Spain today would immediately ignite an insurrection of the working class. Fearing that the Bunkerites in the police and army would revert to these methods, at the height of bloody clashes in the Basque country in September, police chiefs from all over Spain were summoned to Madrid and “told to use the minimum amount of force necessary to contain social unrest, even though this may run counter to their instructions for the past 36 years” (‘Financial Times’ 15.9.76).
Last week Juan Carlos managed to get these proposals through the Cortes with a large majority. A national referendum on the proposals will be held next month. But none of this will guarantee success for Carlos. Such is the mood of bitterness and anger of the Spanish people that the main opposition parties have been pushed into considering a boycott of the referendum. If the workers’ parties took the lead in the boycott campaign this can further undermine the Royal dictatorship. This would raise the fighting spirit of the working class to a new level and rally behind its banner all the downtrodden and middle layers of society.
Linking the struggle for democratic rights, elections, the right to strike, to form unions, to assemble, a free press etc. to be implemented by a revolutionary Constituent Cortes with the idea of the Socialist transformation of Spain, the workers’ parties could rapidly prepare the way for the overthrow of the dictatorship and the establishment of a Socialist Spain.
Offensive
Such an approach would mean that the leaders of the workers’ organisation, the PSOE and CP, would need to break their alliance with the various “liberal” capitalist leaders of the feeble Christian Democratic “Parties”. These worthies, some like Gil Robles’ “reformed” fascists, have been converted to “democracy” only because the fascist regime is crumbling under the battering ram of the workers’ movement. The capitalists will change hats – a democratic one in place of threadbare fascist variety – if this is necessary to defend their position.
While lauding the virtues of “democracy” they have successfully pressurised Juan Carlos to launch a vicious offensive against the working class. This last month the employers’ organisation in Madrid… “called on the government to halt ‘tolerance’ and to act in defence of peace.” (‘Irish Times’ 7/10/76). It said that this was “the only way to stop Spain becoming No. 1 in Europe for inflation, unemployment and wildcat strikes.”
The King promptly suspended article 35 of the labour relations law to give the green light for the sacking of “surplus” workers, particularly rank and file workers’ leaders. This will add to the more than 800,000 officially unemployed; an equivalent figure for Britain would be up to 2 million without jobs.
At the same time a “wage ceiling” while prices shoot ahead at an annual rate of more than 20% has been imposed together with a ban on the shortening of the working week. This is an attempt to dampen the “hot autumn” and winter offensive of the Spanish workers. Such is the fear of the capitalists that recently… “representatives of the 80 biggest Spanish firms (including the multinationals) sought a meeting with leaders of three main illegal unions. (Commissions, USQ and UGT) and appealed to them for an industrial truce.” (‘The Times 18/10/76)
While attesting to the power of the working class this is also a warning to them of what the capitalists expect from “democracy”. Spanish capitalism is too weak to maintain present living standards let along satisfy the aroused expectations of the Spanish workers and peasants (the Madrid bus workers were demanding a £50 a month increase).
Last year there was a drop of 1% in the growth rate and industrial output fell by 5%. This year the economy is growing at a snail’s pace, if at all. Like Britain the crisis in the Spanish economy gets remorselessly worse and the slump deepens while most of Europe has experienced an upswing in their economies. The ruling class will be looking towards the leaders of the workers’ organisations to play the role of a brake on the movement of the Spanish workers. According to the same ‘Times’ report some of the workers’ leaders are already indicating their willingness to play such a role … “You must push for ‘democratisation,’ they [the underground Trade Union leaders] told the industrialists, ‘and then we can work out the necessary measures to restore the economy, provided of course that it is not the workers who are expected to make all the sacrifices”!
This is the same refrain which the TU and Labour leaders have been singing in Britain for the last 2½ years, with disastrous results for the working class. There can be no “equal sacrifices” under capitalism. Either the interests of the capitalists prevail and the workers suffer, or vice versa.
PSOE
Once having overthrown the dictatorship the Spanish working class will not be prepared to tighten its belt in the sacred cause of the “national interest”. On the contrary the conquest of democratic rights will be seen as the means to re-coup what they have lost under 40 years of fascist slavery. They will drive in the direction of taking over the factories, the banks and the land as have their Portuguese brothers in the last 2½ years. The fears of the bankers and the landowners are entirely justified on this score. This is a much surer indication of what will happen than those wiseacres in the workers’ movement who attempt to limit the struggle to “democracy” and the so-called “democratic break”.
Under the onslaught of the mass movement the capitalists can be forced into making even big concessions. But the history of the Spanish Revolution of 1931-37 together with the fresh lesson of neighbouring Portugal shows that the only guarantee for maintaining the gains of the workers’ struggle in conditions and democratic rights is to carry through the Socialist Revolution. Unless this is done the counter revolution can re-group and prepare to crush the workers.
But the key to victory in the mighty battle which impends lies in the hands of the rank and file of the workers’ parties, particularly in PSOE. On the basis of a programme linking the struggle for democratic rights with wage rises, cuts in the working week and other social demands, with the demands for the nationalisation of the banks and the monopolies (the 100 or so families who control most of Spanish industry) PSOE could be armed to lead the Spanish workers to victory in the mighty battles which impend.
Such a programme would find a ready response from the CP rank and file and cement an invincible alliance which could put an end to the last remnants of Francoism and the capitalist system which produced him and his forty year nightmare.
General Strike
The grandiose movement of the Spanish working class in the past year shows that the Socialist Revolution is on the agenda of the struggle. The working class having tested its strength is gathering its forces for a final showdown with the Juan Carlos’s royal dictatorship. The idea of an all-Spain General strike to topple the regime is gathering momentum amongst the working class. One spark needs to be added to the tinderbox and the resulting social convulsions will sweep away the fascist monarchy. The coming Spanish Revolution will usher in a new epoch for Spain and for the working class of Europe and indeed the whole world.
By Peter Taaffe
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