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PARTISAN REVIEW
moderate groups probably wouldn't be able to guarantee an orderly return
to
democratic " normality" without the help of the CP oBut the Communists
can't by definition be made part of any plan acceptable to the evolutionists ,
because if they were, the far right, the bureaucrats, and the military would not
be alone in asking: "Why the hell did we fight the war? " Most of the Spanish
bourgeoisie would raise the question.
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*
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The Communist Party plays a central role in the whole affair. Its force has
been patiently amassed through a thousand fights and lately also through
clever bargaining with the monarchists, such as Areilza and Calvo Serer (both
followers of Don Juan, not Juan Carlos), Catalan industrialists and bankers
such as Duran Farrell , Trias Fargas , and Jordi Pujol , and all the middle-class
democratic groups outside the law.
Democratic leaders , evolutionist insiders, liberal generals like Diaz
Alegria, and Nicolas Franco himself, a nephew of the dictator and a
prominent figure in Prince Juan Carlos' staff-all are secretly , and anxiously ,
getting in touch with the Communists. The party itself isn ' t denying the
contacts are being made . It openly advocates a "pact for freedom" in
exchange for legal recognition and minimal liberties .
It
was a prime mover in
the coalition of monarchists and businessmen, called the Junta Democratica,
that formed in Paris during Franco's illness in July '74.
It is not hard to see how , even though the word' 'Communist" is taboo to
the people on top, many of the political men representing similar interests
feel impelled to deal directly with the c.P.
Five thousand members strong (according to acautious 1972 State Depart–
ment estimate) , the Spanish c.P. is a well-oiled machine that publishes five
papers and magazines, has infiltrated the official unions at the factory and even
at the city or provincial level. It could easily quiet the more radical groups that
squabble all over the country by imposing on them the hypothetical terms of a
hypothetical agreement with evolutionists and mild democrats.
The party's main target now is the army (the Portuguese alliance serves
them well as an example). For unless the armed forces are , at the least , passive
about the possibility of the c.P. holding positions of power, there's no clear
way in for them. They probably wouldn't use the old slogan of a national or
general strike (it's more and more the property of the extreme left , anyway) ,
except as a tactical show offorce to clear the way for compromise. The c.P. is
playing a waiting game . Since Carrero was killed, it has cooled off mass
movements ; and Santiago Carrillo , the party 's general secretary has said that
the Communists would accept a monarchy freely chosen by the people. (But
