JORGE EDWARDS
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awa reness of the dangers of the present situa ti on . These dangers deri ve
no t o nl y from the economi c crisis, but a lso from the power o f the
establishment con solida ted over the fo rty yea rs of the Franco regime. It
is certa inl y true tha t Ali anza Po pula r, the onl y pan y to lay any cla im to
Franco's heritage, a llracted onl y eight percent o f the vo tes in the
genera l elec tions held las t June. But the electora te th a t gave a rela ti ve
majo rit y of the vo tes to Ado lfo Sua rez, the pres ident of the government
pan y, Uni o n del Centro Democra ti co, has no grea t interes t in o r
know ledge o f po liti cs, and could be won over to a nos ta lg ia fo r the
Franco regime should the situa tio n continue to deterio ra te. T he
demonstra tion held on November 20th , the second anniversa ry of the
dea th of Franco, was in fact la rger and beller o rgani zed than the first.
And thi s second a nni versa ry had ano ther wo rrying aspect: three out o f
the nin e milita ry di visions in the Spani sh army o rdered requiem
masses to be held in the barracks under their command in memo ry of
the la te Head of Sta te.
Santi ago Ca rrill o, the leader of Spanish Communi sm , insists tha t
the rea l cho ice today in Spa in is no t between Right and Left. Carrill o
has sa id man y times tha t the onl y alterna ti ves for Spaniards a t the
moment arc di ctato rship and democracy, a milita ry coup a lo ng South
Ameri can lines o r th e conso lida ti on o f the process begun by the King
and Ado lfo Sua rez's government. Fo r th e present executi ve of the
Spani sh Communist Pan y, the cho ice between mona rchy and rep u blic
is at the moment inva lid and irrelevant. On one occasion Ca rrill o
declared tha t witho ut th e Mo na rchy the situa ti o n wo uld a lready have
declined in to vi o lence. By thi s he wished to po int out tha t the
chari sma ti c autho rity o f the King is fa r g rea ter than an y tha t a
Republi c Pres ident mi ght have, a t least with rega rd to conta ining any
pos~ ible
res urgen ce of the p ro-Franco secto rs.
It
is curi o us to compa re the present ca uti on of the Communi st
Part y, now tha t it is lega l and , with representa ti ves in Parliament a nd a
voice in the press, with the revo luti ona ry o ptimism of the fifti es and
ea rl y sixties, when the pa rty leaders tho ught tha t a peaceful na ti o na l
strike, the continuall y-deferred and mythi ca l
huelga nacional pacifica,
or "HNP" wo uld put an end to th e di cta to rship. T he pan y leaders who
durin g those yea rs. thanks to their experi ence in cl andes tin e o ppos i–
ti on , were a bl e to assess rea li sti ca ll y the domes ti c situa ti on in Spa in
laking in to account the economi c progress achi eved under Franco,
were purged from the party under Ca rrill o's management , as one o f
thcm, Jo rge Semp run , has rela ted in hi s fascina ting
Autobiography of
Federico San chez
(the namc he used for cl andes tine pan y wo rk )_
