Michael Reid tells an illuminating account of Spain’s contemporary history, and what distinguishes it from it’s European neighbours
Review by Jules Stewart
On 20 November 1975, a medical team at Madrid’s La Paz Hospital was given the green light by government authorities to switch off General Francisco Franco’s life-support machine. The dictator had been clinically dead for days. It was whispered that the date was chosen to coincide with the 1936 execution of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the fascist Falange party. Spaniards could therefore observe both commemorations on the same day.
This kick-started years of ‘improvisation’, the word that might best characterise Spain’s transition to democracy. In January 1977, deputy prime minister General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado vowed that the outlawed Spanish Communist Party (PCE) would never be recognised under his government and certainly not with the exiled Santiago Carrillo as its leader. Four months later, the PCE was preparing to contest the first post-Franco general election, with Carrillo as secretary-general.
Michael Reid offers an authoritative account of the process that broke almost two centuries of relative decline and political instability. Starting with the centre-right Adolfo Suárez through the socialist reformer Felipe González, Spanish political leaders were determined to avoid any repeat of fratricidal war and create a normal Western European country.
The portrayal of Franco is remarkably balanced, acknowledging his abilities as a courageous albeit cold-blooded military commander, while also explaining that the ‘fascist’ generalissimo was in fact a fascist of convenience. He was, above all, a ruthless self-serving ‘Francoist’, who cleverly placed a coalition of right-wing factions under his control.
Reid delves into the issues that distinguish Spain from its European partners, notably the regional separatist movements. Like its peers beyond the Pyrenees, Spain today suffers from problems such as political fragmentation and high public debt. What had become unique in recent years is the insistent threat of peripheral nationalism, in particular the unresolved Catalan bid for independence. ‘It is Catalonia that is Spain’s most persistent headache,’ he writes.
In spite of concerns over the litany of political, social and economic woes the country faces, what emerges from this illuminating history of contemporary Spain is the author’s admiration for the Spaniards. Readers can’t help but be endeared by what Reid describes as ‘unfailingly patient, humane and kind’ people, who make up the bedrock of a resilient and overwhelmingly moderate society.
