“The Spirit Of Franco”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31248, 21 December 1966, Page 20

“The Spirit Of Franco”

General Franco does not approve of change. Electoral endorsement of the Organic Law, introduced by him to the Cortes last month, was expected—as also were the abstentions. The five illegal opposition parties, ranging from the monarchists to the Communists, had sent identical petitions to the Government saying they would regard the referendum as null and void unless they were permitted openly to oppose it The Government rejected the request for an open campaign, whereupon the parties urged the people to express their disapproval of Franco-type “ democracy ” by refusing to vote. Many apparently did so. In practice the Organic Law will do little more than modify some of Spain’s political institutions. The Cortes, 600-strong and hitherto entirely nominative, is now to have 100 elected members. Whatever their views, the bulk of opinion will remain on the side of the Establishment. The National Council of the Movement (largely identified with the Falange) is to have 50 elected members and a balancing number of appointees. The Council of the Realm, a passive instrument of government, is to have 17 members instead of 14 and the immediate task of suggesting a panel of three from which General Franco will make his own choice of a Prime Minister. The latter will name his Cabinet. For the rest, the law will enable a cautious experiment in reform. Trade unions will be less rigidly controlled, and may even strike—for “ economic ” motives only. The newspapers may report more fully and comment more freely—always having in mind that use of the new freedom must be “compatible with public “order”. Freedom of worship is permitted under provisions for the emancipation of non-Catholics. Since there are only—according to the official count —30,000 practising Protestants, Spain will remain safe for Roman Catholicism. Yet the movement for reform generally could be strengthened by this belated recognition of the principle of free worship. Within the compass of these changes Spaniards will continue to be governed as severely as in the past. General Franco will remain as Head of State presumably until he is ready to stand down. Age—he is 74—and declining health might compel his retirement sooner than may now be expected. He has already affirmed that the monarchy will be “ actively “ restored ”, and has given a significant pointer to the succession by providing that, in his absence or illness, the Bourbon Prince Juan Carlos may act as Head of State. There is strong royalist objection to such a course, which is regarded as improper while the young Prince’s father, Don Juan, still lives. In this tentative fashion Spain may perhaps be emerging from the wreckage of the civil war into what General Franco has called an era of “ genuine, “ orderly, and effective democracy ”. Such terms are relative. Parties, General Franco says, are not “a “ permanent and essential element without which “ democracy cannot be made operative ”. He has not liberalised the regime, in spite of warnings of growing restiveness in under-surface politics. He seems, indeed, to have given a warning against the heady wine of free thinking. This is what a Governmentsubsidised publication wrote only a few months ago: “ After Franco, the spirit of Franco. Let the opposi- “ tion make no mistake about this. If they doubt it “ they will see how we can reason with the dialectics “ of fists and pistols