History contains many legends. And even the most absurd and preposterous legend, if it is repeated many times, acquires the status of an unquestionable historical truth. So many times, things turn into their opposite: heroes become villains and villains become heroes; truth becomes a lie and a lie becomes the truth. The memory of individual human beings is a fragile thing and it fades with age. The collective memory fades and becomes confused with the passing of time. In a generation or two those who participated in great events will die out, leaving no witness other than the history books. And history, as we know, is always written by the victors.
The purpose of the present work is to establish the truth about the Spanish transition. But this is no easy task. For the last four decades the truth has been buried under a mountain of lies, half-truths and deliberate distortions. The purpose of this is to provide a plausible justification for the betrayals of those years, to excuse the conduct of the workers’ leaders and to present in the most favourable light what can only be described as the fraud of the century.
This period was known as ‘Democratic Transition’ but in reality, it was a gigantic swindle. The monarchy that had been arbitrarily installed by Franco was retained, although the overwhelming feeling of the majority was for a republic. The Civil Guard and other repressive bodies were retained. The murderers and torturers who had operated with impunity under the old regime remained equally untouchable under the new ‘democracy’. They have been walking the streets of Madrid and Barcelona, rubbing shoulders with the men and women who were their victims.
For four decades the people of Spain have been fed a constant stream of propaganda in books, at school and in the media, which portrays the Transition exclusively as the work of a handful of wise and courageous protagonists: the leaders of the main organisations of the working class – the Communist Party of Spain (Partido Comunista de España, PCE) and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) – and the equally wise and courageous President Adolfo Suárez and King Juan Carlos I.
The purpose of this official version is to conceal from public view the real motor force of the entire process: the magnificent struggles of millions of working-class men and women who risked their jobs, their freedom and their lives in a heroic battle against tyranny and dictatorship. It was they and no others who overthrew the old regime. It was they and no others who frustrated the schemes of Franco’s successors to maintain the old regime by any means. And if they did not ultimately succeed in their aims, it was no fault of theirs. They were thwarted by the actions of their own leaders.