Glossary of 20th Century Spanish History
LOGSE
General Organic Law of the Educational System of Spain. This Spanish education law was enacted by the socialist government and replaced the General Education Act of 1970. It marked the launch of an educational system based on constitutional principles and initiated democratic management of schools. It was the first law that established a decentralized system of education in Spain. Other important issues were the importance given to school councils, with these facilities acquiring the capacity to elect directors.
GAL
Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups, or GAL, were armed vigilante groups who practiced what is called state terrorism against the terrorist group ETA. They were created and directed by senior officials of the Ministry of Interior of Spain during the PSOE government. Although claiming to combat ETA, on several occasions they attacked Basque leftists and environmentalists. They conducted indiscriminate actions in which French nationals died.
Maastricht Treaty
Signed on 7 February 1992, this treaty amended the founding treaties of the European Communities (Treaty of Paris (1951), the Treaty of Rome of 1957, and the Single European Act). It is a crucial step in the process of European integration. With the Treaty establishing the EU, which itself includes the three previous European communities, it renamed the European Community. It is also the Treaty by which the introduction of the euro was announced. The treaty entered into force on 1 November 1993.
Legalization of the PCE
The PCE (Communist Party of Spain) was clearly stuck in a political ghetto, so the main goal of the communist policy was legalization. When Carrillo hinted that, if the PCE was allowed to participate in the elections, his party would be involved in the development of a social contract that would allow Spain to address the economic crisis. In February 1977, the process of legalization of political parties began. The PCE initiated the creation of the Democratic Board in July 1974, which neither the PSOE nor the Democratic party participated in. They asked amnesty for political prisoners and legislation to free all political and trade union prisoners.
Azores Meeting
Bush, Blair, and Aznar met in the Azores on 15 March 2003. It was a meeting devoted almost exclusively to issuing an ultimatum to the Iraqi government to disarm, as there were suspicions of the existence of chemical weapons in its territory.
National Movement
This is the name given to the mechanism during the Francoist regime. This fascist, totalitarian inspiration was meant to be the only way to participate in Spanish public life. It responded to a concept of corporate society that stated people should be expressed only through natural entities: family, municipality, and union.
Vertical Union
This was the only legal union organization in Spain (1940-1976) during Franco’s dictatorship. The previous unions, such as the anarchist CNT and the socialist UGT, were banned and went underground.
Jurisdiction of Spanish (1945)
One of the eight Fundamental Laws of the Franco regime, it established a series of rights, freedoms, and duties of the Spanish people.
Concordat
An agreement between the Catholic Church (Holy See) and a State to regulate relations between them, in matters of mutual interest. Building on the previous Concordat of 1851, General Franco wrote to the pope asking for a new one, which eventually became the Spanish Concordat of 1953. It took two years from when Franco issued his letter to the Vatican for it to be signed.
Agreement with the U.S.
Signed in 1953, in exchange for the installation of various American bases on Spanish territory, the United States supported the Franco regime. President Eisenhower visited Spain.
Law of Succession (1947)
One of the eight Fundamental Laws of the Franco regime, it dealt with the question of the succession of Franco. It provided that the successor would be proposed by Franco himself, but would have to be approved by the Spanish Cortes.
Maquis
This was the name given to the anti-Franco guerrilla resistance movements in Spain that began during the Civil War.
Stabilization Plan
A package of economic measures implemented by Gen. Francisco Franco in 1959 with the intention to liberalize the Spanish economy. It marked the beginning of a fundamental change in economic policy of the regime.
Development Plans
Indicative planning schemes were implemented in the Spanish economy during the end of the Franco era (between 1964 and 1975), starting with the 1959 Stabilization Plan, which had overcome the very difficult years of the protracted war. They caused major economic growth.
Opus Dei
An institution belonging to the Catholic Church, it was founded on 2 October 1928. The institutional mission of Opus Dei is to spread the Catholic teaching that all persons are called to be saints, and that ordinary life is a journey toward holiness.
Ostpolitik
A term that describes the effort of Willy Brandt, Foreign Minister and then fourth Chancellor of West Germany, to normalize relations with the nations of Eastern Europe. The origin of the term refers to the decision of Germany to look east instead of only west, as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany had done.
CCOO
Workers’ Commissions is a Spanish trade union confederation, bound at its foundation to the PCE, although independent of any political party. It is the first trade union confederation in Spain in terms of membership and union representatives.
Autarky
Autarky as a social ideal is linked to the political agenda of fascism. Traditionally linked to extreme forms of nationalism and socialism and more recently to extremist forms of communitarianism and Ecology.
Blue Division
A unit of Spanish volunteers who served from 1941 (and officially until 1943) in the German camp during World War II, mainly on the eastern front against the Soviet Union.