Spain’s Economic and Social Shifts: 1939-1975
Economic and Social Evolution in Spain: 1939-1959
The Autarky of the War’s Aftermath
In 1939, Spain was a ruined country with a decimated population, widespread hunger, and extreme need. The population’s situation was unbearable.
The regime’s solution was to create a model of fascist inspiration: autarky, based on self-sufficiency and state interventionism.
State interventionism expanded throughout most of the national economy. The state fixed agricultural prices and forced peasants to surrender their surplus harvest. The National Institute of Industry (INI) was created in 1941 to control industry, and rigid control was maintained over external trade.
A Major Economic Failure
The aftermath of the war saw years of economic regression. Agrarian and industrial production plunged, and once again, the primary sector accounted for more than half of the national income.
In a context of need, the black market proliferated with the estraperlo (black market trade) and generalized corruption.
This situation was aggravated by the international situation. After World War II, there was a period of isolationism to punish Franco for his alliance with the Axis powers.
The 1950s: The End of Autarky
The failure of autarky provoked a change in the economy in the 1950s.
Partial liberalization of prices began, and the same was applied to trade and merchandise circulation. In 1952, food rationing ended.
These measures provoked a certain economic expansion. In 1954, the 1935 income level was surpassed.
The Cold War and changes in American international policy made possible the reception of some American aid, allowing the purchase of equipment essential for industrial development.
The timid development resulted in inflation that led to social unrest. The need for structural reforms in the economy was evident. Finally, Franco allowed the entrance of a group of technocrats, members of Opus Dei. These new ministers designed the definitive U-turn of the economic policy: the 1959 Stabilization Plan.
Francoism: Political, Economic, and Social Evolution from 1959 to 1975
The Opposition to the Regime
Political Evolution: 1959-1975
The 1960s: Immobility
Despite the deep changes of the 1950s, immobility—the lack of important changes—was the characteristic of the period’s politics. However, there were some elements that would have great influence:
- The renewal of the Catholic Church in the Vatican II Council increased the distance between the Church and the regime.
- The upsurge of nationalist tensions and the appearance of ETA’s terrorism. In 1959, a group of young people left the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and created ETA. This new organization later began using terrorist tactics.
- An increase in labor conflict from 1961. The demands of the strikes evolved from labor matters (wages, timetables) to political denunciation (union and political freedoms).
The regime’s answer to any dissent was repressive.
In 1962, after asking for Spain’s acceptance into the European Economic Community (EEC), a group of liberal right representatives living in exile met in Munich, asking for Spain not to be accepted until the regime democratized. The Francoist press organized a scandal against what became known as the “Munich Contubernio.”
Meanwhile, the regime applied a series of small and insufficient legislative changes that did not alter the dictatorship’s essence:
- The Press Law of 1966, approved by Fraga, reduced censorship slightly.
- The State’s Organic Law of 1966 was the last of the Movement’s Laws, but it did not change anything.
Forced by his age, Franco decided to appoint a successor. In 1969, Juan Carlos de Borbón, Alfonso XIII’s grandson, was designated successor with the title of King.
An Increasing Opposition
The 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s were years of strong development, characterized by opposition in factories where clandestine unions had started, as well as at universities.
Repression was the answer. The political police did not hesitate to use torture. Opponents were judged by tribunals specially constituted for that purpose.
In this context, ETA made its first attempt. The answer was a non-discriminated opposition that increased the group’s backing. A key moment was the celebration of the Burgos Process in 1970 in front of a military jury. Nine ETA members were given death penalties, provoking national and international protests. The regime had to commute the sentences to life imprisonment.
The dictator’s advanced age and the increasing opposition led to the formation of two tendencies within the regime. On one hand, those called “aperturistas,” who, while not questioning Franco’s image, were in favor of small reforms in a more democratic and parliamentary way.
On the other hand, the “bunker,” in which the most extremist, violent, and those opposed to any change were grouped.
In order to alleviate Franco of his work, in 1973, Carrero Blanco, a military hardliner, was appointed President of the Government. Arias Navarro was appointed Minister of Governance.
That same year, ETA carried out its most important action when it assassinated Carrero Blanco. His death signaled that the end of the regime was closer.
The Last Moments of Franco’s Life
The dictator’s life ended in a complex and difficult way:
- The confrontation with the Church reached extreme proportions. When Franco threatened to expel from Spain Anoveros, the Bishop of Bilbao, who had published a pastoral letter in favor of the cultural and linguistic tradition of the Basque Country, the Vatican answered saying that his condemnation would suppose the breaking of the Concordat and anathema.
- In September 1975, after a military trial, five militants of FRAP and ETA were condemned and executed. International protests were widespread.
- The Moroccan King Hassan II organized the Green March, claiming the Spanish Western Sahara. The moment indicated the end of Franco, and the government accepted to give the old colony to Morocco.
Finally, after three months of illness, Franco died on November 20, 1975.
Economic and Social Evolution: 1959-1975
The Stabilization Plan, 1959
Designed by Opus Dei technocrats, who reached the government in 1957, this economic plan was elaborated following the rules of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The aim was to liberalize the economy, putting an end to autarky and interventionism.
Public spending was reduced, as was interventionism. At the same time, the economy opened to the outside, devaluing the peseta and attracting foreign investments.
The consequences were immediate. Since 1961, the state deficit was reduced, and by receiving foreign investments, Spain started an accelerated economic growth.
The Economic Development of the 1960s
1961-1973 was marked by rapid industrial and service growth. The economic opening provoked a lot of foreign investment, attracted by low salaries.
Industrial development created massive emigration from the countryside to cities and Europe. At the same time that agriculture modernized, wide interior areas were deserted.
In commerce, Spain managed to get a surplus in its commercial balance. The traditional deficit was compensated by the money produced in tourism, foreign investment, and the money sent by emigrants working in Europe.
To channel economic growth, the government approved Development Plans in 1963. Based on tax benefits and state aid, the result was smaller than expected. The economy continued growing, but the planning did not work. The best example was the increasing disequilibrium between the different regions of the country.
Finally, 1961-1973 was characterized by great economic development, involved in the general frame of European and world expansion. This favorable context allowed important investments, a massive arrival of tourists, and the elimination of unemployment thanks to emigration to Europe.
The Big Social Changes of the 1960s
After the hard war aftermath, in which society was linked to an archaic society, the 1960s bore witness to rapid social change. The main characteristics were:
- Massive emigration from the countryside to cities and Europe. More than a million people went to France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and other European countries to work as unskilled workers, jobs that the locals did not want.
- Emigration brought positive things, such as a reduction in unemployment and an important amount of money sent by emigrants, but it also created disarray and increased differences among different regions.
- Significant population increase. At the same time, the death rate was reduced while the birth rate remained at high levels or even increased.
To answer the population’s needs, the government did not increase public spending, so public services were clearly insufficient.
- In the educational field, the number of schools and institutes was below the need of an increasing infant and juvenile population.
- Although some huge hospitals were created, and from 1963, health assistance and a pension system developed, health service continued to be insufficient.
- Demographic increase provoked a housing deficit that they tried to solve through house-building operations. The new neighborhoods were born without basic social and urban equipment.
The Consumer Society
Opposition to the Francoist Regime
The Republic in Exile
The republican leaders who escaped from the country in 1939 kept the Republic’s government in exile, trying to maintain the legality created in the 1931 Constitution. Their hope was placed in the defeat of Hitler, which could make possible Allied intervention and the end of Franco’s dictatorship. These hopes vanished when Spain entered the UN in 1955.
The Anti-Francoist Guerrilla
When the Francoist troops occupied different regions, some republican fighters escaped from the repression and, hidden in the mountains, organized guerrillas, the maquis.
The actions of the guerrillas intensified after the Nazi defeat in 1945. The maquis wanted to force Allied intervention in Spain. Repression and the end of hopes came when, in 1948, the PCE renounced armed confrontation and called the guerrilla members to escape from the country.
The Internal Opposition in the War’s Aftermath
Repression ended with political parties and unions of leftist ideology. The first strikes in 1946-1947 were harshly repressed, and the opposition was forced to keep silent.
The First Social Protest and the 1956 University Crisis
In 1951, the boycott of trams in Barcelona, answering the higher fares, constituted the first massive protest of Francoism.
At university, tensions rose, asking for more freedom in cathedras (chairs) and classrooms. The situation of instability culminated in the incidents at the Complutense University in Madrid in 1956, with confrontations between students and Falange members of the SEU (Spanish University Union). The incidents provoked the resignation of Education Minister Ruiz-Giménez and illustrated the appearance of a new generation, formed essentially by the sons and daughters of the winners, who started their opposition to the dictatorship.
Parties and Unions in Opposition
The different political groups and unions adapted to the repression and the evolution of Spanish society. While the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) became a feeble and divided party, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) became the main opposition party with a solid clandestine structure. Anarchists and republicans practically disappeared.
The opposition of liberals and monarchists only appeared at the end of the dictatorship around some communication media.
As far as unions are concerned, in 1962, Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) were born. Depending on the PCE, they based their activity on the legal loopholes allowed by Francoist legislation, and their members infiltrated the Union Organization. The historical unions, the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the National Confederation of Labor (CNT), had little presence.
The Increasing Fight of the 1960s and 1970s
Social changes and the proximity of the dictator’s death made possible the activity of more opposition groups. Different protest movements emerged at this moment.
- The workers’ movement, organized essentially around CCOO and encouraged by the PCE, evolved from labor protests to anti-Francoist political awareness.
- Nationalist movements reinforced in different social groups in Catalonia. In the Basque Country, at once with a more and more influential PNV, ETA increased their importance with their terrorist actions.
- Being involved in an international protest movement, the student movement expanded, and protests reached important social repercussions.
- The Vatican II Council was in favor of the expansion of Catholic movements critical of Francoism, who collaborated with opposition parties and the workers’ movement. Even influential sectors of the Catholic Church demonstrated distance from the dictatorship.
All in all, without overthrowing the Francoist regime, the opposition movements managed to create a widespread need for opposition to the dictatorship, which emerged after Franco’s death, being a key element in the democratic transition.