The popular reign in Liberal Spain
Harry Eyres
THE SPANIARDS by John Hooper
Viking, £10.95
Wc are becoming increasingly fraternal towards the Spaniards. A country that used to be considered exotic, cruel, not totally civilised — in a word, used by the Spanish Tourist Board in Franco's time, 'different' — has very quickly come to be accepted as a mainstream western European nation. The explanation must lie largely in the great political and social transformation which Spain has undergone since Franco's death: the 'transition' from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy, arid the drastic liberalisation of a society long shackled by a peculiar brand of authoritarian Catholicism. Judging by the British media's concerted and enthusiastic response to the royal visit by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, the reintroduc- tion of constitutional monarchy in Spain (of a more modest kind than ours) seems to have created a special bond between the two countries. It may even be that Juan Carlos, who is a rather British, sensible, self-deprecating kind of monarch, is more Popular in Britain than he is in Spain, Where republican spirit remains strong. Spain's recent entry into the EEC is another link, and even her most serious internal political problem, the violent Bas- que separatism of ETA, represents a para- llel, if not a close or a comforting one, With Ulster.
John Hooper was lucky enough to be the Guardian's correspondent in Spain during the crucial period of transition from 1976 on- In this book, he describes and explains that process with admirable clarity and considerable verve. But unlike some other commentators, David Gilmour or Paul Preston for example, he is not solely or even perhaps primarily concerned with the political aspects of the transition, but rather with the impact of these momentous changes on Spanish society as a whole. As a rounded portrait of 'the new Spain' The Spaniards has no rival: it is remarkably successful in being comprehensive yet con- cise, and readable without more than a very occasional burst of automatic jour- nalese ('rip-roaring inflation', 'a train ride across the featureless Estremaduran coun- tryside into history). John Hooper is extremely good at ex- plaining the complications of recent Span- ish reforms in devolution (obviously a very important area), education, welfare and taxation, which can make reading a Span- ish newspaper, even a very good one like El Pais, one of the first fruits of the new democracy, a laborious exercise in acrony- mics. Acronyms, of course, are a constant feature of Spanish history, for the current batch of LODE, LOAPA, PSOE, ETA, etc recall Orwell's POUM, PSUC, CNT and FAI which made him think the country was suffering from a plague of initial letters. If only that had been all!
One may be even more grateful, howev- er, for the many sharply observed and telling details and anecdotes which flesh out Hooper's view of Spanish society, and bear witness to his unflagging curiosity and wide range of interests. He seems to be as familiar with the wife-swapping clubs of
Barcelona (he and his wife visit one run by a child psychiatrist, though somewhat dis- appointingly leave before anything hap- pens) as with what members of Opus Dei wear around their upper thighs (prickly and mortifying). I was equally fascinated to read that one of the side effects of the terribly rapid development of the Costa del Sol was an epidemic of 'shock' (with physical as well as mental symptoms) among the young men who left their villages to work in the tourist industry, which led to the opening of a new psychiat- ric ward at Malaga Civil Hospital in the mid Sixties.
On a more positive note, Hooper's account of a visit to a grim suburb of Bilbao where locals were discussing plans for a new 'People's University' remains in the mind as evidence of the strong respect for learning and culture which still persists at all levels of Spanish society.
Revealing though the book is about the latest and most liberal developments in the modernisation of Spain, two of its best chapters are devoted to those two old reactionary war-horses, the army and the Catholic Church. Hooper seems to be especially interested in the former, and he gives a most cogent account of the historic- al roots of the two anomalies associated with it, first its excessive size (there were still over 300 generals when Franco died), and secondly its overweening idea of its role in the nation's affairs.
The latter was demonstrated as recently as 1981, when Tejero and Milans del Bosch staged their abortive coup; no wonder that Hooper considers that the reforms now being undertaken to modernise and trim down the Spanish army represent 'a gam- ble upon whose outcome the future of democracy in Spain will depend.' As far as the Church is concerned, it is interesting to be reminded of the strong radical move- ment in Spanish catholicism which grew up in the 1960s — the heyday of the curas rojas or red priests like Father Llanos, a Jesuit from a wealthy background who went to live among the poor in a shanty- town outside Madrid. More in tune with the present time, and certainly with the present pope, is the reactionary semi- clandestine society Opus Dei, which con- tinues to have considerable influence in areas as disparate as education and in dustry.
There seem to be very few omissions. The most obvious is the lack of discussion of trade unions in Spain: it may be that they have little public presence at the moment, or that they are unwilling to challenge the first socialist government since the 1930s despite its monetarist eco- nomic policy, but it is hard to believe that a movement with such a strong if chequered tradition will remain permanently sub- dued. Perhaps it is from this quarter that a credible opposition to Gonzalez and his PSOE, the lack of which is beginning to concern some observers, will eventually emerge.
My only other specific criticism of The Spaniards is that despite well-researched chapters on the Basques, the Galicians and the Catalans, John Hooper's view is too Madrid-centred. If he had lived in Barcelo- na, for instance, he would not have been able to state so confidently that one of the results of the devolution process has been `to remind Spaniards of how much they have in common'. Many Catalans I know talk about 'going to Spain', and having visited that despised country, cheer when they cross the 'border' back into Catalonia; they are also increasingly unwilling to speak Castilian.
This kind of recalcitrant regionalism may be the last vestige of the old intolerant Spain, whose people have several times in their history risen spontaneously to expel invaders or foreigners. There were signs recently that this might happen once more, when just before the NATO referendum on 12 March, the opinion polls showed a clear majority intending to vote for with- drawal. In what many consider to have been a shameful manipulation of public opinion via a totally compliant state televi- sion network (he was given 90 per cent of the time allotted for discussion of the issue), Felipe Gonzalez told the nation that leaving NATO would mean economic hardship and political instability. Enough Spaniards changed their minds to ensure that Felipe was not embarrassed: also, perhaps, to show that Spain had finally entered that world of 'total amalgamation and control' against which Gerald Brenan saw her putting up a longer resistance than any other European nation, but which John Hooper considers to be a brave new one.
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