“Few leftists remember that the amnesty law, created in 1978 during Spain’s transition to democracy, also pardoned communists and separatist terrorists.”
Pedro Sánchez is summoning the long-silent ghosts of the past in an attempt to publicly humiliate the victors of the civil war. In so doing, he has likely opened Pandora’s box—even if he has not yet realised it.
Pedro Sánchez’ fixation on Franco is reigniting an interest in the past that could backfire on the Left, which has much to hide about its role in the Civil War and dictatorship.
Under Spain’s Democratic Memory Law, the Francoist nobility was collectively singled out for extirpation, and its heads of family found themselves officially ‘disennobled.’
A segment of Spanish society—the Left’s leaders, if not their voters—has been too quick to paper over the difference between lawful politics and violence.
Apart from deciding who is eligible for financial compensation, the Law of Historical Memory from 2007 has been used to define how history is taught. Its trajectory will be accelerated with the Law of Democratic Memory of 2022.
Catalan separatism emerged when the region’s bourgeoisie began facing the end of a long period of economic privilege during which the Spanish state’s policies had benefited Catalonia over most other regions. The threat of secession would now function as an invaluable bargaining chip to retain privileges.
