By Rubén Tzanoff
“History repeats itself first as a tragedy and then as a comedy…”
Since the pandemic was unleashed in the Spanish State, social awareness, the population´s solidarity and the colossal effort of health care workers have been the main dam that has contained the virus and the fuel that feeds the hope of defeating it as soon as possible. Even so, Covid-19 has taken a high toll in human lives and social rights, due to the government adopting clearly insufficient, unfair and authoritarian measures. Pedro Sánchez played down the state of alarm with a political speech on the “Unity of Spain” and the “businesses and unions”, which has finally adopted the form of an official strategy to recycle the Moncloa pacts. The announced objective is to materialize an “agreement for the reconstruction of the country” after the health crisis, “without red lines” or “preconditions.”
Since the return of the PSOE to government, its project has been so erratic and flimsy that it went from running for solitary rule to a coalition with Unidas Podemos (UP – United We Can) in a short time and now it is seeks broader support to maintain power. Will the social democrats obtain the allies it seeks? This will be seen, because “there is still water to run under the bridge,” but it seems difficult because there is a wide spectrum of intersecting positions. Expressing minor differences, Pablo Iglesias (UP) and Inés Arrimadas (Ciudadanos – Citizens) have spoken in favor of the pact. The right and far right of the PP and Vox have rejected the call straight out. The PNV (Basque Nacionalist Party) has expressed the pros and cons of the proposal. There are regional presidents who have expressed their approval and others who “will study” the proposal, such as Quim Torra (JxCat – Together for Catalonia). ERC (Catalonian Republican Left), the CUP (Popular Unity Candidatures) and EH Bildu (Basque left) have made critical statements, refusing to prioritize finance before social rights. The debate is on the table, in the coming days there will be other pronouncements and more positions on the matter. Beyond this, it is inacceptable to use people´s fear of Covid-19 and uncertainty to normalize regressive actions as if they were “common sense.”
…It is inacceptable to use people´s fear of Covid-19 and uncertainty to normalize regressive actions as if they were “common sense.”
Are pacts of class conciliation the solution? Let us reflect critically. Every time the powerful use them, they seek to make those below work more, earn less, and strive to generate capitalist profits without protests. As having memory is also an instrument of struggle, it is necessary to recapitulate what has happened in the Spanish State. Current shortcomings in public health are a consequence of budget cuts and the transformation of health care into a private business in recent years. Today´s social plight was caused by the liquidation of the welfare state. The uncertainty about employment and wages is based on the labor reforms that overturned workers’ hard won benefits, along with the scandalous bailout of banks and companies. Unfortunately, beyond their speeches, he UGT and CC.OO. labor union federations have acted as a transmission belt for the governments in office. The twelve years that passed from the beginning of the previous capitalist crisis to the emergence of the current one reveal who is on one side and who is on the other. So is it possible for the vast majority to benefit by reconciling with their exploiters and oppressors? Is it possible for the living conditions of workers, rural laborers, women, pensioners and immigrants to change for the better? Well, no, because the bosses, the wealthy and the loan sharks, protected by the government, will insist on the working people paying for the crisis.
Furthermore, the main representatives of power use arguments from the past to justify the course they intend to take in the present. They do this by dusting off an uncritical historical assessment of the Moncloa pacts signed in 1977 and of the transition, presenting it as a “model”. There are many people who did not have the same assessment, but accepted what was done as “the only possible way” to definitively close the terrible historical period of Francoism. Of course, it is a sensitive subject on which there are different opinions. Is it true that it was so positive and that nothing more could have been done? We did not believe so, nor do we believe so now.
After Franco’s death, workers’ struggles grew, strengthened and obtained important achievements, with assemblies and mobilizations working up to a general strike. It was possible to bury fascism forever and continue on a path of rupture without compromise. However, the torrent of change was disarticulated by the political and union leaderships, which replaced it with negotiations between leaderships and subordination to the elites, in the opposite direction as a socialist or even republican perspective. This is how the Moncloa pacts promoted by Adolfo Suárez and signed by CC.OO, UGT, the Spanish Communist Party, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party), ERC, Convergencia i Unió (Catalonian Convergence and Union), the PNV and others were sealed.
Recreating the Moncloa pacts will compound mistakes and people´s suffering…
What were the results? The so-called “Agreement on the program of remediation and reform of the economy” and “Agreement on the program of legal and political action” imposed a loss of rights and purchasing power, inflation rose to 24.6%, unemployment went from 5% to 15-20% in the 1980s, a ceiling was imposed on wage raises, and subcontracting, precariousness and temporary employment were promoted. They sealed the survival of the worst characteristics of Francoism, with its politicians, judges, economic allies and guaranteed impunity for the fascists´ crimes. The promised “complete, modern and European democracy” never came: the Constitution of 1978 consecrated the bipartisan PP-PSOE system of government, a judiciary dependent on political power and a parliamentary monarchical regime, with a kingdom that is as backwards as it is corrupt, all at service of the capitalist system. The pacts of 1977 were more of a tragedy that attempted to bury the best traditions of the Spanish working class, and republican and socialist ideals. If they were to be repeated in 2020, they would be more of a comedy with bad actors and an improvised script to save the regime from its exhaustion.
Recreating the Moncloa pacts will compound mistakes and people´s suffering, provoke more authoritarianism, more denial of Catalonia´s self-determination of Catalonia and further restrictions of democratic freedoms. The way out is through unity between working people, feminist groups, pensioners and progressive and democratic young people. With the adoption of an independent mobilization agenda for the recovery of the rights that have been taken away and for the crisis be paid for by the capitalists. The formation of a new anti-capitalist and left-wing political alternative is more necessary than ever. Building a strong revolutionary socialist party is as well. We are going through shocking times, after which we will have to rethink everything to avoid falling into barbarism. In this sense, capitalism can never be “humanized” or reformed on an equal basis. To achieve a more just and caring society, it is necessary to fight for a model of socialism with democracy. It is the strategic purpose for which we who form the International Socialist League organize.