Santiago Carrillo - Spanish Transition and Eurocommunism

Spanish Transition and Eurocommunism

Carrillo returned secretly to Spain in 1976 after the death of long-time Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. Arrested by the police, he was released within days. Together with communist comrades Georges Marchais of France and Enrico Berlinguer of Italy, he launched the Eurocommunist movement in a meeting held in Madrid on March 2, 1977.

Carrillo was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados), the lower house of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales, representing Madrid district in the first democratic elections in 1977, shortly after the legalization of the PCE (9 April 1977) by the government of Adolfo Suárez. Throughout the Transition, Carrillo's authority and leadership were decisive in securing peaceful evolution towards a democratic system, a constructive approach based on dialogue with opponents, and a healing of the wounds from the Civil War (the "Reconciliation" policy). It is widely acknowledged that this policy played a key role in making possible a peaceful transition to democracy.

Carrillo was re-elected in 1979, but the failed coup d'état attempt on 23 February 1981 reduced support for the PCE, as Spanish society was still recovering from the trauma of the Civil War and subsequent repression and dictatorship. His own courageous personal behaviour during the failed coup d'état was remarkable − he was, together with outgoing prime minister Suárez and defence minister Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, one of the three MPs not to obey the rebels' orders to lie down, choosing to sit and have a cigarette (as shown in the surviving TV footage of that day). Fear of another military uprising increased support for moderate left wing forces in the 1982 elections, in which Carrillo held his parliamentary seat. He was forced to leave his post as party leader on 6 November 1982, owing to the party's poor electoral performance. The new General Secretary, the much younger Gerardo Iglesias, a member of the "renovators" wing, was at odds with him from the start.