2023-11-17 05:01:38
At ABC we have told you many episodes in the history of the PSOE, the same party that this Thursday once again revalidated its presidency with the re-election of Pedro Sánchez, who had the support of 179 seats, after several weeks negotiating the amnesty with the pro-independence politicians. . In other reports we have gone back to the same day of its founding on May 2, 1879 in the Casa Labra tavern in Madrid. Jaime Vera, Antonio García Quejido, Emilio Cortes and, of course, Pablo Iglesias Posse were there, as well as a small group of intellectuals and workers who were very different in their positions.
In those first months of life, in fact, there were more differences than agreements when it came to defining what strategy they should follow or what their program should be. The first confrontations within the party then began, which have continued to this day with Sánchez as president. As revealed by the latest GAD3 barometer carried out for ABC at the beginning of November, for example, almost half of socialist voters, 45%, believed that the amnesty was negative for Spain compared to 34% who did not. The president had just committed to ERC to grant it to all those prosecuted for the crimes of the process, even those accused of actions classified as terrorism.
In that first division of 1879, the postulates of the French socialist leader Jules Guesde were imposed, who rejected any type of alliance with republican organizations, despite the strong opposition offered by Jaime Vera. This first internal ideological combat lasted for many years and pitted those who wanted the party to use official institutions to grow and those who thought that improvements for the working class could only be achieved through revolution.
When the latter prevailed, the socialists remained as a small formation without representation in Parliament until, in 1910, they decided to ally with the progressive Republicans to enter Congress. This is how Pablo Iglesias was elected deputy. However, despite entering into legality, it was not easy for the PSOE to achieve the much desired stability during those years of the Restoration and, above all, after the Russian Revolution, which caused a very important split in the PSOE and the foundation. of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) by some of its members.
Socialism and dictatorship
However, it was in 1923 when one of the most unknown, traumatic and surprising internal confrontations in the history of the PSOE occurred during the coup d’état of Miguel Primo de Rivera. Against all odds, the socialists did not remain united even when that right-wing military dictatorship, whose proclamation took place a century ago, came upon them, since the supporters of Francisco Largo Caballero and those of Indalecio Prieto began a strong dispute over whether they should collaborate. or not with the new regime. The debate even ended in outbreaks of violence and physical attacks between the supposed comrades.
When Primo de Rivera spoke in Barcelona on September 13 of that year, Pablo Iglesias was still alive. That did not prevent, at that same moment, the PSOE and its related union, UGT, from recommending to their militants that they not encourage the coup d’état, but also that they not take initiatives against it, to try to stop it, without receiving instructions of their representatives. The joint statement, in fact, took the opportunity to harshly criticize the legal and legitimate government that, until that moment, was presided over by Manuel García Prieto:
«No bond of solidarity, not even of political sympathy, links us with the rulers. On the contrary: they deserve the harshest reproaches from us for having failed to comply with all the offers they made before escalating, and in particular those through which the country could hope to see, if not resolved, at least lessened in its pain. “the problem of Morocco, an insatiable devourer of all national energies.”
The meeting with Primo de Rivera
Both organizations also approved the meeting that was held, at the request of Primo de Rivera, with Manuel Llaneza, socialist deputy for Asturias and secretary of the Asturian mining union. When he arrived at the Estación del Norte, in Madrid, to meet with the dictator, an official vehicle from the Ministry of War was waiting to take him to the headquarters of the new military Government. Once there, Primo de Rivera made a proposal that may still surprise us today: a collaboration between his new Board of Directors and the socialists with the aim of improving the situation of the workers.
The PSOE and the dictatorship gradually strengthened their ties over the following months. On November 29, 1923, the new military governor of Madrid, Juan O’Donnell, came to visit the Casa del Pueblo on Piamonte Street, headquarters of the socialist party and union, and even ended up praising the work they were doing with the workers. Madrid. However, not everyone agreed with this good understanding, as they preferred confrontation with those who until that year had been their worst enemies.
On the one hand there was Largo Caballero, who was general secretary of the UGT and was convinced that it was necessary to collaborate with the dictatorship so that union action was not prohibited, while the followers of Indalecio Prieto flatly refused. The latter thought that this was not an intelligent move nor a simple measure to take advantage of circumstances, but rather a serious betrayal of the principles they had always defended. The break was consummated when the first agreed to enter the organization chart of the dictatorial Government.
Council of State
First he was a member of the National Corporate Organization created by the Minister of Labor Eduardo Aunós and then he joined the Council of State as a member. In this last position he even committed to studying the repeal of the Constitution of 1876, while promoting the constitution of Joint Committees destined to mediate and resolve social conflicts. In practice, the UGT dominated worker representation, to the point of displacing the Catholic unions, despite the fact that Primo de Rivera stated on numerous occasions that he was going to be inspired by the principles of cooperation of the Social Doctrine of the Church.
This cooperation between the dictator and the socialists extended to all corners of the country. Indalecio Prieto felt so betrayed that he resigned from the PSOE Executive Commission. The future head of the Republican Government, Manuel Azaña, described those strange days like this: «As Largo Caballero has told me many times, during the dictatorship the Civil Guard behaved fairly with the workers and peasants, and did not mistreat anyone, as they used to. do in previous time. Shortly after the dictatorship came, the Civil Guard mistreated and tormented some peasants in a town in Extremadura. They came to Madrid to complain, Largo Caballero wrote to General Nouvilas, secretary of the Military Directory; The complaint was verified and the Board of Directors gave orders, which were carried out, so that such things would not happen again.
Thanks to this understanding, the PSOE and UGT continued to retain their legal status and could even hold their congresses, unlike other organizations such as the anarchists of the CNT, which were banned due to their terrorist actions. And when in 1927 the regime created the National Consultative Assembly to prepare a draft Constitution, six positions were offered to the UGT, which very prominent socialist leaders, such as Professor Julián Besteiro, expressed their support for accepting.
The resignation
In the end, the majority of socialists voted against this step at the congress held in July 1928, in which Prieto proposed the immediate withdrawal of the city councils and the Council of State. The majority of those present, including Largo Caballero, Besteiro, Llaneza and Andrés Saborit, refused with 5,388 votes compared to 740, and the current of collaborationists continued along their path. When Primo de Rivera resigned in January 1930 and was replaced by General Dámaso Berenguer, he received a report from the Director General of Security in which he stated:
«Socialist action during the last six years has been frankly governmental. Labor legislation, and more especially the creation of Joint Committees, have been the determining cause that, despite the enormous labor crisis, workers affiliated with Socialism have resisted insinuations and efforts, and their bosses have repeatedly refused to “cooperate in the movements of revolt and political agitation for which they were often required.”
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