SPAIN-POLITICS: Imminent Purges in Leading Left Forces

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Jun 10 1997 (IPS) - The leadership of Spain’s two main opposition forces are about to be shaken up, with expected purges of dissident leaders in the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the United Left coalition (IU) based on the Communist Party.

In the PSOE, the country’s chief opposition party, the majority, led by the party’s secretary-general and former head of government Felipe Gonzalez, aims to eliminate the once powerful deputy secretary-general, Alfonso Guerra, from the party command. Observers expect the move to occur at the Jun. 21-22 PSOE General Congress here in Madrid.

Within the IU, whose majority is led by Julio Anguita, secretary-general of the Communist Party and member of parliament, analysts predict the removal of dissident leaders of the splinter Party of the New Left (PDNI), headed by deputies Cristina Almeida and Diego Lopez Garrido, from the coalition leadership.

Although Guerra has traditionally taken positions to the left of Gonzalez, he has generally bowed to the secretary-general’s will.

That occurred in 1979, when Guerra defended Marxism as part of the PSOE programme in the face of Gonzalez’ efforts to eliminate it, and in 1982-86, when he opposed Spain’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and advocated an understanding with the socialist-affiliated General Workers Union (UGT).

In the end, the PSOE eliminated Marxism from its party programme, headed the campaign for Spain’s admission to NATO, and distanced itself from the UGT, following the guidelines laid down by Gonzalez.

In every instance, Guerra left his followers without leadership, to back the secretary-general.

On the eve of the coming PSOE General Congress, not even Gonzalez’ followers are talking openly about the possibility of Guerra’s destitution.

Their tactic consists of eliminating the post of deputy secretary-general, on the grounds that now that the PSOE is an opposition party, freed of the burden of governing, Gonzalez can dedicate himself fully to politics, with no need of a second in command.

More than 150 intellectuals and artists have signed a document expressing their support for Guerra. But the once influential PSOE “number two” enjoys scarce backing among the delegates to the General Congress.

By supporting the deputy secretary-general, the letter-signers hope “to recover the culture of the left within the PSOE” in the face of “the iron guard of ‘felipism’ that goes against history.”

Guerra, meanwhile, is sitting tight, allowing his followers to fight for him. He says he is willing to continue acting as secretary-general, but that if the post is eliminated he will not continue to form part of the PSOE leadership.

In the United Left (IU) coalition, meanwhile, the tension between the majority Communist Party and the small PDNI – which split from the former – dates back years.

The main difference lies in the alliance that the PDNI wants to strike with the PSOE, which Anguita says the coalition will accept only when the socialists “return to the defence of leftist positions.”

Definitions in both left forces are expected soon. Guerra’s fate – whether he will continue on as the PSOE’s second in command, be excluded from the party leadership, or yield, as so often before, to Gonzalez’ decision – will be defined by Jun. 22 at the latest.

The PDNI’s future within the IU will become clear even sooner, according to analysts.

Anguita’s decision this Monday to convoke the coalition’s executive organ on Jun. 16 was apparently a step toward the expulsion of the rebellious PDNI deputies from the coalition leadership. Sources close to Anguita said they had the necessary majority to make good on their aim of ousting the dissidents.

The argument for their removal is based on the latest discrepancy, when the PDNI deputies abstained from voting with their IU colleagues in parliament. The IU recently joined with the governing centre-right Popular Party in voting on a law on digital television, against the PSOE position. The three PDNI deputies failed to show up, which Anguita considered an act of rebelliousness.