Spanish Socialist Party

This is the first history in English of the Spanish Socialist Party and of its progress from defeat in the Civil War in the 1930s to power in the 1980s. Drawing on the official archives of the Socialist organizations, private collections of papers, and interviews with over fifty Spanish Socialists, the author attempts to examine all aspects of the party's life, but focuses in particular upon internal factionalism. This study of the PSOE relates its post-Franco rise to power to the earlier activities of Socialist exiles and clandestine militants in Spain, relating the struggles within the party which crucially undermined the effectiveness of its anti-Franco activity; yet eventually these same struggles produced the vital renovation which enabled the party to compete successfully with other political forces after the death of Franco.Table of ContentPart 1 The early years (1879-1939): from Guesdism to gradualism; the pattern of party development; tendencies in the PSOE. Part 2 Spectators of history - the exiles: socialist reorganization and persisting disunity; relations with other forces; the battle for recognition; Atlantic drift; shadows of tendencies. Part 3 Men without names - the PSOE in Spain, 1939-1970: "The Socialist family"; strategic unity, tactical disunity; the quasi-clandestine organization; the geography of socialism. Part 4 Renovation: Antonio Amat and the reassertion of the interior; phase one - the youth renovation; phase two - the UGT; phase three - the PSOE schism of 1972; a new leadership emerges. Part 5 Socialism in transition 1974-1982: steering to the right; behind the "second renovation"; clans, currents, and tendencies; on the eve of office. Part 6 Epilogue: in government, 1982-1986. Appendices: A - development of the main PSOE sectors in exile, 1939-1972; B - the balance of forces between the main factions at PSOE congresses in exile, 1947-1952; C - socialist executives in the interior; D - pseudonyms; E - socialist organizational structures, 1944-1986; F - the Socialists and elections, 1977-1986; G - the PSOE in parliament, 1977-1986.