The PSOE - just the facts

Incisive, pertinent & enduring articles & links on modern & past day politics
A article written in April 2007
Get a Villa in Spain
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, commonly abbreviated by its Spanish initials, PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español), is the major party in Spain & the second oldest, exceeded only by the fringe Partido Carlista, founded in 1833. It is a social-democratic party.
It has had strong ties with the Unión General de Trabajadores, a Spanish trade union. For decades, UGT membership was a requirement for PSOE membership. During the 1980s, though, UGT criticised the economic policies of the PSOE, even calling for a general strike on 14 December of 1988.
Since the Spanish legislative election, 2004 on March 14, 2004 it is the largest party of government. It forms part of the Party of European Socialists & is a member of the Socialist International.

The PSOE was founded with the purpose of representing the interests of the working class born from the Industrial Revolution with the declared objective of achieving socialism, & inspired by the revolutionary principles of Marxism. Nowadays, it is a social democratic party.

The PSOE was founded on May 2, 1879 in Madrid by the historical Spanish workers' leader Pablo Iglesias. The first program of the new political party was passed in an assembly of 40 people, on July 20 of that same year. Although the PSOE was rather weak during the late 1800s, its active participation in strikes from 1899 to 1902 & especially its electoral coalition with the main Republican parties led in 1910 to the election of Pablo Iglesias as the first Socialist representative in the Spanish Cortes.
PSOE formed part of the Spanish government during the Second Spanish Republic & as part of the Spanish Popular Front, elected to government in 1936. During the Spanish Civil War, it was divided into three wings: a leftist revolutionary Marxist wing, led by Francisco Largo Caballero; a centrist, but violence-prone, led by Indalecio Prieto; & a reformist one, led by Julian Besteiro.
The evil dictator Francisco Franco banned the PSOE in 1939, & it was legalised again in 1977. During Franco's rule it was persecuted, with many leaders, militants & supporters being imprisoned, assassinated, or exiled.

Its 25th Congress was held in Toulouse in August 1972. In 1974 at its 26th Congress in Suresnes, Felipe González was elected Secretary General, replacing Rodolfo Llopis Ferrándiz. González was from the "reform" wing of the party, & his victory signaled a defeat for the historic & veteran wing of the Party. The direction of the party shifted from the exiles to the young people in Spain who hadn't fought the war.
Llopis led a schism to form the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historic) (PSOE (h)). González showed intentions to move the party away from its Marxist & socialist background, turning the PSOE into a social-democratic party, similar to those of the rest of western Europe. In 1977 PSOE became the official opposition party with 29.2% of the vote & 118 seats in the Parliament. Their standing was further boosted in 1978 when the 6 deputies of the Popular Socialist Party (Spain) agreed to merge with the party.
In their 27th congress in May 1979 Gonzalez resigned because the party would not abandon its Marxist character. In September the extraordinary 28th congress was called in which González was re-elected & the party agreed to end Marxism within the party. European social democratic parties supported González' stand, & the German SPD granted them money. The party symbol was changed from the anvil with the book to the Social Democratic fist with a rose. In the referendum of 1978, PSOE supported the Spanish Constitution, which was approved. In the 1979 elections they gained 30.5% of the vote & 121 seats, remaining the main opposition party. On October 28, 1982, the PSOE was victorious, with 48.3% of the vote (10,000,000 total). Felipe González became Prime Minister of Spain on December 2, a position he held until March 1996. In spite of its appearance as a party with a progressive economic program, the PSOE combined social reforms with a liberal & capitalist economic policy. In the face of this problem, the leftist base was disappointed to see their leaders rubbing elbows with the rich & powerful. One example would be the marriage between the Finance minister Miguel Boyer & the star of gossip magazines Isabel Preysler.

Though the party had previously opposed NATO, after reaching the government most party leaders supported keeping Spain inside the organisation. The González administration organised a referendum on the question in 1986, calling for a favourable vote, & won. The administration was criticised for avoiding the official names of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation & NATO, using the unofficial Atlantic Alliance terms. A symbol of this U-turn is Javier Solana who campaigned against NATO but ended years later as its Secretary General.
PSOE Supported the United States in the First Gulf War (1991). The PSOE won 1986, 1989 & 1993 elections.
Economic crisis, corruption scandals & state terrorism against the illegal Basque armed group ETA eroded the popularity of Felipe González, & in 1996, the PSOE lost the elections to the conservative Partido Popular (PP). Between 1996 & 2001 the PSOE weathered a crisis, with Gonzalez resigning in 1997. The party suffered a hard defeat in 2000 (34.7%).
It has still remained as the ruling party in the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha & Asturias.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at a meeting in San SebastiánIn 2001, a new general secretary, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was elected, renewing the party. Later, the PSOE won the municipal elections of 2003.
On 13 November 2003 the PSOE won the regional election in Catalonia, through a pact with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia, ERC, left-wing pro-independence) & Iniciativa per Catalunya (Initiative for Catalonia, ICV, left-wing).
In 2004, the PSOE won the Spanish legislative elections with almost 43% of the votes, following the 11-M terrorist attacks, & maintained their lead in the elections to the European Parliament. - - In 2005, PSOE called for a Yes vote on the European Constitution. It won this referenda. It has since legalised same-sex marriage, & has called for further integration into the EU.

Baron: Unofficial term for the party's regional leaders. They can be very powerful, especially if they run an autonomous community. There have been conflicts between barons & the central directorate. Some barons are Pasqual Maragall (Catalonia), who didn't run for re-election in 2006; Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (Extremadura), who has also announced that he will not run in his region's next elections; & Manuel Chaves (Andalusia). (Enrique Barón was a PSOE minister for Industry, the surname is a coincidence). The term baron is more colloquial than official, representing the great power than these persons have in the party.
Compañero ("companion"): A term of address among Socialists, similar to the English term comrade.
Currents: There have been several internal groups within PSOE, based on personal or ideological affinities. Some of them have ended with separation from the PSOE. The failed trial of primary elections for PSOE candidates was an attempt to conciliate currents. Examples of currents are "Guerristas" (followers of Alfonso Guerra), "Renovadores" (renewers, right-wing of the Party) or Izquierda Socialista (Socialist Left).

Polls of 1950s-60s Britain, I.e on nationalisation, what were the main issues, & the Common Market, capital punishment, & immigration, & lastly some indication of who was leading the polls in the 1950s,

The Politics Portal
Polls on 1950s-60s election run up discussions. & conference facts, Also polling on the PM & Opposition leader in the 50s-60s annually, of who was more respected. A 1965 poll on the Labour & Tory Party leaders of are they respected in way of certain character traits i.e are they tough or sincere.

A game on a referenda, I decided to do one on Russia, see if you can win, if it is your taste,

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