A week ago, José Antonio González Casanova died at the age of 86, who together with Solé Tura, Isidre Molas and Josep Maria Vallès, was a mainstay of the chair of Political Law of Manuel Jiménez de Parga, a focus of opposition to the dictatorship in the 60s.
González Casanova, closely linked to Catholicism opposed to the pre-conciliar Church, was also the leader of a clandestine group opposed to Francoism and very relevant in his time, the FLP (Popular Liberation Front), known as the ‘Felipe’. In Catalonia it was called FOC (Catalan Workers’ Front) although most of them were university students.
The ‘Felipe’, founded in 1958 by the diplomat Julio Cerón, brought together young people -many were in their early 20s in 1960- who wanted to overthrow Franco, were very active and shared what Jordi Amat has described as an “early fascination for the revolutionary left & rdquor ;. The PSOE seemed right-wing to them and they were not attracted to either the USSR or the dogmatism of the PCE. The models were Cuba, Tito’s Yugoslavia, facing Stalin, and the Algerian revolution..
The ‘Felipe’ disappeared. Why did the growth come to Spain? Why did Cuba fail? The truth is, many of its leaders emigrated to other parties.
In Catalonia, Miquel Roca co-founded with Jordi Pujol CDC, but Narcís Serra, Pasqual Maragall, Isidre Molas, Rudolf Guerra and others were a driving force behind the PSC. In Madrid there was the same dispersion since they were military from Jose Maria Maravall, then very close to Felipe González, Joaquín Leguina and Jose Maria Mohedano until Jose Pedro Perez Llorca, constitutional speaker and leader of the UCD.
González Casanova was at the foundation of the PSC, participated in the drafting of the Constitution and was a member of the Consell de Garanties. But, perhaps due to its great independence, it did not have a relevant political role.
During Aznar’s second term, I invited him to several talks on BTV and he asked me to present him a book that included his articles published from 1974 to that moment. I remember saying that the book allowed us to follow the reaction of a left-wing socialist to Spanish political evolution.
He corrected me. “I am not a left-wing socialist, just a socialist. Yes, I have always voted for the PSOE, and at ease, because between a party of the center and another of the extreme right -that is the option- I have no doubts & rdquor ;. He continued: “But, let’s see, Felipe González is not a socialist but rather an atheist Christian democrat& rdquor ;. There was a murmur in the Planeta room on the Rambla de Catalunya and, adjusting his glasses, he finished: “And Alfonso Guerra? He is not a socialist, but a Peronist who has read Antonio Machado & rdquor ;.
Unfair? Cartoon? Perhaps, but González Casanova, who liked Mahler as much as Guerra, was a restless intellectual and the cartoon, if it is acute – and it was – helps to understand reality. And, true, the great asset of Felipe González is to have governed not only for his own (hence his fight with the UGT of Nicolas Redondo), but rather thinking about broader interests and choosing the option – not Castroist – of integrating Spain once and for all into the prosperous European market economies.
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In his own way, González Casanova criticized him – and recognized him – by calling him a centrist. After coming to power in 1982, highly endorsed by the SPD of Willy Brandt, thoroughly cultivated the relationship with Helmut Kohl.
González Casanova longed for the ‘Felipe’ of the 60s, but he knew that his time had passed. He did not ambition positions of the PSC or the PSOE. Voting them – by elimination – was enough.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com