Spain: The 20th Century in Color

S01E06

The 1970s

The 1970s begin with a Francoist regime that has no clear plan for the future and in which no one really knows what will happen once Franco dies. The lack of freedoms, prohibitions of all kinds and censorship become increasingly absurd, but Francoism has no other way to act. Demonstrations by workers and students or neighborhood residents are repressed with beatings, gunshots and imprisonment. The younger politicians of the dictatorship, with King Juan Carlos at the forefront, know that Francoism without Franco is impossible, but there is no predetermined plan. The political opposition presses for real democratic change and it is in the streets where society shows its opinion. This force is decisive for the Transition pact and for the establishment of a parliamentary regime comparable to that of Western Europe. Spaniards live between the hope of change and the economic problems that severely afflict the working classes.