By Asier TRASPADERNE
On Nov. 20, 1975, Francisco Franco, Spain’s dictator since 1939, died comfortably in the “La Paz” Hospital in Madrid. While his death, announced on national television by a teary PM Carlos Arias Navarro, brought joy and relief to many; it was also mourned by thousands across the nation. Following the end of the fascist regime, Spain underwent an astonishingly peaceful and swift democratic transition, and is today one of the most socially advanced countries in the Western world in terms of democracy, human rights and social liberties. Nevertheless, following the trend of rising far-right discourse and representation in most of the European continent, what makes this upsurge in Spain different to those in Germany, Italy or Portugal?
Unlike in these countries, Spain’s dictator didn’t fall. Franco’s regime wasn’t uprooted by a popular uprising nor was it put to trial. Franco was never caught trying to leave the country through the Pyrenees with his wife and strung up in the town square to be beaten up by the people. Unlike Hitler, Mussolini or Salazar, Franco died in a hospital bed, receiving quality medical treatment, after having lived a long life. The end of his regime wasn’t the result of popular dissent or the people’s desire to live more freely; the dictatorship in Spain ended purely because Franco, after 36 years in power, died.
Spain’s transition to a democracy over the years that followed Franco’s death was a feat in and of itself, but it cannot be ignored that this move away from totalitarianism, unlike in the other countries mentioned above, was not born out of a general longing for democracy.
When observing the end of fascist regimes in other European nations and the immediate aftermath, Spain stands out. In Germany, the end of the Nazi regime was followed by the Nuremberg trials, and Nazi symbology remains illegal in modern-day Germany. In Italy, Mussolini’s downfall was followed by a popular vote which resulted in a new republican state that outlawed the reorganization of the Fascist Party in any form and glorification of fascist leaders in 1952. In Portugal, the Carnation Revolution ultimately resulted in the adoption of the 1976 constitution, which prohibits fascist ideology in Article 46(4). In all these cases, there has been a clear acknowledgment of the pain and atrocities committed during each country’s respective fascist regime.
Spain, however, took a different path. While the transitions mentioned above were carried out by outsiders of the regimes that preceded them, the Transición in Spain was led by the very heirs of Franco’s regime. King Juan Carlos I was Franco’s successor, appointed and trained personally by him, who intended for him to continue his legacy. The move towards a democratic regime was purely strategic; a result of international pressure, fear of isolation and panic that a similar revolution to Portugal’s would show the fragility of the regime. Adolfo Suárez, who successfully led a peaceful transition after being appointed as head of government by the king, and is today celebrated in Spain as a champion of democracy, had previously held important political positions under Franco. Moreover, legal penalization of Franco-era apology and symbolism (such as the regime’s flag) was not immediately adopted. It wasn’t until 2007 when the first Historical Memory Law was passed, followed by the Democratic Memory Law in 2022, which recognized victims of the Civil War and dictatorship, explicitly condemned the 1936 coup and the Franco regime and strengthened reparative measures. Both laws caused turmoil among right-wing and far-right groups alike. Thus, one thing is clear: although Spain did eventually criminalize Franco apologism, this was not done immediately after the fall of the regime, and cannot be understood as a direct or inherent outcome of the regime’s collapse.
All these differences are what make the rise of far-right political parties in Spain, such as Vox, all the more worrying. While most of their voters are just your standard radical citizens in areas such as immigration or family, a decent chunk are more than just that; they are nostalgic for the dictatorship. And why wouldn’t they be?
The Spanish educational system has—for the longest time—only vaguely condemned Franco’s totalitarian regime, with limited legal persecution for public expression of fascist ideology aligned with francoist ideals. Moreover, Franco’s mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen, built using slave labor from political prisoners, remains open to the public, not as a reminder of what the dictatorship was, but as a site where people mourn the dictator who died aged 82 after living a full, long life. And how could people not openly express their nostalgia for the regime when Vox deputies in parliament make claims such as: “the period following the Civil War was not a dark period, […] but a period of reconstruction, progress and reconciliation.”
For all these reasons, the recent electoral popularity of Vox cannot be classified as purely contingent like the rise of AfD, Chega, or Fratelli d’Italia in Germany, Portugal and Italy respectively. How could we not expect a resurgence of the far-right when Franco’s dictatorship simply died down with him and wasn’t followed by its systemic rejection? In Spain, this rise isn’t just a political shift; it is a normalization of fascism that is being increasingly accepted by society—alarmingly so—rendering it an outlier case among comparable cases and significantly more concerning.
Sources
Social Progress Imperative. (n.d.). Social Progress Index. https://www.socialprogress.org/social-progress-index
Le Monde. (2025, April 3). In Spain, schools overlook the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/03/in-spain-schools-overlook-the-civil-war-and-franco-s-dictatorship_6739787_4.html
Euronews. (2022, October 6). Spain approves law banning praise of former dictator Francisco Franco. https://www.euronews.com/2022/10/06/spain-approves-law-banning-praise-of-former-dictator-francisco-franco
El País. (2024, November 26). Un diputado de Vox hace apología del franquismo en el Congreso: “Fue una etapa de reconstrucción, de progreso y de reconciliación”. https://elpais.com/videos/2024-11-26/un-diputado-de-vox-hace-apologia-del-franquismo-en-el-congreso-fue-una-etapa-de-reconstruccion-de-progreso-y-de-reconciliacion.html
El País. (2023, July 23). Election in Spain: PP wins, PSOE resists and the right-wing bloc falls short of majority. https://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-07-23/election-in-spain-pp-wins-psoe-resists-and-the-right-wing-bloc-falls-short-of-majority.html
