11 DECEMBER 1975 Over the past weeks the press of the capitalist world has been desperately trying to put a mask of respectability on the regime of King Juan Carlos. But now the mask has been ripped away, exposing the Francoist face beneath.
Big trumpet blasts were sounded for the 'amnesty' which Juan Carlos issued to celebrate his coronation. This 'concession' was miserly enough — a tiny number of well-known workers' leaders released, while the hundreds of political prisoners incarcerated by the Franco regime remained in jail.
But even this phoney ploy now lies in tatters, following the re-arrest and imprisonment of workers commission leaders Marcelino Camacho and Padre Paco who were let out with such liberal fanfares only last week. WEEKLY No. 129 PRICE 10p This crackdown was combined with a ruthless wave of repression in Madrid. The area around the notorious Carabanchel prison has been turned into an armed camp in order to stop demonstrations for the liberation of all political prisoners. Small crowds of people were ruthlessly attacked and beaten last weekend and over 100 arrests were made.
Although Juan Carlos and his Francoist clique are going through the charade of tossing a few miserable sops to the Spanish people, these 'concessions' cannot satisfy the determination of the working class to win those freedoms that were ruthlessly stolen from them 40 years ago. They will only encourage the masses to fight for demands such as democratic rights; for free elections to a political body with the power to decide the political structure and government; for free trade unions; and for the right of self-determination for the oppressed national minorities of Euzkadi (the Basque country), Catalonia and Galicia.
Faced with such struggles, the regime will respond in true Francoist fashion - by brutal repression. But the resistance that erupted even while the old dictator was still alive shows that repres