Socialists should drop anti-American strategy

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Surveys show that Spain is the most anti-American country in Europe. Consequently, the election strategy of Spanish socialists during the recent balloting in the European Parliament was based on trying to show that their conservative adversaries were pro-American. They, in turn, pictured themselves as the champions of a pan-European movement that was hostile to Washington, supposedly led by France and Germany.

The origin of this negative perception harkens to the intense campaign unleashed by the Spanish right in the 19th Century, when the United States was identified as a Protestant country, the evil heir of the ''perfidious Albion,'' materialistic, Mason, uncouth, dominated by the ''Chicago sausage-makers'' and the ``Jewish banks.''

To this ridiculous stereotype, reinforced after the war of 1898 and partially extant until today, the Marxist vision was added after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, and the United States began to be described as a heartless, imperial group of multinational companies intent on the exploitation of weak nations and the plundering of workers.

An eloquent example of that anti-American pincers operation could be seen in 1952, when two talented Spanish filmmakers, Luis G. Berlanga and Juan Antonio Bardem, co-authored and co-directed a funny satire against the United States, titled Welcome, Mr. Marshall, that was shown with much success at the Cannes Festival that year.

The movie criticized the fact that the United States did not help Franco's Spain, and shortly thereafter the Spanish left censured the Eisenhower government that, pressured by the Cold War, ended the international blockade imposed against Spain after World War II, eased Spain's admission to the United Nations and signed accords with Madrid to create joint military occupation bases.

The truth is that, contrary to the opinion of the left, the rapprochement between the Americans and the Franco regime contributed decisively to the later democratization and development of Spain. The Spanish military forces, winners of the Civil War and mostly adherents of fascism, were influenced by the American military forces, long-time believers in democratic values, a situation that became a dress rehearsal for the eventual admission of Spain into NATO.

On the other hand, Franco's economists and functionaries, then submerged in the fascist myths ordained by the ideology of right-wing socialism, gained access to the U.S. perspective based on a free market and an opening to the outside world.

Finally, in 1959, Spain joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Guided by the IMF experts, Spain abandoned its old fascist theories and initiated a capitalist economic program that it called the ''Stabilization Plan,'' a change that caused what soon became known as ``the Spanish miracle.''

Simultaneously, the U.S. universities set up in Spain opened their doors to anti-Franco intellectuals who had been expelled or excluded from their professorships, such as philosophers Julián Marías and José Luis Aranguren and socialist politician Enrique Tierno Galván.

It is unfair, then, to attribute to the United States a sort of complicity with the Franco regime that allegedly delayed the establishment of democracy.

On the contrary, it is very probable that King Juan Carlos' democratic vocation, a vital element during the transition, was reinforced by his very pro-American personal attitude.

And it is certain that, after Franco's death, every time that Washington had an opportunity to throw its weight around it did so in the direction of propitiating Spain's incorporation into organizations such as the European Union or NATO.

It is a demagogical error on the part of the socialists to insist on anti-Americanism as a formula to attract voters. The same way the conservative politicians -- at least the leading circles -- buried their old phobias toward Washington, Spain's democratic left should admit that it is absurd to continue attacking a vital ally on every issue.

It is time they understand that we live in an absolutely interrelated economic and cultural space, where all of us benefit from the others' successes and are hurt by their failures. They must understand that being anti-American is also a way of being anti-Spanish, just like being anti-European is a foolish way of being anti-American.

Junio 16, 2004.