THE SPANISH Parliamentary eleccions on 3 March finally gave José Maria Aznar and his Popular Party the majority for which they had long hoped - but not an absolute majority. Felipe Gonzales was again able to mobilise the left and limit the damage. The ultra-centralist PP must negotiate the formation of a government with the bourgeois Catalan regionalists.
The stock exchange reacted negatively: such a coalition would not guarantee stabilicy. On the left, the result for Izquierda Unida (Left Unity) was qualified: it gained votes and seats, but not enough. A period of debate (or even crisis) is opening in IU. Will a remobilisation of the social movement clarify the stakes?
WAI The ACE has held on to its ledership role in the COO workers commissions Julio Anguica, coordinator of iU and general secretary of the PCE (Communist Party), has never hidden his strategy: to smash the hegemony of the PSOE (Socialist Party) and to make lU the largest force on the left. This seemed possible when the PSOE was sunk in political-financial scandals and discredited by its austerity policies. But when the votes were counted. IU were forced to change their tone. The parsy authe PSOE. had progressed from 18 to 21 seats, which counts for little against the PSOE's 141.
In Andalusia, IU had refused to support the PSOE-controlled regional government, and had frequently voted with the PP opposition. The regional elections were brought forward and the PSOE won an absolute majority. advancing from 45 to 52 seats. IU suffered severe defeat, falling from 20 to 13 seats and losing 88,000 votes.
MPLEATS PUBLICS These poor results were grist for the mil of the IU riht. around the Nueva Izquierda (New Left) current. Anguita and the PCE think that IU must keep its distance from the PSOE with Its austerity, its scandals and its support for Maastriche. Nueva Izquierda, which argues that chis position disqualifies the iU as a partner in government, leans towards an alliance with Anguita is clearty not wrong in his opposition to Maastricht. Any other policy would lead inevitably, across Europe, to capitulation to austerity and the dismantlement of social gains. But the question is how to achieve a majority for a social and economic al. ternative.
The choice is not berween submission to the PSOE or glorious, sectarian, Isolation. For those who relect austerity, the problem is to develop a conThe Basque freedom struggle continues structive and dynamic link with the soch movement horero come the spokesperson for social struggles. But IU has long had a strained relationsocial movements, This flows from its "hegemonistic approach, which rouses the fear of manipulation.
The IU project is no longer sufficienty blanced. Although it has veror ously opposed the PSOE's policies, its own alternatives have often been vague and subordinated to internal tensions. IU wants to be "a political formation of a new sype • out was this means in practice has never been spelt out. The question is still how to gain the PSOE's electorate. The Andalusia balance-sheet must be taken into account: a strong anti-PSOE line, dubious alliances with the PP, electoral success of the PSOE.
At the end of 1995 the PCE, the dominant force in IU. held its 14th Congress on the theme "Regrouping the left", which is also the theme of the party's 75th anniversary campaign. since the foundation of IU, the PCE hat been divided by a tension besween its own development and developing IU. This tension has been reinforced by the fact that Angüita is the leader of both formations.
The PCE Congress texts expressed this tension (and confusion) well, using identical formulations to describe the tasks of the PCE and those of IU. Antonio Gramsci was coplously quoted in these documents. Contessing the right's political and cultural hegemony confrontation) was presented as a task both of IU within the left and of the PCE within IU. Further, the PCE has long hesitated between its dissolution in order to build IU and a stronger affirmation of its own existence, arguing that IU's organised force and im pransacion do not reflect its widespread electoral support (2,/00.000 votes)
It may be possible to get out of the Impasse by looking towards France. A French-style social mobilisation against a right-wing government determined to return Spain to the line of Masstriche is not impossible. IU is well placed to play an important röle in such a mass movement. in this case a political opening for struggles, which was so grievously lacking in Belgium as in France, could take form in Spain (and in Italy, with Rifondazione). If this hap pens. would not mean a defeat of the left within IU, but the chance for a new left Impetus in the Spanish state. Otherwise...