Spanish Transition, violence and political cultures

Abstract

This article deals with the impact of political violence on certain left-wing political cultures that were protagonists of the Spanish Transition: socialism, communism and the radical left. The aim is to delve into the transcendence of this phenomenon in the process of political change, its centrality and its operational mechanisms, both at the symbolic and mnemonic level, as well as from the concrete specific manifestations produced in that period - terrorism, police violence, coup d’état-. The performative nature of violence, which modulated the discourses, strategies and political practices of the subjects analyzed, consequently conditioned the very development of the democratization process and became a political actor of considerable notable importance that has to be calibrated more precisely to the time to in analyzeing and explaining the Spanish Transition.