Spanish PM resigns

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The resignation of Adolfo Suarez as Prime Minister of Spain has uncovered a seething crisis within the Spanish ruling cláss.

The departure of Suarezformerly Secretary of Franco's national "Movement" and later architect of Spain's "opening to democracy"-is still shrouded in mystery.

Suarez has been increasingly criticised from within his party, the Democratic Centre Union (CDU) for ineffective leadership.

As unemployment mounts, the slump deepens, the political crisis in relation to Basque nationalism continues, Suarez has seemed paralysed and incapable of offering any way forward.

His recent initiative in visiting Euskadi (the Basque country) turned out to be a fiasco which provoked widespread strikes and demonstrations and solved nothing.

There is every sign that the sudden cancellation of the Second UCD Congress ten days ago was the result less of the official excuse (transport strikes) than of the leadership's fear that it would degenerate into a Suarez-bashing session.

Coup

But Suarez himself in his resignation broadcast gave several hints of what may be the real reason for his departure.

He said he did not want, by staying in office, to threaten democracy in Spain and return to the past again.

This has been widely interpreted as a broad hint that senior officers in the armed forces threatened to launch some kind of coup against Suarez if he didn't resign.

This is consistent with numerous threats made, by sections of top military officers in the last four years to seize power and end a situation in which Basque nationalists of ETA have killed over 100 members of the security forces in the last 12 months.

This suggests that the new premier whoever he is will be allowed to take office only on condition that an even more repressive position is taken towards ETA and almost certainly also to the workers movement and other sections of the mass movement.

The top candidate for the role of replacement premier is Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo-a descendant of the monarchist semi-fascist leader of the Spanish far right in the 1930s who was assassinated four days before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was chief executive of Rio Tinto explosives and is closely allied to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

But there are few signs that Calvo Sotelo will possess the authority which Suarez has lost and little likelihood that he can reverse the drift of the bourgeoisie.

It is even possible he will fail to win a parliamentary vote of confidence in which case the political crisis would rapidly intensify and Spain would be plunged into a general election with no. authoritative government.

Given the possibility of Socialist Party victory • the danger of a military coup by the Francoist army would grow rapidly.