Saw+ King Pawn of Spanish Gen

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Please send me more details about the Work The name of Bourbon these days is less associated with monarchy than with whiskey and chocolate biscuits.

But one of the old family of oppressors remains in office if not power-King Juan Carlos of Spain, dictator Franco's appointed successor.

Last week, shrouded in' security blanket more engulfing than any even the Basque country has ever seen, the King spent three days in the troubled and for him troublesome Basque provinces.

Jeering

Workers went on strike in protest; there were demonstrations and jeering in the streets, and in the Basque "parliament" in Guernica the members of Herri Batasuna (Popular Unity) staged a noisy protest which prevented the King from speaking for ten minutes, betore they were forcibly ejected by Basque police.

In the end on a couple of occasions a crowd of a few hundred gathered around the King and displayed something approaching enthusiasm-which allowed the state-controlled media to present the visit as a success. * In reality, however, it highlighted the Spanish ruling class's extreme crisis of authority.

In Madrid Juan Carlos had left behind him a governmental crisis which remains unresolved.

As we go to press the bitterly divided ruling party, the Democratic Centre Union (UCD), is holding its long delayed second Congress in an attempt to find an authoritative new leader to replace Adolfo Suarez who resigned as Premier two weeks ago.

Juan Carlos has not yet dared to appoint as Premier the man selected by the executive, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo.

This is because of the opposition to Calvo Sotelo expressed by many sections of the UCD, especially the extreme right.

Many, even in the UCD itself, are predicting the imminent break-up of the UCD which is deeply split over economic policy, regional autonomy, whether to permit abortion and numerous other questions.

Almost certainly Juan Carlos was ordered by the extreme right and the military not to appoint a new Premier, and so give him some authority, in advance of the UCD Congress.

It is the extreme right and the military, it seems, who are now controlling the pace of events from a little behind the scenes, though their ultimate plans nave not become plain.

It the UCD splits.. it is possible a new UCD premier will not be able to command a parliamentary majority-a situation which in principle could lead to either a Socialist Party minority government or new general elections both of which would be situations to which the right and the army would be very hostile.

Majority

There is every sign that any new military plot in Spain would not be the work merely of the lunatic diehard Francoists but of the majority of the top army command.

It may be that they are planning as a first step to move against Euskadi (the Basque country).