6. Vitoria: The Turning Point¶
Core Argument¶
The 1976 Vitoria strike movement represents a decisive turning point in the Spanish transition, revealing the fundamental antagonism between genuine working-class self-organisation and the elite-driven project of capitalist restoration. In Vitoria, the strike was controlled not by the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), which was weak in the city and secretly opposed the movement, but by the workers themselves. Having shifted to seeking pacification and negotiation after Franco’s death, the PCE manoeuvred behind the scenes to stop the struggle. Workers rejected the Vertical Union structures inherited from the dictatorship, instead building assemblies as the supreme decision-making body and electing recallable spokespersons rather than signing personal agreements.
The strike began spontaneously in December 1975, when workers at Cablenor stopped production upon learning of the Forjas steel factory strike. Factory owners responded with a lock-out, leading workers to occupy churches and then take to the streets in overalls to demonstrate visibly. Weekly assemblies were held in churches, daily assemblies in factories, with neighbourhood and educational committees integrated into a Central Strike Committee. The key demand was an equal wage rise for all, reducing differentials. Workers understood that stopping production was the only language employers understood. After arrests and sackings began, daily mass assemblies of 5–6,000 people made all decisions collectively. Representative Committees were elected in each factory, composed of the most militant workers and recallable at any time. Women played an outstanding role, organising strike funds, food collections, and ‘empty shopping bag’ marches. The strike lasted fifty-four days.
On 3 March, a general strike paralysed the city. Police surrounded the packed Church of San Francisco, fired tear gas and live rounds without warning, and killed five workers: Pedro Martínez Ocio, Francisco Aznar, Romualdo Barroso, José Castillo, and Bienvenido Pareda. At least 150 were wounded. Police radio recordings captured officers saying they had fired over 2,000 bullets and describing the event as “a massacre”. No police were injured at the church. The killings sparked a general strike across the Basque Country and a funeral attended by over 100,000 people. In Tarragona, police attacked a solidarity demonstration, killing nineteen-year-old Juan Gabriel Rodrigo. In Rome, demonstrators attacked the Spanish Embassy; Italian police killed passer-by Mario Marrota.
The regime responded with cover-up and repression. Fraga Iribarne ordered an obligatory settlement, allowing bosses to claim their hands were tied. Police entered hospitals, confiscated bullets to prevent ballistic tests, and threatened victims. Military doctors facilitated the cover-up. Strike leaders were taken to Carabanchel prison. The PCE-controlled magazine Triunfo accused Vitoria workers of using violent methods and playing into the hands of the right. Imanol and Andoni argue the order came from above; Fraga and Martín Villa stated the massacre was an example to deter others. After the massacre, multinationals like Mercedes-Benz withdrew support from the Fraga-Areilza-Arias government, backing Suárez and the king’s “democratic opening” instead. Imanol argues the massacre backfired: instead of terrorising people, it generated sympathy. The regime then adopted “social anaesthesia,” shifting from repression to political co-optation under the rhetoric of democracy and common interests.
After the strike, party members who had joined it abandoned joint struggle in favour of their own legalisation. Assemblies became promotional tools for factions seeking proximity to power. The Constitution was finalised without purging the fascist-era army, police, or judiciary. The Moncloa Pacts brought wage moderation, restructuring, unemployment, and privatisation. Lawyers who had defended victims urged that 3 March be forgiven and forgotten. Individual criminal responsibility was never clarified; no aggressors were arrested. Forty years on, no one has been convicted of the murders.