The ‘S’ Word

While in European democracies such as France, United Kingdom or Spain socialist policies are embraced by hundreds of thousands of voters, in the United States the word “socialism” is a risky word, considered by many to be tantamount to the dreaded communism associated with USSR or Mao’s China. Now that US has initiated the nominating process –primaries and caucuses– that will eventually result in the presidential election of November 2016, the appearance of the word “socialism” in the candidate’s campaigns is remarkable. It all began when Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders described himself as a democratic socialist. Defensively, Republican candidate Donald Trump labels Sanders a communist and Hillary Clinton’s supporters are warning about his hidden socialist identity.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in Spain, where governance is a problematical and less transparent process, the general elections held in December have left the country jammed in a thorny political mess. In Spain it’s the socialists who have always controlled the nation’s power levers, even when they aren’t the elect party. Spain’s democratic greenness is the setback impeding a grand conservative/socialist coalition that would bring the country out of the post-electoral impasse and check the instability that is already affecting the economy. Felipe González, the longest-serving Spanish Prime Minister –elected for four successive terms from 1982 to 1996–, does not have to conceal his socialist policies like Bernie Sanders does. González’s main problem now is convincing his own socialist party –PSOE– that an agreement with the demonized right-wing Popular Party will not make Dictator Franco rise from his grave, as he has been warning for decades. If in the United States “socialism” is a dirty word that political leaders have to give long explanations about, in Spain it’s the socialists who are in the driver’s seat.