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Franco often calls his regime an "organic democracy" in which the individual is represented through family, labor syndicate and township; unfortunately, no such system exists in practice, and there are no free political elections in Spain.
Labor unions now elect shop stewards but the stewards are powerless, and strikes illegal. New laws to relax Franco's tight control over the press have been in the rumor stage since 1957, will probably get no further. This spring, Franco announced that new basic laws were under study by the rubber-stamp Parliament; they will probably remain under study indefinitely. This summer, women were ceremoniously granted equal rights with men, but since men have few political rights, it was a meaningless gesture.
Retreat from a Boom. Spain's real gains have been economic. Inspired by U.S. aid money, Franco in the Fifties embarked on an overambitious program to make Spain a great industrial power. Giant steel plants rose (in nearly inaccessible areas), automobile and truck factories sprang up, and scores of new dams were erected to furnish more electricity (but few to irrigate Spain's parched soil). The sudden boom was accompanied by a runaway inflation that sent the cost of living up 50%. It also nearly bankrupted the economy. By the summer of 1959, Franco's coffers were empty: they contained $6,000,000 in hard currency, not even enough to buy a month's supply of oil.
Faced with economic disaster, Franco had no choice but to bring his headlong boom to a violent stop. A dramatic stabilization program, plotted by able young Spanish economists and backed with loans totaling $418 million from the U.S. and OEEC, put Franco's finances on sound ground for the first time in history (latest surplus: $763 million). Under pressure from both labor and business, Franco was forced to reject two basic changes that would have renovated the whole anti quated economy: an end to the rigid labor laws against layoffs and to government favoritism toward established industries by controlling possible competition. Even so, the economy slowly got started again, is now working at a record level. The individual Spaniard, although poorer paid (an average of $25 a month) than most other Western Europeans, has never lived better. Most families can now afford a motor scooter; many are taking vacations for the first time in their lives.
Actuarial Answer. So impressive has been Spain's recent recovery, that Wall Street's influential Arthur Wiesenberger & Co. last month announced that "Spain's prospects for growth in the period ahead presently appear about as good as those of almost any nation on the globe." One problem troubled Wiesenberger: "After Franco, what happens?" For an answer, he had to resort to an actuarial table. Reported Wiesenberger: "The best answer seems to be that Franco, who will be 69 in December, has a life expectancy of 80."