Partido Socialista Obrero Español

Partido Socialista Obrero Español
Secretary General	Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón
founding	May 2, 1879
Place of foundation	Madrid
Headquarters	Calle de Ferraz , 70 28008 Madrid
Youth organization	Juventudes Socialistas de España (JSE)
newspaper	El Socialista
Alignment	Social democracy
Colours)	red
Spanish House of Representatives	120/350
Spanish Senate	110/265
Number of members	217,000 (as of 2012)
International connections	Progressive Alliance Socialist International
MEPs	21/59
European party	Party of European Socialists (PES)
EP Group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats  (S&D)
Website	www.psoe.es

The Partido Socialista Obrero Español ( PSOE for short [Spanish pronunciation: peˈsoe ], German  Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ) is a center-left political party in Spain that has existed since 1879 (under the current name since 1888), making it the oldest party in Spain . The PSOE sees itself today as a social democratic party.

history

Pablo Iglesias Posse

The party was founded on May 2, 1879 as Partido Socialista del Trabajo (Socialist Labor Party) by Pablo Iglesias Posse and renamed Partido Socialista Obrero Español in 1888 . The union federation Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) , which was also founded by Pablo Iglesias in 1888, was closely associated with the PSOE . Initially, the socialists were strongly represented in Asturias , the industrial regions of the Basque Country and Madrid , while they had little influence in the industrial regions of Catalonia .

In 1910 the socialists succeeded in entering the Spanish parliament for the first time with Pablo Iglesias. However, the parliamentary influence of the PSOE remained low until 1923 due to the current electoral law and manipulation within the framework of the Kazikentum .

In 1920 the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) split from the PSOE.

In the Second Spanish Republic , the party became the strongest party in the House of Representatives of the Cortes in the parliamentary elections of 1931 with 131 members and was part of the government coalition of the left-liberal Prime Minister Manuel Azaña from 1931 to 1933 . In 1933 this coalition lost the parliamentary elections against the conservative CEDA . In 1934 large parts of the PSOE and the UGT took part in the workers' uprising in Asturias.

In 1935 the party, together with left-wing liberals and communists, formed the Popular Front ( Frente Popular ) , which won the 1936 elections and formed the government. During the Spanish Civil War between the Popular Front government and the insurgent military under Francisco Franco , the PSOE provided Francisco Largo Caballero (1936–1937) and Juan Negrín (1937–1939), the Prime Minister of the Spanish Republic.

Francisco Largo Caballero

During the Franco dictatorship , the party was banned and operated domestically from underground. However, the actual activities of the party shifted into exile. The party headquarters was relocated to Toulouse , near the border . The other large cells in exile were in Paris , Mexico , Buenos Aires , Liege, and Switzerland .

In 1974 the socialist party illegally reformed under the code name "Isidoro". After admission as a Democratic Party in 1976, Felipe González Márquez became chairman of the PSOE. In 1979 the party deleted the self-definition as “Marxist” from its party program and developed in the political direction that has remained formative to this day. The PSOE was thus committed to both a largely liberal market policy and anchoring Spain in the European Community .

With the programmatic change of direction in 1979, the party gained a majority and established itself as an alternative to the previously ruling Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD) under Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez , which suffered a severe government crisis from 1980 and began to dissolve as a party. The unpopular accession of Spain to NATO in May 1982 finally became the key election campaign topic of the socialists for the parliamentary elections on October 28, 1982. By announcing that a referendum was to be held that would allow the resignation from NATO, the party succeeded in winning the UCD in to clearly overtake the favor of the electorate and to win an absolute majority of the seats. It formed the first government under Prime Minister Felipe González , who remained in office continuously until 1996.

Shortly after the elections, however, the socialists changed their attitude towards NATO, partly for tactical reasons, so as not to endanger accession negotiations with the EC by leaving NATO. When the referendum announced before the election was carried out after its successful conclusion and the Spanish accession to the EC on January 1, 1986, the PSOE finally campaigned to remain in NATO, which was also accepted by a large majority by the voters. A few months later, the socialists again won the parliamentary elections and again achieved an absolute majority.

During the following years the party advocated a liberal economic policy combined with social reforms. In the 1989 elections, the socialists were once again able to just barely defend an absolute majority, and from 1993 they formed a minority government. Several corruption scandals as well as the involvement of the Ministry of the Interior and high-ranking PSOE members in the scandal surrounding the murder of (often only supposed) terrorists of the ETA and Basque separatist politicians in the 1980s by death squads of the Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL) led to the discrediting the government. In the early parliamentary elections on March 3, 1996, the PSOE won 38.8% of the vote and 141 of the total of 351 seats and thus lost the long-standing majority to the conservative Partido Popular (PP), which was founded by former Francoist ministers and in the democratic party system had long played a marginal role. In 1997, the party leadership passed to Joaquín Almunia and in July 2000, José Luis Zapatero took over the office.

In the Spanish parliamentary elections on March 14, 2004, which took place shortly after the Madrid train attacks , the party surprisingly won back the majority with its top candidate José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (42.6%, 164 seats). After eight years in the opposition, the PSOE was able to form a minority government backed by the left-wing Izquierda Unida (IU) and the Catalan left-wing nationalists Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and other regional parties. On April 16, 2004, Zapatero was elected Prime Minister by the Spanish Parliament and sworn in by King Juan Carlos I a day later .

In terms of foreign policy, the legislative period 2004–2008 was marked by the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq and a deterioration in relations with the USA. At the same time, the new government intensified efforts to make progress in European integration; In the Spanish referendum on the EU constitutional treaty, the PSOE successfully campaigned for a yes. Domestically, the Zapatero government implemented social reforms, including the introduction of same-sex marriage and paternity leave, and the legalization of the residence status of illegal immigrants . In addition, there were reforms of the Statute of Autonomy, with which the autonomous communities were strengthened, and - unsuccessful - peace negotiations with the Basque terrorist organization ETA . This led to violent conflicts with the PP, but to a rapprochement between the PSOE and regional parties such as the Basque PNV , the Catalan CiU or the Galician BNG .

In the parliamentary elections of 2008 , the socialists recorded slight gains and won another victory. The following months were marked by the fight against the global financial crisis, which hit the Spanish real estate industry hard. In addition, the PSOE advocates further social reforms, such as comprehensive voting rights for foreigners .

In the early parliamentary elections on November 20, 2011 , Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba ran as the top candidate. PSOE won only 110 out of 330 seats, the worst result since 1979, and went into the opposition. Rubalcaba took over the position of general secretary of the party from Zapatero in February 2012, where he narrowly prevailed against his competitor Carme Chacón at the 38th party congress . After the disastrous 2014 European elections for the country's two people's parties , which indicated the end of the two-party system in Spain and cost the party almost half of its votes, the until then largely unknown Pedro Sánchez was elected in July 2014 with the support of the Andalusian Prime Minister Susana Díaz , who wanted to prevent the election of Eduardo Madina , was elected general secretary of the party.

After the 2015 parliamentary election , which went badly for both mainstream parties and only brought the PSOE 90 seats, negotiations on the formation of a left-wing government with Podemos and Izquierda Unida , tolerating small nationalist parties or a stable center-left government with the bourgeois Ciudadanos and Podemos had failed and a grand coalition with the Partido Popular, which was burdened by corruption scandals, had been excluded, the following year, for the first time in Spanish history, there was an early election without the formation of a government . After the almost unchanged result for the Socialists in June and the poor performance in the regional elections in the Basque Country and Galicia on September 25, 2016, criticism within the party increased against Sánchez, who made it possible for his party to form a conservative government, as had his previous one Decided on rivals, continued to reject them and sought serious negotiations on a left-wing government, which, however, met with fierce resistance from the right wing of the party and the so-called “barons” (long-term, deserving members).

17 members of the party executive, known as rebels , then declared their resignation in order to force Sánchez to resign. But when the latter stuck to his office and called a meeting of the 253-member party council (comité federal) on October 1, 2016 to schedule a party congress to elect the general secretary, Sánchez suffered a defeat in the turbulent vote on it with 107 to 132 votes , whereupon he resigned from the post of Secretary General. These events, which split the party into two camps, accompanied by member protests at the grassroots level, were called a coup by some observers and in which the Andalusian Prime Minister Susana Díaz was seen as the driving force against Sánchez , became the greatest crisis in party history at least since the Spanish Civil War .

Pedro Sánchez after his re-election as General Secretary at the 39th Party Congress in June 2017

After Sánchez's resignation, the party was led from October 2016 to May 2017 by a ten-member executive committee (comisión gestora) , a kind of emergency committee, chaired by the Prime Minister of the Asturias Region , Javier Fernández . As expected, the committee pushed through an abstention in the party council with 139 votes to 96 in the next round of elections for the Spanish Prime Minister, in order to enable a conservative minority government. The MPs who would still vote against Rajoy - there were 15 in the end - as well as the Catalan sister party , which was still opposed to Rajoy, were threatened with expulsion from the party; in effect, these MPs received fines and 5 were demoted to parliamentary bodies. The sister parties set up a commission to examine their relationships with one another.

The members' primary election of the new General Secretary took place on May 21, 2017. In it, Pedro Sánchez, who resigned in October 2016, prevailed against his competitors Susana Díaz and Patxi López with almost half of the votes cast .

General Secretaries since 1974

1974-1997	Felipe González Marquez	Spanish Prime Minister 1982–1996
1997-2000	Joaquín Almunia Amann
2000-2012	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero	Spanish Prime Minister 2004–2011
2012-2014	Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
2014–2016 2017–	Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón	Spanish Prime Minister since 2018

structure

The PSOE is divided into 18 regional associations (federaciones autonómicas) , which exist in 16 (of 17) autonomous communities in Spain and in the two autonomous cities of Melilla and Ceuta. There is also a European Association (PSOE Europe). There is an independent socialist party in Catalonia .

The names of the regional associations are (if necessary in the respective regional language):

•  Andalusia : Partido Socialista Obrero Español de Andalucía (PSOE-A)
•  Aragon : Partido de los Socialistas de Aragón-PSOE (PSA-PSOE)
•  Canary Islands : Partido Socialista Canario (PSC-PSOE)
•  Cantabria : Partido Socialista de Cantabria (PSC-PSOE)
•  Castile-La Mancha : Partido Socialista de Castilla-La Mancha PSOE (PSCM-PSOE)
•  Castile and León : Partido Socialista de Castilla y León (PSCyL-PSOE).
•  Ceuta : Partido Socialista de Ceuta (PSCe-PSOE).
•  Madrid : Partido Socialista de Madrid (PSM-PSOE).
•  Navarra : Nafarroako Alderdi Sozialista / Partido Socialista de Navarra (PSN)
•  Valencia : Partit Socialista del País Valencià (PSPV-PSOE).
•  Extremadura : Partido Socialista Obrero Español de Extremadura (PSOE Extremadura).
•  Galicia : Partido dos Socialistas de Galicia (PSdeG-PSOE).
•  Balearic Islands : Partit dels Socialistes de les Illes Balears (PSIB-PSOE).
•  La Rioja : Partido Socialista de La Rioja (PSLR-PSOE).
•  Melilla : Partido Socialista de Melilla (PSMe-PSOE).
•  Basque Country : Partido Socialista de Euskadi-Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE-EE-PSOE).
•  Asturias : Federación Socialista Asturiana (FSA-PSOE).
•  Murcia : Partido Socialista de la Región de Murcia (PSRM-PSOE).

Foreign organization Europe

• PSOE Europe (PSOE Europe).

Sister party:

•  Catalonia : Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC).

The Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC) in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia is a formally independent sister party of the PSOE. Similar to the CDU and CSU in Germany, for example , both parties form a joint group ( parliamentary group ) in the Spanish House of Representatives . Unlike the Bavarian Christian Socialists with the CDU, the PSC is statutorily associated with the PSOE and sends representatives to the socialist party committees across Spain.

Organs at national level

The highest organ of the PSOE is the party congress (congreso federal) . Party conferences take place every three or four years. It is convened by the party council (comité federal) . With the convening of a regular party congress (or an extraordinary party congress, the subject of which is early board elections), the process of electing the general secretary (secretario general) begins, who is elected in a primary election of all members before the party congress. In order to run for the office of general secretary, the applicant must provide the supporting signatures of 5% of the party members. The general secretary is elected who has the most votes in the primary election. If there is only one candidate, there will be no election; he will automatically become Secretary General.

The delegates of the party congress are predominantly elected by the territorial party branches. In addition, there is a delegation from the youth organization JSE (2% of all party congress delegates) and smaller delegations from the “sectoral organizations” (organicaciones sectoriales) , in which various interests and professions are organized within the party. There are currently six sector organizations, each dealing with a specific policy area. Every party member can register to work in a sector organization.

The political governing body is the party executive committee (comisión ejecutiva federal) . Its most important member is the general secretary elected by primary election, who has a kind of policy authority and who represents the party politically. The remaining members of the party executive committee are elected by the party congress on the proposal of the general secretary. These are the party chairman (presidente) , who only has a representative function, 25 secretaries (secretarios) and 11 assessors. One of the secretaries (secretario de organización) has the role of party leader and spokesman. The other secretaries are each responsible for specific policy areas.

The highest decision-making body between the party congresses is the comité federal , with currently around 300 members, 110 of whom are elected by the party congress. In addition, there are delegates from the regional divisions and a number of “born” members (e.g. the members of the comisión ejecutiva federal , the general secretaries of the regional divisions and the group chairmen in the House of Representatives and in the Senate ).

Representation in regional parliaments and governments

The PSOE is represented in all the parliaments of the autonomous communities except for Catalonia (there it is the Catalan sister party PSC ). It provides the prime minister in seven autonomous communities. In another region she is a junior partner in a coalition, in another region her participation in government as a junior partner ended early. In detail:

region	Election day	Share of votes (%)	Seats	Government participation
Andalusia	March 22, 2015	35.28	47 of 109	Minority government under Susana Díaz Pacheco (PSOE)
Aragon	May 24, 2015	27.50	21 of 67	Coalition with CHA (minority government) under Javier Lambán Montañés (PSOE)
Asturias	May 24, 2015	26.48	14 of 45	Minority government under Javier Fernández Fernández (PSOE)
Balearic Islands	May 24, 2015	19.40	15 of 59	Coalition with the left regional party MÉS (minority government) under Francesca Lluc ("Francina") Armengol Socías (PSOE)
Basque Country	September 25, 2016	11.9	9 of 75	Support for a minority government of PNV
Extremadura	May 24, 2015	41.50	30 of 65	Minority government under Guillermo Fernández Vara (PSOE)
Galicia	September 25, 2016	18.87	14 of 75
Canaries	May 24, 2015	19.89	15 of 60	Junior partner in a coalition with the regional party Coalición Canaria , until 2016 with Vice President Patricia Hernández Gutiérrez, afterwards coalition breakdown
Cantabria	May 24, 2015	14.01	5 of 35	Junior partner in a coalition (minority government) with the regional PRC party , with Eva Díaz Tezanos as vice-president
Castile-La Mancha	May 24, 2015	36.11	15 of 33	Minority government under Emiliano García-Page Sánchez (PSOE)
Castile and León	May 24, 2015	25.94	25 of 84
La Rioja	May 24, 2015	26.74	10 of 33
Madrid	May 24, 2015	25.43	37 of 129
Murcia	May 24, 2015	23.96	13 of 45
Navarre	May 24, 2015	13.37	7 of 50
Valencia	May 24, 2015	20.57	23 of 99	Coalition with the left regional party COMPROMÍS under Joaquín Francisco ("Ximo") Puig Ferrer (PSOE)

Ferraz

Party headquarters on Calle Ferraz

The party's headquarters have been in the building at 70 Calle Ferraz in Madrid since 1983 . The house of the party founder Pablo Iglesias was at this point. In the Spanish media, the party bodies, the party apparatus or even the party as such are sometimes referred to as “Ferraz” for short.

literature

• Fritz René Allemann : Spain's left - back from the underground . In: Dieter Oberndörfer (Ed.): Socialist and Communist Parties in Western Europe. Publication of the social science research institute of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung . Volume 1: Südländer (= Uni-Taschenbücher . Volume 761). Leske + Budrich (UTB), Opladen 1978, ISBN 3-8100-0240-2 , pp. 195-265.

Web links

Commons : Partido Socialista Obrero Español  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• PSOE on the web (Spanish)
• The Spanish Congress - The House of Representatives (Spanish)
• The Spanish Senate (Spanish)

swell

• Election program 2008 (Spanish)
• Election program 2011 (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ La militancia en tiempos de crisis (Spanish). ABC, M. Ruiz Castro, May 27, 2013, accessed June 9, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Decepción y tristeza en el PSOE ante el peor resultado de su historia. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 21, 2011 (Spanish).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
3. ↑ spiegel.de: Portrait of Rubalcaba (November 2011)
4. ↑ El apoyo de Susana Díaz permite a Pedro Sanchez superar en avales a Madina on eldiario.es, June 27, 2014, accessed October 9, 2017
5. ↑ ^{a b} Suicide Strategy of the Spanish Social Democrats on heise.de, October 2, 2016, accessed October 9, 2017
6. ^ Putsch among the socialists on sueddeutsche.de, September 29, 2016, accessed October 9, 2017
7. ↑ El PSOE se sume en su mayor crisis al negarse Sánchez a irse tras dimitir media ejecutiva on lavozdegalicia.es, September 29, 2016, accessed October 8, 2017
8. ↑ Pedro Sánchez insists he is still in charge of Spanish Socialist party on theguardian.com, September 29, 2016, accessed October 8, 2017
9. ↑ Spain's Socialists vote to allow Rajoy minority government on bbc.com, October 23, 2016, accessed October 9, 2017
10. ↑ Los 15 diputados díscolos del PSOE se enfrentan a una multa de 600 euros y un posible relevo esta semana on ecodiario.eleconomista.es, November 12, 2016, accessed October 9, 2017
11. ↑ El PSOE degrada a cinco diputadas y aplaca al PSC para zanjar la crisis de los díscolos on 20minutos.es, November 17, 2016, accessed October 9, 2017
12. ↑ PSOE y PSC crean una comisión para revisar sus relaciones y sus diferencias políticas, con un plazo de dos meses on europapress.es, November 14, 2016, accessed November 17, 2017
13. ↑ At the 38th party congress of the PSOE (3 to 5 February 2012), the PSC provided 101 of the total of 972 delegates (proof can no longer be accessed [previous link contaminated]).
14. ↑ in the constituency of Formentera, the PSOE entered into an electoral alliance with Gent per Formentera (GxF). The results of this joint candidacy are also taken into account
15. ^ Joint candidacy by PSOE and the regional party Coalición Extremeña