Aleksander Solzhenitsyn Arrives in Spain: The Gulag Debate and the Transition to Democracy

Volume 46 Issue 1

Author(s):

José Luis Aguilar López-Barajas - Friedrich Schiller Universität-Jena/Stiftung Ettersberg

Recommended Citation:

Aguilar López-Barajas, José Luis (2021) “Aleksander Solzhenitsyn Arrives in Spain: The Gulag Debate and the Transition to Democracy,” Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies: Vol. 46 : Iss. 1 , Article 2.

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Abstract:

This article aims to analyze the scandal sparked by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn during his stay in Spain in 1976, when he gave an interview on National TV arguing that Spaniards did not know what a dictatorship was. It will show how the scandal was connected with the convulsive Spanish political context and how the different participating actors blamed or praised Solzhenitsyn depending on the political side they occupied and the project they implicitly wanted for Spain. The controversy took place on the pages of newspapers and magazines whose analysis can help us better identify the diverse political groups that concurred after the death of the dictator. The dispute provoked by Solzhenitsyn brought to light many issues of Spanish political culture, such as the Spanish Civil War, the communist experience or the various conceptions of democracy. Analyzing all these elements, the article aims to give a broad view of Spanish political culture and how Solzhenitsyn’s example had a significant force given the historical conditions the country was going through.

Tags: intellectual debate, press, Solzhenitsyn, transition