As Spain marks half a century since the death of General Francisco Franco this week, a significant number of young people now view the brutal Spanish dictator in a positive light.
Far from reviling him as the man who plunged the country into a bloody civil war between 1936 and 1939, then followed this with years of repression, young people are trumpeting Franco’s achievements.
“Life was better under Franco” has become a trope on social media, provoking fierce debate within Spain.
It comes as young Spaniards face a housing crisis, with many forced to live with their parents until they are in their thirties, and a febrile row over the rise in immigration during the past decade, with citizens born elsewhere now representing nearly 20 per cent of the population.
The socialist government has championed immigration to help boost growth in a country with a low birth rate, but right-wing parties like the People’s Party and Vox urge greater controls.
A recent poll published by the state-run Centre for Sociological Studies (CIS) found that just over a fifth of Spaniards, or 21.5 per cent, thought the Franco dictatorship was “good” or “very good”. The same survey found that 19 per cent of people aged 18-24 shared this view, although 65.5 per cent overall said it was “bad” or “very bad”.
Another recent poll, for the right-wing newspaper El Mundo, found that the socialists were no longer the most popular party among young people aged between 18 and 29.
Hugo Escarpa, 21, a criminology student at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, says the left is not championing the causes young people are concerned about.
“The parties of the right, like the [conservative opposition] People’s Party [PP] and Vox, are addressing issues that matter to young people – the housing crisis, how to find a job, and illegal immigration,” he explains. “The left is not doing that. That is why young people are supporting them.”
Escarpa says he thinks it ironic that, while Franco is widely reviled, people with historical links to the Basque separatist organisation ETA – which was responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people during a 40-year armed campaign that ended in 2011 – are serving as MPs in the Spanish parliament.
He is referring to the Basque separatist party EH Bildu, which has refused to label ETA a terrorist organisation. The party supports the current Spanish coalition government.
“I believe in democracy. But I don’t understand why they are still attacking Franco, who died 50 years ago, yet there are members of parliament who supported ETA, which did much more damage to Spain than the repression of Franco,” he says.
Andrea Llopart, 25, who works in finance in Castelldefels near Barcelona, says that young people are increasingly attracted to parties on the right that deliver a clear message about issues they care about. Llopart says she believes that “good things and bad things” happened during the Franco dictatorship
She says that before the civil war, the country was in a “difficult” position, but Franco may have helped to revive the economy. But at the same time, there was a negative impact on freedom of expression.
“Spain came from a complicated situation, and [Franco] helped it to grow in the world. It was not a free country that we have today,” says Llopart.
She adds that for people of her age, the most important issues are immigration, access to affordable housing, and finding a secure job.
“We want to have an independent life. I am still living with my parents. Also, immigration is a big issue, because we want the right to be able to walk securely in the streets, especially if you are a woman.” She says that securing a job with a permanent contract, rather than a short-term one, is another big issue for young people.
Surveys have also shown an upsurge in support for the hard-right Vox party. Analysts say Vox is attracting young voters because its populist message on issues like immigration strikes a chord.
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Vox fights shy of idolising Franco, but has in the past trivialised the general’s record of repression. It knows how to harness social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, to its advantage.
Vox opened an account on TikTok in 2022, whereas Pedro Sanchez, the socialist prime minister, only caught up with his own account in September this year.
A poll last month by 40dB for El Pais found that 17.4 per cent of Spaniards supported Vox, compared with 12.4 per cent at the last election in 2023. The same survey found that 29 per cent of Vox voters were aged 18 to 24, whereas only 9.9 per cent were over the age of 65.
Among the youngest group of Vox voters, 38 per cent were men, while 20 per cent were women.
Steven Forti, an associate professor of history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who works on the European Union Arenas project to track extremist narratives, says that older people also share a positive opinion of Franco.
“We are talking about generations who have never lived through the dictatorship. Their parents were only five or six when Franco died [in 1975],” he says.
“Far-right parties have a strong presence on social media, which young people consume a lot, and this has had a big impact. Vox does not support Franco, but it trivialises the dictatorship.”
Forti says that Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, suggested in the Spanish parliament in 2020 that the socialist government was the “worst in government in the past 80 years”.
“The far right appeals to young people because it presents itself as rebellious. Many young people have only experienced the socialist government,” he adds.
Forti says education about Franco and his time in power has been slow and patchy in Spain, in comparison to Germany or Italy.
Nick Lloyd, the British author of Travels Through the Spanish Civil War, published this week on the anniversary of Franco’s death, says: “Younger people, particularly male, have no idea what the regime represented aside from the tendentious videos they see on TikTok. The direct memory ties to those involved in the war have all gone, and the teaching of history has often been inadequate.”
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