ABSTRACT
Although the liberals of the Constitution of Cadiz (1812) designed a system of social benefits, by means of an extension of education and health programmes, through local institutions, social welfare can be said to have its origins in the social conflicts at the end of the nineteenth century, during a time of historic conciliation which would be manifested, at the beginning of the twentieth century, in the Social Reform Commission, the Institute of Social Reforms and the National Institute of Welfare. Nevertheless, this attempt at conciliation was a failure, because the working class and the urban middle class were immature and the existing oligarchy and political bosses were weak and against it (Palacio, 1988). Plans to create a voluntary system of benefits to cover sickness, unemployment, mater-
nity and retirement were also frustrated by the Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923-29), though the charity system continued to play an important role. When the Second Republic was proclaimed (1931) many of the previous reforms were renewed and adapted to a similar line to the one prevailing in most western European countries, particularly the German and Italian model. But the Civil War (1936-39) and the subsequent Franco dictatorship (1939-75) put an end to revolutionary dreams, and the ‘rickety’ nature of the public sector would remain till the last third of the twentieth century. General Franco’s dictatorship, characterized by the regulating role of the state (Alonso
and Conde-Ruiz, 2007), established the Compulsory Old Age and Invalidity Benefit (SOVI), in 1939, as well as Sickness Benefit (1942) and the first Unemployment Benefit (1958). It also introduced the Basic SociaI Security Law (1963), which provided free health care services and was reformed, 10 years later, with benefits extended to sickness and the pension system. This latter regulation must be placed in the period of the so-called economic ‘development’ achieved in the wake of the drastic changes of the Stabilization Plan (1957-58), which saw the end of economic self-sufficiency of the previous period and gave rise to a period of economic growth in the sixties. This economic expansion, to a great extent, came on the back of remittances sent by Spanish emigrant workers who found work in different European countries such as France, Germany,
sector, helped to the During this historic period and according to Moreno and Sarasa (1993) the Francoist
model of benefits could be characterized by: (1) insufficient social expenditure; (2) direct financing of the benefit system by employers and workers; (3) establishment of social benefits with regard to the principle of ‘income maintenance’; (4) insufficient vertical levelling out of benefits; (5) non-existence of a universal minimum income for unprotected citizens; (6) low level of ‘demercantilization’; (7) inadequate development of the social services; (8) generalization of benefits to the public sector; (9) reduced coverage of unemployed; and (10) social security as a corrective savings system. In fact, a conclusion can be drawn by stating that during the Franco period we can talk
of the development of certain social classes but never of a welfare state, since it is contradictory to talk of ‘welfare’ when basic freedoms and the fundamental political rights inherent in a democratic system are absent. Indeed the Public Order Law and other methods of repression were still in force until the dictator’s death in 1975 (Heine, 1983). Therefore, it must be taken into consideration that truly it was not till 1978, with the implementation of the democratic Constitution, after almost 40 years of the Franco dictatorship that the welfare state began to be constructed in Spain, with the recognition of social rights. It is at that moment, in the opinion of Rodríguez-Cabrero (2004), that there was a coming together of the interests of Spanish Fordian capitalism and the growing demands of the working classes which led to the imposition of the social reform that had been unsuccessfully proposed during the Second Republic. When the Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party (PSOE) assumed power in 1982, and after
the serious recession suffered by the Spanish economy in the wake of the crisis caused by the huge rise in the oil price imposed by the oil producers in 1973, the socialist government had as a central aim of its programme to achieve a more equal income distribution, reduce inflation, liberalize the economic system and develop a social welfare programme. The money allotted to providing pensions and unemployment benefit transfers showed the highest rise of all during the 1980s, though it is necessary to highlight the creation in 1986 of a universal health system that would guarantee everyone the right to health care, and the creation, in 1990, of a retirement pension with support for those who lacked sufficient economic means in their old age. This was means-tested, that is, it was not a universal old age pension. It must likewise be stressed that during this period the movement towards making social
rights universal, in accordance with social-democratic ideology, only extended as far as health and education. However, in the field of education it only provided free education up to the age of 16, and there was a continuation of private education under the influence of the Catholic Church. Given that at this time there were adverse anti-welfare state winds blowing fiercely in Europe and the United States, taking this into consideration may serve as extenuating circumstances, while not relieving them of all responsibility in the case of the PSOE for their not having made more progress in the construction of the welfare state during the years in which they were in power (1983-95).
