ABSTRACT
Once described as ‘the least typically Spanish and the most European of Spanish parties’,1 the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) can claim this distinction to have been applicable throughout its history. Created in 1879, and by far the oldest of Spain’s parties, the PSOE has always been influenced by other European socialist forces. Early on, there was much imitation of the French socialist organization led by Jules Guesde, while after the demise of the Franco regime in 1975-76 the strongest external influence was the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). Within the PSOE both liberals and fundamentalists have looked to other parts of Europe for ideological inspiration.
