Historians analyse anti-Francoist "opposition knots" 50 years after the beginning of the end of Franco's dictatorship

The various presentations of the day will focus on the role of the anti-Franco opposition in the discrediting, questioning and crisis of Francoism, an activism that made it impossible to maintain the dictatorship. The inauguration of the conference, which will take place at 9:30 a.m., will include speeches by the secretary of the State of Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez; the rector of the UAB, Javier Lafuente; and the dean of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, Margarita Freixas.

The colloquium is coordinated by Professor Molinero and Pere Ysàs, professor of Modern History at the UAB, and is organised by the Department of Modern and Early Modern History. It will feature a series of lectures on the spaces of dissidence during the dictatorship, the role of communists and the “revolutionary left” in the democratic struggle, the renewal of nationalism, the reconstruction of the political party PSOE and anti-Francoist cultural expressions. Among the speakers, in addition to professors Molinero and Ysàs, will be José Luis Martín Ramos, Pau Casanellas and Ricard Martínez, all from the UAB; Javier Muñoz, from the Complutense University of Madrid; Paola Lo Cascio, from the UB; and Miguel Ángel Ruiz, from the University of Zaragoza.

The central theme of this series is to analyse what the Franco dictatorship meant for Spanish society, paying attention to issues such as social control and support for the Franco regime, daily resistance, Francoism and women, and the fight to end the dictatorship and establish a full democracy. The series is linked to the “Spain in Freedom. 50 years” programme, a set of activities organised by the Spanish government that is taking place in several Spanish universities throughout 2025 with the aim of commemorating fifty years since the death of dictator Francisco Franco and the beginning of the transition to a democratic system.