The political memory of Antonio Machado in Spain during Francoism and the Transition to Democracy

Abstract

After his death in 1939, the poet Antonio Machado became a literary, moral and political myth for the two ideological groups which dominated Spain after the Civil War: that of the Falange and that of the Communists. The quality of his work and his reflections on Spanish identity encouraged Falange intellectuals to «recover» him for their project of national integration in the 1940s and 1950s, ignoring the historical circumstances in which he had written and his commitment to the Republican cause. The Spanish exiles, on the other hand, praised the ethical example of the poet who had sided with the people in the tragic circumstances of 1936. The events organised by the Communist Party in 1959 as a tribute to him served as a meeting point between the exiles and the opposition to the Franco regime within Spain, and were followed by other similar initiatives. In 1960s progressive culture Machado continued to be regarded as an example of a «committed intellectual», but was increasingly associated to the reconciliation between the «two Spains». This idea has become dominant since the transition to democracy, although the myth continues to oppose those who emphasize his pro-Republican attitude and those who regard him as the symbol of «two Spains» which no longer exist.