Now that fifty years have passed since Franco's death, both the progressive and conservative press have been keen to take stock, not so much of the man himself, but of what the fascist dictatorship meant, a regime that politically structured the country for thirty-six years. Only Portugal has had a longer right-wing dictatorship; no other country in the world (and Salazarism wasn't nearly as deadly) had a comparable iron fist, not even the military dictatorships of Venezuela or Paraguay. This, evidently, must have consequences for civil and political life, just as it does if the dictatorship is left-wing and very long, as in the USSR, China, Cuba, and Romania, among others.
Dictatorships corrupt the mentality of nations; simply establishing a formal democracy is not enough to suddenly make people and the political class act normally and justly, with pluralism and freedom. In Spain, there was terrorism until recently; police violence has not been eradicated, and polarization has not disappeared, but rather has only increased. Freedom of expression is also not indisputable, with singers in prison. It goes without saying that a society governed by fascism is a grossly patriarchal society, and that patriarchy has not offered much critical reflection here either. A dictatorship also breeds a great deal of distrust in institutions, such as the police, the courts, or even the tax authorities.
Despite the autonomous communities, the party system makes everything function, in practice, like a centralized state; even the most irrelevant regional ministries are decided from Madrid, in an institutional system that was very effective at placing Francoists in positions of power from the day after the dictator's death. And although the Francoists of that generation are now dead, a social class—families, lineages, veritable dynasties—has been perpetuated, a class that grew and prospered in the shadow of the dictatorship, through its shady dealings, and which remains, even in academic circles. While in many places the right has become populist and aggressive, here it has only had to return to Francoist nostalgia to deliver the same rhetoric. But if there is a Francoist dimension in present-day Spain, it lies in the relationship with languages other than Castilian Spanish. The right to be monolingual in Castilian Spanish throughout Spain is a right that can only be upheld from a dictatorial mindset.