Julio Báuregui: the moderate basque nationalism from the Civil War to the Transition

Abstract

This paper analyses the leading figure of Julio Jáuregui (1910-1981), one of the most influential and less known politicians of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in the 20th Century. In a pluralistic movement as the Basque nationalism was, Jáuregui was a moderate and democratic nationalist that developed to heterodox positions. Through the study of Julio Jáuregui, we analyse the answers of a moderate nationalist to the dilemmas that historical path posed between 1936 and 1980. We observe the influence of the Civil War’s experience and memory in the political position of Julio Jáuregui. We study specially his action and his ideas faced with the transition process to the democracy. It can be concluded that one of the main features of the Julio Jáuregui’s thought was the close relationship he established between the Basque self-government and the Spanish democracy. That is why he defended the republican institutions during Francoism and the Monarchy of Juan Carlos I during the Transition.