Table Of ContentA Pure Theory of Democracy
Antonio Garcia-Trevijano
Translated by Miguel Rodriguez de Peiiaranda
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Table of Contents
Preface by the Translator v
Prologue 3
Part I
Chapter One: This is not a Democracy 13
Chapter Two: The Great Lie's Stumbling Block 27
Chapter Three: The French Revolution's Stumbling Block 39
Chapter Four: Truth in the History of Democracy 53
Chapter Five: The Need for Democracy in Europe 73
Part II
Chapter Six: Introduction to the Pure Theory of Democracy 89
Chapter Seven: A Pure Theory of Democracy 105
Chapter Eight: Definition of Democracy 169
Epilogue 187
Preface by the Translator
I
In his lecture tour on democracy across the United States (The Coming Victory
of Democracy), Thomas Mann always began with an apology. How could a
European come to this particular country to teach what democracy is all about?
Perhaps with even more reasons than in Mann's lecture, which was concerned
mainly with the disappearance of public liberties in Europe due to the rise of
totalitarianism, and not so much with democracy as a form of government, the
same apology could be made here. At any rate, the publication of A Pure Theory
of Democracy in the English-speaking world by an American university press
poses a challenge for all of us-not just Europeans or Americans-to rethink the
underlining principles and actions of different political regimes that call them
selves democratic, and to ask what is really democracy. The author has pointed
out elsewhere that, except for a single paragraph in George Santayana's The Life
of Reason, so far there does not exist a proper distinction between formal and
social democracy-between democracy as a form of government and democracy
as an impossible ideal of social and material equality. In this work, the author
claims that the confusion was first fully manifested in Toqueville's otherwise
admirable Democracy in America.
This work is devoted to explaining to what extent a Pure Theory of democracy
is needed in our current world. We could provide many justifications or apolo
gies for what some may call at first sight an arrogant or even impossible attempt.
To start with, we could argue that those who are sick may know better about
their sickness than would the healthy. Perhaps for this reason, a European, fully
conscious of the implications of a truly democratic system, may illuminate that
system and articulate a theory capable of integrating the original insights of the
Fathers of the United States as well as their forerunners, particularly Locke and
Montesquieu. But a Pure Theory of democracy that could and should be utilized
as a platform for action in the present day cannot stop before the classics. It must
renew itself, and do so by delving into deeper layers and springs of action previ
ously ignored. As will be shown in the main chapter of the book (chapter VII),
this is where Montesquieu's doctrine of the separation of powers, which accord
ing to the author was successfully carried out in the United States but not in
Europe, might meet Rousseau's idea of the end of representation when the re
presented become fully present in the political scene. Herein we would witness a
regeneration of the democratic institutions in the United States and the true
founding of democracy in Europe from its very sources: people's freedom of
action and equality in civil and political rights.
It is not my intention to provide the reader with a brief summary of the book.
The book is itself a summary of decades of reflection by a unique figure in the
history of political philosophy and action. A translation of A Pure Theory of
Democracy possibly stands better than a potential translation of any of other
numerous books that the author has written so far, and is perhaps also the one
that would require less explanatory commentary. As the author emphasizes at
vi PREFACE
many junctures, the aim is to provide a scientifically sound theory of democracy,
accurate in its concepts and ideas, but above all supportive of meaningful action.
My role will be merely to provide an introduction to the scope of Antonio Gar
cfa-Trevijano's practical and theoretical work, as well as the context in which
this book was written.
II
Antonio Garcia-Trevijano's breadth of knowledge in both the theory and his
tory of politics, the arts, philosophy, economy, and jurisprudence is simply out
standing. He was born in Granada, Spain, on July 18th 1927, and has been a
university professor, a notary and an internationally renowned lawyer, but above
all a political organizer of historical transcendence, from the last years of
Franco's dictatorship in Spain (late sixties and early seventies) to this day. In
2008, he founded a newspaper that gathers some of the best political, juridical,
and literary writers and columnists of the country-the only paper in Spain that
staunchly denounces the lack of democracy in Spain and continental Europe.
Apart from having been incarcerated and almost killed because of his ideas,
both before and after the end of the dictatorship (which ended in 1975), he was
the main organizer of the Platajunta, a union of the P/ataforma de Convergen
cia ("Platform of Convergence") and the Junta Democratica ("Democratic
Board") that intended to achieve a peaceful democratic break-up in Spain right
after the dictator's death. However, it was all too clear that the heretofore clan
destine and-in theory-democratic political parties involved, breaking a com
mitment they had signed with Garcia-Trevijano, were already making pacts with
the old dictatorial regime-a process that was to be called the (Spanish) Transi
tion. According to Garcia-Trevijano, such pacts did indeed grant civil and public
liberties to society, but not political freedonr--that is, the possibility of directly
electing and dismissing our rulers. Garcia-Trevijano was therefore convinced
from the start that the Transition would not lead to true democracy. Every single
political party-including, to his surprise, the Communist Party-preferred not
to open a constituency period where Spaniards could freely decide the type of
political regime they desired, and sat down instead to write a Constitution that
benefited only them. The 1978 Constitution was approved by a Legislative
Chamber lacking constituent power; it is a Constitution that neither guarantees
separation of powers in the State nor representation of civil society by the elec
tion of direct representatives. Rather, it places the parties at the very front, giv
ing them the legal monopoly of political and syndical action. Garcia-Trevijano
believes that what followed dictatorship (and still exists today) is merely a so
called democracy, which he aptly designates as an "oligarchy of parties," some
times-we will hear-''particracy" or ''parties' State."
Before the Transition, Garcia-Trevijano, who was an anti-franquist republi
can, enjoyed the trust and friendship of Don Juan de Borb6n (1913-1993), the
would-be King of Spain. Garcia-Trevijano wrote letters on Don Juan's behalf to
both Franco and his successor, the current King Juan Carlos I (Don Juan's own
son). In a letter to the former, Don Juan stated that he, Franco, did not have the
right to appoint a Monarch against the will of the current holder of the royal
PREFACE vii
dynasty. And in a letter to Juan Carlos I, he refused to acknowledge his legiti
macy to accept the monarchy from a dictator, against his father's will and
against the monarchical successive principle. In a personal interview, Garcia
Trevijano pointed out to me that the letter literally said that if Juan Carlos I were
to accept the throne from a dictator he would be thus establishing "a dishonour
able monarchy." This is a remarkable episode that deserves to be well-known,
because it certainly challenges the propagandistic spread of the idea of King
Juan Carlos I as a national hero who secured democracy for all Spaniards. Such
propaganda has been so successful that not only has almost the whole of Spanish
society believed it, but it has also often been publicly endorsed by foreign politi
cians. Garcia-Trevijano has often spoken publicly (TV, radio, print news) about
these and other issues just as serious, like King Juan Carlos I's involvement in
the 1982 military coup d'etat. His counter-current status has made him unpopu
lar with Spain's rulers, and he has faced both physical violence and incarcera
tion in attempts to silence his voice. The fashion now is simple ostracism, and
very few can listen to this man's refreshing, non-propagandistic, words.
In 1968, Garcia-Trevijano was also called upon by the independentists of
Equatorial Guinea, an old Spanish colony in Central Africa, to help them con
ceive and draft a Constitution for Independence. Although the Constitution was
approved by the majority of the Guinean delegates, it was soon deliberately
sabotaged: the Constitutional Conference taking place in Madrid was closed
down by the Spanish government, which then imposed a Constitution elaborated
by its Ministry of External Affairs allowing Francisco Macias to become dicta
tor and President for life. Garcia-Trevijano was tried for high treason, but Sene
galese diplomat Diallo Telli, who had been first secretary of the Organisation of
African Unity, told Franco that ifGarcia-Trevijano was condemned they would
break all diplomatic relationships with Spain. The judicial process was thus
stopped, but in its stead the regime launched a pervasive campaign of defama
tion that still echoes today. In fact, defamation was renewed again by the Social
ist Party at the end of 1976 in order to quell Garcia-Trevijano's advocacy for
democratic break-up during the Transition. As he says in a small book/pamphlet
about the affair (Toda la Verdad: Mi intervencion en Guinea; "All the Truth:
My Intervention in Equatorial Guinea," 1976), once one is defamed, even if he
manages to defend himself publicly, the stain of defamation is impossible to
remove. There will always remain a residue in the subconscious minds of those
who heard the defamatory campaign.
However, his high-level and always mindful political actions continued during
the dictatorship and the early Transition. Receiving further death threats in 1978,
he responded with a book that would bear witness to and preserve the range of
his ideas in the event of his possibly imminent assassination. Thus La Alterna
tiva Democratica ("The Democratic Alternative," 1978) was born. This book
demonstrates the rigour of an observer and thinker at the height of his intellec
tual powers. In it, Garcia-Trevijano foresees Spain's immediate economic, so
cial, and political future with astounding accuracy, and although he touches on
many issues that will occupy him in the book the reader now holds, he explicitly
lays aside the theory of democracy as such for another occasion, a development
viii PREFACE
he promises to undertake sometime soon. Alas, the public had to wait for almost
twenty more years to see that theory published; and more than fifteen to see a
publication in the form of a book (El Discurso de la Republica: Del Hecho Na
cional a la Conciencia de Espana; "The Republic's Discourse: From the Na
tional Fact to the Conscience of Spain," 1994), in which he critically reflects
about nationalism at a moment when no one dared to denounce the demagogical
"law of the pendulum" according to which, against Franco's previous nationalis
tic centralization, Catalonian and Basque national independence movements
could legitimately be advanced. In this context, of particular interest is his ex
amination, still unsurpassed, of E.T.A., the Basque terrorist group. Meanwhile,
he wrote incessantly, penning literally thousands of articles on politics-and on
art, his other arena of investigation and innovation-for Spain's mainstream
newspapers.
Two years after the publication of The Republic's Discourse, his pure theory
of democracy finally appeared in 1996. Divided into two very distinct parts, the
first attempts to show why there is not democracy proper in all continental
Europe; why many think that there is a democracy; and, finally, the historical
and philosophical origins of such confusion. For this reason, the original title of
the book is Frente a la Gran Mentira ("Confronting the Great Lie"), which the
author has chosen to change, in the present English edition, to A Pure Theory of
Democracy, which is fully developed in the second part of the book.
Two years later, Garcia-Trevijano published a delightful masterpiece called
Pasiones de Servidumbre ("Passions of Servitude," 1998). Intelligent and deftly
humorous, this work on social psychology turns its attention to the cultural
world created by our consumerist society and the Cold War. Although some
chapters will be perhaps less interesting for non-residents of Spain due to its
focus on the Catholic and Latin culture, it is nonetheless one of those works
which surely will come to be admired as a classic. Rooted in universal passions
although brilliantly translated into our modem world, Passions of Servitude is a
masterpiece of psychological and social analysis that compares well with La
Bruyere's Characters and other similar, innovative treatises.
Following the track of one his most ardent passions, Garcia-Trevijano has re
cently published an altogether different, lengthy book about art called Ateismo
Estetico: Arte de/ Siglo XX ("Aesthetic Atheism: Twentieth Century Art"), in
which, with great aesthetic sensitivity, he differentiates between modem art
the true renovation of classical art-and what he calls modernitarian art (a coin
age of his own)-a purely ideological and demagogical manifestation of egali
tarianism that attempted to turn art back into its prior artisan condition, and that
has ironically filled bourgeois museums with a one-coloured abstract art created
by the Bolshevist propaganda. This work was preceded by a pioneering investi
gation in the history of art (Donatello Mode/a la lnfancia; "Donatello Models
Infancy," 2003) that deals with Donatello's 1457 bas-relief portraying Lorenzo
de' Medici, dressed as John the Baptist. Garcia-Trevijano has already finished a
continuation and expansion of this work (La Revolucion Cultural de/ Ultimo
Donatello; "The Cultural Revolution of the Later Donatello"), not yet published,
PREFACE ix
that attempts in part to demonstrate that Donatello's masterpiece, David, is actu
ally Mercury with Argos' head at his feet, and not the Biblical king.
He is currently (2009) preparing a new book that elucidates a modem theory
of the Republic with all its practical prolongations and consequences (Hacia la
Republica Constitucional; "Towards a Constitutional Republic"). Many of its
fragments have been already published in his blog
(www.antoniogarciatrevijano.com), whiCh operates as the basis for a movement
of citizens seeking to establish a true democracy in Spain (Movimiento Ciu
dadano hacia la Republica Constitucional; Citizenry Movement towards a Con
stitutional Republic"). And, as has been mentioned already, he has founded a
digital Journal (www.diariorc.com) whose many authors daily denounce, along
the lines of current political events, the lack of democracy in Spain.
III
As a translator and admirer ofGarcia-Trevijano's work, my main goal is to of
fer a readable English version of what I personally consider a tremendous ad
vance in political theory and action, both because of its clarifying conceptualiza
tion and because of the practical consequences that originate from it. I strongly
believe that a work such as this, quite unique in many of its dimensions, will be
read and studied with delight by both the average citizen and the academic alike.
For ideas derived from political freedom, if they are truthful and coherent, bring,
like true art, the joy and comfort of new real possibilities of reflection and action
for all of us.
I am painfully aware of this translation's imperfections, and beg the reader to
treat it simply as a first attempt to render such wealth of knowledge in another
language. I hope that a more competent translator, with a more profound knowl
edge of the intellectual fields cultivated by the author, will at some point come
across the original text. Whatever the merits and deficiencies of my own transla
tion, I would like to dedicate it to the author himself, a man who demonstrates
daily that rare combination of clarity, concision, honesty, and courage in such
confusing times as ours, who has provided for everything I have needed to ren
der his impressive work. I also want to express my infinite gratitude towards
English graduate student Laura McLean, without whose help this translation
would have never been possible. I cannot think of a more able and suitable per
son to help me in the task that was placed in my hands. I also very much appre
ciate the help of David Serquera, who provided timely and accurate renderings
of a few key concepts. And finally I would like to give thanks to my wife, Ta
sha, who has given me her unconditional support throughout and copy-edited
this entire book.
The author does not use footnotes. All the notes in the text are, therefore, my
own. I have tried to keep them to a minimum; mostly referring to less-readily
available information. Many of the author's quotes have been translated directly
from the Spanish version by myself, including those of Shakespeare, William
Blake and other English authors, except where it is stated otherwise. I under
stand this is extremely undesirable, to say the least; but it was inevitable, as
many quotes in the original often do not refer to the exact original source. Gar-
