Cold war controversies in the pro-amnesty campaigns of the Spanish political prisoners (1961) and the erosion of Spanish exiles’ leadership in the anti-Francoist policies1

ABSTRACT Coinciding with a growing activity of the new opposition groups, produced in the end of the decade of the 1950s and whose main result was the meeting in 1962 in Munich, an important campaign was held in 1961 for the amnesty of the Spanish political prisoners. Behind the great history of this international protest were found, not easy to unravel or perceive at the time, rivalries and struggles for the leadership among the anti-Franco forces, as well as internal discussions about the strategic aspects of such actions. The article documents that the strategy of countering communist campaigns and propaganda activities from the radical anti-communist approach found growing rejection in progressive circles of liberal exile, generating an important controversy following a protest letter published by Republican Spanish intellectuals in The New York Times regarding pro-amnesty activities of the communists. Those internal quarrels among the liberal sectors of the opposition revealed the growing sterility of the political projects of the anticommunist exile leaders connected to the American covert cold war organisations, and gave reason to the supporters of an action of influence and political mobilization led from inside Spain and among its new opposition groups.