The commentary leaves out mention that during the dictatorship and prior to the death of Franco and for some years following it, unions were prohibited in Spain. Workers had no protection against management regardless of the industry. Granted that CCOO was the Union that was backed by the Spanish Communist Party. Regardless, the people that were murdered in the Atocha neighborhood Union headquarters were working on establishing a workers' union, and that was the work they were all, including the lawyers, focused on doing. It took until 1981 for the new Constitution to protect the freedom of peaceful assembly, and even after the new Constitution was enacted there were malcontents, members of the former ruling groups, police, right-wing activists, etc., who had difficulty abiding by the new freedoms guaranteed by the new Spanish Constitution. The occurrences of the seven days in January of 1977 evolved into a public awareness that changes were necessary. The movie itself is good, permeated with a mixture of impending doom, anxiety, and lots of breath-holding. Certainly an ode to democracy.
Review of 7 días de enero
