La Estrategia de la tensión y los discursos por la paz en la semana negra de 1977

The article examines how the public interpretation of Spain’s so-called Black Week of January 1977 took shape almost as the events themselves were unfolding, at a particularly delicate moment in the early democratic transition. Its aim is to understand how, amid assassinations, kidnappings and attacks, a dual reading quickly emerged: the violence was framed as part of a broader strategy of tension, while the public response stressed serenity, unity and non-violence as a way of managing the crisis without feeding further confrontation. The study draws on an extensive hemerographic corpus –daily newspapers, editorials, reports and weekly magazines published between late January and mid-February 1977– together with institutional speeches and other contemporary media materials. Taken together, these sources make it possible to trace the devices through which an initial shared reading of the events was shaped. The results show that the funeral for the labour lawyers, the joint editorial Por la unidad de todos, Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez’s televised address and the sustained press coverage all contributed to consolidating a common interpretation: the violence sought to halt the reform process and needed to be met with unity, democratic discipline and restraint. The article concludes that the Black Week functioned as a key moment in the public construction of non-violence during the transition, and that this paradox –destabilising violence alongside a pacifying response– has marked its place in the subsequent democratic narrative.