The Ideology of Buero Vallejo

In many of his non-historical plays, Buero dealt quite directly with political and ideological themes, in particular, the morality of violence, but also the defence and legitimation of ideology, the role of the intellectual in society and the question of rebellion and revolution. This is most obvious in La Fundación, La doble historia del doctor Valmy, El tragaluz and En la ardiente oscuridad. Buero's personal ideology could be classed an ethical socialism and was determined by his relationship with the dominant and alternative ideologies operating in society. He consistently defended socialism as a means of organizing society, and this concern is evident in his theatre. José Luis Abellán recognized this and claimed: ‘Tengo la impresión que la crítica ha despreciado excesivamente el contenido ideológico del teatro de Buero.’Yet perhaps he reads too much into the expression of a specific ideology in his works. In his analysis of El concierto de San Ovidio, for example, he claims: ‘En las relaciones individuo-sociedad la ideología marxista resulta patente en la obra de Buero.’ Buero's work could only be classed as Marxist in the most holistic sense. While his theatre does not defend a clearly defined Marxist ideology, it does discuss the nature of ideology and its influence on, and acceptance by, society. Buero maintained that art should not be corrupted by a specific ideology, which is interesting when one considers that he was accused by each side of prostituting his pen to the other.

The artist, according to Buero, should remain independent of party politics and critical of injustice from all quarters: ‘De hecho ha habido casos de escritores militantes; sólo que a mí me parece que se cumple mejor un servicio social en profundidad por el escritor que se mantiene políticamente independiente, aunque pueda tener convicciones muy arraigadas.’ Yet he acknowledged that the action and influence of art on society is: