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Premier Adolfo Suarez Gonz>lez once described himself as "a tightrope walker." And with some reason. Since his appointment by King Juan Carlos nearly four months ago, Suarez, 44, has had to balance pressures from rightists, leftists and regional separatists while trying to guide Spain from Franco-era authoritarianism to a new age of democracy. He has also had to cope with a deteriorating economy and a rash of demonstrations, strikes and violence.

Last week Suarez began his riskiest high-wire venture yet by submitting a long-awaited political reform bill to the 561-member Cortes (parliament), still a conservative bastion. The measure would go a long way toward turning Spain into a parliamentary democracy. The Cortes--in which less than one-fifth of the deputies are popularly elected --would be replaced by a two-house legislature. One would be a popularly elected lower chamber of 350 seats, allotted on a proportional basis, and the other an upper house representing Spain's 51 provinces that would have 244 members, 40 of them appointed by the King, the rest to be elected by the people.

New Constitution. If approved by the Cortes, the reform plan must be voted on in a national referendum, possibly as soon as December. If all goes well, elections for the legislature will be held by next summer. The first task of the two houses will be to draw up a new constitution that presumably will define the rights of the King, the specific powers of the two houses and the manner in which a Premier is chosen and dismissed.

Understandably unwilling to relinquish its powers and privileges, the men of "the Bunker"--diehard, archconservative Franquistas--have attacked Suarez's reform. They want the bill altered to grant more powers to the Council of the Realm, an appointive 17-man body that advises the King. The Franquistas also insist on an appointed upper house based on the Franco-style corporate system, rather than a popularly elected one. Because of the Bunker's opposition and the recent emergence of a center-right alliance of parties, Suarez may have to accept some modifications in order to obtain the two-thirds majority necessary for passage of the bill. Suarez had previously antagonized archconservatives by, among other things, taking the first steps toward the legalization of trade unions and all political parties except the Communists.

Opposition leftists are divided about the Premier's reforms. Some say that the measures Suarez has taken so far are too timid and want an immediate election of a constituent assembly. Others concede that the reform bill is a step toward the kind of free society demanded by the Democratic Coordination, an umbrella group that includes Communists, Socialists and left-wing Christian Democrats. But the organized left has boxed itself in with a public vow not to cooperate with any Spanish regime until the Communist Party is made legal --something that the rightists will probably be able to block, perhaps until the elections for the legislature. Frustrated by criticism from both sides, Suarez complains that "the left does not stop fighting a past that no longer exists and a part of the right does not stop crying over a past that will not return." Still, the Premier might succeed in his cautious program for making Spain more liberal; he is strongly backed by the popular Juan Carlos and there is a widespread desire for change.

General Strike. Suarez is embattled on the economic as well as on the political front. The leftist-dominated trade unions called for a day-long general strike on Nov. 12 to protest the government's austerity program. Spain has a 20% annual rate of inflation and more than 6% unemployment; it is also heading toward a $3 billion balance of payments deficit for the second straight year. To help out the economy, Suarez has frozen wages and prices and suspended a law preventing financially distressed companies from laying off workers. Leftists charge that the program goes too far and poses a "serious threat" to workers' interests; some businessmen argue that the program is not bold enough. Until a referendum gives him something approaching a popular mandate, Suarez will probably have to continue with a brand of tightrope policies that seem to satisfy neither left nor right.

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