Indalecio Prieto
Encyclopedia
Indalecio Prieto Tuero was a Spanish
politician, one of the leading figures of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
(PSOE) in the years before and during the Second Spanish Republic
.
in 1883, his father died when he was six years old; his mother moved him to Bilbao
in 1891. From a young age, he survived by selling magazines in the street; he eventually obtained work as a stenographer at the daily newspaper La Voz de Vizcaya. This led to a position as a copy editor and later a journalist at rival daily El Liberal; his career there eventually made him the director and proprietor.
In 1899 he joined the PSOE. As a journalist in the first decade of the 20th century, Prieto became a leading figure of socialism
in the Basque Country
.
Spain's neutrality in World War I
greatly benefited Spanish industry and commerce, but those benefits were not reflected in the workers' salaries. This led to a great deal of social unrest, culminating on August 13, 1917 in a revolution
ary general strike
. Fear of a repetition of the then-recent February Revolution
in Russia
(the October Revolution
was still to come), the general strike was harshly put down by the military, and the members of the strike committee were arrested in Madrid
. Having been involved in the organization of the strike, Prieto fled to France
before he could be arrested; he did not return until April 1918, by which time he had been elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies
.
Very critical of the actions of the government and army during the Rif War
or "War of Melilla" (1919–1926) he spoke out strongly in the Congress after the Battle of Annual (1921), as well as on the more than probable, though unproven, responsibility of the king in the imprudent military actions of general Fernández Silvestre in the Melilla
command zone.
Opposed to Francisco Largo Caballero
's line of partial collaboration with the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera
, he had bitter confrontations with both of them.
In August 1930 he participated on his own behalf, despite the opposition of Julián Besteiro, in the Pact of San Sebastián
, which included a broad coalition of republican parties that wished to do away with the Spanish monarchy. In this matter he had the support of Largo's wing of the party, who believed that the fall of the monarchy was necessary in order that socialism could come to power.
was proclaimed on April 14, 1931, he was named Finance Minister in the provisional government presided over by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
.
As Minister of Public Works in the 1931-1933 government of Manuel Azaña
, he continued and expanded the policy of hydroelectric
projects begun during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, as well as the ambitious plan of infrastructural improvements in Madrid, such as the new Chamartín
railway station
and the tunnel under Madrid linking it to Atocha Station; most of these works that would not be completed until after the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War
.
Unlike Largo, he opposed the general strike
and the failed armed rising of October 1934; nonetheless he again fled to France to escape possible prosecution. While, prior to the period of the Republic, Prieto had arguably maintained a "harder" line than Largo, from this time forward he would be identified as a relative moderate, opposed to Largo's more revolutionary tendency.
At the beginning of the Civil War
in September 1936, after the fall of Talavera de la Reina
, in Toledo
province, Largo became head of the government and Prieto became Minister of Marine and Air.
After the May 3–8, 1937 events in Barcelona
when the Communists and government forces tried to establish control over the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification
(POUM) and the anarchist
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
(CNT), the government of Largo was supplanted by that of Juan Negrín
, with Prieto designated Minister of Defense, although, privately, he recognized that the war could not be won because the Republican side lacked support from the democratic
powers such as France
, the United Kingdom
, and the United States
. During his ministry maritime access for Soviet
material aid remained effectively cut off by the attacks of Italian
submarines and the French frontier remained closed.
After the defeat on the northern front in October 1937, he offered his resignation, which was rejected. He finally left the government after the March 1938 defeat on the Aragón
front, following an escalating dispute with the Communists.
himself to Mexico
. In 1945, toward the end of World War II
, he was one of those who attempted to form a republican government in exile, hoping to reach an accord with the monarchist
opposition to Francisco Franco
, ruler of Spain since the end of the Civil War, with at view to restoring Spanish democracy. The failure of this initiative led to his definitive retirement from active politics.
In Mexico, he wrote several books, among them: Palabras al viento (Words in the Wind, 1942), Discursos en América (Discourses in America, 1944) and at the end of his life, Cartas a un escultor: pequeños detalles de grandes sucesos (Letters to a sculptor: small details of great events 1962).
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
politician, one of the leading figures of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
(PSOE) in the years before and during the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
.
Early years
Born in OviedoOviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
in 1883, his father died when he was six years old; his mother moved him to Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
in 1891. From a young age, he survived by selling magazines in the street; he eventually obtained work as a stenographer at the daily newspaper La Voz de Vizcaya. This led to a position as a copy editor and later a journalist at rival daily El Liberal; his career there eventually made him the director and proprietor.
In 1899 he joined the PSOE. As a journalist in the first decade of the 20th century, Prieto became a leading figure of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
.
Spain's neutrality in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
greatly benefited Spanish industry and commerce, but those benefits were not reflected in the workers' salaries. This led to a great deal of social unrest, culminating on August 13, 1917 in a revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
ary general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
. Fear of a repetition of the then-recent February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
was still to come), the general strike was harshly put down by the military, and the members of the strike committee were arrested in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. Having been involved in the organization of the strike, Prieto fled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
before he could be arrested; he did not return until April 1918, by which time he had been elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies
Spanish Congress of Deputies
The Spanish Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms...
.
Very critical of the actions of the government and army during the Rif War
Rif War (1920)
The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Moroccan Rif Berbers.-Rifian forces:...
or "War of Melilla" (1919–1926) he spoke out strongly in the Congress after the Battle of Annual (1921), as well as on the more than probable, though unproven, responsibility of the king in the imprudent military actions of general Fernández Silvestre in the Melilla
Melilla
Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...
command zone.
Opposed to Francisco Largo Caballero
Francisco Largo Caballero
Francisco Largo Caballero was a Spanish politician and trade unionist. He was one of the historic leaders of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and of the Workers' General Union...
's line of partial collaboration with the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte, Knight of Calatrava was a Spanish dictator, aristocrat, and a military official who was appointed Prime Minister by the King and who for seven years was a dictator, ending the turno system of alternating...
, he had bitter confrontations with both of them.
In August 1930 he participated on his own behalf, despite the opposition of Julián Besteiro, in the Pact of San Sebastián
Pact of San Sebastián
The Pact of San Sebastián was a meeting led by Niceto Alcalá Zamora and Miguel Maura, which took place in San Sebastián, Spain on August 17, 1930. Representatives from practically all republican political movements in Spain at the time attended the meeting. Presided over by Fernando Sasiaín , the...
, which included a broad coalition of republican parties that wished to do away with the Spanish monarchy. In this matter he had the support of Largo's wing of the party, who believed that the fall of the monarchy was necessary in order that socialism could come to power.
Second Spanish Republic and Spanish Civil War
When the Second Spanish RepublicSecond Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
was proclaimed on April 14, 1931, he was named Finance Minister in the provisional government presided over by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora y Torres was a Spanish lawyer and politician who served, briefly, as the first premier minister of the Second Spanish Republic, and then — from 1931 to 1936—as its president....
.
As Minister of Public Works in the 1931-1933 government of Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician. He was the first Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic , and later served again as Prime Minister , and then as the second and last President of the Republic . The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President...
, he continued and expanded the policy of hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
projects begun during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, as well as the ambitious plan of infrastructural improvements in Madrid, such as the new Chamartín
Chamartín
Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Pza...
railway station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
and the tunnel under Madrid linking it to Atocha Station; most of these works that would not be completed until after the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Unlike Largo, he opposed the general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
and the failed armed rising of October 1934; nonetheless he again fled to France to escape possible prosecution. While, prior to the period of the Republic, Prieto had arguably maintained a "harder" line than Largo, from this time forward he would be identified as a relative moderate, opposed to Largo's more revolutionary tendency.
At the beginning of the Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in September 1936, after the fall of Talavera de la Reina
Talavera de la Reina (Toledo)
Talavera de la Reina is a city and municipality in the western part of the province of Toledo, which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain...
, in Toledo
Toledo (province)
Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....
province, Largo became head of the government and Prieto became Minister of Marine and Air.
After the May 3–8, 1937 events in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
when the Communists and government forces tried to establish control over the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification
Workers' Party of Marxist Unification
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification was a Spanish communist political party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War...
(POUM) and the anarchist
Anarchism in Spain
Anarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939....
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
(CNT), the government of Largo was supplanted by that of Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín y López was a Spanish politician and physician.-Early years:Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Negrín came from a religious middle-class family...
, with Prieto designated Minister of Defense, although, privately, he recognized that the war could not be won because the Republican side lacked support from the democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
powers such as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. During his ministry maritime access for Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
material aid remained effectively cut off by the attacks of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
submarines and the French frontier remained closed.
After the defeat on the northern front in October 1937, he offered his resignation, which was rejected. He finally left the government after the March 1938 defeat on the Aragón
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
front, following an escalating dispute with the Communists.
Exile
He refrained from active political life for the remainder of the war, exilingExile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
himself to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. In 1945, toward the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was one of those who attempted to form a republican government in exile, hoping to reach an accord with the monarchist
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
opposition to Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, ruler of Spain since the end of the Civil War, with at view to restoring Spanish democracy. The failure of this initiative led to his definitive retirement from active politics.
In Mexico, he wrote several books, among them: Palabras al viento (Words in the Wind, 1942), Discursos en América (Discourses in America, 1944) and at the end of his life, Cartas a un escultor: pequeños detalles de grandes sucesos (Letters to a sculptor: small details of great events 1962).