Dolores Ibárruri

Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (; 9 December 189512 November 1989), also known as ("the passionate one" or Passion flower"), was a Spanish Republican politician during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and a communist. She is renowned for her slogan ¡No Pasarán! ("They shall not pass!"), which she issued during the Battle for Madrid in November 1936.

Ibárruri joined the Spanish Communist Party () when it was founded in 1920. In the 1930s, she became a writer for the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) publication Mundo Obrero, and in February 1936, she was elected to the Cortes Generales as a PCE deputy for Asturias. After going into exile from Spain towards the end of the Civil War in 1939, she became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain, a position she held from 1942 to 1960. The Party then named her honorary president of the PCE, a post she held for the rest of her life. Upon her return to Spain in 1977, she was re-elected as a deputy to the Cortes for the same region she had represented from 1936 to 1939 under the Spanish Second Republic, holding office until 1979. She lived another ten years in retirement until her death in 1989.

Biography

Dolores Ibárruri was born in 1895 as the eighth of eleven children. She had a Basque miner father and a Castilian mother. She grew up in Gallarta but later moved to Somorrostro (Biscay). Gallarta was adjacent to a large siderite mine.

Ibárruri left school at 15 after spending two years preparing for teachers' college at the encouragement of her schoolmistress. Her parents could not afford further education, so she went to work as a seamstress and later as a housemaid. She became a waitress in the town of Arboleda, the most important urban nucleus in the region of Somorrostro. There, she met Julián Ruiz Gabiña, a union activist and founder of the Socialist Youth of Somorrostro. They married in late 1915, two years after the birth of their first child. The young couple participated in the general strike of 1917, which led to the imprisonment of Ruiz. Ibárruri wrote her first article in 1918 for the miners' newspaper El Minero Vizcaíno under the pseudonym of "La Pasionaria" ("The Passion Flower"). The article was published during Holy Week and focused on religious hypocrisy, contrasting with the Passion of Christ. Because of the article's theme and timing, she signed it with the alias Pasionaria. In 1920, Ibárruri and the Workers' Centre joined the newly formed Communist Party of Spain (PCE), and she was named a member of the Provincial Committee of the Basque Communist Party. After ten years of grassroots militancy, she was appointed to the Central Committee of the PCE in 1930.

During this time, Ibárruri had six children. Of her five daughters, four died very young. She "used to relate how her husband made a small coffin out of a crate of fruit." Her son, Rubén, died at twenty-two during the Battle of Stalingrad. The remaining child, Amaya Ruiz Ibárruri, outlived her mother. She was married to Stalin's adopted son, Artyom Sergeyev. In 2008, Amaya resided in the working-class neighbourhood of Ciudad Lineal in Madrid. She died in 2018 at the age of 95.

In Madrid (1931–1936)

With the advent of the Second Republic in 1931, Ibárruri moved to Madrid and became the editor of the PCE newspaper . She was arrested for the first time in September 1931. Jailed with common offenders, she persuaded them to begin a hunger strike to secure freedom for political detainees. Following a second arrest in March 1932, she led other inmates in singing "The Internationale" in the visiting room and encouraged them to reject poorly paid menial labor in the prison yard. She wrote two articles from jail: one published by the PCE periodical and the other by . On 17 March 1932, she was elected to the Central Committee of the PCE at the 4th Congress held in Seville.

In 1933, Ibárruri founded , a women's organisation opposed to Fascism and war. On 18 April, Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin discovered asteroid 1933 HA and named it "Dolores" in her honour. In November, she travelled to Moscow as a delegate of the 13th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI), which assessed the dangers posed by fascism and the threat of war. The sight of the Russian capital thrilled Ibárruri. "To me, who saw it through the eyes of the soul", she wrote in her autobiography, "it was the most wonderful city on earth. The construction of socialism was being managed from it. In it were taking shape the earthly dreams of freedom of generations of slaves, outcasts, serfs, and proletarians. From it one could take in and perceive the march of humanity toward communism." She did not return to Spain until the new year.

In 1934, she attended the First World Meeting of Women against War and Fascism () in Paris. Although the meeting was chaired by Gabrielle Duchêne, president of the French branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the separate was an organ of the short-lived French Popular Front. Both the and the Front dissolved in 1939.

Toward the end of 1934, Ibárruri and two others spearheaded a risky rescue mission to the mining region of Asturias to bring more than a hundred starving children to Madrid. The parents of these children had been jailed following the failed October Revolution, which was suppressed by General Franco at the behest of the Republican government. Ibárruri succeeded in her mission but was briefly detained in the prisons of Sama de Langreo and Oviedo. To spare her children further anguish, she sent them to the Soviet Union in the spring of 1935.

thumb|330x330px|Ibárruri (right) with French activist [[Bernadette Cattanéo, 1936]]

In 1935, she secretly crossed the Spanish border to attend the 7th World Congress of the Communist International, held from 25 July to 21 August in Moscow. At this Congress, Georgi Dimitrov delivered a keynote speech proposing an alliance with "progressive bourgeois" governments against the fascists. Under this doctrine, the Popular Front would come to power in France in June 1936.

Ibárruri welcomed Dimitrov's speech as a vindication of the PCE's long-standing position and returned home "full of enthusiasm, determined to do the impossible to achieve a consensus among the various workers' and democratic organisations of our country."

In 1936, Ibárruri was jailed for the fourth time after enduring severe abuse from the arresting officers in Madrid. Upon her release, she went to Asturias to campaign for the PCE in the general elections held on 16 February. In these elections, 323,310 ballots were cast. However, "one ballot, one vote" did not apply; each voter could choose up to 13 candidates simultaneously. The PCE received 170,497 votes, enough to secure one seat in Parliament for Dolores Ibárruri. The Popular Front's election platform included the release of political prisoners, and La Pasionaria set out to free the detainees in Oviedo immediately.

As soon as the victory of the Popular Front in the elections became known I, already an elect member of Parliament, showed up at the prison of Oviedo the next morning, went to the office of the Director, who had fled in a mad panic because he had behaved like a genuine criminal toward the Asturian prisoners interned after the revolution of October 1934, and there I found the Administrator to whom I said, "Give me the keys because the prisoners must be released this very day." He replied, "I have not received any orders", and I answered, "I am a member of the Republic's Parliament, and I demand that you hand over the keys immediately to set the prisoners free." He handed them over and I assure you that it was the most thrilling day of my activist life, opening the cells and shouting, "Comrades, everyone get out!" Truly thrilling. I did not wait for Parliament to sit or for the release order to be given. I reasoned, "We have run on the promise of freedom for the prisoners of the revolution of 1934—we won—today the prisoners go free."

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In the months before the Spanish Civil War, she joined the strikers at the Cadavio mine in Asturias and stood beside poor tenants evicted from a suburb of Madrid. The poet returned to Granada and met his death at the hands of the Nationalists before completing the task.

Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)

thumb|[[Đorđe Andrejević Kun - Pasionaria speaks to the fighters before going to the front, graphic from Spain.]]

Ibárruri delivered a series of speeches, some of which were radio broadcasts from Madrid: "Danger! To Arms!" (19 July), "Our Fighters Must Lack for Nothing!" (24 July), "Discipline, Composure, Vigilance!" (29 July), "Restrain the Hand of the Foreign Meddlers!" (30 July), "Fascism Shall Not Pass!" (24 August), "Better to Die Standing Up Than to Live Kneeling Down!" (3 September), "A Salute to Our Militia Women on the Front Line" (4 September), and "Our Battle Cry Has Been Heard by the Whole World" (15 September). It can be inferred that the majority in Madrid rallied to the Republic's side, that uncontrolled elements roamed the capital and many rounds of gunfire were wasted out of nerves (29 July), that Nationalist propaganda was more effective (30 July), and that she recognised early on that the war would be lost without foreign aid (24 August). On 2 October, she wrote a revealing letter to her son in Russia, apologising for not having written earlier and describing the harrowing situation: "You cannot even imagine, my son, how savage is the struggle going on in Spain now... Fighting is going on daily and round the clock. And in this fighting, some of our finest and bravest comrades have perished." She recounted spending many days beside the troops at the front and expressed her concerns about the war's outcome: "It is my hope that in spite of all the difficulties, particularly the lack of weapons, we shall still win." The war became particularly brutal in 1937. Just as the Blitz later drove the Allies to bomb German cities mercilessly, the Nationalist bombardment of open cities spurred Ibárruri (then the newly named fourth vice president of Congress) to demand an equal response from the "progressive bourgeois" government. President Manuel Azaña, an intellectual and writer, was unwilling to flout constitutional or international laws, while Prime Minister Francisco Largo Caballero, a socialist, was reluctant to cooperate with the PCE. The closing lines of her speech signalled her readiness to endorse radical violence.

On 24 February, Stalin forbade the sending of Soviet volunteers to fight in Spain, but he did not recall Alexander Orlov, an Order of Lenin awardee from the NKVD (secret police). Orlov and the NKVD orchestrated the May Days, the conflict that erupted between 3 and 8 May in Barcelona between the Popular Front and the Trotskyist Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM). The battle resulted in approximately 1,000 fighters being killed and 1,500 injured, though estimates vary. Following the suppression of the POUM, any possibility of Spain serving as a refuge for Leon Trotsky was eliminated. Orlov employed the same methods of terror, duplicity, and deception used during the Great Purge (1936–1938).

As a result of the events from 3 to 8 May in Barcelona, the Trotskyists and the Anarchists came to be seen by Ibárruri as the "Fascist enemy within."

When we point out the need of opposing Trotskyism we discover a very strange phenomenon, that voices are raised in its defense in the ranks of certain organizations and among certain circles in certain parties. These voices belong to people who themselves are intoxicated with this counter-revolutionary ideology. The Trotskyists have long been transformed into the agents of Fascism, into the agents of the German Gestapo. We saw this on the ground during the May putsch in Catalonia; we saw this clearly in the disturbances that occurred in various other places. And everybody will realize this when the trial opens against the POUM. leaders who were caught spying. And we realize that the hand of Fascism is behind every attempt to demoralise our home front, to undermine the authority of the Republic. Therefore it is essential that we wipe out Trotskyism with a firm hand, for Trotskyism is no longer a political option for the working class but an instrument of the counter-revolution.

Trotskyism must be rooted out of the proletarian ranks of our Party as one roots out poisonous weeds. The Trotskyists must be rooted out and disposed of like wild beasts, for otherwise every time our men wish to go on the offensive we will not be able to do so due to lawlessness caused by the Trotskyists in the rear. An end must be put to these traitors once and for all so that our men on the front lines can fight without fear of being stabbed in the back.

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Ibárruri attributed the events to an "anarcho-Trotskyist" attempt to undermine the Republican government on orders from Franco, acting in concert with Adolf Hitler. She claimed the violence was the culmination of an anarchist plot that included plans to halt train movement and cut all telegraph and telephone lines. She cited an "order [from the Catalan government] to its forces to control the telephone building and disarm all people whom they encounter in the streets without proper authorization" as part of the anarchist scheme. She did not cite specific evidence for these claims, which were accepted by many Party members at the time. Later analyses by historians have challenged the validity of these claims.

The Communist Party alleged that the anarchist "putsch" was motivated by resentment of the centralized military command sought by the Communists and their allies in Lluís Companys's Catalan government, as well as a desire to seize political power. The anarchists and Trotskyists viewed the events as an attempt by the Communist Party (in close contact with the Stalinist NKVD) to dominate all revolutionary activity and blamed the Communists for authoritarianism. They contrasted the Communist police state with the egalitarian conditions that existed prior to the May 1937 events.

Ibárruri, Díaz, and the rest of the PCE viewed the Trotskyists as a significant threat and worked to suppress their influence.

The remnants of the POUM leadership were put on trial in Barcelona on 11 October 1938. Referring to the arraignments, Ibárruri said: "If there is an adage that says in normal times it is preferable to acquit a hundred guilty ones rather than punish a single innocent one, when the life of a people is in danger, it is better to convict a hundred innocent ones than to acquit a single guilty one."

On 30 April 1938, Stalin proposed a military alliance to France and Britain, effectively forsaking the Spanish Republic.

Exile, part I (1939–1960)

On 6 March 1939, she flew out of Spain under enemy naval fire to the major Algerian port city of Oran, then under French sovereignty. Her arrival surprised the authorities, who hurriedly put her aboard a liner bound for Marseille. The ship's captain was a Nationalist sympathiser, but a clandestine Communist cell aboard ensured he did not steer the ship towards Nationalist-held Barcelona. This was the third time Ibárruri had evaded capture by the Nationalists.

Ibárruri was helped in France by the Communists, who sheltered her in Paris under police surveillance (the Communist Party would be outlawed by the government of Édouard Daladier on 26 September). From Paris, she travelled to Moscow and stayed there with Díaz, generals Enrique Líster and Juan Modesto, and others. She was reunited with Amaya and Rubén, who had escaped from a French internment camp at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

The Soviet Union received the refugees warmly. Ibárruri was given an apartment in Díaz's building and was assigned a chauffeur to drive her around Moscow. She was also invited to dine at the Dimitrovs'. She enjoyed attending performances at the Bolshoi Theatre and the Romen Theatre, and was an avid reader. She delighted in witnessing the emancipation of Russian women. She helped other families adapt to their new country and generally felt happy enough to sing on occasion.

Ibárruri worked in the Executive Committee of the Communist International Secretariat at the Communist International Headquarters near the Kremlin. Her work involved the continual evaluation, analysis, and discussion of the progress of Communism outside the Soviet Union. This was complemented by internal discussions within the PCE central committee, which focused on Spain. No serious disagreement existed between the Communist Party of Spain and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until 1968 over the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. The PCE supported or excused Stalin's domestic and foreign policies, including the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 24 August 1939.

In January 1940, La Pasionaria wrote the following praise of Joseph Stalin:

Ibárruri was asked to manage a new short-wave radio station that broadcast news, analysis, and opinion to the citizens of Francoist Spain. The Moscow station was officially named , but in Spain, it was nicknamed "," ("The Pyrenees one") partly due to the mistaken belief that it was located in the Pyrenees and partly because the radio itself used the label occasionally. Radio España Independiente began broadcasting on 22 July 1941, one month after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Initial broadcasts were made from candle-lit basements under sporadic aerial bombardment. Ibárruri recounted that seniors, women, and children kept watch on the terraces of Moscow every night for incendiary bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe. Civilians would pick up the burning sticks with tongs and dunk them in buckets of water.

Many Spanish refugees volunteered to fight alongside the Russians despite Stalin's initial disapproval. According to Ibárruri, more than 200 died in battle. On 18 July 1941, she greeted the Spanish 4th Special Unit assigned to the defence of the Kremlin. Elsewhere, from Crimea to Finland, the Spanish Communist volunteers fought as guerrillas behind enemy lines, in the Red Army, or with the Soviet air force; some made it to Berlin, and at least one scouted territory held by the Spanish Nationalist Blue Division.

On 13 October 1941, martial law was declared in Moscow as the German 3rd Panzer Army came within 140 kilometres (87 miles) of the capital. On 16 October, the ECCI was evacuated by train from Moscow to Ufa, the capital of Republic of Bashkortostan. Díaz, who was gravely ill, went south to Tbilisi, the capital of the Georgian Soviet socialist Republic.

Radio España Independiente now broadcast from Ufa. She used various aliases, such as Antonio de Guevara or Juan de Guernica, presumably to create the impression that the station had an extensive network of commentators and journalists.

On 19 March 1942, Díaz committed suicide. La Pasionaria became secretary-general of the PCE after a brief period of consultations with Stalin.

On 3 September Ibárruri's son Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri lost his life fighting heroically at Stalingrad. Asteroid 2423 Ibarruri is named in his honour.

On 1 March 1943, Stalin established the Union of Polish Patriots, and on 15 May, the ECCI annulled the Third International and granted theoretical independence to each national Communist party. Ibárruri agreed with the decision.

On 23 February 1945, La Pasionaria left Moscow for a trip to Tehran, Baghdad and Cairo. In Cairo, she and her party booked passage on the first passenger ship departing from Alexandria, believing it was bound for Marseille. In fact, the ship, part of a British convoy, headed to Boulogne-sur-Mer near the Belgian border. The voyage lasted three months, and she arrived in Paris too late to meet with Juan Negrín, the last president of the Spanish Republic, to work out a common political strategy against Franco.

From 5 to 8 December, the PCE held a central committee plenum in Toulouse where Santiago Carrillo, the former leader of the Unified Socialist Youth in pre-war Spain who had arrived in liberated France in November 1944, "gained control of the PCE," according to fellow Communist Enrique Líster.

In his book Así destruyó Carrillo el PCE, Líster criticised Ibárruri's conduct between 1939 and 1945, writing: