Diego Abad de Santillán | |
|---|---|
 Santillán in 1971 | |
| Minister of Economy ofCatalonia | |
| In office 17 December 1936 – 3 April 1937 | |
| President | Lluís Companys |
| Preceded by | Joan Porqueras i Fàbregas |
| Succeeded by | Josep Juan i Domènech |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sinesio Baudillo García Fernández (1897-05-20)20 May 1897 |
| Died | 18 October 1983(1983-10-18) (aged 86) |
| Nationality | Spanish Argentine |
| Political party | Iberian Anarchist Federation |
| Alma mater | University of Madrid |
| Occupation | |
Sinesio Baudillo García Fernández (20 May 1897 – 18 October 1983), commonly known by his pseudonymDiego Abad de Santillán, was aSpanish Argentineanarcho-syndicalisteconomist. Born inLeón, his family moved to Argentina while he was young. He returned to Spain for his higher education and became involved in theSpanish anarchist movement. After his studies, he went back to Argentina and became involved with theArgentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA), co-founding theInternational Workers' Association (IWA). Following the1930 Argentine coup d'état and the establishment of theSecond Spanish Republic, he again went to Spain, becoming involved in theIberian Anarchist Federation (FAI). During theSpanish Civil War, he served in theCatalan government asMinister of Economy. After the war, he returned to Argentina and largely ceased political activities, going back to Spain only after theSpanish transition to democracy.
In 1897, Santillán was born Sinesio Baudillo García Fernández inReyero, a small, isolated town in theregion of León.[1] His father was from aLeonese family ofblacksmiths and his mother was from anAndalucian family ofminers.[2] In 1905,[1] the family moved to Argentina,[3] settling inSanta Fe.[1]
After working a number of jobs,[4] in 1913, the young Sinesio returned to León and earned hisbachelor's degree at a local university. After some travels aroundCatalonia and theBasque Country, in 1915,[2] he enrolled at theUniversity of Madrid,[4] where he studied thehumanities,[2] graduating as aDoctor of Philosophy.[5] In the Spanish capital, he began to live abohemian lifestyle,[2] taking the pseudonym Diego Abad de Santillán while writing for dissident journals.[6]
Santillán participated in the1917 Spanish general strike, for which he was imprisoned for a year.[4] After receiving anamnesty,[5] he returned to Argentina, briefly reuniting with his family in Santa Fe before moving to the capitalBuenos Aires.[2] There he joined theArgentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA), working as editor of its newspaperLa Protesta [es]. In 1922, he went toGermany and participated in the establishment of theInternational Workers' Association (IWA), staying behind inBerlin in order to study medicine.[4] There he met a number of famous anarchists, includingMax Nettlau, for whom he helped translate his works into Spanish. In 1925, he briefly went toMexico and helped organise theGeneral Confederation of Workers (CGT) before returning to Argentina, where he took part in theSacco & Vanzetti defense campaign and wrote a history of anarchism in Argentina.[5] In the wake of the1930 Argentine coup d'état,[4] he was sentenced to death for sedition,[5] but managed to escape into exile in the newly-establishedSpanish Republic.[4]
In Spain, Santillán joined theConfederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and became secretary of theIberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), for which he edited their respective newspapersSolidaridad Obrera andTierra y Libertad. Following the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, he joined theCentral Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia and was appointedMinister of Economy in theCatalan government.[7] In the wake of theMay Days, he took a critical line against the government ofJuan Negrín and theCommunist Party of Spain (PCE),[5] publishingAfter the Revolution, which outlined a program forworkers' self-management underanarcho-syndicalism.[8] In the program, Santillán invoked British utilitarian philosopherJohn Stuart Mill in his attacks againstcapitalism, declaring:
Stuart Mill is right. We believe that such a society has no right to existence and we desire its total transformation. We want a socialized economy in which the land, the factories, the homes, the means of transport cease to be the monopoly of private ownership and become the collective property of the entire community.
When the Republic was defeated, Santillán fled into exile in France, before finally returning to Argentina. There he continued his historical work and contributed to dictionaries and encyclopedias,[9] notably writingWhy We Lost the War, which his son Luis later adapted into film. He largely ceased political activities and gravitated increasingly towards reformism, defending anarchist collaboration with the Republican government during the war, while also coming to prioritise the abolition of the state over the abolition of capitalism.[10]
During theSpanish transition to democracy, Santillán finally returned to Spain, settling in Barcelona, where he died in 1983.[11]
