 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Emilio Frugoni" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Emilio Frugoni Queirolo (March 30, 1880 – August 28, 1969) was aUruguayansocialist politician, lawyer, poet, essayist, and journalist. He founded theSocialist Party of Uruguay (PS) in 1910 and was its first general secretary, as well as its first representative in theChamber of Deputies.
Born inMontevideo as one of the four children of Don Domingo Frugoni and Doña Josefina Queirolo, Emilio Frugoni joinedJosé Batlle y Ordóñez's camp during the political fighting in 1904, and rose to the rank ofLieutenant. Upon the end of the conflict, he decided to, in his own words:
In December 1904, Frugoni wrote hisProfesión de fe socialista ("Socialist Testimonial") - which was partly published in the newspaperEl Día. This was the start of a process leading to the creation of the PS. A while after that, he commented in hisEl Socialismo no es la violencia, ni el despojo, ni el reparto ("Socialism Is Not Violence, Nor Plunder, NorRedistribution"):
In 1920, he demanded a Party agreement on its position towards theOctober Revolution andBolshevism. In the 1921 Congress, the PS voted to join theComintern, and turned itself into theCommunist Party of Uruguay (PCU); Frugoni refused to adhere to theparty line, and refounded the PS as a non-communist group. In the 1928 elections, the PCU obtained 3,911 votes, and the PS 2,931.
He became an opponent of theauthoritarian presidentGabriel Terra in the 1930s, and was imprisoned, then exiled. Elected deputy in 1934, he had opposed the dictatorship enforced by the legislature, and, upon the swearing in of Terra, declared:
He walked out of theGeneral Assembly to the PS headquarters as the former was stormed by police forces.
In 1942, Frugoni was named Uruguay'sEnvoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to theSoviet Union by PresidentJuan José de Amézaga. He resigned his position in 1946 and returned to Montevideo, as he had become a harsh critic of Soviet policies. InLa Esfinge Roja (1948), the book containing his experiences, he wrote:
In January 1963, he left the PS over internal disagreements, and created Movimiento Socialista, with which he ran in the elections of 1966. In 1966, he authored anOpen Letter to the Socialists; among other things, it stated that "anelectoral campaign is nowadays an economical adventure", and showed Frugoni's willingness to contribute his personal wealth.
When the government ofJorge Pacheco Areco outlawed the PS and closed downEl Sol and the PS headquarters (La Casa del Pueblo), Frugoni rejected the possibility that the patrimony could pass to the Movimiento Socialista.
After his death, the Movimiento Socialista entered a tight alliance with the PS; nowadays, Frugoni's political thought is integrated in the party line of the PS.
