Santiago Carrillo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Spain | |
| In office 3 July 1960 – 10 December 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Dolores Ibárruri |
| Succeeded by | Gerardo Iglesias |
| Councillor of Public Order of the Madrid Defense Council | |
| In office 6 November 1936 – 27 December 1936 | |
| President | José Miaja |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | José Cazorla |
| Secretary-General of the Unified Socialist Youth | |
| In office 15 June 1936 – 20 June 1947 | |
| Secretary-General of the Socialist Youth of Spain | |
| In office 10 May 1934 – 15 June 1936 | |
| Member of theCongress of Deputies | |
| In office 13 July 1977 – 23 April 1986 | |
| Constituency | Madrid |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Santiago José Carrillo Solares (1915-01-18)18 January 1915 Gijón,Asturias, Spain |
| Died | 18 September 2012(2012-09-18) (aged 97) Madrid, Spain |
| Political party | PCE (1936–1985) PTE–UC (1985–1991) |
| Spouse(s) | Asunción Sánchez de Tudela (1936) Carmen Menéndez Menéndez (1949) |
| Children | Aurora, Santiago, José, Jorge |
| Signature |  |
Santiago José Carrillo Solares (18 January 1915 – 18 September 2012) was a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of theCommunist Party of Spain (PCE) from 1960 to 1982.
He wasexiled during thedictatorship of Francisco Franco, becoming a leader of the democratic opposition to the regime. His role as leader of the PCE made him a key figure in thetransition to democracy. He later embracedEurocommunism anddemocratic socialism, and was a member of theCongress of Deputies from 1977 to 1986.
Born inGijón,Asturias province, into theHouse of Carrillo, Santiago Carrillo was the son ofSocialist leaderWenceslao Carrillo and María Rosalía Solares Martínez. When he was six years old, his family moved to Madrid. After attending school, he began to work inEl Socialista, theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) newspaper at the age of 13. At the same time, he joined the Socialist Union, theWorkers' General Union and theSocialist Youth.
In 1932, Carrillo joined the Executive Commission of the Socialist Youth and became editor of its newspaper,Renovación. Carrillo belonged to the left wing of the organisation.[1] In 1933, as the Socialist Youth was becoming more radical, Carrillo was elected as General Secretary. From October 1934 to February 1936 he was jailed, due to his participation in thefailed 1934 leftist coup (Carrillo was a member of the National Revolutionary Committee).[2]
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After his release, in March 1936, Carrillo and the executive of the Socialist Youth travelled to Moscow to meet the leaders of theYoung Communist International and prepare the unification of Socialist and Communist youth leagues.[3]He was accompanied on the visit to Moscow byLeandro Carro andJuan Astigarrabía.[4]The result was the creation of theUnified Socialist Youth (Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas).[3]
After the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, Carrillo joined the Communist Party and did so on the day the government left Madrid in November. During the war, he was intensely pro-Soviet. On 7 November 1936 Carrillo was elected Councillor for Public Order in theDefence Council of Madrid, which was given supreme power in besieged Madrid, after the government left the city.
During his term, several thousand military and civilian prisoners were killed by republican groups in theParacuellos massacres atParacuellos del Jarama andTorrejón de Ardoz (the biggest mass killings by the Republican side during the Civil War). The dead were buried in common graves.[5][6] Carrillo denied any knowledge of the massacres in his memoirs but some historians likeCésar Vidal andPío Moa maintain that Carrillo was involved.[7] In an interview with the historianIan Gibson, Carrillo set out his version of events concerning the massacre.[8] In the preface of the second edition of his book, Ian Gibson maintains that Cesar Vidal twisted and misrepresented his sources in order to indict Carrillo.[9]
In March 1939 Madrid surrendered afterCasado's coup against theNegrín administration and its close ally, the Communist Party, which sought to continue the resistance until the expected outbreak of the World War. Carrillo's father, Wenceslao, a member of the PSOE, was among those who led the coup and was a member of Casado's Junta. Some weeks before, Carrillo's mother had died. Carrillo then wrote an open letter to his father describing the coup ascounter-revolutionary and as a betrayal, reproaching him for hisanti-communism, and renouncing any further communication with him. In his memoirs, Carrillo states that the letter was written on 7 March.[10] However, journalist and historian Carlos Fernández published the letter in 1983, as it had been published inCorrespondance International; it was dated 15 May.[11]
After the military collapse of theRepublican Government, Carrillo fled toParis and worked to reorganise the party. Carrillo spent 38 years in exile, most of the time inFrance, but also in theUSSR and other countries.
In 1944 Carrillo led the retreat of the communist guerrillas from theAran Valley.[12]
According to the historian and politicianRicardo de la Cierva, in 1945 Carrillo ordered the execution of fellow communist party memberGabriel León Trilla[13][14] In 2005 Carrillo said"yo he tenido que eliminar a alguna persona" (I have had to eliminate someone).[15]
Between April 1946 and January 1947, he served as minister wthout portfolio in the Republicangovernment-in-exile led byJosé Giral.
In August 1948, Carrillo met Soviet leaderJoseph Stalin.[16]
Carrillo became the General Secretary of the PCE in 1960, replacingDolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria), who was given the honorary post of Party Chairman. Carrillo's policies were aimed at strengthening the party's position among theworking class and intellectual groups[citation needed], and survived opposition fromMarxist–Leninist,Stalinist and social democratic factions. In 1968, when the Soviets and Warsaw Pact countries invadedCzechoslovakia, Carrillo distanced the party fromMoscow.
He fought for the total independence of the party from the Soviet Union and for a peaceful return to democracy in Spain.
Carrillo returned secretly toSpain in 1976 after the death of long-time SpanishcaudilloFrancisco Franco.He disguised his bald head with a wig provided by Eugenio Arias,Picasso's barber.He was entered from France in theMercedes of millionaire communist sympathizerTeodulfo Lagunero [es].[17]Arrested by the police, he was released within days. Together with communist party leadersGeorges Marchais ofFrance andEnrico Berlinguer ofItaly, he launched theEurocommunist movement in a meeting held inMadrid on March 2, 1977.
In the first democratic elections in 1977, shortly after the legalization of the PCE (9 April 1977) by the government ofAdolfo Suárez, Carrillo was elected to theSpanish Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados), the lower house of the Spanish Parliament, theCortes Generales to represent theMadrid district. Throughout the transition period, Carrillo's authority and leadership were decisive in securing peaceful evolution towards a democratic system, a constructive approach based on dialogue with opponents, and a healing of the wounds from the Civil War (the "Reconciliation" policy).[citation needed] It is widely acknowledged that this policy played a key role in making possible a peacefultransition to democracy.[citation needed]
Carrillo was re-elected in 1979, but the failed right-wingcoup d'état attempt on 23 February 1981 reduced support for the PCE, as Spanish society was still recovering from the trauma of the Civil War and subsequent repression and dictatorship. This was despite Carrillo's celebrated and highly public defiance of the coup plotters in the chamber of deputies - he was one of the three members who refused to obey by laying on the ground, even when they shot into the air.[18]
Fear of another military uprising increased support for moderate left-wing forces in the 1982 elections, in which Carrillo held his parliamentary seat. He was forced to leave his post as party leader on 6 November 1982, owing to the party's poor electoral performance.
On 15 April 1985, Carrillo and his followers were expelled from the PCE, and in 1986 they formed their own political group, theWorkers Party of Spain-Communist Unity (PTE-UC). This tiny party was unable to attract enough voters, so on 27 October 1991, Carrillo announced that it would be disbanded. Subsequently, the PTE-UC merged into the ruling PSOE, but Carrillo declined PSOE membership considering his many years as a communist member.
On 20 October 2005, Carrillo was granted an honorary doctorate by theAutonomous University of Madrid. The action of the university was strongly criticized by right-wing commentators. Carrillo had retired from public life at the time of his death at his home in Madrid at the age of 97 on 18 September 2012. He was cremated in Madrid on 20 September.[19]
| Preceded by | General Secretary of theCommunist Party of Spain 1960-1982 | Succeeded by |
