Francisco Largo Caballero

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Largo and the second or maternal family name is Caballero.

Francisco Largo Caballero (15 October 1869 – 23 March 1946) was a Spanish politician and trade unionist who served as the prime minister of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He was one of the historic leaders of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and of the Workers' General Union (UGT). Although he entered politics as a moderate leftist, after the 1933 general election in which the conservative CEDA party won the majority, he took a more radical turn and began to advocate for a socialist revolution, materialized with the failed Revolution of 1934 in Asturias.

Francisco Largo Caballero
Prime Minister of Spain
In office 4 September 1936 – 17 May 1937
President	Manuel Azaña
Preceded by	José Giral Pereira
Succeeded by	Juan Negrín López
Minister of War
In office 4 September 1936 – 17 May 1937
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Juan Hernández Saravia
Succeeded by	Indalecio Prieto
President of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
In office 12 October 1932 – 1 July 1936
Preceded by	Remigio Cabello
Succeeded by	Ramón González Peña
Minister of Labour and Social Security
In office 14 April 1931 – 12 September 1933
Prime Minister	Manuel Azaña
Preceded by	Gabriel Maura Gamazo
Succeeded by	Carles Pi i Suner
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office 14 July 1931 – 31 March 1939
Constituency	Madrid
In office 18 May 1918 – 1 June 1919
Constituency	Barcelona
Personal details
Born	(1869-10-15)15 October 1869 Madrid, Kingdom of Spain
Died	23 March 1946(1946-03-23) (aged 76) Paris, France
Political party	PSOE
Signature

After the victory of the Popular Front in the 1936 Spanish general election and following the July coup, Caballero served as prime Minister of Spain during the civil war from 4 September 1936 until 17 May 1937. Exiled in France following the republican defeat in 1939, Caballero was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp after the Nazi invasion of France. He died in Paris in 1939.

Early life

Born in Madrid, as a young man he made his living stuccoing walls. He participated in a construction workers strike in 1890 and joined the PSOE in 1894. Upon the death in 1925 of party founder Pablo Iglesias, Largo Caballero became head of the party and of the UGT.^[1]

Political career

Moderate in his positions at the beginning of his political life, he advocated maintaining a degree of UGT cooperation with the dictatorial government of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, which permitted the union to continue functioning under his military dictatorship (which lasted from 1923 to 1930).^[2] This cooperation was the start of Largo Caballero's political conflict with Indalecio Prieto, who opposed all collaboration with Primo de Rivera.

Largo Caballero was Minister of Labor Relations between 1931 and 1933 in the first governments of the Second Spanish Republic, headed by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, and in that of his successor Manuel Azaña.^[3] Caballero attempted to improve the conditions of landless labourers (braceros) in the rural south. On 28 April 1931 he introduced a decree of municipal boundaries to prevent the importation of foreign labour while there remained unemployed workers within the municipality. In May he established mixed juries (jurados mixtos) to arbitrate in agrarian labour disputes, and introduced an eight-hour working day in the countryside. Alongside these, a decree on obligatory cultivation prevented owners from using their land however they wanted.^[4] He enjoyed great popularity among the masses of workers, who saw their own austere existences reflected in his way of life.^[1]

In the elections of 19 November 1933, the right-wing Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) won power in Spain. The government nominally led by the centrist Radical Alejandro Lerroux was dependent on CEDA's parliamentary support. Responding to this reversal of fortune, Largo abandoned his moderate positions and became more openly far left. In the January 3, 1934 edition of El Socialista, the PSOE newspaper, he wrote "Harmony? No! Class war! Hatred for the criminal bourgeoise to the death!" A few weeks later, the PSOE compiled a new platform that called for the nationalization of all land, dissolution of all religious orders and the confiscation of their property, and the dissolution of the army, to be replaced by socialist militias.^[5] In early October 1934, after three CEDA ministers entered the government, he was one of the leaders of the failed armed rising of workers (mainly in Asturias) which was forcefully put down by the CEDA-dominated government.^[6]

He defended the pact of alliance with the other workers' political parties and trade unions, such as the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the anarchist trade union, the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). Once again, this placed him at odds with Prieto.^[7] He declared, that he, Largo Caballero "shall be the second Lenin", whose aim is the union of Iberian Soviet republics.^{[dead link‍][8]}

After the Popular Front won the elections in February 1936, president Manuel Azaña proposed that Prieto join the government, but Largo blocked these attempts at collaboration between PSOE and the Republican government.^[9] Largo dismissed fears of a military coup, and predicted that, were it to happen, a general strike would defeat it, opening the door to the workers' revolution.

In the event, the coup attempt by the colonial army and the right came on 17 July 1936. While not immediately successful, further actions by rebellious army units sparked the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), in which the republic was ultimately defeated and destroyed.

Prime Minister of Spain

Francisco Largo Caballero's office, kept in the Archives of the Labor Movement in Alcalá de Henares.

Monument of Largo Caballero

A few months into the civil war, after the Republican Left Party government of José Giral resigned on 4 September 1936, President Manuel Azaña asked Largo Caballero to form a new government.^[10] There resulted a broader-based Popular Front cabinet.^[11] Largo Cabellero served as Prime Minister^[12] and also took the post of Minister of War.^[13] Besides conducting the war, he also focused on maintaining military discipline and government authority within the Republic.^[14] On 4 November 1936 Largo Caballero persuaded the anarchist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT; "National Confederation of Labour") to join the government, with four members assigned to junior ministries including Justice, Health and Trade. The decision was controversial with the CNT members.^[15]

The Barcelona May Days of 3 to 8 May 1937 led to a governmental crisis^[16] that forced Caballero to resign on 17 May 1937. Juan Negrín, also a member of the PSOE, was appointed prime minister in his stead.^[17]

Largo Cabellero's cabinet, formed on 4 September 1936 and reshuffled on 4 November 1936, consisted of:^[18]

Ministry	Start	End	Officeholder	Party
Prime Minister and War	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Francisco Largo Caballero	PSOE (left)
State (Foreign Affairs)	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Julio Álvarez del Vayo	PSOE (left)
Finance	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Juan Negrín López	PSOE (moderate)
Interior	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Ángel Galarza	PSOE (left)
Industry and Commerce	4 September 1936	4 November 1936	Anastasio de Gracia Villarrubia	PSOE (moderate)
Industry	4 November 1936	17 May 1937	Juan Peiró Belis	CNT
Commerce	4 November 1936	17 May 1937	Juan López Sánchez	CNT
Navy and Air	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Indalecio Prieto Tuero	PSOE (moderate)
Education and Fine Arts	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Jesús Hernández Tomás	PCE
Agriculture	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Vicente Uribe Galdeano	PCE
Justice	4 September 1936	4 November 1936	Mariano Ruiz-Funes García	IR
	4 November 1936	17 May 1937	Juan García Oliver	CNT
Communications and Merchant Marine	4 September 1936	17 May 1937	Bernardo Giner de los Ríos	UR
Labor and Health	4 September 1936	4 November 1936	José Tomás y Piera	ERC
Labor and Planning	4 November 1936	15 May 1937	Anastasio de Gracia Villarrubia	PSOE (moderate)
Health and Social Assistance	4 November 1936	17 May 1937	Federica Montseny Mañé	CNT
Public Works	4 September 1936	15 September 1936	Vicente Uribe Galdeano (Interim)	PCE
	15 September 1936	17 May 1937	Julio Just Gimeno	IR
Propaganda	4 November 1936	17 May 1937	Carlos Esplá Rizo	IR
Without portfolio	4 September 1936	15 May 1937	José Giral Pereira	IR
Without portfolio	4 September 1936	15 May 1937	Manuel Irujo y Ollo	PNV
Without portfolio	4 November 1936	17 May 1936	Jaime Ayguadé Miró	ERC

Exile, death, and legacy

Upon the defeat of the Republic in 1939, he fled to France. Arrested during the German occupation of France, he spent most of World War II imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg concentration camp, until the liberation of the camps at the end of the war.^[19]

He died in exile in Paris in 1946;^[1] his remains were returned to Madrid in 1978 after Franco's death in 1975.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Moscow gold
• Marcelino Valentín Gamazo

Footnotes

1. Thomas 2003, p. 39.
2. Beevor 2006, p. 17.
3. Beevor 2006, p. 21.
4. Preston, Paul. The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Spanish Second Republic. Routledge. New York. 1994. p. 81.
5. Beevor 2006, p. 28.
6. Beevor 2006, pp. 29–32.
7. Jackson 1967, pp. 206–208.
8. "Francisco Largo Caballero : Biography". Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
9. Preston 2006, p. 84.
10. Barnhart, Harley E. (1947). The Politics of Republican Spain: 1936–1946. Stanford University. p. 49. Retrieved 3 June 2023. When the flood-tide approached the gates of the capital, President Azaña asked Largo Caballero to form a cabinet that would help to rally the working class organizations for the defense of the city.
11. Smith, Angel, ed. (2017) [2009]. Historical Dictionary of Spain (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 401. ISBN 9781538108833. Retrieved 3 June 2023. In an atmosphere of revolutionary enthusiasm, Largo Cabellero accepted the post of prime minister in a new Popular Front government in September 1936.
12. De Meneses, Filipe Ribeiro (2001). "The Republicans' War". Franco and the Spanish Civil War. Introductions to history. London: Psychology Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780415239257. Retrieved 3 June 2023. The appointment in September 1936 of the historic leader of Spanish socialism, Francisco Largo Caballero, as prime minister was of great importance. It marked the return of the Popular Front [...].
13. Thomas 2003, pp. 392–394.
14. Jackson 1967, p. 341.
15. Paz 2011, pp. 96–97.
16. Preston 2006, pp. 256–258.
17. Graham 2005, p. 162.
18. Urquijo y Goitia 2008, pp. 129–130.
19. Beevor 2006, p. 413.

Sources

• Beevor, Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-303765-X.
• Graham, Helen (2005). The Spanish Civil War. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280377-1.
• Jackson, Gabriel (1967). The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00757-8.
• Paz, Abel (2011). The Story of the Iron Column: Militant Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War. AK Press. ISBN 978-1-84935-064-8.
• Preston, Paul (2006). The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge. London: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-00-723207-9.
• Thomas, Hugh (2003). The Spanish Civil War. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-101161-5.
• Urquijo y Goitia, José Ramón de (2008). Gobiernos y ministros españoles en la edad contemporánea. Editorial CSIC - CSIC Press. ISBN 978-84-00-08737-1.

External links

• Documents on Caballero from "Trabajadores: The Spanish Civil War through the eyes of organised labour", a digitised collection of more than 13,000 pages of documents from the archives of the British Trades Union Congress held in the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
• Andy Durgan The Rise and Fall of Largo Cabellero, International Socialism, 18 (1983)
• http://www.geneall.net/H/per_page.php?id=467749
• Newspaper clippings about Francisco Largo Caballero in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Political offices
Preceded by Gabriel Maura Gamazo	Minister of Labour and Social Security 1931–1933	Succeeded by Carles Pi i Sunyer
Preceded by José Giral	Prime Minister of Spain 1936–1937	Succeeded by Juan Negrín
Preceded by Juan Hernández Saravia	Minister of War 1936–1937	Succeeded by Indalecio Prieto
Party political offices
Preceded by Remigio Cabello	President of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 1932–1936	Succeeded by Ramón González Peña
Preceded by Remigio Cabello	Leader of the Socialist Group in the Congress of Deputies 1933–1936	Succeeded by Ramón González Peña
Trade union offices
Preceded by Vicente Barrio	Secretary General of the UGT 1918–1938	Succeeded by José Rodríguez Vega