Luis Emilio Recabarren - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano (July 6, 1876 - December 19, 1924) was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an political figure. He was elected several times as deputy

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

, and was the driving force behind the Worker's Movement in that country.

Early life

Recabarren was born in the port of Valparaíso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

in 1876, to José Agustín Recabarren and Juana Rosa Serrano. Was of Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

descent. His family was very poor, so from a very early age he started to work as a typographer to help with the family finances. Even though he had very little formal schooling, he was a very voracious reader and was self-taught. He married Guadalupe del Canto, with whom had two children. After the death of his first wife, he married a second time to Teresa Flores, who helped him with his political activities.

After a trip to Antofagasta

Antofagasta

Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...

, Taltal

Taltal

Taltal is a Chilean commune and city in Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 11,000 and has an area of ....

and Tocopilla

Tocopilla

Tocopilla is a city and commune in the Antofagasta Region, in the north of Chile. It is the capital of the province that bears the same name.Tocopilla celebrates its anniversary on September 29 every year with a big show the day before, which includes a parade down the main street of the city, food...

, Recabarren became aware of the extreme poverty and near-slavery conditions of the workers of the nitrate industry, so he decided to do something about that. In 1894 he joined the Democratic Party of Chile. He became an ardent public speaker and founded several organizations and newspapers to foment solidarity within the workers. He concentrated, at first, his political activities to his own natal city, where he became director and editor of the El Trabajo (Work) newspaper. Due to his harsh criticisms of the governmental labor policies, he was jailed for eight months. In 1905 he moved with his family to Antofagasta

Antofagasta

, where he became the publisher of the La Vanguardia (Vanguard) newspaper.

Political career

On May 15, 1906, Recabarren was elected as a deputy

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

for Tocopilla to the National Congress

National Congress of Chile

The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...

representing the Democratic party. He was prevented though from assuming his position because he refused to be sworn on a bible, based on his atheist position. He moved his family to Iquique

Iquique

Iquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...

Heavily involved in the Labor movement, organising workers both politically and industrially, as a consequence of which he was again prosecuted by the government and had to escape to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. In that country he joined the Socialist Party of Argentina

Socialist Party (Argentina)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....

and in 1908 he travelled to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

(Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

), finally returning to Chile at the end of that year.

After his return, Recabarren was arrested and sent to jail in Los Andes

Los Andes, Chile

Los Andes, founded in July 31, 1791 as Santa Rosa de Los Andes, is a Chilean city and commune located in the province of the same name, in Valparaíso Region...

during 18 months, until August 1910. In 1911 he moved back to Iquique

Iquique

where, unhappy with his party and together with a group of nitrate workers, he founded the Socialist Workers Party

Communist Party of Chile

The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...

(POS) on June 4, 1912. Previously, on May 20 of that same year he had founded the El Despertar de los trabajadores (The awakening of the Workers) newspaper to promote his ideas. During its existence (1912-1926) the newspaper was banned several times, but Recabarren continued preaching his socialist credo from any tribune he could get.

"Reading is one of the means of emancipation for the working classes. That is why we recommend that they read widely."

Luis Emilio Recabarren

He moved again, this time to Antofagasta

Antofagasta

, where he founded El Socialista (The socialist) newspaper. In 1915 he was a candidate to congress for Antofagasta, but was defeated (probably due to massive fraud.) He then moved back to Valparaíso where he lived until 1916, when he started a tour along Chile all the way to Punta Arenas. In 1918 he travelled to Argentina where he participated in the foundation of the Communist Party of Argentina

Communist Party of Argentina

The Communist Party of Argentina is a communist party from Argentina. It was founded in 1918.At the 2005 legislative elections, the Party joined the Encuentro Amplio with other left-wing parties in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province...

, becoming member of its first national directory.

After his return to Chile, he participated in the III Congress of his party, where they agreed to incorporate themselves in the Third International

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

and become the Communist Party of Chile

Communist Party of Chile

. In 1919 he was deported to the south of the country for three months for speaking against the government. He was candidate for the Chilean presidential election of 1920

Chilean presidential election, 1920

The Chilean presidential election of 1920 resulted in the election as President of Arturo Alessandri.-Popular vote:Carried out on June 25, 1920. -Electoral vote :Carried out on July 25, 1920.-Electoral vote :...

, where he lost to Arturo Alessandri

Arturo Alessandri

Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma was a Chilean political figure and reformer, who served twice as the President of Chile, first between 1920 and 1924, and then again in 1925, and finally from 1932 until 1938....

. At the time of that election he was in jail (again) so he couldn't campaign and got a very small vote. Nonetheless he was elected a deputy for Antofagasta again in 1921. After he moved to Santiago, he founded and edited the La Justicia (Justice) newspaper.

Fascinated by the October Revolution

October Revolution

The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

, and after the party congress of January 22, 1922 that transformed the Socialist Workers Party (POS) into the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), he travelled to the USSR as the only Chilean delegate to the Union Congress of the Third International

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

that took place in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. He returned on January 1923 to a hero's welcome by the various worker's organizations.

Death

Recabarren, for all his fiery rhetoric, was a very sensitive person. After his return to Chile his ideals and projects were bitterly attacked by the majority of the central committee of the Communist Party of Chile

Communist Party of Chile

, who accused him of being excessively soft and liberal and too much in accord with the social-democratic ideas and not enough in agreement with the opinions of the Comintern

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

. These harsh criticisms, on top of personal and family problems, caused a severe depression. He refused to run for deputy in the 1924 elections and on December 19 of the same year he committed suicide in Santiago at the age of 48.

External links and references

Archivo Luis Emilio Recabarren in marxists.org
Luis Emilio Recabarren (1876-1924) en Memoría Chilena
Jobet, Julio César. 1955. Luis Emilio Recabarren. Los orígenes del movimiento obrero y del socialismo chilenos. (Prensa Latinoamericana. Santiago)
Witker, Alejandro. 1977. Los trabajos y los días de Recabarren. (Nuestro Tiempo. México, D.F.)

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