Luis Emilio Recabarren

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Recabarren and the second or maternal family name is Serrano.
Luis Emilio Recabarren
Recabarren in 1906
Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile
In office
15 May 1921 – 15 May 1924
Preceded byManuel Vargas
Succeeded byLuis Latrille Parra
ConstituencyAntofagasta
In office
5 June 1906 – 5 June 1906[note 1]
Preceded byFrancisco Ignacion Abarca González
Succeeded byLindorfo Alarcón Hevia
ConstituencyAntofagasta
Personal details
Born
Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano

(1876-07-06)6 July 1876
Typographer

Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano (Spanish pronunciation:

political figure. He was elected several times as deputy
, and was the driving force behind the worker's movement in Chile.

Early life

Recabarren was born in the port of

typographer
to help with his family's finances. Even though he had very little formal education, he was a voracious reader and was self-taught. He married Guadalupe del Canto, with whom he fathered two children. After the death of his first wife, he married Teresa Flores, who helped him with his political activities.

After a trip to Antofagasta, Taltal and Tocopilla, Recabarren became aware of the extreme poverty and near-enslavement of the nitrate workers. He decided to act. In 1894, he joined the Democrat Party of Chile. He became an ardent public speaker and founded several organizations and newspapers to foment solidarity among the workers. He initially focussed his political activities on the city of his birth, where he became director and editor of the newspaper El Trabajo (Work). In response to his harsh criticisms of governmental labour policies, he was jailed for eight months. In 1905 he moved with his family to Antofagasta, where he became the publisher of the newspaper La Vanguardia (Vanguard).

Political career

On May 15, 1906, Recabarren was elected as a

atheism. He moved his family to Iquique. Heavily involved in the labour movement, organising workers both politically and industrially, as a consequence of which he was re-prosecuted by the government and had to escape to Argentina. In that country he joined the Socialist Party of Argentina and in 1908 he travelled to Europe (Spain, France and Belgium
), finally returning to Chile at the end of that year.

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

Socialist Workers' Party
(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, this time to Antofagasta, where he founded El Socialista (The socialist) newspaper, and El Comunista.[2] In 1915 he was a candidate for 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, becoming a member of its first national directory.

After his return to Chile, he participated in the third Congress of his party, where they agreed to join the

Third International and become the 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 a candidate for the Chilean presidential election of 1920, where he lost to Arturo Alessandri
. At the time of that election he was re-incarcerated so he could not campaign and got a very small proportion of the vote. Nonetheless he was elected a deputy for Antofagasta again in 1921. After he moved to Santiago, he founded and edited La Justicia (Justice) newspaper.

Third International that took place in Moscow
. He returned in January 1923 to a hero's welcome by the various workers' 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

Santiago at the age of 48. [citation needed
]

Notes

  1. ^ Recabarren was prevented from exercising his functions as a deputy in 1906, as he refused to swear an oath on the Bible upon taking office.

References

  1. ^ Escritores de origen vasco. euskomedia.org
  2. ^ Bergquist, Charles W. Exports, Labor, and the Left: An Essay on Twentieth-Century Chilean History. Washington, D.C.: Wilson Center, 1981. p. 29

Bibliography

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