Julian
Besteiro,
the son of a prosperous shopkeeper,
was born in
Madrid on 21st September 1870. He joined
the Socialist Party and in 1912 became
professor of logic at the University of Madrid.
In the summer of 1917
Besteiro became involved in the organization of a political strike
in Spain. The strikers demanded the establishment of a provisional
republican government, elections to a constituent Cortes and action
to deal with inflation. In Madrid
members of the strike committee, including Besteiro and Francisco
Largo Caballero,
were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Besteiro was released in
1918 and was later elected to the Cortes
as deputy for Madrid. Besterio also became president of the Socialist
Party (PSOE) and the the UGT.
After the fall of Alfonso
XIII democracy
was restored in Spain. Following parliamentary elections Besteiro
was elected president of the Constituent Cortes. Besteiro opposed
the growing radicalization of the trade union movement and in January
1934 resigned as president of the UGT.
Besteiro argued against
the inclusion of the Communist Party
in the Popular Front movement. However,
the views of Francisco
Largo Caballero and
Indalecio
Prieto prevailed and Besteiro lost his power base in the
Socialist
Party. Besteiro remained a popular figure in Madrid and
in the 1936 elections he won the highest number of votes of any candidate
in the city.
In the early months of
the Spanish Civil War Besteiro opposed
the introduction of extreme left-wing policies. This made him even
more isolated in his party and held only a minor municipal post in
Madrid throughout the war.
In May 1937 Besteiro agreed
to go to London to meet Anthony
Eden
where he explored the possibility
of British mediation between the Republicans and the Nationalists.
He also visited Leon
Blum in
France, but although both men were sympathetic
they were unable to persuade General Francisco
Franco to agree
to peace talks.
Besteiro grew increasingly
disillusioned with the policies of Juan Negrin.
When President Manuel
Azaña refused
to dismiss him, Besteiro joined Segismundo
Casado,
commander of the Republican Army of the Centre, and
disillusioned anarchist leaders, to establish an anti-Negrin National
Defence Junta.
On 6th March
1939 José Miaja in Madrid joined
the rebellion by ordering the arrests of Communists
in the city. Negrin, about to leave for France,
ordered Luis Barceló, commander
of the First Corps of the Army of the Centre, to try and regain control
of the capital. His troops entered Madrid and there was fierce fighting
for several days in the city. Anarchists troops led by Cipriano
Mera, managed to defeat the First Corps and Barceló was
captured and executed.
Segismundo
Casado
now tried to negotiate a peace settlement with General Francisco
Franco.
However, he refused, demanding an unconditional surrender. Members
of the Republican Army still left alive,
were no longer willing to fight and the Nationalist
Army entered Madrid
virtually unopposed
on 27th March 1939.
Besteiro refused
to leave Spain with other left-wing politicians when it became clear
that the Nationalists would win the Spanish
Civil War.
He told the socialist daily, La Voz,
"The great majority, the masses, they can't leave, and I, who
have always lived with the workers, will continue with them and with
them I will stay. Whatever is their fate will be mine"
Despite Besteiro's
attempts to negotiate an end to the war he was arrested and on 8th
July 1939 he faced a court martial for the alleged crime of "military
rebellion". He was found guilty and sentenced to thirty years'
imprisonment. Julian
Besteiro died
of tuberculosis in Carmona Prison on 27th September, 1940.
(1)
Edward
Knoblaugh,
Correspondent in Spain (1937)
Just before the war broke out I interviewed
Julian Besteiro, gentle, soft-spoken philosopher who heads the Moderate
Socialist party in Spain. The interview was held in the modest little
home Professor Besteiro built near the end of the Castellana boulevard
in Madrid. A socialist congress was scheduled to be held in August
(1936) and a bitter fight was pending for leadership of the party.
It was split three ways, with Francisco Largo Caballero heading the
extreme Left group, Indalicio Prieto the center group, and Besteiro
the Right faction. I wanted Besteiro's views on the outcome of the
congress.
"I do not think I
have a chance," he told me. "Since the elections, the extreme
Left has won away most of my followers. Prieto is clever and is holding
out to have the congress staged in Asturias, where his influence is
greatest. If he succeeds, he probably will win, because relatively
few delegates can make such a long trip. I think Largo Caballero probably
will have things his own way, however."
"And after that?"
I prompted.
"Who can say? Largo
swings toward Communism, but the Spaniard is too much of an individualist
to submit long to regimentation. Stormy days are ahead for Spain.
I am planning to retire from politics if they take a too decided Left
trend, and devote my remaining years to my teaching
at the university."
The congress never was
held because the war broke a month before it was to open. Besteiro's
prophecies have in a large measure come true. Spain's "stormy
days" were more stormy than he ever imagined they would be. The
calm has not yet come. But the great mass of the people in Loyalist
Spain is sick of the war and will welcome any solution which brings
peace. The great majority of the masses
is hostile to Fascism. It is equally hostile to violent ideologies
which justify murder and destruction. Those living deep within Loyalist
territory are powerless even to suggest such a thing as surrender
or arbitration, but the relative ease with which Franco captured Bilbao
and Santander was indicative of an increasing willingness to capitulate
under any terms.
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