Juan
Comorera,
the son of a blacksmith, was
born in Spain in 1895. He held left-wing
political views and during the dictatorship of Miguel
Primo de Rivera he lived in Argentina.
On his return to Spain
he was elected to the Cortes and the Generalitat in Catalonia. He
also established collectives in agriculture, fishing and industrial
societies. In the Generalitat he served as a councillor for agriculture
and the economy. Comorera was also editor of the weekly journal, Justicia
Social.
Comorera was initially
a member of the Esquerra Party but later
joined the Socialist Party (PSOE). Comorera's
support for the Asturian rising in October 1934 led to his arrest.
Along with other left-wing leaders Comorera was imprisoned in Madrid.
Comoreau was released from
prison after the Popular Front victory
in February, 1936. Later that year Comorera helped to establish the
Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya
(PSUC). Most of the members came from Catalan branches of the Socialist
Party (PSOE) and the Communist Party
(PCE). Members also came from the left-wing Partit
Catala Proletari and the Union General de
Trabajadores (UGT).
Comorera was elected general
secretary of the PSUC. although he had originally been a member of
the Socialist Party (PSOE) by the end
of the year Comorera had joined the Communist
Party (PCE).
On the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War the Partit
Socialista Unificat de Catalunya joined other left-wing groups
to establish the Antifascist Militias Committee. By the middle of
1937 the PSUC claimed to have a membership of 50,000 and Comorera
was an important political figure in Catalonia.
During
the war the Partit Socialista Unificat de
Catalunya, the Union General de Trabajadores
(UGT) and the Communist Party (PCE)
played an important role in running Barcelona.
This brought them
into conflict with other left-wing groups in the city National
Confederation of Trabajo (CNT), the Federación
Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and the Worker's
Party (POUM).
On the 3rd May 1937, Rodriguez
Salas, the Chief of Police, ordered the Civil
Guard and the Assault Guard to take
over the Telephone Exchange, which had been operated by the CNT since
the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Members of the CNT in the Telephone Exchange were armed and refused
to give up the building. Members of the CNT,
FAI and POUM became
convinced that this was the start of an attack on them by the UGT,
PSUC and the PCE
and that night barricades were built all over the city.
Fighting broke out on the
4th May. Later that day the anarchist
ministers, Federica Montseny and Juan
Garcia Oliver, arrived in Barcelona and attempted to negotiate
a ceasefire. When this proved to be unsuccessful, Juan
Negrin, Vicente
Uribe and Jesus Hernández
called on Francisco
Largo Caballero to
use government troops to takeover the city. Largo Caballero also came
under pressure from Luis Companys not
to take this action, fearing that this would breach Catalan autonomy.
On 6th May death squads
assassinated a number of prominent anarchists in their homes. The
following day over 6,000 Assault Guards
arrived from Valencia and gradually took
control of Barcelona. It is estimated
that about 400 people were killed during what became known as the
May Riots.
The Partit
Socialista Unificat de Catalunya, now mainly controlled by the
Communist Party (PCE), emerged from
the May Riots in a strong position and now had a greater influence
in the political affairs of the region. In the new Catalan government
the PSUC held the cabinet posts of labour, supply and economy. It
also played an important role in integrating Catalan affairs into
those of the Republic.
Comorera and the PSUC gave
its full support to Juan Negrin and his
new government. Negrin was a communist sympathizer and from this date
Joseph Stalin obtained more control over
the policies of the Republican government Comorera
and the PSUC also favoured Negrin's policy of bringing the Anarchist
Brigades under
the control of the Republican Army. At first
the Anarcho-Syndicalists
resisted and attempted
to retain hegemony over their units. This proved impossible when the
government made the decision to only pay and supply militias that
subjected themselves to unified command and structure.
Comorera was forced
to flee from Spain when General Francisco
Franco and
the Nationalist Army took control
of the country in March 1939. He
returned to Spain in secret in 1954 but he was soon arrested, tried
and convicted. Juan
Comorera died
in prison in Burgos in 1960.
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