Valentin Gonzalez was born in Spain. He was a member of the Communist Party and on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he established a guerrilla unit to fight against the Nationalist Army.

Given the name El Campesino (The Peasant) he became a commander of one of the Mixed Brigades and fought in all the major battles around Madrid. He also too part in the offensives at Corunna Road (December 1936) and Guadalajara (March 1937).

On 6th July 1937, the Popular Front government launched a major offensive in an attempt to relieve the threat to Madrid. General Vicente Rojo sent the Republican Army to Brunete, challenging Nationalist control of the western approaches to the capital. The 80,000 Republican soldiers made good early progress but they were brought to a halt when General Francisco Franco brought up his reserves.

Fighting in hot summer weather, the International Brigades suffered heavy losses. Three hundred were captured and they were later found dead with their legs cut off. In retaliation, El Campesino executed an entire Moroccan battalion of some 400 men. All told, the Republic lost 25,000 men and the Nationalists 17,000 in the offensive.

El Campestino led his men during the offensives at Aragón (August 1937 - October 1937) and Teruel (December 1937 - February 1938). He also fought in the Catalan campaigns in 1938 before going into exile in the Soviet Union in 1939. El Campestino and two other communist leaders, Juan Modesto and Enrique Lister, developed the reputation as being the best successful Republican commanders of the war.

El Campestino disliked living under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin and eventually moved to France. He published his criticisms of life in the Soviet Union in his book Listen, Comrades (1952). Valentin Gonzalez died in 1965.

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