Jesus
Hernández
was
born in Spain in 1906. He held left-wing
political views and in his youth he joined the Communist
Party (PCE). Hernández was later to admit that he took
part in a failed assassination attempt on the life Indalecio
Prieto, one of the leaders of the Socialist
Party (PSOE).
On the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War Hernández was
editor of the communist newspaper, Mundo
Obrero. In September 1936, President
Manuel
Azaña
appointed the left-wing
socialist, Francisco
Largo Caballero
as prime minister. Largo Caballero brought into his government two
communists Hernández (Education) and Vicente
Uribe (Agriculture).
Hernández, a strong
opponent of the anarchists, spent the
next few months trying to persuade Largo Caballero to bring the Anarchist
Brigades under the control of the Nationalist
Army. During
the May Riots in Barcelona
Hernández argued that Worker's Party
(POUM) should be outlawed. When Largo Caballero refused, he helped
to force the prime minister to resign.
As Minister of Education
he played an important role in promoting the government's literacy
campaign. In April 1938 Hernández became head of the war commissars
in the central zone.
In 1939 Hernández
fled to the Soviet Union and became an executive
member of Comintern. He soon became
disillusioned with the rule of Joseph Stalin
and went to live in Mexico.
In his memoirs published
in 1953, Hernández admitted that he was following orders from
Stalin to oust Francisco
Largo Caballero and
to get him replaced by Juan Negrin. He
also claimed that Stalin did not really care about the Republicans
winning the Spanish Civil War and was more
concerned with blocking German influence in the country. Jesus
Hernández died
in 1966.
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