Constancia de la Mora Maura (28 January 1906 – 27 January 1950) was a Spanish political activist, author and Republican official during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Born in to a conservative aristocratic family, she became a communist militant and directed the Foreign Press Office of the Second Spanish Republic. Her mother was the daughter of

Antonio Maura Antonio Maura Montaner (2 May 1853 – 13 December 1925) was Prime Minister of Spain on five separate occasions. Early life Maura was born in Palma, on the island of Mallorca, and studied law in Madrid. In 1878, Maura married Constanci ...

, five time Prime Minister of Spain. Constancia married for the first time Manuel Bolín from Málaga (brother of

Luis Bolín Luis Antonio Bolín Bidwell (1894 Málaga – 3 September 1969) was a Spanish lawyer, journalist and an expert in tour operating. This led to his appointment as Head of the National Union of Catering and Allied Attorney in Parliament during the fi ...

, censor of the foreign press in Franco's provisional government), with whom she had a son, and later with the general and Commander of the

Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica M ...

Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros Ignacio Pío Juan Hidalgo de Cisneros y López-Montenegro (11 July 1896 – 9 February 1966) was a Spanish military aviator. He is known as commander of the Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War. He is also noted as one of few a ...

. She was the first woman to remarry secularly in Catholic Spain. During the Spanish Civil War she decided to join the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, and visited the Soviet Union with her husband, where

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

and other Soviet authorities promised to send military aid to the Republicans. She was appointed censor and head of the Republican Foreign Press Office, based in Valencia. After the defeat of the Spanish Republic, de la Mora went into exile in Mexico, where she published her autobiography ''Doble esplendor'' (''In'' ''Place of Splendour'').

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

, who was a prominent supporter of the Republican cause, presented the book in New York. She died at the age of 44 in a traffic accident in Guatemala. Her friend, Nancy Johnstone, the writer and erstwhile hotelier, was with her in the car and survived the crash, but disappeared in mysterious circumstances shortly afterwards.See introduction to ''Sombreros are Becoming'' by Nancy Johnstone, The Clapton Press, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de la Mora, Constancia 1906 births 1950 deaths Spanish communists Spanish feminists Spanish feminist writers Communist Party of Spain politicians Spanish anti-fascists Spanish Anti-Francoists Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Mexico 20th-century Spanish journalists Spanish women memoirists Road incident deaths in Guatemala