Francisco Sarrión (June 18, 1937 – 1996) was a

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-born

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

, mostly known as the leader of a small, short lived Maoist sect in

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in 1968. In Sweden, Sarrión sometimes used the pseudonym Fredrik Svensson. Sarrión lived in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

for a while in the 1960s where he came in contact with group of

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Maoists visiting China. He decided to move to Sweden, where he in 1968 became the indisputable leader of a small extremist Maoist

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, called ''Rebellerna'' ("The Rebels"). The Rebels rebelled against the broader Leftist and Maoists movement, which they considered corrupted. They even went to the Chinese

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where they demanded to become members of the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

. When they were denied membership, because they were not Chinese citizens, Francisco Sarrión declared that the embassy was under the control of reactionary bureaucrats who had betrayed

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

. Francisco Sarrión was a charismatic leader who could gather and control a group of young, dedicated followers around him. Witnesses have described Sarrión acting more like a fanatic religious preacher than a politician. The Rebel Movement only lasted for a couple of months, but during this time, its members rapidly broke off all contact with the rest of society, including their families. The group of approximately 100 members was divided into smaller cells, living isolated in 7 apartments in Stockholm and one apartment in

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, where they were to study the works of Mao and prepare for the coming ''

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''. Only the leadership, the ''

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'', with Sarrión as chairman, knew were the different cells were located. Eventually the sect imploded and Francisco Sarrión, after having failed to obtain a Swedish citizenship, moved back to Spain and lived the last years of his life in the

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, working in the

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until his death.

References

External links

Rebellerna radio broadcast
by

Bosse Lindquist Bosse Lindquist (born 1954) is a Swedish radio and TV producer and writer. Since 2012, he directs investigative documentaries for Swedish Television's documentary department. From 2007 to 2009, Lindquist was head of the national radio broadcaster ...

(in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarrion, Francisco Maoists Spanish communists 1996 deaths 1937 births