Víctor Alba who also went as Pere Pagès i Elies (
Barcelona, 1916 –
Sant Pere de Ribes
__NOTOC__
Sant Pere de Ribes is a town in the center of the Garraf comarca, in Barcelona province, Catalonia, Spain. The remains of a 12th-century castle once ruled by the troubadour Guillem de Ribes
Guillem de Ribes (''c''. 1140 – ''c''. 1220)J ...
, 10 March 2003)
was a Spanish
anti-Stalinist communist politician, journalist, writer and Spanish university professor.
Career
Alba began to study rights at a young age, beginning his studies at the
University of Barcelona. He started his career as a political journalist at a young age. Affiliated with the
Bloque Obrero y Campesino (Workers and Peasants' Bloc, BOC), he later worked for the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (
POUM) when the BOC combined with it. During the
Spanish Civil War, he was the director of ''
La Batalla
''La Batalla'' (English: ''The Battle'') is the second studio album by Dominican singer Antony Santos. It was released in 1992 by Platano Records and RM Records. This album included famous songs like the merengues "El Baile Del Perrito" and "Yo ...
'', the organ of expression for the POUM. After the capture of the Basque region by Francoist forces in May 1937 he was arrested and jailed for six years in
Valencia. After leaving prison, he went into exile in France, where he worked alongside
Albert Camus, and in 1947 moved to
Mexico, where he published various works. In Mexico he began a prolific literary production, in Spanish, French, Catalan and English, and became director of the Social Training center. In 1957, he moved north to the United States, working with various international groups and became a professor of the
University of Kansas and in the
Kent State University in
Ohio. Initially identifying as a Marxist, he adopted social-democratic and anti-communist views during his exile.
In 1974 he retired from Kent State University, returning to Spain where he died in 2003.
Works
Alba wrote many works in various languages:
*''Els supervivents''. Ed. Catalonia. México, DF, 1950. Novela sobre la Barcelona de posguerra. Reeditada en Barcelona, 1996.
*''Historia del comunismo en América Latina''. Ed. Occidentales. México DF, 1953.
*''Mexicanos Para La Historia'' Biblioteca Minima Mexicana 1955
*''The Latin Americans''. Praeger, Nueva York, 1969
*''Retorn a Catalunya''. Portic, Barcelona, 1970.
*''Catalunya sense cap ni peus''. Portic, Barcelona, 1971.
*''Homo sapiens catalanibus''. Portic, Barcelona, 1974
*''USA, centre de la revolució mundial''. Portic, Barcelona, 1974.
*''Catalonia. A Profile''. Praeger, Nueva York, 1975
*''El pájaro africano''. Planeta, Barcelona, 1975. Novela finalista del
Premio Planeta
The Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher Grupo Planeta to an original unpublished novel written in Spanish. It is one of about 16 literary prizes given by Planeta.
Financially, it is the ...
de 1975.
*''El marxisme a Catalunya. 1919–1939. I-Historia del BOC. II-Historia del POUM. III-Andreu Nin. IV-Joaquim Maurín'', Pòrtic, Barcelona, 1974–1975.
*''Els problemes del moviment obrer de Catalunya''. Portic, Barcelona, 1976.
*''Historia de la resistencia antifranquista'', 1939–1955. Planeta, Barcelona, 1978.
*''Todos somos herederos de Franco''. Planeta, Barcelona, 1979
*''Sísifo y su tiempo''. Laertes. Barcelona, 1996. Memorias.
References
External links
Victor Alba, ''Spanish Marxism vs Soviet Communism: A History of the P.O.U.M. in the Spanish Civil War''Victor Alba, ''Lessons of the Collectives''Victor Alba "La Revolución Española en la Práctica" (Introduction)(Spanish)
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225858/http://www.march.es/ceacs/biblioteca/proyectos/linz/Herramientas/PDF/personajes.pdf
*
1916 births
2003 deaths
Kent State University faculty
20th-century Spanish writers
20th-century Spanish male writers
University of Kansas faculty
POUM politicians
20th-century Spanish journalists
Historians of the labour movement in Spain
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