Francesc Layret i Foix (10 July 1880 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

– 30 November 1920 in Barcelona, Spain) was a Spanish politician and lawyer,

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...

nationalist and republican. He was assassinated in 1920 following the mass detention of several of his colleagues and other left-wing politicians and union leaders. Layret was a democrat, republican, Catalan nationalist and defender of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

. His commitment to the reality of his time and of

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led him to collaborate with the

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movement and the

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, helping to make Barcelona internationally known as the "rose of fire" for his role of avant-guard in the fight against oppression and exploitation.

Biography

Francesc Layret was born in Barcelona on 10 July 1880. A paralysis as a child left him crippled for the rest of his life. A brilliant student, he studied for two university degrees at the same time, Law and Philosophy of Letters. He obtained his doctorate with the highest qualification in 1905. In 1902 he was part of the group founding the Popular Encyclopedic Cultural Association, and presided over the first Organizing Commission and drawing up the first Statutes. He actively participated in the O.C. and later presided over it from 1906-1907. As a lawyer the union majority and that grouped the most combative workers participated in numerous processes of social character defending the workers, especially of the CNT. Layret was elected town councilor of the Town Council of Barcelona for the Republican Union. He was appointed president of the Commission of Treasury and drew up and implemented the Budget of the Reform. With this budget he achieved a saving of two million pesetas with which in 1908 he prepared and defended the Budget of Culture for the creation of municipal schools offering modern, lay and mixed education. The Budget was passed by the Town Council, in spite of the opposition of the rightwing parties, but would finally not be implemented as it was vetoed by the Regional Government. He participated in Solidaritat Catalana and, together with other dissidents from the Lliga Regionalista, in 1906 founded the Centre Nacionalista Republicà, which later joined the Unió Federal Nacionalista Republicana. In 1917 he was one of the founders of the Partit Republicà Català and in 1919 was elected deputy for Sabadell in the

Cortes Generales The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meet ...

in Madrid, in representation of this party. Of his most noteworthy speeches in parliament is one in which he denounced the repressive situation that the Catalan proletariat were suffering after the strike of the manufacturer Canadenca in 1919 and another he gave in 1920, as a defender of peace at the presentation of the Budget of War.

Assassination

On 30 November 1920 Francesc Layret was assassinated by gunmen of the Catalan employers' ''

Sindicato Libre The ''Sindicatos Libres'' (Spanish for "Free Trade Unions"; ca, Sindicats Lliures) was a Spanish company union born in Barcelona, Catalonia. It was established by Carlist workers, and remained active during the early interwar period (the late stag ...

''. He was shot as he left home to go, as a deputy, to the Civil Government to protest against the mass detention of union leaders, nationalists and republicans, including his friends Lluis Companys and

Martí Barrera Martí Barrera i Maresma ( La Bisbal del Ampurdán, May 29, 1889 - Barcelona, April 26, 1972) was a Spanish politician, member of the Republican Left of Catalonia. He had also been an active member of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), ...

. He was laid to rest on the

Cemetery of Montjuïc A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

References

External links

Partit Republicà Catalan

Catalan Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Layret, Francesc 1880 births 1920 deaths Politicians from Barcelona Assassinated Spanish politicians Deaths by firearm in Spain

Biography

Assassination

See also

References

External links