Joan Peiró i Belis (sometimes Juan Peiró: 18 February 1887 – 24 July 1942) was a Catalan

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

activist, writer, editor of the anarchist newspaper '' Solidaridad Obrera'', two-time

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the ''

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...

'' (National Confederation of Labour, CNT) and Minister of Industry of the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Life

Though he was born in the

Sants Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of l'Eixample, Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts (district), Les Corts to the northwest, and by the mun ...

neighbourhood of Barcelona, Peiró spent a large portion of his life in

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...

, just outside Barcelona, where he worked as a glass worker all his life in the

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

glass factory Cristalleries de Mataró . Contrary to most anarchists' principles, in 1930, during the reign of

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

of Spain, Peiró signed the "Manifesto of the Catalan Intelligentsia", which called for the establishment of a republic. A short time later, Peiró was stripped of his position of speaking for the CNT at a rally in Barcelona, but Peiró announced that he had removed his signature from the manifesto, and held his faith in

anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...

. Later, in 1931, Peiró signed

Ángel Pestaña Ángel Pestaña Nuñez (1886–1937) was a Spanish Anarcho-syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalist General Secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, general secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), founder of the Syndical ...

's ''Manifiesto de los Treinta'' ("Manifesto of the Thirty"), which was critical of the more radical ''

Federación Anarquista Ibérica The Iberian Anarchist Federation (, FAI) is a Spanish anarchist organization. Due to its close relation with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) anarcho-syndicalist union, it is often abbreviated as CNT-FAI. The FAI publishes the pe ...

'' influence on the CNT, which would have him temporarily removed from the CNT. On 4 November 1936 Peiró, and three other members of the CNT leadership, were appointed to ministerial positions in the Spanish government by

Largo Caballero Francisco Largo Caballero (15 October 1869 – 23 March 1946) was a Spanish politician and trade unionist who served as the prime minister of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He was one of the historic leaders of the Spa ...

. In 1937, he drafted a piece of legislation that would have collectivized all of Spain's industries, but after several redrafts, the final legislation provided virtually nothing of the original intent. Peiró was removed from his position on 17 May 1937 but returned to the government under

Juan Negrín Juan Negrín López (; 3 February 1892 – 12 November 1956) was a Spanish physician and politician who served as prime minister of the Second Spanish Republic. He was a leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (, PSOE) and of the le ...

as Commissioner of Electricity. Following the fall of the republic in 1939, Peiró fled to France, where he was turned over to Nazi Germany by the Vichy Regime in France. He was executed after the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

turned him over to the Franco government in Spain.

Legacy

In Barcelona, a plaza adjacent to the main transportation terminal was named for Peiró. In 2002, on the 60th anniversary of Peiró's death, a group in Mataró organized a celebration in honor of Peiró. The celebration took place at the cemetery in Mataró where Peiró's body lies, and was attended by his daughter Guillermina Peiró, the secretary of communication of the '' Confederación General del Trabajo'' (General Confederation of Labour, CGT), Jordí Martí, as well as the Mayor of Mataró, Manuel Mas. A red and black flag was laid on Peiró's tomb, while the anthem of the CNT, '' To the Barricades'' was sung. Peiró's son Josep, like his father, went on to be a leader of the CNT in exile, after having fought in the Civil War as part of the Ascaso Column.

Written works

*''Trayectoria de la Confederación Nacional del Trabajo''. *''Ideas sobre Sindicalismo y Anarquismo''. *''Perill a la reraguarda''. *''Problemas y cintarazos''. *''Problemas del sindicalismo y del Anarquismo''.

References

Sources

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External links