Enrique Castro Delgado (Madrid , 1907 - Madrid, January 2, 1965) was a Spanish communist leader and soldier. 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 ...

, as a member of the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

(PCE) he served, in July of 1936, as the first commander of the

Fifth Regiment The Fifth Regiment (, the full name ''Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Populares)'' was an elite corps loyal to the Spanish Republic at the onset of the Spanish Civil War. Made up of volunteers, the Fifth Regiment was active in the first critical p ...

and chief editor of ''

Mundo Obrero ''Mundo Obrero'' (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Workers World'') is the periodical of the Communist Party of Spain (main), Communist Party of Spain (PCE). The paper is based in Madrid, Spain. History and profile ''Mundo Obrero'' was first publishe ...

'', the Communist party newspaper in Madrid. Subsequently he was the director of the

Institute of Agrarian Reform An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

in the Republican government, chief of operations of the

Madrid Defense Council The Madrid Defense Council () was an ad-hoc governing body that ran Madrid, Spain, for about six months during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). It was formed in November 1936 after the Spanish Republican government had fled to Valencia when Gen ...

in November of 1936, and in 1937 a subcommissar in the General Commissariat of War. Starting in 1933
/ref> and then between July 1936 and March 1939 he served on the communist party's central committee. After the Spanish Civil War he went into exile in France and then Soviet Union. As a representative of the PCE he was a member of the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

. In 1944 due to internal struggles within the Spanish communist party he was pushed aside from leadership positions by

Dolores Ibárruri Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (; 9 December 189512 November 1989), also known as ("the passionate one" or Passion flower"), was a Spanish Republican politician during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and a communist. She is renowned for ...

(''La Pasionaria'') and expelled from the party. He moved to Mexico where he attempted to form a non-Moscow aligned alternative communist party. He returned to Spain in 1963 with permission from

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. Before his death in 1965 he wrote several works which were critical of communism.

Works

* (1937) ''Balance y perspectivas de nuestra guerra''. Barcelona: Partido Communisto de España, Comision Nacional de Agit-Prop * (1950) ''J'ai perdu la foi à Moscoú. Paris: Gallimard. * (1960) ''Hombres made in Moscu''. Mexico City: Publications Mañana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, Enrique Castro 1907 births 1965 deaths People from Madrid Communist Party of Spain politicians Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Spanish Communist Party politicians Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the Soviet Union Spanish Comintern people Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Mexico