Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano (; July 6, 1876 – December 19, 1924) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was elected several times as deputy, and was the driving force behind the worker's movement in Chile.

Early life

Recabarren was born in the port of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

in 1876, to José Agustín Recabarren and Juana Rosa Serrano. He was of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent.Escritores de origen vasco
euskomedia.org His family was very impoverished. From a very early age, he worked as a

typographer Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

to help with his family's finances. Even though he had very little formal education, he was a voracious reader and was

self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individu ...

. He married Guadalupe del Canto, with whom he fathered two children. After the death of his first wife, he married Teresa Flores, who helped him with his political activities. After a trip to

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American wars ...

Taltal Taltal is a Chilean commune and city in Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2012 census, the commune has a population of 11,132 and has an area of . The commune is home to Paranal Observatory and includes the northern po ...

and

Tocopilla Tocopilla is a city and commune in the Antofagasta Region, in the north of Chile. It is the capital of the province that bears the same name. Every year Tocopilla celebrates its anniversary on 29 September with a big show the day before, which ...

, Recabarren became aware of the extreme poverty and near-enslavement of the nitrate workers. He decided to act. In 1894, he joined the Democrat Party of Chile. He became an ardent public speaker and founded several organizations and newspapers to foment solidarity among the workers. He initially focussed his political activities on the city of his birth, where he became director and editor of the newspaper ''El Trabajo'' (''Work''). In response to his harsh criticisms of governmental labour policies, he was jailed for eight months. In 1905 he moved with his family to

, where he became the publisher of the newspaper ''La Vanguardia'' (''Vanguard'').

Political career

On May 15, 1906, Recabarren was elected as a deputy for Tocopilla to the National Congress representing the Democrat Party. He was prevented though from assuming his position because he refused to be sworn on a bible, based on his atheism. He moved his family to

Iquique Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191, ...

. Heavily involved in the labour movement, organising workers both politically and industrially, as a consequence of which he was re-prosecuted by the government and had to escape to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. In that country he joined the Socialist Party of Argentina and in 1908 he travelled to

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(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

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and

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), finally returning to Chile at the end of that year. After his return, Recabarren was arrested and sent to jail in Los Andes for 18 months, from February 1909 until August 1910. In 1911 he moved back to

where, unhappy with his party and together with a group of nitrate workers, he founded the Socialist Workers' Party (POS) on June 4, 1912. Previously, on May 20 of that same year, he had founded the ''El Despertar de los trabajadores'' (''The awakening of the Workers'') newspaper to promote his ideas. During its existence (1912–1926) the newspaper was banned several times, but Recabarren continued preaching his socialist credo from any tribune he could get. He moved, this time to

, where he founded ''El Socialista'' (''The socialist'') newspaper. In 1915 he was a candidate for Congress for Antofagasta, but was defeated (probably due to massive fraud). He then moved back to Valparaíso where he lived until 1916, when he started a tour along Chile all the way to

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Are ...

. In 1918 he travelled to Argentina where he participated in the foundation of the

Communist Party of Argentina The Communist Party of Argentina ( es, Partido Comunista de la Argentina, also simply known as "PC") is a communist party in Argentina. The party now forms part of the Frente de Todos, the ruling coalition supporting President Alberto Fern� ...

, becoming a member of its first national directory. After his return to Chile, he participated in the third Congress of his party, where they agreed to join the

Third International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

and become the

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile ( es, Partido Comunista de Chile, ) is a communist party in Chile. It was founded in 1912 as the Socialist Workers' Party () and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, the Communist Youth ...

. In 1919 he was deported to the south of the country for three months for speaking against the government. He was a candidate for the Chilean presidential election of 1920, where he lost to

Arturo Alessandri Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma (; December 20, 1868 – August 24, 1950) was a Chilean political figure and reformer who served thrice as president of Chile, first from 1920 to 1924, then from March to October 1925, and finally from 1932 to ...

. At the time of that election he was re-incarcerated so he could not campaign and got a very small proportion of the vote. Nonetheless he was elected a deputy for Antofagasta again in 1921. After he moved to Santiago, he founded and edited ''La Justicia'' (''Justice'') newspaper. Fascinated by the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, and after the party congress of January 22, 1922 that transformed the ''Socialist Workers Party'' (POS) into the ''Communist Party of Chile'' (PCCh), he travelled to the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

as the only Chilean delegate to the Union Congress of the

that took place in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. He returned in January 1923 to a hero's welcome by the various workers' organizations.

Death

Recabarren, for all his fiery rhetoric, was a very sensitive person. After his return to Chile his ideals and projects were bitterly attacked by the majority of the central committee of the

, who accused him of being excessively soft and liberal and too much in accord with the social-democratic ideas and not enough in agreement with the opinions of the Comintern. These harsh criticisms, on top of personal and family problems, caused a severe depression. He refused to run for deputy in the 1924 elections and on December 19 of the same year he committed suicide in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

at the age of 48.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*
Patria y patriotismo
' Antofagasta : 1971 (Imprentas Unidas) *
Proceso oficial contra la Sociedad Mancomunal de Tocopilla : respuesta a la acusación fiscal
' Santiago de Chile : 1905 (Imprenta Mejma, A. Poblete Garín) *
El pensamiento de Luis Emilio Recabarrren
'. Santiago de Chile : Austral, 1971. 2v Colección Biblioteca Nacional) *
La Rusia obrera y campesina
' Obras escogidas / Luis Emilio Recabarren ; estudio preliminar, recopilación, bibliografía y presentación por Julio César Jobet, Jorge I. Barría y Luis Vitale. Santiago : Edit. Recabarren, 1965.

in marxists.org
Luis Emilio Recabarren (1876–1924) en Memoría Chilena
* Jobet, Julio César. 1955. ''Luis Emilio Recabarren. Los orígenes del movimiento obrero y del socialismo chilenos.'' (Prensa Latinoamericana. Santiago) * Witker, Alejandro. 1977. ''Los trabajos y los días de Recabarren.'' (Nuestro Tiempo. México, D.F.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Recabarren, Luis Emilio 1876 births 1924 deaths People from Valparaíso Chilean people of Basque descent Democrat Party (Chile) politicians Communist Party of Chile politicians Deputies of the XXXIII Legislative Period of the National Congress of Chile Candidates for President of Chile Chilean atheists Chilean politicians who committed suicide Suicides by firearm in Chile