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

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an political figure. He was elected several times as deputy, and was the driving force behind the worker's movement in Chile. He founded the Socialist Workers' Party in 1912.

Early life

Recabarren was born in the port of

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

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. His family was very impoverished. From a very early age, he worked as a

typographer Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

to help with his family's finances. Even though he had very little formal education, he was a voracious reader and was self-taught. 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. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

, Taltal and Tocopilla, 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 15 May 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 Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

. He moved his family to

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, 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 At ...

. 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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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

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(

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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 4 June 1912. Previously, on 20 May that 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, and '' El Comunista''.Bergquist, Charles W.
Exports, Labor, and the Left: An Essay on Twentieth-Century Chilean History
'. Washington, D.C.: Wilson Center, 1981. p. 29 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 known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...

. In 1918 he travelled to Argentina where he participated in the foundation of the Communist Party of Argentina, 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 and become the

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of 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 of Chile (, JJ.CC), in 1932. ...

. 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, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

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

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as the only Chilean delegate to the Union Congress of the Third International that took place in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. 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 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 ...

. 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 and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

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 Politicians 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 died by suicide Suicides by firearm in Chile