Marcelino Camacho Abad (January 21, 1918 – October 29, 2010) was a Spanish

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist and politician. He was a founding member of

Comisiones Obreras The Workers' Commissions () since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members, and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), which is ...

(CCOO) and its first Secretary-General, holding this position between 1976 and 1987, and a communist deputy for Madrid Province between 1977 and 1981.

Early life

Born the son of a unionized signalman in the village of Osma,

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populatio ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, Camacho was familiar with socialist positions from a young age. In 1935, he joined 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), its

Youth Organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for Minor (law), minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted othe ...

and the General Workers' Union.

Military career

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 ...

, Camacho was a private in the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

on the Central and Southern fronts. He was captured by the

Francoist Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

forces at the end of the war in 1939, and sentenced to serve forced labor in a penal battalion in

Spanish Morocco The Spanish protectorate in Morocco was established on 27 November 1912 by a treaty between France and Spain that converted the Spanish sphere of influence in Morocco into a formal protectorate. The Spanish protectorate consisted of a norther ...

. In 1944 Camacho, along with other prisoners, managed to escape to

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

(in

French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...

), where there was an active colony of Spanish exiles. There he joined the local cell of the Spanish

Unified Socialist Youth The Unified Socialist Youth (Spanish: Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas; JSU) was a youth organization formed in the spring of 1936 in Spain through the amalgamation of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Communist Party of Spain (PC ...

, where he met his wife Josefina Samper. He was trained as a mill operator, and joined the General Confederation of Labour.

Political life

In 1957, he returned to Spain with his family and started working in the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

factory of

Perkins Engines Perkins Engines Company Limited is primarily a diesel engine manufacturer for several markets including agricultural, construction, material handling, power generation, and Industrial sector, industrial. It was established in Peterborough, Eng ...

. Camacho was active in a trade union campaign, creating an anti-Francoist workers' commission to infiltrate the Francoist Spanish Trade Union Organisation. This work resulted in Camacho being elected to the Regional Metal Workers' Commission, the first stable embryo of what would become the CCOO trade union. From 1966 until 1972 he was imprisoned in Carabanchel prison. Shortly after release he was rearrested, under Public Order Court Process 1001, along with nine other leaders of CCOO and the Communist Party of Spain. During that period Marcelino Camacho conducted several protests in jail, including hunger strikes. In 1975, Camacho was released, benefiting from a Royal Amnesty proclaimed by King

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

. In 1976, Marcelino Camacho was elected to the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Spain, and shortly after that he was elected the first Secretary-General of CCOO. In the

1977 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1977. Africa * 1977 Afars and Issas Constituent Assembly election * 1977 Algerian legislative election * 1977 Gambian general election * 1976–1977 Guinea-Bissau legislative election * 1977 Malagasy ...

Camacho stood second in the PCE list for Madrid to the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

and was elected. During his tenure as General Secretary of CCOO, Camacho oversaw the support of the union to the

Spanish Constitution of 1978 The Spanish Constitution () is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in 1978 in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The current version was a ...

, the signing of the Moncloa Agreements, and the first

General Strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

called in Spain after the restoration of democracy in 1985. During that time CCOO became the leading Trade Union in Spain, by membership and by number of workers' representatives. As a deputy he represented the Communist Parliamentary Group in labor issues, most importantly leading the group's rejection of the code of labor. In 1981, Camacho resigned his seat in Congress to dedicate himself to his trade union position. In 1987, Camacho was succeeded by Antonio Gutierrez as Secretary General of CCOO, remaining as Honorary President for the next nine years.

Retirement

After his retirement Camacho remained active in politics and trade unionism as a member of the Confederal Council of CCOO and of the Central Committee of the PCE, as well as the Federal Council of United Left, until just a few years before his death. He died in 2010 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camacho, Marcelino 1918 births 2010 deaths People from the Province of Soria Spanish trade union leaders Spanish communists Communist Party of Spain politicians Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France