Rafael Vidiella i Franch
| Rafael Vidiella Franch | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1890 Tortosa, Spain |
| Died | 1982 Barcelona, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Occupation | Typographer, politician |
Rafael Vidiella Franch (1890 – 23 September 1982) was a trade unionist and communist politician from Catalonia. He served as a minister in the government of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39).
Rafael Vidiella Franch was born in Tortosa in 1890. He became a typographer, and as a young man joined the anarchist Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores (CNT, National Confederation of Workers). During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera from 1923 to 1930 he edited the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera (Worker's Solidarity) in Valencia. In 1925 Vidiella represented the CNT in the communist-anarchist-Esquerra discussions. He left the CNT and became an activist in the socialist Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Workers' Union).
From 1931 Vidiella was head of the Catalan Federation of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Efforts to merge the small left-wing parties of Catalonia began in March 1935. The Bloque Obrero y Campesino and the Izquierda Comunista merged in October 1935 to form the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista (POUM, Workers' Party of Marxist Unification). The Unió Socialista de Catalunya was linked to the Esquerra Catala led by Lluís Companys, and were reluctant to join.
Negotiations over forming a unified party dragged out before the start of the civil war. The Catalan Communist Federation wanted the new party to join the Communist International, while Vidiella as leader of the Catalan federation of the PSOE wanted the new party to join the Labour and Socialist International. Joan Comorera of the Unió Socialista did not want the new party to be affiliated with any international group. Eventually, however, Comorera and Vidiella agreed that the new party could adhere to the Comintern, and it was launched. In May 1936 Vidiella resigned from the PSOE national committee. After a few months Comorera and Vidiella became members of the Partido Comunista Español (PCE, Spanish Communist Party) central committee. At first the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (PSUC, Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia) had between two and five thousand members, but by March 1937 it may have had 50,000.
...
Wikipedia