Editing Indalecio Prieto

{{Short description|Spanish politician}}
{{family name hatnote|Prieto|Tuero|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Indalecio Prieto, 1936.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Prieto in 1936
| name = Indalecio Prieto
| nationality = Spanish
| party = [[PSOE]]
| birth_date = 30 April 1883
| birth_place = [[Oviedo]], Spain
| death_date = 11 February 1962 (aged 78)
| death_place = [[Mexico City]], Mexico
| education =
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
| office = [[Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Spain)|Minister of Finance]]
| term_start = 14 April 1931
| term_end = 16 December 1931
| president = [[Manuel Azaña]]
| predecessor = [[Gabino Bugallal Araújo]]
| successor = [[Jaime Carner]]
| office2 = [[Minister of Public Works]]
| term_start2 = 16 December 1931
| term_end2 = 12 September 1933
| president2 = Manuel Azaña
| office3 = [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of the Navy and Air Force]]
| term_start3 = 4 September 1936
| term_end3 = 17 May 1937
| president3 = [[Francisco Largo Caballero]]
| office4 = [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of the National Defence]]
| term_start4 = 17 May 1937
| term_end4 = 5 April 1938
| president4 = [[Juan Negrín]]
| office5 = President of the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]]
| term_start5 = 1948
| term_end5 = 1951
| predecessor5 = Enrique de Francisco
| successor5 = [[Trifón Gómez]]
| signature = Firma de Indalecio Prieto.svg
}}
'''Indalecio Prieto Tuero''' (30 April 1883 – 11 February 1962) was a Spanish politician, a minister and one of the leading figures of the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE) in the years before and during the [[Second Spanish Republic]]. Less radical than [[Francisco Largo Caballero]], Prieto served as minister under his government during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Exiled in [[Mexico]] after the republican defeat, he led the Socialist Party from 1948 to 1951.

==Early life==
Born in [[Oviedo]] in 1883, he was six years old when his father died. His mother moved him to [[Bilbao]] in 1891. From a young age, he survived by selling magazines in the street. He  eventually obtained work as a [[stenographer]] at the daily newspaper ''La Voz de Vizcaya'', which led to a position as a copy editor and later a journalist at the rival daily ''[[El Liberal]].''<ref>Thomas, Hugh. ''The Spanish Civil War.'' Penguin Books. London. 2001. p. 40</ref> He eventually became the director and owner of the newspaper.<ref>Jackson, Gabriel. ''The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939.'' [[Princeton University Press]]. 1967. Princeton. p. 91</ref>

In 1899, at the age of 16, he had joined the PSOE. As a journalist in the first decade of the 20th century, Prieto became a leading figure of [[socialism]] in the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]].

==Entering politics==
Spain's neutrality in [[World War I]] greatly benefited Spanish industry and commerce, but those benefits were not reflected in the workers' salaries. The period was one of great social unrest, culminating on August 13, 1917, in a revolutionary [[general strike]]. The government's fear of unrest like that of the [[February Revolution]] that year in [[Russia]] (the [[October Revolution]] there was still to come) caused it to use the military to put down the general strike. Members of the strike committee were arrested in [[Madrid]]. Having been involved in organizing the strike, Prieto fled to [[France]] before he could be arrested.

He did not return until April 1918, when he had been elected to the [[Spanish Congress of Deputies]].<ref name="thomas">Thomas, Hugh. ''The Spanish Civil War'' Penguin Books.London. 2003. p. 40</ref> Very critical of the actions of the government and army during the [[Rif War (1920)|Rif War]], or "War of Melilla" (1919–1926), Prieto spoke out strongly in the Congress after the [[Battle of Annual]] (1921). He also addressed the likely responsibility of the king in the imprudent military actions of General [[Manuel Fernández Silvestre]] in the [[Melilla]] command zone.

Prieto was opposed to [[Francisco Largo Caballero]]'s line of partial collaboration with the dictatorship of [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]].<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. London: Penguin Books, 2006, p. 17</ref> He had bitter confrontations with both men.

In August 1930, despite the opposition of party leader [[Julián Besteiro Fernández]], Prieto participated in the [[Pact of San Sebastián]]. The broad coalition of republican parties proposed doing away with the Spanish monarchy.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. London: Penguin Books, 2006, p. 18</ref><ref>Jackson, Gabriel. ''The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1967, p. 24</ref> In that matter, Prieto was supported by Largo Caballero's wing of the party, as the latter believed that the fall of the monarchy was necessary so that socialism could rise to power.

==Second Spanish Republic==
When the [[Second Spanish Republic]] was proclaimed on April 14, 1931, Prieto was named finance minister in the provisional government, presided by [[Niceto Alcalá-Zamora]].<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p. 21</ref>
[[File:Diferentes personalidades en la plaza de 'El Txofre', entre ellas se encuentran Niceto Alcalá Zamora y el ministro de Obras Públicas Indalecio Prieto (1 de 3) - Fondo Marín-Kutxa Fototeka.jpg|thumb|left|Prieto along [[Niceto Alcalá-Zamora]] and other personalities in the [[San Sebastián]] bullring (1932).]]
As Minister of Public Works in the 1931–1933 government of [[Manuel Azaña]], he continued and expanded the policy of [[hydroelectric]] projects that had been begun during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship,<ref>Jackson, Gabriel. ''The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939''. Princeton University Press. 1967. Princeton. pp. 91–92</ref> as well as the ambitious plan of infrastructural improvements in Madrid, such as the new [[Madrid Chamartín railway station|Chamartín railway station]] and the tunnel under Madrid linking it to [[Madrid Atocha railway station|Atocha railway station]]. Most of those works that would not be completed until after the 1936–1939 [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>Jackson, Gabriel. ''The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939''. Princeton University Press. 1967. Princeton. p. 93</ref>

Unlike Largo Caballero, he opposed the [[general strike]] and the [[anarchism in Spain#Asturias|failed armed rising]] in October 1934,{{dubious|date=January 2019}} but he again fled to France to escape possible prosecution.<ref>Thomas, Hugh. ''The Spanish Civil War''. Penguin Books.London. 2001. p. 126</ref> Before the republic, Prieto had arguably maintained a more radical line than Largo Caballero, but he would now be identified as a relative moderate and opposed Largo Caballero's more revolutionary tendency.

Prieto gave a thrilling campaign speech in [[Cuenca, Spain|Cuenca]] on 1 May 1936, prior to the 3 May repetition of the February 1936 election in the district in which the Popular Front would face among the right-wing rival [[José Antonio Primo de Rivera]] and, after the resignation of General [[Francisco Franco]] as candidate, [[Manuel Casanova]].{{Sfn|López Villaverde|1999|p=16}} He brought [[Regenerationist]] memories and proposed [[Keynesian]] measures to develop the domestic market of the country.{{Sfn|López Villaverde|1999|p=18}} In words directed towards the firebrand faction of Largo Cabrello, Prieto asked for moderation, discipline and the disregarding of revolutionary excesses that would put the democratic government in peril.{{Sfn|López Villaverde|1999|p=18}} The speech in which Prieto also displayed a deep sense of patriotism (he claimed to "carry Spain within his heart" and "in the marrow of his bones"{{Sfn|López Villaverde|1999|p=17}}) was celebrated by the republican press, and it was received well even by José Antonio, then in prison. However, it was met with hostility among the radicals, deepening the rupture within the party.{{Sfn|López Villaverde|1999|p=18}}

[[File:Gobfrlargcabsept1936.jpg|thumb|right|Prieto (third on the right), during a meeting of the Council of Ministers, presided by [[Francisco Largo Caballero|Largo Caballero]] (1936).]]

==Assassination attempt==
On 31 May 1936, Prieto was shot at a socialist rally in [[Ecija]].<ref>{{Cite web | title=01 Jun 1936, page 7 - The Windsor Star at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/501136098/?match=1&terms=indalecio%20prieto%20ecija%20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240712010202/https://www.newspapers.com/image/501136098/?match=1&terms=indalecio%20prieto%20ecija%20 | access-date=2025-04-06 | archive-date=2024-07-12}}</ref>

==Spanish Civil War==
After the beginning of the Civil War, when news of the ruthless and systematic executions of Loyalists by the Nationalists, as part of [[General Mola]]'s policy of instilling terror in their ranks, began to filter to the areas held by the government,  Prieto made a fervent plea to Spanish republicans on 8 August in a radiocast:

{{blockquote|Don't imitate them! Don't imitate them! Surpass them in moral conduct; surpass them by being generous. I do not ask you, however, that you should lose either strength in battle or zeal in the fight. I ask for brave, hard and steely breasts for the combat,... but with sensitive hearts, capable of shaking when faced with human sorrow and being able to harbour mercy and tender feelings, without which the most essential part of human greatness is lost.<ref>{{Harvnb|Redondo|1993|p=43}}; {{Harvnb|Cabezas|2005|pp=333–34}}</ref><ref>''¡No los imitéis! ¡No los imitéis! Superadlos en vuestra conducta moral; superadlos en vuestra generosidad. Yo no os pido, conste, que perdáis vigor en la lucha, ardor en la pelea. Pido pechos duros para el combate, duros, de acero, como se denominan algunas de las milicias valientes—pechos de acero—pero corazones sensibles, capaces de estremecerse ante el dolor humano y de ser albergue de la piedad, tierno sentimiento, sin el cual parece que se pierde lo más esencial de la grandeza humana."'' [https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Indalecio_Prieto Wikiquote, Indalecio Prieto]</ref>}}

However, a couple of weeks after those words, the [[Cárcel Modelo massacre|Modelo Massacre]] took place in Madrid, much to the dismay of many Popular Front leaders. Saddened, Prieto is recorded as expressing his pessimism with these words: "with this brutality we have lost the war".{{Sfn|Redondo|1993|p=43}} However, historian  Julius Ruiz argues that Prieto was not necessarily a steadfast moderate, as he held that Republican victory would require stripping the Church, capitalists and army of their power as they were deemed collectively responsible for the rebellion. In August 1936, Prieto also stated that Republican terror was unnecessary because their internal opponents were already cowed and that Nationalist terror was because of their relative weakness.<ref>Ruiz, Julius. The 'Red Terror' and the Spanish Civil War: Revolutionary Violence in Madrid. Cambridge University Press, 2014, page 146</ref>

In September 1936, after the fall of [[Talavera de la Reina (Toledo)|Talavera de la Reina]], in [[Toledo Province]], to the rebels, Largo Caballero became the head of the government, and Prieto became Minister of Marine and Air.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p. 146</ref>

After the May 3–8, 1937 events in [[Barcelona]] in which the [[communists]] and the government forces tried to establish control over the [[Workers' Party of Marxist Unification]] (POUM) and the [[anarchism in Spain|anarchist]] [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT), the government of Largo Caballero was replaced by that of [[Juan Negrín]], with Prieto being Minister of Defense.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p. 271</ref> Lacking support from the [[democracy|democratic]] powers, such as [[France]], the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]], the Spanish Republic was subject to severe [[international isolation]] during Prieto's last ministry in Spain. Maritime access for [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] material aid was effectively cut off by the attacks of [[Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943)|Italian]] [[submarines]],<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. pp. 289–90</ref> and the French border remained closed.

After the defeat of the [[Spanish Republican Armed Forces]] on the northern front in October 1937, he offered his resignation, which was rejected.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p. 302</ref> Prieto finally left the government after the March 1938 defeat on the [[Aragon]] front<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The Battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p. 336</ref> after an escalating dispute with the communists.

==Exile==
[[File:Archivos del Movimiento Obrero (RPS 16-03-2021) busto de Indalecio Prieto.png|thumb|Indalecio Prieto (Juan Cristóbal, 1926).]]
He refrained from active political life for the remainder of the war, [[Exile|exiling]] himself to [[Mexico]].<ref>Preston, Paul. ''The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, Revolution and Revenge.'' Harper Perennial. 2006. London. p. 319</ref> In 1945, toward the end of [[World War II]], he was one of those who attempted to form a republican government-in-exile and hoped to reach an accord with the [[monarchist]] opposition to [[Francisco Franco]], the ruler of Spain since the end of the Civil War, with a view to restoring Spanish democracy.<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939''. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p. 425</ref> The failure of that initiative led to his definitive retirement from active politics. He died in [[Mexico City]] in 1962.

In Mexico, he wrote several books, such as ''Palabras al viento'' (''Words in the Wind'', 1942), ''Discursos en América'' (''Discourses in America'', 1944) and at the end of his life, ''Cartas a un escultor: pequeños detalles de grandes sucesos'' (''Letters to a Sculptor: Small Details of Great events'', 1962).

== Positions ==
Supporting of the notion of further devolution to the Basque Provinces and [[Navarra]], Prieto was greatly opposed to separatism as well as towards the plans of the [[Basque nationalists]] in the draft of the Estella Statute, fearing the prospect of the territory becoming a "reactionary [[Gibraltar]] and a clerical stronghold".{{Sfn|Granja Sainz|2008|p=275}}

==See also==
* [[Spanish Republican Army]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
<!-- *This article draws heavily on the [[:es:Indalecio Prieto|corresponding article]] in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, accessed September 14, 2004. -->

==Bibliography==
* [[Antony Beevor|Beevor, Antony]]. ''The battle for Spain. The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939.'' Penguin Books. London. 2006. {{ISBN|0-14-303765-X}}
* {{Cite book|title=Indalecio Prieto, socialista y español|first=Octavio|last=Cabezas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jnu5WpIEdsgC&pg=PA334|publisher=Algaba Ediciones|isbn=84-96107-45-0|year=2005}}
* Graham, Helen. ''The Spanish Civil War. A very short introduction.'' Oxford University Press. New York. 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-19-280377-1}}
* {{Cite book|title=Nacionalismo y II República en el País Vasco: Estatutos de autonomía, partidos y elecciones. Historia de Acción Nacionalista Vasca, 1930–1936|first=José Luis de la|last=Granja Sainz|location=Madrid|publisher=Siglo XXI|isbn=978-84-323-1309-7|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewK9BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA273}}
* Jackson, Gabriel. ''The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939.'' Princeton University Press. 1967. Princeton. {{ISBN|0-691-00757-8}}
* {{Cite journal|first=Ángel Luis|last=López Villaverde|title=Indalecio Prieto en Cuenca: Comentarios al discurso pronunciado el 1º de mayo de 1936|journal=Añil|url=http://biblioteca2.uclm.es/biblioteca/CECLM/ARTREVISTAS/A%C3%B1il/A%C3%91IL19_LopezIndalecio.pdf|issn=1133-2263|issue=19|year=1999}}
* {{Cite book|title=Historia de la Iglesia en España, 1931–1939: La Guerra Civil, 1936–1939|first=Gonzalo|last=Redondo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3N2ryNhbnMsC&pg=PA43|publisher=Rialp|year=1993|location=Madrid|isbn=84-321-3016-8}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* Thomas, Hugh. ''The Spanish Civil War.'' Penguin Books. London. 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-14-101161-5}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/013850}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Gabino Bugallal Araújo]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Ministry of the Treasury (Spain)|Minister of Finance]]|years = 1931}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jaime Carner Romeu]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Diego Martínez Barrio]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Public Works]] |years = 1931–1933}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Rafael Guerra del Río]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Francisco Matz Sánchez]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of the Navy and Air Force]]|years = 1936–1937}}
{{s-aft|after=Himself<br />{{small|as [[Ministry of Defence of Spain|Minister of National Defense]]}}}}
{{s-bef|before=Himself<br />{{small|as [[Ministry of Defence of Spain|Minister of the Navy and Air Force]]}}}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Ministry of Defence of Spain|Minister of National Defence]]|years = 1937–1938}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Juan Negrín]] }}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Enrique de Francisco]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]]|years=1948–1951}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Trifón Gómez]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Spanish Socialist Workers' Party}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prieto, Indalecio}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Oviedo]]
[[Category:Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians]]
[[Category:Economy and finance ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Spanish Restoration]]
[[Category:Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic]]
[[Category:Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction)]]
[[Category:Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Mexico]]
[[Category:Ministers of defence of Spain]]
[[Category:Exiled Spanish politicians]]
[[Category:Government ministers during the Second Spanish Republic]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bilbao]]
[[Category:Politicians from Asturias]]