Federica Montseny

Federica Montseny (1977)

Federica Montseny Mañé (born February 12, 1905 in Madrid , † January 14, 1994 in Toulouse ) was a Spanish writer, syndicalist and anarchist and Minister of Health during the Second Spanish Republic . She was the first woman minister in Spain. Montseny published numerous short stories and writings on ethical and political topics.

Life

Early years

Federica Montseny Mañé was the daughter of the two publishers and anarchists Juan Montseny (alias Federico Urales) and Teresa Mañé Miravet (alias Soledad Gustavo). At the age of 15 she published her first novella entitled Horas Trágicas . From 1923 she wrote for the newspaper of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) Solidaridad Obrera and the anarchist magazine La Revista Blanca , which was published by her parents. Her first novel La Victoria was published in 1925.

From 1930 she was with the anarcho-syndicalist Germinal Esgleas , with whom she had three children: Vida (1933), Germinal (1938) and Blanca (1942).

Anarcho-syndicalist activism

In 1931 Montseny joined the CNT. In the following years she held a prominent position in the Spanish trade union movement, not least because of her rhetorical skills. In 1932 she traveled the country for a long time and appeared as a speaker at libertarian meetings.

Her influence as an anarcho-syndicalist activist reached its peak in 1936, when an anarcho-communist framework program, supported by her , was adopted at the CNT Congress in Saragossa (May 1–15 ) , in which the Free Communes were given the role of the political foundation after a libertarian revolution has been. At this congress a u. a. by Diego Abad de Santillán is mounted anarcho collectivist alternative proposal is rejected, the identified the foundation of the intended libertarian form of society in the factories.

At the beginning of the social revolution after the military coup of July 17, 1936 - which culminated in the Spanish Civil War - she became a member of the Committee for the Iberian Peninsula (Comité Peninsular) of the anarchist Federation Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and the National Committee of the CNT. On November 4, 1936, she joined the cabinet of the Prime Minister of the Central Government Largo Caballero as Minister of Health . In addition to Federica Montseny, the anarchists Juan García Oliver (Justice), Juan Peiró (Industry) and Juan López Sánchez (Commerce) belonged to this cabinet. The CNT-FAI entered the government contrary to its rationale to ensure access to weapons and food for the anarchist militias on the front lines.

Role in government

Since Federica Montseny only stayed in office until May 17, 1937, the effect of the measures she initiated was limited. These included a reform concept for children's homes, public kitchens for pregnant women, measures against prostitution, a list of professions that physically handicapped people can pursue, and the first legislative proposal to legalize abortion in Spain. However, only one children's home was opened near Valencia. Likewise, only a public kitchen was set up in which pregnant women could receive a full meal. None of the projects was pursued after Montseny had to resign as a result of the May events . From her experiences as a member of the government, she drew the conclusion that no deep social change can be achieved through government, but that this is only possible with a libertarian revolution.

Exile and parliamentary monarchy

Federica Montseny speaks at a CNT rally in Barcelona (1977)

With thousands of other Spaniards, Montseny went into exile in France after the end of the civil war. Extradition requests from the Franco dictatorship were rejected by the French authorities. Until the liberation of France in 1944, it was under state surveillance. She then lived in Toulouse and continued her journalistic activities, a. a. by publishing the CNT and Espoir newspapers .

After the transition began in Spain , she was able to return in 1977. In the last phase of her life she campaigned for the restitution of the historical property of the CNT, which had been confiscated after the end of the civil war. She campaigned against the Moncloa Pact and the establishment of the parliamentary monarchy . Federica Montseny died in 1994 at the age of 88.

Works

Short stories and novels

• Horas Trágicas (1920)
• Amor de un día (1920)
• Ana María (1920)
• El amor Nuevo (1920)
• El juego del amor y de la vida (1920)
• La mujer que huía del amor (1920)
• La vida que empieza (1920)
• Los caminos del mundo (1920)
• María Magda (1920)
• Maternidad (1920)
• Vampiresa (1920)
• Florecimiento (1925)
• La victoria (1925)
• Vida Nueva (1925)
• ¿Cuál de las tres? (1925)
• Los hijos de la calle (1926)
• El otro amor (1926)
• La última primavera (1926)
• Resurrección (1926)
• El hijo de Clara (1927)
• La hija del verdugo (1927)
• El rescate de la cautiva (1927)
• El amor errante (1927)
• La ruta iluminada (1928)
• El último amor (1928)
• Frente al amor (1929)
• Sol en las cimas (1929)
• El sueño de una noche de verano (1929)
• La infinita sed (1930)
• Sonata patética (1930)
• Pasionaria (1930)
• Tú eres la vida (1930)
• El ocaso de los dioses (1930)
• Aurora roja (1931)
• Cara a la vida (1931)
• El amor que pasa (1931)
• Nocturno de amor (1931)
• Una mujer y dos hombres (1932)
• Amor en venta (1934)
• Nada más que una mujer (1935)
• Vidas sombrías (1935)
• Tres vidas de mujer (1937)
• La indomable (1938)
• Una vida (1940)
• Cupid sin mañana
• The rebelion de los siervos
• La sombra del pasado
• Martirio
• Nuestra Senora del Paralelo
• Sinfonía apasionada
• Una historia dreary

Texts on ethical and political topics

• La mujer, problema del hombre (1932)
• Heroínas (1935)
• Buenaventura Durruti (1936)
• In Memoriam of Comrade Durruti (1936)
• La voz de la FAI (1936)
• El anarquismo militante y la realidad española (1937)
• La incorporación de las masas populares a la historia: la Commune, primera revolución consciente (1937)
• International Medical Bulletin , Prague, 4th year (1937).
  • Issue 2–3 (March – April), pp. 21–23: The work of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Digitized
  • Issue 4–5 (May – June), pp. 41–43: The great problems of the Spanish reconstruction. Digitized
• Anselmo Lorenzo (1938)
• Cien días de la vida de una mujer (1949)
• Jaque a Franco (1949)
• Mujeres en la cárcel (1949)
• El problema de los sexos: matrimonio, unión libre y amor sin convivencia (1950)
• Pasión y muerte de los Españoles en Francia (1950)
• María Silva: la libertaria (1951)
• El Éxodo: pasión y muerte de españoles en el exilio (1969)
• Problemas del anarquismo español (1971)
• Crónicas de CNT: 1960–1961 (1974)
• Qué es el anarquismo (1974)
• El éxodo anarquista (1977)
• Cuatro mujeres (1978) Producciones Editoriales. ISBN 84-365-1385-1
• Seis años de mi vida (1978)
• Mis primeros cuarenta años (1987) Ed. Plaza & Janés, 1987. ISBN 84-01-35155-3

literature

• Diego Abad de Santillán / Juan Peiró: Economy and Revolution , Verlag Monte Verita, Vienna 1986, pp. 100–191, ISBN 3-900434-09-3 .
• Heleno Saña : The Libertarian Revolution. The anarchists in the Spanish Civil War . Edition Nautilus , Hamburg 2001, ISBN 978-3-89401-378-3 .

Web links

Commons : Frederica Montseny  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Federica Montseny in the WorldCat bibliographic database