Maurín, Joaquín, 1897-1973

Spanish socialist, journalist, and author.

From the description of Joaquín Maurín papers, 1870-1976. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 754870804

Biographical Note and Chronology of Related Events

• 1896, January 13: Born in Bonansa, Huesca (Spain), of Aragon mother and Catalan father
• 1914 - 1918 : Teacher of geography and history at Lerida high-school Member of "Juventud Republicana", Lerida Writer for El Ideal, the daily mouthpiece of "Juventud Republicana"
• 1919, December: 2nd Congress of the "Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo" (C.N.T.) in Madrid during which it decided to affiliate itself with the Communist International
• 1919 - mid 1920 : Stationed in Madrid during his tour of duty in the Spanish army
• mid 1920: Joined the C.N.T.
• fall 1920 - 1921 : Secretary of the "Confederacion Provincial del Trabajo", Lerida Member of the regional committee of Catalonia of the C.N.T., representing the province of Lerida
• 1920 - 1922 : Editor of Lucha Social, Lerida, a trade-unionist weekly founded by Pedro Bonet in 1919
• 1921, May: Left with Andres Nin, Arlandis and Ibanez for Moscow
• 1921, June - 1921 August : Delegate of the C.N.T. to the 3rd Congress of the Communist International and to the Founding Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions (Profintern)
• 1921, October: National plenum of the C.N.T. in Lerida at which the report of the delegation, written by Maurin, was unanimously approved
• 1921, October - end of February 1922 : Provisional secretary of the executive committee of the C.N.T.
• 1922, June: National conference of the C.N.T. in Saragossa at which it rejected the Communist International and the Profintern (triumph of the anarcho-sindicalist position within the C.N.T.)
• 1922, December: Co-founder at a meeting in Bilbao of the "Comites Sindicalistas Revolucionarios" (C.S.R.), minority within the C.N.T., close to the "Partido Comunista de Espana" (P.C.E.) and which wanted the C.N.T. to reaffiliate itself with the Communist International
• 1922, December 21 - December 1924 : Founder and editor of La Batalla, Barcelona, a trade-unionist communist weekly, mouthpiece of the C.S.R., around which gathered a group of Catalan communists and which was subsequently incorporated into the P.C.E. in 1924
• 1923: Left the C.N.T.
• 1924, May: Author, L'anarcho-syndicalisme en Espagne (Anarcho-sindicalism in Spain), Paris, Librairie du Travail; 47 p.
• 1924, June - 1924 July : Delegate to the 3rd Congress of the Profintern sent by the executive committee of the C.S.R.
• 1924, mid November: Plenum of the regional federations of the P.C.E. in Madrid at which Maurin and his group (the "Federacion Comunista Catalano-Balear", F.C.C.B.) criticized the policy of the executive committee, forcing it to resign
• 1925, January 12: Arrested as he was coming out of the Ateneo of Barcelona
• 1925, January 12 - October 4, 1927 : Political prisoner, first in the prison "Modelo" in Barcelona, then in the fortress of Montjuich, then again in Barcelona
• 1926, November 23: Acquitted, but not released immediately
• 1927, November - June 1930 : Resided in Neuilly s/Seine (Paris) Worked for Le Monde Correspondent for Tass and Izvestia on Spanish issues
• 1927, November 26: Married Jeanne Lifchitz (sister of Boris Souvarine)
• 1928, March - 1928 May : Went to Moscow to justify his position to the Control Commission of the Communist International; whitewashed and offered to be member of the executive committee of the P.C.E.: refused
• 1928, December 22: Birth of son Mario in Paris
• 1929, August: 3rd Congress of the P.C.E. in Paris. The F.C.C.B. had to send its proposals, Maurin and Bonet not having been allowed to attend as delegates
• 1930, June: Returned to Spain after the fall of Primo de Rivera
• 1930, Summer: So-called Conference of Pamplona of the P.C.E. to which the F.C.C.B. was not invited Maurin expelled from the party. The F.C.C.B. sided with him and was also expelled, and started seeking contacts with the "Partit Comunista Catala" that Jordi Arquer and other members of the F.C.C.B. founded in the years 1928-1929, refusing to follow the discipline of the Communist International any longer
• 1930, October 24: Author, Los Hombres de la Dictadura (The men of the dictatorship), Madrid, Cenit; 241 p.
• 1931, March 1: 1st Congress of the F.C.C.B. at Tarrasa. Incorporated the "Partit Comunista Catala" which had agreed to the fusion at its congress in the beginning of November 1930 Founded the "Bloque Obrero y Campesino" (B.O.C.) as a rallying platform and framework for communist sympathisers and as a propaganda organization. The F.C.C.B., in effect, was converted into being the administrator of the B.O.C. Maurin was secretary-general
• 1931, April 12: The B.O.C. participated in the municipal elections which brought about the end of the monarchy and the proclamation of the Republic on April 14
• 1931, June: Visited by a delegation of the Communist International which wanted the B.O.C. to be incorporated into the P.C.E.; Maurin refused and was expelled from the Communist International in July
• 1932, January 25: Author, La Revolucion Espanola. De la Monarquia Absoluta a la Revolucion Socialista (The Spanish revolution. From absolute monarchy to the socialist revolution), Madrid, Cenit; 196 p.
• 1932, April 4: 2nd Congress of the F.C.C.B. in Barcelona. Changed its name to "Federacion Comunista Iberica" (F.C.I.)
• 1933, February: Working classes conference convened by the B.O.C. in Barcelona
• 1933, March: The B.O.C. suggested the formation of the "Alianza Obrera Antifascista" which organized the October 1934 uprising
• 1933, end of June: 1st Congress of the F.C.I.
• 1934, April: 2nd Congress of the F.C.I.
• 1935, April: Author, Hacia la Segunda Revolucion (Until the second revolution), Barcelona, Alfa; 253 p. Translated into French in 1935 and published in Paris by Rieder under the title Revolution et Contre-revolution en Espagne; 367 p. Reedited in Spanish in 1966 and published in Paris by Ruedo Iberico under the title Revolucion y Contrarrevolucion en Espana (Revolution and counter-revolution in Spain); 289 p.
• 1935, September: Founded the "Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista" (P.O.U.M.) through the fusion of the B.O.C. and the "Izquierda Comunista" that Nin founded in 1932
• 1936, February: Elected Deputy to the Cortes for the city of Barcelona under the "Front d'Esquerres", the Republican coalition of Catalonia, in which he was politically active since the end of 1935
• 1936, July: Wife and son left for Paris Found himself in insurgent territory (Bisquaye, Galicia) at the outbreak of the civil war. Hid under false names
• 1936, September 3: Arrested. Detained in Panticosa, Huesca, and then in the provincial prison of Jaca, Huesca, under the name of Joaquin Julio Ferrer
• 1936, September: Various newspapers announced his capture and execution
• 1937, early September: Released. Tried to reach France
• 1937, September 6: Recognized at the border. Arrested under his real name and transferred to Saragossa
• 1937, October 8: Brother Manuel died in the prison "Modelo" in Barcelona
• 1937 - May 1942 : In solitary confinement in the provincial prison of Salamanca
• 1941, August 30: Wife and son arrived in New York (American citizens in April 1953)
• 1942, May - 1942 November : Provincial prison of Barcelona
• 1942, November - March 1944 : Central prison of Burgos Wrote draft of En las Prisiones de Franco (In the prisons of Franco) under the title of "Los Siete Circulos"
• 1944, March - October 1946 : Provincial prison of Barcelona
• 1944, August 19: His case came up for trial; sentenced to 30 years
• 1946, October 1: Paroled under an amnesty for some political prisoners, but confined to Madrid where he worked as a translator for Jose Janes Publications
• 1947, July 4: Was given a passport to visit his family in New York, provided he returned to Spain. Left for Neuilly s/Seine
• 1947, September 30: American embassy in Paris granted him a temporary visitor's visa
• 1947, October 16: Arrived in New York (his visa was extended twice, the second time until April 16, 1949)
• 1947: Held a position with Dana Perfumes of Buenos Aires, which wanted him to undergo a 6-months training period in New York
• 1948, end of February: Injured his back: immobilized for a few months and incapacitated for a year and a half. Unable to return to Spain, he thus forfeited his conditional liberty
• 1948, March - March 1950 : Commercial representative in the U.S. of the Spanish firm PRADESA
• 1949, July: Founded the American Literary Agency (A.L.A.), a newspaper agency which distributed articles written by him and others to some 35 Central and Latin American newspapers
• 1949, September - July 1952 : Commercial representative in the U.S. of the Spanish firm Jose Collado Herrero
• 1951, January - April 1954 : Chief writer for the Boletin de Informac on de Dana, New York
• 1953: The F.B.I. asked him to leave the country
• 1954, April September 1957: Press attache to the Costa Rican delegation to the United Nations in New York
• 1961, April 24: American citizen
• 1973, November 12: Died in New York
• 1974, May 5: Author, En Las Prisiones de Franco (In the prisons of Franco), Mexico, B. Costa-Amic; 210 p.

For further information, see the correspondence file for the following correspondents, to which Maurin gave answers to specific reference questions about his past activities and Spanish politics of the 1920s and 1930s: Arquer, Jordi; Bonamusa Gaspa, Francisco; Cardona, Jose Manuel; Connelly Ullman, Joan; Kairis, Robert A.; Meaker, Gerald H.; Pages, Pedro (Victor Alba); Payne, Stanley; Portela, Luis; Thomas, Hugh; Wolfe, Bertram and Ella

From the guide to the Joaquin Maurin Papers, 1870-1976, (Hoover Institution Archives)