Journal of Modern Literature

Arguably the most famous Spanish woman of the twentieth century, Dolores Ibárruri (1895-1989), also known as La Pasionaria, offers a fascinating, as well as internationally recognized, example of the revolutionary woman and her self-representation. Well traveled, internationally known, Ibárruri inspired many writers and artists as a literary and cultural figure. Described as "a communist virgin," "la española más insigne de nuestro siglo" (Pámies 142), a Spanish Joan of Arc, "a sort of Earth Mother of war" (Mangini 39), as well as a hidra comunista, a Medusa, an aberrant, unspeakable person, she seems never to instill indifference. Marie Marmo Mullaney argues: "Saluted by revolutionary comrades and feared by opponents, she came to embody better than anyone else the spirit of the left's crusade against fascism, and became in the process a powerful rallying symbol for a nascent Spanish communist movement sorely in need of one" (Mullaney 8-9). Ibárruri's Civil War experience is framed by the struggles of earlier years and her fidelity to the cause of the Republic during her exile years, which suggest the protracted nature of myth-making for revolutionary women.

The rich array of lifewriting by Spanish women involved in this struggle has, in recent years, become the object of serious study.¹ Among the most prolific was Ibárruri, whose autobiography, El único camino (1962, They Shall Not Pass, 1966) and a second volume, Memorias de Pasionaria, 1939-1977 (1984) were republished together in 1985 as Memorias de Dolores Ibárruri, Pasionaria: la lucha y la vida. These volumes cover her life from birth through the 1970s, after her return to Spain from her 38-year exile.² Ibárruri was a prolific author. In addition to her autobiographical writing, she published numerous political tracts, speeches, histories, and other texts. [End Page 138]

Born in Gallarta, Vizcaya in 1895, the sixth of eleven children in a mining family, Ibárruri quickly learned the suffering and tribulations of working class Spain. She describes her background plainly: "Soy, pues, de pura cepa minera" 'I come, then, from mining stock' (El único camino 113, They Shall Not Pass 42). Ibárruri managed to achieve a rudimentary formal education (much more than many of the other miners' children) and became politically active in her twenties, first in workers' movements in the industrial Basque country, later in Madrid, where she began as a correspondent for the Communist newspaper El Mundo Obrero and spent a lot of time in and out of prison for her activities with the Spanish Communist Party (PCE). She was involved in the Organization of Women Against War and Fascism, serving as the head of the Spanish delegation to its world congress in 1934. She was later elected deputy of Asturias and during the Civil War was vice-president of las Cortes, unofficial minister of war propaganda and morale, and ambassador of the Republic abroad. After going into exile in spring 1939, she continued her involvement with the PCE, becoming General Secretary in 1942 and President in 1960. She traveled around the world, meeting with leaders and citizens everywhere, a living symbol of anti-Franco resistance. After Francisco Franco's death in 1975, the Communist Party was again legalized in Spain, and Ibárruri was finally able to return in 1977 to her homeland, where she was again elected to Parliament, and where she participated in the creation of the new Spanish Constitution. She continued to be active in national affairs until her death in 1989, less than a month before her ninety-fourth birthday.

Dolores Ibárruri was already established as a female revolutionary leader at the time of the 1936 rebellion which marked the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Like many women at this historical moment who took an active role in public affairs—whether political, military, or intellectual—Ibárruri was often attacked as an immoral, sacrilegious aberration. To cite one example, in spite of having provided assistance to many religious groups dislocated due to the civil war, she was heavily criticized. She recounts:

Y mientras yo me preocupaba...