Comrades (Text Only) by Paul Preston

Author:Paul Preston [Paul Preston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007378869
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

8

A Life Adrift:

Indalecio Prieto

There are few Spanish politicians who so single-mindedly sacrificed their lives to the cause of democracy as Indalecio Prieto. He did more than any other individual to create the Second Republic, to sustain it in power, to defend it in war and, in exile and old age, to continue working for the re-establishment of democracy in Spain. It is hardly surprising that Francoist propagandists set out to denigrate him. Their worst accusations were of cowardice and of being ‘a vulgarian, a rude man, full of resentments and passions’.1 In fact, despite severe intellectual reservations, he risked his life on behalf of the Socialist Party and the Spanish Republic in 1917, in 1930, in 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War. Like Azaña, although tormented by doubt, he never shied away from what he perceived as his duty. It is a tribute to his talents and to his humanity that his defeats in no way diminished his devotion to public service.2 As for his vulgarity, he was an easy target. He was very much a man of the people, highly approachable, easily recognized. His corpulence, which made him the delight of politicial cartoonists, derived in part from his legendary knowledge of the restaurants and of the gastronomical delights of the various regions of Spain although, like his glaucoma, it was probably more related to diabetes.3 Indalecio Prieto was affable, good-natured and witty, an inveterate raconteur, and his jokes, like his language in private, were often obscene. He used to delight in shocking his prim ally, the professor Fernando de los Ríos, as if he were a maiden aunt.4 Prieto’s sharpness, wit and humour made him immensely popular but they concealed a deep insecurity.

Ironically, while ‘Don Inda’ (as friends and public alike called him) radiated confidence and success he knew more than his share of pessimism and defeatism. Prieto’s passionate convictions could unleash bottomless reserves of energy yet he could also slump into despair. This was noted by the most acute of observers, Manuel Azaña, who wrote of him, ‘he is violent, and when he is not driven by some passion or other, he hibernates … in Prieto, there is to be found distrust in everyone and everything, most of all in himself. He is shy and pessimistic, and a kind man, which is perhaps his least recognized quality.’5 The conservative politician, Miguel Maura, wrote of him: ‘I have met few, very few, people more unselfish, readier to sacrifice themselves for their friends, more given to compassion, more generous, in a word, more decent, than Indalecio Prieto.’6 Despite the most humble beginnings, Prieto’s career was crowned with success as a businessman and as a journalist, yet he devoted his life to politics. Prieto was a brilliant and biting journalist, and he never gave up the use of his pen even when he had become a newspaper proprietor or a parliamentary deputy. He was also one of Spain’s greatest parliamentary orators, as sarcastic, effective and witty as in his newspaper articles.

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