Luis Emilio Recabarren

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Luis Emilio Recabarren

Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano (July 6, 1876 – December 19, 1924) was a Chilean political figure. He was elected several times as deputy, and was the driving force behind the worker's movement in Chile.

Early life[edit]


After a trip to Antofagasta, Taltal and Tocopilla, Recabarren became aware of the extreme poverty and near-enslavement of the nitrate workers. He decided to act. In 1894, he joined the Democrat Party of Chile. He became an ardent public speaker and founded several organizations and newspapers to foment solidarity within the workers. He initially focussed his political activities on the city of his birth, where he became director and editor of El Trabajo (Work) newspaper. Due to his harsh criticisms of governmental labour policies, he was jailed for eight months. In 1905 he moved with his family to Antofagasta, where he became the publisher of La Vanguardia (Vanguard) newspaper.

Political career[edit]

On May 15, 1906, Recabarren was elected as a deputy for Tocopilla to the National Congress representing the Democrat Party. He was prevented though from assuming his position because he refused to be sworn on a bible, based on his atheism. He moved his family to Iquique. Heavily involved in the labour movement, organising workers both politically and industrially, as a consequence of which he was re-prosecuted by the government and had to escape to Argentina. In that country he joined the Socialist Party of Argentina and in 1908 he travelled to Europe (Spain, France and Belgium), finally returning to Chile at the end of that year.


Luis Emilio Recabarren

He moved, this time to Antofagasta, where he founded El Socialista (The socialist) newspaper. In 1915 he was a candidate for Congress for Antofagasta, but was defeated (probably due to massive fraud). He then moved back to Valparaíso where he lived until 1916, when he started a tour along Chile all the way to Punta Arenas. In 1918 he travelled to Argentina where he participated in the foundation of the Communist Party of Argentina, becoming a member of its first national directory.

After his return to Chile, he participated in the third Congress of his party, where they agreed to join the Third International and become the Communist Party of Chile. In 1919 he was deported to the south of the country for three months for speaking against the government. He was a candidate for the Chilean presidential election of 1920, where he lost to Arturo Alessandri. At the time of that election he was in re-incarcerated so he could not campaign and got a very small proportion of the vote. Nonetheless he was elected a deputy for Antofagasta again in 1921. After he moved to Santiago, he founded and edited La Justicia (Justice) newspaper.

Funerals of Luis Emilio Recabarren (1924)




External links and references[edit]