POUM 1936
Source: La Révolution Espagnole, 1st year, no. 4, September 4, 1936
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitchell Abidor.
The Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) has just lost its leader, Comrade Joaquim Maurin, who was executed by the fascists.[1] On the eve of the July event he left for a Spanish province since occupied by the rebels. During the first weeks he was able to send news to his family. And then there was silence. Finally, a few days ago a farewell letter reached his family, probably written a few moments before his execution.
For more than twenty years his entire life was dedicated to the cause of the proletariat. Indefatigable fighter, revolutionary with an admirably clear and sure vision, a man of an uprightness and firmness that made him respected in all political milieus, he was a militant designed to found a party, to make it live against all obstacles, to form new strata of members, and to ensure the unity of wills thanks to the confidence he inspired.
He dies on the threshold of the revolution, at the moment when the cause for which he has always fought triumphs, at the hour when the instrument he forged is beginning to show its worth. He dies at his post as a revolutionary, under the fascist bullets, like so many other sons of that Spanish working class that today represents the best of humanity, the fighting vanguard of the world proletariat, and the hope of the society of tomorrow.
His work continues and he shall be avenged. All of POUM takes as its own the declaration of its youth organization: “Maurin formed us. We will prove that he didn’t waste his time.”
Note by Marxists Internet Archive
[1] In fact, Maurin was not murdered, as believed in that time, but captured by Francoist forces in Jaca, in the province of Huesca. He was detained under the name of Joaquin Julio Ferrer. He spent the whole civil war in Francoist prisons. His case came up for trial only in 1944, when he was sentenced to 30 years. However, he was paroled under an amnesty in 1946. In 1947 he took exile to the United States where he lived until his death in 1973.