Largo Caballero, Francisco

Largo Caballero, Francisco (fränthēs`kō lär`gō käbälyā`rō), 1869–1946, Spanish Socialist leader and politician. A trade union leader, he initially followed opportunistic policies and even collaborated with the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923–30). After the overthrow of the monarchy he began to move in a more radical direction, first as minister of labor (1931–33) and then in the opposition. He was leader of the Socialists who broke up the electoral coalition with the progressive Republicans in Nov., 1933, and who organized the revolution of Oct., 1934, against the rightward draft of the new governments. His radical propaganda early in 1936 is considered an important factor in bringing the civil war of 1936–39. He was premier (1936–37) of a leftist coalition cabinet, but was ousted under Communist pressure by his colleagues for alleged inefficiency in prosecuting the war effort. He fled to France in 1939. After four years of imprisonment by the Germans, he died in Paris.

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Largo Caballero, Francisco

(born Oct. 15, 1869, Madrid, Spain—died March 23, 1946, Paris, France) Spanish socialist leader and prime minister (1936–37). He joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in 1894 and rose to become head of the party's trade-union federation in 1925. He cooperated with the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, then served in the Second Republic as labour minister (1931–33). After the Popular Front's election victory in 1936, he became prime minister and tried to unify the leftist parties; however, an extreme-left uprising in Barcelona in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War caused a cabinet crisis and he was forced to resign. He went into exile in France and was interned by the Germans in World War II (1942–45).

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Largo Caballero, Francisco 

Born Oct. 15, 1869, in Madrid; died Mar. 22, 1946, in Paris. Prominent Spanish labor leader.

In 1894, Largo Caballero joined the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (SSWP). In August 1917 he was on a committeethat led a general political strike; for his membership he was subsequently sentenced to life at hard labor. He was freed in 1918 after his election to the Cortes. From 1918 to 1937 he was general secretary of the General Union of Workers (UGT). During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera from 1923 to 1930, he was state councillor. He was arrested in December 1930 forparticipating in a revolutionary committee and for preparing a republican coup d’etat. After the overthrow of the monarchy, he was minister of labor from 1931 to 1933. From 1932 to 1935 he was chairman of the SSWP. At the end of 1933, he headed the left wing of the SSWP, which had formed through his efforts. In 1934, after the October uprising of the Spanish proletariat, he was again arrested; he remained in prison until 1936. During the National Revolutionary War of 1936–39, he was prime minister and war minister of the Popular Front government from September 1936 through May 1937. While in office, he began steadily to move toward anticommunism. In 1937 he was relieved of his government posts and removed from the leadership of the UGT and SSWP. In January 1939 he emigrated to France. From 1943 to 1945 he was in the German concentration camp at Oranienburg; he was freed by the Soviet Army.