Ángel Pestaña facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ángel Pestaña
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| Secretary General of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo | |
| In office 1929–1929 |
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| Preceded by | Juan Peiró |
| Succeeded by | Juan López |
| In office 1930 – March 1932 |
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| Preceded by | Progreso Alfarache |
| Succeeded by | Manuel Rivas |
| Secretary General of the Syndicalist Party | |
| In office 1932 – 11 December 1937 |
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| Member of the Congress of Deputies | |
| In office 28 February 1936 – 11 December 1937 |
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| Constituency | Cádiz |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ángel Pestaña Núñez
14 February 1886 Ponferrada, León, Spain |
| Died | 11 December 1937 (aged 51) Begues, Barcelona, Spain |
| Citizenship | Spanish |
| Political party | Syndicalist Party |
| Occupation | Syndicalist, Politician |
Ángel Pestaña Nuñez (1886–1937) was an important Spanish leader. He was a key figure in a workers' movement called anarcho-syndicalism. This movement believed that workers' unions should run society. Pestaña was the general secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), a big workers' union. He also started the Syndicalist Party and was a member of the Spanish parliament, known as the Cortes Generales.
Contents
Life
Early years
Ángel Pestaña was born in 1886 in a small town near Ponferrada, León, Spain. His family was very poor. When he was 14 years old, both of his parents died, and he had to take care of himself.
At 15, he was arrested for joining a meeting. This meeting was about getting an 8-hour working day for workers. After this, he traveled around northern Spain and southern France. He eventually ended up in Algiers, a city in North Africa. There, he worked as a watchmaker. While in Algiers, he learned about the anarchist movement in Spain. He started writing for an anarchist newspaper called Tierra y Libertad.
Return to Spain
When World War I began, Pestaña returned to Spain. He joined the anarchist movement in Barcelona through the CNT union. In 1916, he was put in prison for three months. This was because he helped organize a workers' strike.
He kept writing for workers' newspapers. He also helped organize a big strike in 1917 with another union, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT).
In April 1919, Pestaña was arrested again. This happened after a major strike in Catalonia called the La Canadenca strike. In 1920, he traveled to Russia. He went to attend important meetings about workers' movements. While there, he met famous leaders like Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. He also met Peter Kropotkin, who was an important thinker for anarchists.
Pestaña's experiences in Russia were very important. His reports helped the CNT union decide to keep its distance from the ideas of the Russian leaders. He and his friend Salvador Seguí were against violent actions. Other members of the CNT sometimes supported these actions. In 1922, someone tried to kill Pestaña while he was giving a speech. This attack made many people in Spain angry. It led to some government officials losing their jobs. It also helped end a harsh law that allowed the killing of union activists.
Primo de Rivera dictatorship
During the time of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, Pestaña was put in prison. The CNT union was made illegal. Pestaña thought the union should try to work within the rules set by the government. He believed this would help the union become legal again. However, other CNT members disagreed. They felt this would go against the union's main beliefs. So, the CNT continued to operate secretly during the dictatorship.
Second Republic
In 1931, the Second Spanish Republic was declared. This brought new disagreements within the CNT. Pestaña wrote a document called the "Manifesto of the Thirty." In this document, he openly criticized the tactics of another anarchist group, the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI). Because of this, he was removed from the CNT in August.
In 1934, he started his own political group, the Syndicalist Party. This party joined with a larger group called the Popular Front. In the 1936 elections, his party won two seats in the parliament.
When the Spanish Civil War began, Pestaña was held by some forces in Barcelona. But he was set free when the Republicans took control of the city. The CNT offered him a job as a minister in the government, but he said no. He believed it was most important to "win the war first." He was allowed back into the CNT in late 1937. Sadly, he died shortly after due to illness.
Legacy
On February 13, 1938, a special event was held in Madrid to honor Pestaña. It was a tribute to him on his birthday. Speakers from many different political groups attended. These included the Syndicalist Party, the Communist Party of Spain, the Popular Front, and the National Confederation of Labour.
Today, a square in the Nou Barris area of Barcelona is named Ángel Pestaña. This is to remember his contributions.
See also
In Spanish: Ángel Pestaña para niños
