Ramon Rubial
Ramón Rubial Cavia (Erandio, Vizcaya, October 28, 1906 - Bilbao, May 24, 1999) was a Spanish socialist leader, president of the PSOE from 1976 until his death, and president of the Council General Vasco in the pre-autonomous stage.
Biography
Childhood and youth
His father, José Rubial, emigrated from his native Bierzo to Vizcaya when he was eight years old. Her mother, Leonor Cavia, arrived in Bilbao at the age of two, accompanying her father, a bricklayer from Santander. They married in 1905 and had their first son, Ramón, a year later. Ramón attended elementary school in Erandio and at the age of fourteen, he entered the School of Arts and Crafts to become a turner. That year (1920), he entered the Metallurgical Union of the General Union of Workers, joining two years later (1922) the Socialist Youth and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).
At the age of 17 he finished his apprenticeship in a workshop in his native town, beginning to work as a turner in different towns: Reinosa, Baracaldo, Zorroza... until in 1926 he was hired by the shipyard of the Spanish Society of Sestao Shipbuilding (La Naval). At the same time, he develops intense political and union activities, being arrested several times. For the first time, during the revolutionary general strike of December 1930, against the monarchy, he spent 4 days in jail. In 1934 he was arrested as the person in charge of the revolutionary movement in Erandio, being tried and sentenced for sedition to a prison sentence of 6 years, eight months and 21 days, which he did not serve when a general amnesty was promulgated after the victory of the Popular Front in the elections. February 1936.
Civil War and Franco's dictatorship
He fought in the Spanish Civil War on the Northern Front, being captured on November 1, 1937 in Bilbao, after which he was first sentenced to death, a sentence that was commuted to thirty years in prison. During his stay in prison, he worked on the reorganization of the PSOE. In 1944 he was transferred to a work platoon at Babcock & Wilcox in Sestao, which allows him to come into contact with the clandestine organization of the PSOE in Vizcaya. However, the fall of the executive into Francoist hands in 1945 led him to leave the work squad and try to escape to France. That same year his daughter, Lentxu Rubial, was born, who would also be a member of the Socialist Party. Despite his escape, he was arrested in Oyarzun by the police. The inspector who arrested Rubial was Melitón Manzanas, who would later be assassinated by ETA. He was imprisoned in various jails and prisons, remaining between 1947 and 1956 in the El Dueso prison. He was released from prison on August 23, 1956.
After his release, he settled in Deusto. There he worked as a turner in a friend's workshops until his retirement in 1976. At the same time he continues his political work. With the nickname of "Pablo" and as one of the top leaders of the Permanent Commission that directs the PSOE in the interior (especially after the fall of Antonio Amat), he travels throughout the country, reorganizing the organization. In 1957 he was detained for three months for illegal association. In 1967, he was imprisoned again for his participation in the Bandas strike, along with Eduardo López Albizu and Nicolás Redondo and exiled to Las Hurdes. In 1968 Franco's police discovered a clandestine PSOE printing press in Ripa, and Rubial returned to prison for 20 days. In 1969 he was placed at the disposal of the Public Order Court, being finally acquitted in 1970 for lack of evidence. He also attended the PSOE congresses held in France in the 1970s: the one in Toulouse in 1972 (in which he was elected a member of the Executive Commission of the party in the interior) and the one in Suresnes in 1974. Finally, after the death of the dictator and legalized the party, he was elected president at the XXVII Congress, held in December 1976 in Madrid.
Democracy
Ramón Rubial was elected senator for Vizcaya in the constituent elections of 1977 by the lists of the Autonomous Front. During the constituent legislature he was second vice president of the Senate. As a member of the Assembly of Basque Parliamentarians, on February 17, 1978, he was appointed president of the Basque General Council, in the eighth round, against Juan Ajuriaguerra, of the PNV, a position he held until June 9, 1979, when he was replaced by Carlos Garaikoetxea (PNV). During his tenure, the preliminary draft of the autonomy statute was prepared, the first transfers were received and he focused on two fundamental issues: terrorist violence and unemployment.
He was re-elected senator for Vizcaya in the elections of 1979, 1982, 1989 and 1993. In 1986 he did not obtain a senator's certificate, but that year he was a candidate in the elections to the Basque Parliament, without obtaining a seat either. He was finally a parliamentarian due to the resignation of another parliamentarian and elected senator representing the Basque Parliament. In the Senate he was a member of the Constitutional Commission. In May 1979 he stepped down as president of the party when a management commission was appointed after the congress to take charge of its direction (1979), of which he was a part. However, at the extraordinary congress held that same year, he was again elected president. He was re-elected as president in all the congresses that were held (1981, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1994 and 1997).
In October 1986, the PSOE published his political and union biography, with the title Ramón Rubial, a commitment to socialism, with a foreword by Felipe González. On October 31, 1991, at the proposal of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Francisco Fernández Ordóñez, the Government awarded him the Grand Cross of Civil Merit. In 1998 he was awarded the Gernika Tree Cross, the highest distinction awarded by the Basque Government.
In 1990, the Fundación Españoles en el Mundo was established, linked to the PSOE, whose objective is to improve the welfare conditions of Spanish emigrants and of which Ramón Rubial was appointed president. Currently, the foundation is called the Ramón Rubial-Spaniards in the World Foundation.