Federica Montseny

Federica Montseny was a Spanish anarchist, feminist, novelist, and writer on social issues, who became the first woman to hold a ministerial post in Spanish history. She was born in Madrid in 1905, the only surviving child of two Catalan anarchists who had fled to the capital after being involved in the 1896 Barcelona Corpus Christi procession bombing. She was educated at home by her parents, who exposed her to literature, social theory, and anarchist philosophy. She also developed a love for nature and rural life, which influenced her later writings. In 1923, she joined her parents in editing La Revista Blanca, one of the most influential anarchist publications of the time. She also began writing novels with a romantic-social background aimed at women of the working class. She became a prominent figure in the anarchist movement, joining the secret organization FAI (the Iberian Anarchist Federation) and speaking for the syndicalist labor union CNT (the National Confederation of Labor). She advocated for women's rights, free love, birth control, and abortion. In 1930, she married Germinal Esgleas, another anarchist activist and writer. They had three children together: Vida (born in 1933), Germinal (born in 1938), and Blanca (born in 1941). The couple had an open relationship and supported each other's political work. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Montseny played a key role in the social revolution that took place in Catalonia and other parts of Spain. She served as the minister of health and social assistance in the republican government from November 1936 to May 1937, becoming the first woman to hold such a position in Western Europe. She introduced several social reforms, such as legalizing abortion, improving public health services, creating maternity centers and orphanages, and promoting sexual education. She also tried to mediate the conflicts between the anarchists and other anti-fascist factions, especially the communists. In February 1939, after the defeat of the republicans by the nationalists led by Francisco Franco, Montseny and her family fled to France. They faced many hardships during their exile, such as the death of her mother in Perpignan, the imprisonment of her father and husband by the Vichy regime, and the persecution by the Francoist authorities who sought their extradition. Montseny continued her political activism from abroad, publishing an anarchist newspaper called L'Espoir and participating in various international conferences and campaigns. She returned to Spain for the first time in 1977, after Franco's death and the restoration of democracy. She received a warm welcome from her comrades and supporters, but also faced criticism from some sectors of the anarchist movement who accused her of betraying their principles by joining the government during the war. She defended her actions as pragmatic and necessary in the face of fascism. She also expressed her disappointment with the outcome of the Spanish transition to democracy, which she considered insufficient and incomplete. She died in Toulouse on January 14, 1994, at the age of 88. She was buried in Cimetière de Rapas alongside her husband and other exiled anarchists. She is remembered as one of the most influential and charismatic figures of Spanish anarchism and feminism.