Jordi Arquer

Jordi Arquer

Jordi Arquer (1907 – 1981) was a Catalan communist politician and writer.

Biography

Born in Barcelona in 1907. During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, he participated in the clandestine opposition, collaborating with the independentista groups of Francesc Macià. He was a part of the Centre Autonomista de Dependents del Comerç i de la Indústria and the newspaper Lluita. In 1927 he was one of the founders of the Círculo de Estudios Marxistas (Circle of Marxist Studies), and in 1928 participated in the clandestine congress of the Partit Comunista Català (Catalan Communist Party), which attracted Marxist militants from the Estat Català. Once the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed, he was one of the founders of Bloc Obrer i Camperol (BOC) and an advocate of the Working Alliance (Aliança Obrera). In 1931 he published Los comunistas ante el problema de las nacionalidades ibéricas, and after reviewing the history of Catalonia and the Catalan movement, was favorable to the recognition of self-determination of Catalonia and indicated the convenience of a Union of Iberian Socialist Republics. During the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 he was one of the organizers and heads of the POUM column that operated on the Aragon front.

In 1939 he went into exile in France, where he formed the Moviment Socialista de Catalunya, the Catalan Socialist Movement which he later continued to advocate this in publications and magazines in the United States, such as the Endavant, L'Insurgent, Quaderns de l'exili, La Nostra Revista in Mexico, the Ressorgiment, in Argentina; Germanor in Chile and others.

In 1977 he moved back to Barcelona, where he resided until his death in 1981.

Works

• El Comunisme i la qüestió nacional i colonial (1930)
• Crítica del programa de Gotha (1936)
• De Francesc Pi i Margall al Comunisme (1931)
• Los comunistas ante el problema de las nacionalidades ibéricas (1931)
• L'evolució del problema agrari a Rússia, des de la servitud feudal al Comunisme (1934)
• Las interpretaciones del marxismo (1937).
• El futur de Catalunya i els deures polítics de l'emigració catalana (1943)