Marcelino Camacho

Marcelino Camacho
Born	January 21, 1918(1918-01-21) Soria, Spain
Died	29 October 2010(2010-10-29) (aged 92) Madrid, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Politician, trade unionist
Known for	Founder and first Secretary-General of CC.OO., PCE Deputy

Marcelino Camacho Abad (January 21, 1918 – October 29, 2010^[1]), was a Spanish trade unionist and politician. He was a founding member of Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO) and its first Secretary-General, holding this position between 1976 and 1987, and a communist deputy for Madrid Province between 1977 and 1981.^[2]

Born the son of a unionized signalman in the village of Osma, Soria, Spain, Camacho was familiar with socialist positions from a young age. In 1935 he joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), and its Youth Organization as well as the General Workers' Union.

During the Spanish Civil War, Camacho took part as a private in the Republican Army in the Central and Southern fronts. He was captured by the Francoist forces at the end of the war in 1939 and sentenced to serve forced labor in a penal battalion in Spanish Morocco.

In 1944 Camacho, along with other prisoners, managed to escape to Oran (in French Algeria) where there was an active colony of Spanish exiles. There he joined the local cell of the Spanish Unified Socialist Youth where he met his wife, Josefina Samper.^[2] He received training as a mill operator, and joined the General Confederation of Labour.

In 1957 he returned to Spain with his family and started working in the Madrid factory of Perkins Engines. Camacho was active in a trade unionist campaign, creating an anti-Francoist workers' commission to infiltrate the Francoist Spanish Trade Union Organisation. This activity got Camacho elected to the Regional Metal Workers' Commission, the first stable embryo of what would become the CC.OO trade union. In 1966 he was imprisoned in Carabanchel prison until 1972. Shortly after release he was rearrested, along with nine other leaders of CCOO and the Communist Party of Spain under Public Order Court Process 1001. During that period Marcelino Camacho conducted several protests in jail, including hunger strikes. In 1975 Camacho was released, benefiting from a Royal Amnesty granted by proclamation of Juan Carlos I as King of Spain.

In 1976, Marcelino Camacho was elected to the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Spain and shortly after that he was elected the first Secretary-General of CCOO.^[3][4] In the 1977 elections Camacho stood second in the PCE list for Madrid to the Congress of Deputies and was elected.

During his tenure as General Secretary of CCOO, Camacho oversaw the support of the union to the Spanish Constitution of 1977, the signing of the Moncloa Agreements and the first General Strike called in Spain after the restoration of democracy in 1985. During that time CCOO became the first Trade Union in Spain by membership and number of workers' representatives.

As a deputy he represented the Communist Parliamentary Group in labor issues, most importantly leading the groups rejection of the code of labor. In 1981 Camacho resigned his seat in Congress to dedicate himself to his trade union position.

In 1987 Camacho was succeeded by Antonio Gutierrez as Secretary General of CCOO, remaining as Honorary President for the next nine years.

After his retirement Camacho remained active to a certain extent in politics and trade unionism as a member of the Confederal Council of CCOO and of the Central Committee of the PCE, as well as the Federal Council of United Left until just a few years before his death. He died in Madrid.

References

1. ^ "Fallece Marcelino Camacho, el padre del sindicalismo moderno español" (in Spanish). elpais.es (Madrid: Grupo PRISA (Promotora de Informaciones, Sociedad Anónima). http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Fallece/Marcelino/Camacho/padre/sindicalismo/moderno/espanol/elpepuesp/20101029elpepunac_2/Tes. Retrieved 29 October 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Biografia de Marcelino Camacho" (in Spanish). biografiasyvidas.com. http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/c/camacho_marcelino.htm. Retrieved 9 August 2010. 
3. ^ Rusiñol, P (14 December 2008). "Fidalgo no es de izquierdas" (in Spanish). Público.es (Madrid: Mediapubli Sociedad de Publicaciones y Ediciones S.L.). http://www.publico.es/espana/183097/fidalgo/izquierdas. Retrieved 9 August 2010. 
4. ^ "Marcelino Camacho, digno homenaje compartido por la USO" (in Spanish). Unión Sindical Obrera. http://www.uso.es/content/view/11001/33/. Retrieved 9 August 2010. 

Persondata
Name	Camacho, Marcelino
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 January 1918
Place of birth	Soria, Spain
Date of death	29 October 2010
Place of death	Madrid, Spain