Jesús González Malo papers

Collection

Identifier: 11-MWalB02600

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Jesús González Malo papers consist primarily of extensive correspondence between González Malo – as editor of the Confederated Spanish Societies’ España Libre monthly newspaper – and many other influential figures among academia, national governments, Spanish labor unions, and anti-Franco Spanish exile communities. The correspondence details the exhaustive efforts of González Malo to help secure the release and/or support for many imprisoned Spanish refugees/exiles in danger of being deported back to Spain, which at the time was still under Franco’s rule. Additionally, there is an abundance of newspaper clippings about the activities of the Confederated Spanish Societies, Spanish exiles opposing Franco’s government, and various Spanish labor unions, including the General Workers’ Union, the National Confederation of Labor, and the Trade Union Alliance of Spain (in Spanish: UGT, CNT, and ASO, respectively). There are also some press releases from the Confederated Spanish Societies, labor union pamphlets, and even a few publications which contain commentaries on social and economic theory (including a couple written by González Malo himself). The collection is predominantly in Spanish, with some clippings and letters in English, Catalan, French, and German. The collection is unprocessed.

Dates

Creation: 1942-1965, undated

Creator

González Malo, Jesús, 1913-1965 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Access to the collection is in accordance with the policies of the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University. Please contact the department for more information.

Some advanced notice is needed for access to these materials because the collection is stored offsite. Please contact the department for more details.

Conditions Governing Use

Requests to reproduce or publish material from the collection should be directed to the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.

Biographical / Historical

Jesús González Malo was an anti-Francoist, anarcho-syndicalist exiled Spanish labor leader. Born in Santander, Spain in 1913, González Malo began organizing trade unions at an early age, most notably in establishing a union for the Santander longshoremen in the early 1930s. Alongside the workers militia he helped organize in 1936, at the outset of the Spanish Civil War, he fought until Santander fell to Franco’s Falangists; later, he continued as a soldier in the People’s Republican Army through the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, when Franco’s forces defeated the Republican Army and his decades-long dictatorial regime began in Spain. Along with many of his countrymen, González Malo sought exile in France once Franco rose to power, finally arriving in New York City in 1940.

There, amongst the Spanish exile community González Malo was an outspoken, fervent leader of the Spanish labor movement and the opposition to Franco’s government. After his arrival in the United States, he fought for more than two decades to raise awareness of the injustices carried out by Franco and to aid wrongly accused and imprisoned Spanish nationals outside of Spain. Perhaps his most important work as an exiled anti-Francoist and anarcho-syndicalist was as a leader of the Confederated Spanish Societies (in Spanish: SHC), “a collection of exile groups opposing Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Government”, as well as his instrumental role as editor of SHC’s monthly España Libre newspaper. As editor and as an experienced labor leader, González Malo worked hard for more than two decades until his death in 1965 to gain support for Spanish refugees and political prisoners – all in danger of being deported back to Spain, executed, or wrongly convicted of numerous crimes – from the governments of the US, Mexico, France, Chile, and other countries to which Spanish exiles fled. Shortly before his death, González Malo received a plaque from the United Auto Workers, “honoring his work in the labor field.”

References: Universidad de Cantabria. (2016). “Jesús González Malo: Correspondencia personal y política de un anarcosindicalista exiliado (1943-1965)”.

Feu, Montse. (2015, March 12). “La labor ‘a manos llenas’ de Jesús González Malo en la resistencia antifranquista desde Estados Unidos”. FronteraD.

“Jesus Gonzalez Malo, 62, Dies: Exiled Spanish Labor Leader.” New York Times, Dec. 31, 1965, p. 21. Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Newspapers.