Dolores Ibárruri

Dolores Ibárruri was born in 1895 as the eighth of eleven children.{{Cite web |title=Dolores Ibárruri Archive |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/biography.htm |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.marxists.org}} She had a Basque miner father and a Castilian mother. She grew up in Gallarta but later moved to Somorrostro (Biscay). Gallarta was adjacent to a large siderite mine.[http://www.euskara.euskadi.net/r59-738/eu/contenidos/informacion/pnegras/es_hezk/gallarta.html Gallarta (Bodovalle)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227150549/http://www.euskara.euskadi.net/r59-738/eu/contenidos/informacion/pnegras/es_hezk/gallarta.html |date=2012-02-27 }}. Vintage and modern photograph of the town. 2004: Eusko Jaurlaritza – Gobierno Vasco.

Ibárruri left school at 15 after spending two years preparing for teachers' college at the encouragement of her schoolmistress. Her parents could not afford further education, so she went to work as a seamstress and later as a housemaid.{{Cite news|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/SPibarruri.htm|title=Dolores Ibárruri (Pasionaria)|work=Spartacus Educational|access-date=2017-12-09}} She became a waitress in the town of Arboleda, the most important urban nucleus in the region of Somorrostro.[http://www.bizkaia.net/nekazaritza/zabalguneak/Fitxak/pdf/in_la_arboleda.pdf La Arboleda/Zugaztieta (Valle de Trápaga/Trapagaran)]. Bizkaia.net. There, she met Julián Ruiz Gabiña, a union activist and founder of the Socialist Youth of Somorrostro. They married in late 1915, two years after the birth of their first child.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1977/08/05/pagina-10/33759615/pdf.html Fallece Julián Ruiz, marido de "La Pasionaria"]. La Vanguardia Española. August 5, 1977, p. 10. The young couple participated in the general strike of 1917, which led to the imprisonment of Ruiz.{{Cite web |title=Dolores Ibárruri Archive |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/biography.htm |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.marxists.org}} During this time, Ibárruri spent nights reading the works of Karl Marx, Engels and others found in the library of the Socialist Workers' Centre in Somorrostro.Irene Falcón, personal secretary. {{YouTube|1aLNtT4qBZc|Informe Semanal – La vida de Dolores Ibárruri, "Pasionaria." Part II}}. Radio Televisión Española, 1995. Youtube, seconds 33 to 55. Ibárruri wrote her first article in 1918 for the miners' newspaper El Minero Vizcaíno under the pseudonym of "La Pasionara" ("The Passion Flower"). The article was published during Holy Week and focused on religious hypocrisy, contrasting with the Passion of Christ. Because of the article's theme and timing, she signed it with the alias Pasionaria.Dolores Ibárruri. {{YouTube|KG6SIUNUskc|Luis del Olmo con La Pasionaria}}. COPE Radio program Protagonistas. COPE Radio, 1988, seconds 13 to 32.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1989/11/13/030.html La presidenta del PCE, Dolores Ibárruri, "La Pasionaria," falleció a los 93 años]. ABC. November 13, 1989, p. 30. In 1920, Ibárruri and the Workers' Centre joined the newly formed Communist Party of Spain{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dolores-Ibarruri|title=Dolores Ibárruri {{!}} Spanish political leader|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-04-12}} (PCE), and she was named a member of the Provincial Committee of the Basque Communist Party. After ten years of grassroots militancy, she was appointed to the Central Committee of the PCE in 1930.Lorenzo Peña: "[http://www.eroj.org/biblio/ibarruri/biografi.htm Nota Biográfica de La Pasionaria]. España Roja.

During this time, Ibárruri had six children. Of her five daughters, four died very young. She "used to relate how her husband made a small coffin out of a crate of fruit."Irene Falcon confidante of La Pasionaria as quoted by newspaperwoman Pilar Urbano in: "[http://www.elmundo.es/papel/hemeroteca/1995/12/10/opinion/70236.html 'A Dolores y a Carrillo, Stalin les llamó "izquierdistas"']." El Mundo. December 10, 1995. Her son, Rubén, died at twenty-two during the Battle of Stalingrad. The remaining child, Amaya Ruiz Ibárruri, outlived her mother. She was married to Stalin's adopted son, Artyom Sergeyev. In 2008, Amaya resided in the working-class neighbourhood of Ciudad Lineal in Madrid.Ana María Ortiz: [http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/cronica/2008/670/1218924001.html "El amor rico de la nieta de Pasionaria"]. Crónica (Suplemento). El Mundo. August 17, 2008.Amaya Ruiz Ibárruri. {{YouTube|BOX6XiVdcP0|Recital of her mother's 1938 farewell speech to the International Brigades}}. Homage of the Spanish United Left Party to the International Brigades on the 70th anniversary of their arrival in Spain celebrated in the Chamber of Columns of the Spanish Parliament. Madrid, October 9, 2006. She died in 2018 at the age of 95.{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/politica/2018/12/04/actualidad/1543927023_323537.html|title=Muere Amaya Ruiz Ibárruri, hija de Pasionaria|website=El País|date=4 December 2018 |language=es|access-date=2022-03-07|last1=Bonet |first1=Pilar }}

With the advent of the Second Republic in 1931, Ibárruri moved to Madrid and became the editor of the PCE newspaper {{lang|es|Mundo Obrero}}. She was arrested for the first time in September 1931. Jailed with common offenders, she persuaded them to begin a hunger strike to secure freedom for political detainees. Following a second arrest in March 1932, she led other inmates in singing "The Internationale" in the visiting room and encouraged them to reject poorly paid menial labor in the prison yard.Enrico Galavotti: "[http://www.homolaicus.com/storia/spagna/pasionaria.htm Storia della Spagna – La Pasionaria]." HomoLaicus. September 3, 2005. She wrote two articles from jail: one published by the PCE periodical {{lang|es|Frente Rojo}} and the other by {{lang|es|Mundo Obrero}}. On 17 March 1932, she was elected to the Central Committee of the PCE at the 4th Congress held in Seville.Partido Comunista de España. Spanish Wikipedia.{{Better source needed|date=October 2024|reason=Wikipedia can't be a reference for itself}}

In 1933, Ibárruri founded {{lang|es|Mujeres Antifascistas}}, a women's organisation opposed to Fascism and war.[http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/Fotos.asp?TITULO=Publicaciones&FOTO=%27../AHPCE/Publicaciones/Pub02g.jpg%27 Page of Mujeres Antifascistas Españolas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409060331/http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/Fotos.asp?TITULO=Publicaciones&FOTO=%27..%2FAHPCE%2FPublicaciones%2FPub02g.jpg%27 |date=April 9, 2010 }}. Archivo Histórico del PCE. Biblioteca Histórica Marqués de Valdecillas, Madrid. On 18 April, Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin discovered asteroid 1933 HA and named it "Dolores" in her honour. In November, she travelled to Moscow as a delegate of the 13th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI), which assessed the dangers posed by fascism and the threat of war.[http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/comintern.html The Communist International (1919–1943)]. Early American Marxism: A repository of source material (1864–1946). The sight of the Russian capital thrilled Ibárruri. "To me, who saw it through the eyes of the soul", she wrote in her autobiography, "it was the most wonderful city on earth. The construction of socialism was being managed from it. In it were taking shape the earthly dreams of freedom of generations of slaves, outcasts, serfs, and proletarians. From it one could take in and perceive the march of humanity toward communism."Dolores Ibárruri, María Carmen García-Nieto París, María José Capellín Corrada. El único camino. Madrid: Editorial Castalia, 1992. She did not return to Spain until the new year.

In 1934, she attended the First World Meeting of Women against War and Fascism ({{lang|fr|Rassemblement Mondial des femmes contre la guerre et le fascisme}}) in Paris. Although the meeting was chaired by Gabrielle Duchêne, president of the French branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the separate {{lang|fr|Rassemblement}} was an organ of the short-lived French Popular Front.Laura Branciforte: "[http://comunicacionesencuentro.googlepages.com/BRANCIFORTE_SolidaridadInternacional.pdf La solidaridad internacional bajo el lema del antifascismo]{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}." Both the {{lang|fr|Rassemblement}} and the Front dissolved in 1939.

Toward the end of 1934, Ibárruri and two others spearheaded a risky rescue mission to the mining region of Asturias to bring more than a hundred starving children to Madrid. The parents of these children had been jailed following the failed October Revolution, which was suppressed by General Franco at the behest of the Republican government. Ibárruri succeeded in her mission but was briefly detained in the prisons of Sama de Langreo and Oviedo.Peregrina González, former member of Mujeres Antifascistas. {{YouTube|1aLNtT4qBZc|Informe Semanal – La vida de Dolores Ibárruri, "Pasionaria." Part II}}. Radio Televisión Española. 1995, minutes 05:45 to 06:43. To spare her children further anguish, she sent them to the Soviet Union in the spring of 1935.

File:Bernadette CATTANEO(g) et Dolores Ibárruri - aout 1936.jpg, 1936]]

In 1935, she secretly crossed the Spanish border to attend the 7th World Congress of the Communist International, held from 25 July to 21 August in Moscow. At this Congress, Georgi Dimitrov delivered a keynote speech proposing an alliance with "progressive bourgeois" governments against the fascists.[http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/p/o.htm entry: Popular Front]. Encyclopedia of Marxism. Marxists Internet Archive. Under this doctrine, the Popular Front would come to power in France in June 1936.

Ibárruri welcomed Dimitrov's speech as a vindication of the PCE's long-standing position and returned home "full of enthusiasm, determined to do the impossible to achieve a consensus among the various workers' and democratic organisations of our country." At the same Congress, she was elected a deputy member of the ECCI and became the second prominent Communist figure in Spain after José Díaz, the secretary-general of the PCE.[http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/Fotos.asp?TITULO=Publicaciones&FOTO=%27../AHPCE/Publicaciones/Pub01g.jpg%27 Cover of Mundo Obrero commemorating the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the PCE] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409060346/http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/Fotos.asp?TITULO=Publicaciones&FOTO=%27..%2FAHPCE%2FPublicaciones%2FPub01g.jpg%27 |date=April 9, 2010 }}. Archivo Histórico del PCE. Biblioteca Histórica Marqués de Valdecilla, Madrid.

In 1936, Ibárruri was jailed for the fourth time after enduring severe abuse from the arresting officers in Madrid. Upon her release, she went to Asturias to campaign for the PCE in the general elections held on 16 February. In these elections, 323,310 ballots were cast. However, "one ballot, one vote" did not apply; each voter could choose up to 13 candidates simultaneously. The PCE received 170,497 votes, enough to secure one seat in Parliament for Dolores Ibárruri.Historic summary of Members of the Congress (1810–1977). Documentary Services. Madrid: Congreso de los Diputados. The Popular Front's election platform included the release of political prisoners, and La Pasionaria set out to free the detainees in Oviedo immediately.

As soon as the victory of the Popular Front in the elections became known I, already an elect member of Parliament, showed up at the prison of Oviedo the next morning, went to the office of the Director, who had fled in a mad panic because he had behaved like a genuine criminal toward the Asturian prisoners interned after the revolution of October 1934, and there I found the Administrator to whom I said, "Give me the keys because the prisoners must be released this very day." He replied, "I have not received any orders", and I answered, "I am a member of the Republic's Parliament, and I demand that you hand over the keys immediately to set the prisoners free." He handed them over and I assure you that it was the most thrilling day of my activist life, opening the cells and shouting, "Comrades, everyone get out!" Truly thrilling. I did not wait for Parliament to sit or for the release order to be given. I reasoned, "We have run on the promise of freedom for the prisoners of the revolution of 1934—we won—today the prisoners go free."Dolores Ibárruri

quoted by Mariano Muniesa in: "[http://marianomuniesa.blogspot.com/2009/11/emocionado-recuerdo-una-mujer-del_13.html Emocionado Recuerdo a una Mujer del Pueblo: La Camarada, Compañera y Hermana Dolores Ibárruri]." La Comuna. 13 November 2009.Dolores Ibárruri. {{YouTube|B-M8LkxXymg|La Pasionaria explica la salida de los presos de la cárcel en Asturias}}, minutes 00:00 to 01:23.

In the months before the Spanish Civil War, she joined the strikers at the Cadavio mine in Asturias and stood beside poor tenants evicted from a suburb of Madrid. Around this time, Federico García Lorca, La Pasionaria, and friends were chatting and sharing a coffee in a Madrid café when Lorca, who had been observing Ibárruri's appearance, told her, "Dolores, you are a woman of grief, of sorrows... I'm going to write you a poem."Dolores Ibárruri. Me faltaba España, 1939–1977. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, 1984. The poet returned to Granada and met his death at the hands of the Nationalists before completing the task.

Ibárruri delivered a series of speeches, some of which were radio broadcasts from Madrid: "Danger! To Arms!" (19 July), "Our Fighters Must Lack for Nothing!" (24 July), "Discipline, Composure, Vigilance!" (29 July), "Restrain the Hand of the Foreign Meddlers!" (30 July), "Fascism Shall Not Pass!" (24 August), "Better to Die Standing Up Than to Live Kneeling Down!" (3 September), "A Salute to Our Militia Women on the Front Line" (4 September), and "Our Battle Cry Has Been Heard by the Whole World" (15 September).Dolores Ibárruri. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/index.htm Documents]. Marxists Internet Archive. It can be inferred that the majority in Madrid rallied to the Republic's side, that uncontrolled elements roamed the capital and many rounds of gunfire were wasted out of nerves (29 July), that Nationalist propaganda was more effective (30 July), and that she recognised early on that the war would be lost without foreign aid (24 August).{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} On 2 October, she wrote a revealing letter to her son in Russia, apologising for not having written earlier and describing the harrowing situation: "You cannot even imagine, my son, how savage is the struggle going on in Spain now... Fighting is going on daily and round the clock. And in this fighting, some of our finest and bravest comrades have perished."Dolores Ibárruri. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/1936/10/02.htm Letter to her son]. Marxists Internet Archive. She recounted spending many days beside the troops at the front and expressed her concerns about the war's outcome: "It is my hope that in spite of all the difficulties, particularly the lack of weapons, we shall still win." The war became particularly brutal in 1937. Just as the Blitz later drove the Allies to bomb German cities mercilessly, the Nationalist bombardment of open cities spurred Ibárruri (then the newly named fourth vice president of Congress) to demand an equal response from the "progressive bourgeois" government. President Manuel Azaña, an intellectual and writer, was unwilling to flout constitutional or international laws, while Prime Minister Francisco Largo Caballero, a socialist, was reluctant to cooperate with the PCE. The closing lines of her speech signalled her readiness to endorse radical violence.

{{quote|Men and women of every country who love freedom and progress, we appeal to you for the final time. If our appeal remains a voice crying out in the wilderness, our protests are ignored, our humane conduct, if all these are taken for signs of weakness, then the enemy will have only himself to blame—for we shall give vent to our wrath and destroy him in his lair.Dolores Ibárruri. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/1937/02/15.htm We demand retribution]. Marxists Internet Archive.}}

On 24 February, Stalin forbade the sending of Soviet volunteers to fight in Spain,[http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1937 Efemérides 1937 en la historia del mundo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171213/http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1937 |date=2011-07-11 }}. Hispanopolis. but he did not recall Alexander Orlov, an Order of Lenin awardee from the NKVD (secret police).{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} Orlov and the NKVD orchestrated the May Days, the conflict that erupted between 3 and 8 May in Barcelona between the Popular Front and the Trotskyist Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM).[https://www.marxists.org/history/spain/writers/hernandez/persecution_of_poum.html How the NKVD framed the POUM], Marxists Internet Archive. The battle resulted in approximately 1,000 fighters being killed and 1,500 injured, though estimates vary.Julián Gorkin, 2002: "[http://www.fundanin.org/gorkin8.htm Las Jornadas de Mayo en Barcelona] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930175619/http://www.fundanin.org/gorkin8.htm |date=2009-09-30 }}." Fundación Andreu Nin.Información Obrera, 2007: "[http://www.marxismo.org/?q=node/784 Las Jornadas revolucionarias de mayo de 1937] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716165932/http://www.marxismo.org/?q=node%2F784 |date=July 16, 2011 }}. Marxismo en red. With the annihilation of the POUM, Stalin deprived the fugitive Leon Trotsky of a potential refuge in Spain.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} Orlov employed the same methods of terror, duplicity, and deception used during the Great Purge (1936–1938).

As a result of the events from 3 to 8 May in Barcelona, the Trotskyists and the Anarchists came to be seen by Ibárruri as the "Fascist enemy within."

When we point out the need of opposing Trotskyism we discover a very strange phenomenon, that voices are raised in its defense in the ranks of certain organizations and among certain circles in certain parties. These voices belong to people who themselves are intoxicated with this counter-revolutionary ideology. The Trotskyists have long been transformed into the agents of Fascism, into the agents of the German Gestapo. We saw this on the ground during the May putsch in Catalonia; we saw this clearly in the disturbances that occurred in various other places. And everybody will realize this when the trial opens against the POUM. leaders who were caught spying. And we realize that the hand of Fascism is behind every attempt to demoralise our home front, to undermine the authority of the Republic. Therefore it is essential that we wipe out Trotskyism with a firm hand, for Trotskyism is no longer a political option for the working class but an instrument of the counter-revolution.

Trotskyism must be rooted out of the proletarian ranks of our Party as one roots out poisonous weeds. The Trotskyists must be rooted out and disposed of like wild beasts, for otherwise every time our men wish to go on the offensive we will not be able to do so due to lawlessness caused by the Trotskyists in the rear. An end must be put to these traitors once and for all so that our men on the front lines can fight without fear of being stabbed in the back.Dolores Ibárruri. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/1937/08/10.htm Reply to the Enemies, Slanderers and Undecided]. Marxists Internet Archive.

Ibárruri attributed the events to an "anarcho-Trotskyist" attempt to undermine the Republican government on orders from Franco, acting in concert with Adolf Hitler. She claimed the violence was the culmination of an anarchist plot that included plans to halt train movement and cut all telegraph and telephone lines. She cited an "order [from the Catalan government] to its forces to control the telephone building and disarm all people whom they encounter in the streets without proper authorization" as part of the anarchist scheme. However, she provided no evidence to support these claims, which were widely accepted by fellow Party members at the time but have since been discredited.

The Communist Party alleged that the anarchist "putsch" was motivated by resentment of the centralized military command sought by the Communists and their allies in Lluís Companys's Catalan government, as well as a desire to seize political power. The anarchists and Trotskyists viewed the events as an attempt by the Communist Party (in close contact with the Stalinist NKVD) to dominate all revolutionary activity and blamed the Communists for authoritarianism. They contrasted the Communist police state with the egalitarian conditions that existed prior to the May 1937 events.

Ibárruri, Díaz, and the rest of the PCE set out to destroy the Trotskyists.

{{quote|During the month of June 1937 the government of the Popular Front, now clearly under Communist sway, eradicates those segments of its own army under the control of the POUM and of the Anarchists, every one stationed in the Front of Aragon. On 29 July the 29th Division of the POUM is disarmed in the Front of Huesca and on August 4 the Anarchist–Sindicalista Council of Aragon is dissolved by decree.

In Barcelona the police unleashes the cruellest{{POV statement|date=October 2011}} of persecutions against the POUM. The new police chief since May is Ricardo Burillo Stholle, a professional officer and a Mason, who was the commander of the Assault Guards that killed José Calvo Sotelo and who has now joined the PCE. On cue from Alexander Orlov—liaison of the NKVD (Soviet secret police) with the Ministry of the Interior of the Second Spanish Republic and responsible on the Soviet side for the transfer of the gold of Moscow from Spain to the Soviet Union—Burillo's officers arrest Andrés Nin leader of the POUM. Taken first to Valencia and then to Madrid, Nin will be tortured, skinned, mutilated and finally murdered by Orlov's agents at Alcalá de Henares on June 20, 1937.Eduardo Palomar Baró: "[http://www.generalisimofranco.com/GC/BATALLAS/003.HTM#A%20los%2070%20años%20del%20Alzamiento. Los rojos del Frente Popular se fusilaban entre ellos]." Generalísimo Francisco Franco.{{Better source needed|date=October 2024|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).}}}}

The remnants of the POUM leadership were put on trial in Barcelona on 11 October 1938.Wilebaldo Solano, 1999: "[http://www.fundanin.org/nomoscu.htm El proceso al POUM: En Barcelona no fué como en Moscú] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930154828/http://www.fundanin.org/nomoscu.htm |date=2009-09-30 }}." Fundación Andreu Nin.Submitted by David in Atlanta, 2007: "[http://libcom.org/history/international-volunteers-poum-militias International Volunteers in the POUM Militias]." LibCom.org. Referring to the arraignments, Ibárruri said: "If there is an adage that says in normal times it is preferable to acquit a hundred guilty ones rather than punish a single innocent one, when the life of a people is in danger, it is better to convict a hundred innocent ones than to acquit a single guilty one."[http://www.abc.es/personajes/famoso.asp?biografia=La%20Pasionaria&historia=839 Biografía: La Pasionaria]. Personajes famosos. ABC.es.

On 30 April 1938, Stalin proposed a military alliance to France and Britain,[http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1938 Efemérides 1938 en la historia del mundo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171339/http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1938 |date=2011-07-11 }}. Hispanopolis. effectively forsaking the Spanish Republic.

On 6 March 1939, she flew out of Spain under enemy naval fire to the major Algerian port city of Oran, then under French sovereignty. Her arrival surprised the authorities, who hurriedly put her aboard a liner bound for Marseille.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1939/03/11/005.html No es grata la presencia en Francia de Negrín, Alvarez del Vayo y "Pasionaria"]. ABC. March 11, 1939, p. 5. The ship's captain was a Nationalist sympathiser,{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} but a clandestine Communist cell aboard ensured he did not steer the ship towards Nationalist-held Barcelona. This was the third time Ibárruri had evaded capture by the Nationalists.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Ibárruri was helped in France by the Communists, who sheltered her in Paris under police surveillance (the Communist Party would be outlawed by the government of Édouard Daladier on 26 September). From Paris, she travelled to Moscow and stayed there with Díaz, generals Enrique Líster and Juan Modesto, and others. She was reunited with Amaya and Rubén, who had escaped from a French internment camp at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

The Soviet Union received the refugees warmly. Ibárruri was given an apartment in Díaz's building and was assigned a chauffeur to drive her around Moscow. She was also invited to dine at the Dimitrovs'. She enjoyed attending performances at the Bolshoi Theatre and the Romen Theatre, and was an avid reader. She delighted in witnessing the emancipation of Russian women.Elisabetta Rossi: [http://www.marxist.com/emancipation-women-russia.htm "The Emancipation of Women in Russia before and after the Russian Revolution"]. In defence of Marxism. 8 March 2004. She helped other families adapt to their new country and generally felt happy enough to sing on occasion.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

Ibárruri worked in the Executive Committee of the Communist International Secretariat at the Communist International Headquarters near the Kremlin. Her work involved the continual evaluation, analysis, and discussion of the progress of Communism outside the Soviet Union. This was complemented by internal discussions within the PCE central committee, which focused on Spain. No serious disagreement existed between the Communist Party of Spain and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until 1968 over the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. The PCE supported or excused Stalin's domestic and foreign policies, including the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 24 August 1939.

In January 1940, La Pasionaria wrote the following praise of Joseph Stalin:

{{quote|To speak about the triumph of socialism over one-sixth of the earth, to write about the lush development of agriculture in the Soviet Union, a development unequalled by any other country, to admire the astonishing growth of socialist industry and the impetuous gains of the workers, to marvel at the unprecedented accomplishments of the mighty Soviet air force, at the mighty beefing up of the Soviet navy, to describe the glorious exploits of the Red Army liberator of peoples, to study the wonderful framework of the huge socialist state with its multiple nationalities united by unbreakable bonds of fraternal friendship, to observe the progress of science, art and of the culture of all Soviet peoples, the joyous life of their children, women, workers, peasants and intellectuals, the abiding security of everyone and their faith in the future, to know the daily life of socialism and the heroic actions of the Soviet people means to see Stalin, to cite Stalin, to encounter Stalin.Dolores Ibárruri, 1940: "[http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/1940/01/x01.htm Stalin, Leader of Peoples, Man of the Masses]." The Communist International, No. 1, January. Reprinted in the Marxists Internet Archive.}}

Ibárruri was asked to manage a new short-wave radio station that broadcast news, analysis, and opinion to the citizens of Francoist Spain. The Moscow station was officially named {{lang|es|Radio España Independiente}},{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} but in Spain, it was nicknamed "{{lang|es-ES|La Pirenaica}}," ("The Pyrenees one") partly due to the mistaken belief that it was located in the Pyrenees and partly because the radio itself used the label occasionally.Una emisión de nuestras ondas volantes. [http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/AHPCE_Audio.asp Archivo Histórico Sonoro del PCE] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523090820/http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/AHPCE_Audio.asp |date=23 May 2009 }}, 1959, seconds 1 to 16. Radio España Independiente began broadcasting on 22 July 1941, one month after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Initial broadcasts were made from candle-lit basements under sporadic aerial bombardment. Ibárruri recounted that seniors, women, and children kept watch on the terraces of Moscow every night for incendiary bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe. Civilians would pick up the burning sticks with tongs and dunk them in buckets of water.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

Many Spanish refugees volunteered to fight alongside the Russians despite Stalin's initial disapproval. According to Ibárruri, more than 200 died in battle. On 18 July 1941, she greeted the Spanish 4th Special Unit assigned to the defence of the Kremlin. Elsewhere, from Crimea to Finland, the Spanish Communist volunteers fought as guerrillas behind enemy lines, in the Red Army, or with the Soviet air force; some made it to Berlin, and at least one scouted territory held by the Spanish Nationalist Blue Division.

On 13 October 1941, martial law was declared in Moscow as the German 3rd Panzer Army came within 140 kilometres (87 miles) of the capital. On 16 October, the ECCI was evacuated by train from Moscow to Ufa, the capital of Republic of Bashkortostan. Díaz, who was gravely ill, went south to Tbilisi, the capital of the Georgian Soviet socialist Republic.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

Radio España Independiente now broadcast from Ufa. She used various aliases, such as Antonio de Guevara or Juan de Guernica, presumably to create the impression that the station had an extensive network of commentators and journalists.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

On 19 March 1942, Díaz committed suicide. La Pasionaria became secretary-general of the PCE after a brief period of consultations with Stalin.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

On 3 September Ibárruri's son Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri lost his life fighting heroically at Stalingrad.[http://persona.rin.ru/eng/view/f/0/30532/Ibarruri-Ruben-Ruiz Ibarruri Ruben Ruiz (Hero of the Soviet Union)]. Celebrities.Rubén Ruiz Ibárruri. Russian Wikipedia{{Better source needed|date=October 2024|reason=Wikipedia cannot be a source to itself}}[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel, 35 mm, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010719/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. The Battle Near Stalingrad. Documentary, 1973, Part II, minutes 04:18 to 04:29. NetFilm. Asteroid 2423 Ibarruri is named in his honour.

On 1 March 1943, Stalin established the Union of Polish Patriots, and on 15 May, the ECCI annulled the Third International and granted theoretical independence to each national Communist party.[http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1943 Efemérides 1943 en la historia del mundo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171347/http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1943 |date=2011-07-11 }}. Hispanopolis. Ibárruri agreed with the decision.

On 23 February 1945, La Pasionaria left Moscow for a trip to Tehran, Baghdad and Cairo. In Cairo, she and her party booked passage on the first passenger ship departing from Alexandria, believing it was bound for Marseille. In fact, the ship, part of a British convoy, headed to Boulogne-sur-Mer near the Belgian border. The voyage lasted three months, and she arrived in Paris too late to meet with Juan Negrín, the last president of the Spanish Republic, to work out a common political strategy against Franco.

From 5 to 8 December, the PCE held a central committee plenum in Toulouse where Santiago Carrillo, the former leader of the Unified Socialist Youth in pre-war Spain who had arrived in liberated France in November 1944, "gained control of the PCE," according to fellow Communist Enrique Líster.Enrique Líster. Así destruyó Carrillo el PCE. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta, 1983.

In his book Así destruyó Carrillo el PCE, Líster criticised Ibárruri's conduct between 1939 and 1945, writing:

{{quote|[An examination of the situation of the PCE between 1939–1945] Would have shown that the political and moral conduct and behaviour of the immense majority of the members of our party, whether in Europe, America, Africa and above all in Spain, had been commendable whereas the conduct and behaviour of a portion of the leaders in exile had left a lot to be desired [he elaborates elsewhere, "there were many dirty secrets, many acts of cowardice"]. Dolores Ibárruri, Carrillo, Mije, Anton, Delicado are good examples of what we say though not the only ones.}}

The persecution of dissidents within the PCE increased over time.

{{quote|Between 1947–1951 things get progressively worse. The persecution inside the party increases as do the arrests of comrades who come to Spain from France. But it wasn't just this, as we would find out later, assassination had become a tool of repression and management of the party...The decision to assassinate militants was taken in the Secretariat of the PCE. If the target of an assassination fled to Spain his presence was betrayed to the Spanish authorities through the broadcasts of Radio España Independiente.}}

Interrogations were cruel: "Carrillo and Anton inflicted true terror. Some comrades came to the brink of insanity during the rounds of interrogation, and others were driven to suicide by the despicable accusations made against them."

The book lists party members who were betrayed or murdered: Juanchu de Portugalete (1944), Gabriel León Trilla (1945; "the decision to eliminate Trilla belongs to Santiago Carrillo and Dolores Ibárruri"), Jesus Hernandez (1946), Lino (1950), Joan Comorera (1954), Monzon, Quiñones, Luis Montero, and Jose el Valenciano. Even generals Modesto and Líster himself were at one point targeted by the PCE leadership, only to be inadvertently saved by Stalin, who praised them in the presence of Ibárruri, Carrillo, and Anton.Colectivo de Analisis politico Potemkin: "[https://archive.today/20120907045345/http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/apuntes-sobre-pasionaria-destruccion-partido-comunista-espana Apuntes sobre la Pasionaria y la destrucción del Partido Comunista de España]." kaosenlared.net. 27 August 2008.

During that period the PCE also persecuted members in northwestern Spain. They included Victor Garcia, alias El Brasileño, a local leader in Galicia, and his deputy Teófilo Fernández. Garcia had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the party's exiled leadership and was labelled a provocateur. Party documents showed that he was suspected of being a police informant, but historian Lupe Martínez contends that he had been accused of being in contact with Allied forces in helping downed airmen cross into Portugal from France through Galicia. His planned murder was mentioned as early as 1946, but only conducted in 1948. He was shot in the head in a wooded area in the town of Moalde, after which the regional PCE liaison wrote "At last we have hunted him down. This riffraff withstood us like a leech. We managed to catch him in Lalín, from where he directed certain adventurous, uncontrolled groups. He is a provocateur who has given us many troubles; though belatedly, we have eliminated him." His body was discovered days later and buried in the local cemetery.R. Prieto: "[http://www.farodevigo.es/galicia/2009/08/23/galicia-camaradas-matan/360989.html Camaradas que matan]." Faro de Vigo. 23 August 2009.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-24 |title=EXTRACTO DEL LIBRO «EJÉRCITO GUERRILLERO DE GALICIA» DE LUPE MARTÍNEZ - victor-garcia-garcia-el-brasileno.com |url=https://victor-garcia-garcia-el-brasileno.com/blog-extracto-del-libro-ejercito-guerrillero-de-galicia-de-lupe-martinez/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=2024-03-31 |title=INFORME DEL ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO DEL P.C.E. - "El Brasileño" |url=https://victor-garcia-garcia-el-brasileno.com/informe-del-archivo-historico-del-p-c-e/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |language=es}}

At the 6th Congress of the PCE, held in Prague from 28 to 31 January 1960, 64-year-old Ibárruri ceded the post of secretary-general to Carrillo and accepted the honorary position of president.Dolores Ibárruri, Manuel Azcárate, Luis Balaguer, Antonio Cordón, Irene Falcón and José Sandoval. [http://www.filosofia.org/his/1960hp47.htm El VI Congreso]. Historia del Partido Comunista de España. Paris: Editions Sociales, 1960. Chapter 4, pp. 274–283. As confirmation of her retirement from active politics, she wrote her first memoir in 1960. The book, titled El Único Camino (The Only Way), was first published in Paris in 1962Dolores Ibárruri. [https://openlibrary.org/b/OL20202938M/uÌnico_camino El Unico Camino]." Paris: Editions Sociales, 1962. The Open Library. and subsequently printed in Moscow in 1963.Dolores Ibárruri. [http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3492814 El Unico Camino]. Moscow: Ediciones en Lenguas Extranjeras, 1963. Stanford's Libraries & Collections. It was translated into English and published in New York in 1966 under a new title.Dolores Ibárruri. [http://www.abaa.org/books/27977774.html They shall not pass: the autobiography of La Pasionaria]. New York: International Publishers, 1966. Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. In her second memoir, Memorias de Pasionaria, 1939–1977, Ibárruri notes that the childhood memories recorded in El Único Camino came to her in vivid detail.

On 10 November 1961, Ibárruri was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Historical Sciences by Moscow State University for her contributions to the development of Marxist theory.[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel, 35 mm, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010719/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. A Chronicle of the Day. 1961, Nº 46, minutes 06:54 to 07:27. NetFilm. In her acceptance speech, she asserted that class struggle is the motor of history. In 1962, she attended the 10th Congress of the Italian Communist Party, held from 2 to 8 December in Rome, where she met Socialists, Christian-Democrats, and some church representatives. To the clerics, she remarked, "We are not as wicked as you think, and we are not as good as we probably think we are."

During the first few months of 1963, Ibárruri unsuccessfully appealed to the Spanish government to spare the life of executive committee member Julián Grimau. Before his execution, Grimau wrote to Ibárruri, saying, "My execution will be the last one." During the week of 13 May, Ibárruri unveiled a plaque in his honour on Building 11, Block 1, of the newly renamed Grimau Street in Moscow.[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel, 35 mm, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010719/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. A Chronicle of the Day. 1963, Nº 20, minutes 03:32 to 04:23. NetFilm.encore81, photographer. [http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/1153222242056592166YjnaKe Grimau Street sign] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718020254/http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/1153222242056592166YjnaKe |date=2011-07-18 }}. Webshots, channel: Entertainment. June 15, 2004. On 5 December, she arrived in Havana to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1963/12/06/052.html "La Pasionaria," huésped de Fidel Castro]. ABC. December 6, 1963, morning edition, p. 52. Cuban leader Fidel Castro invited Ibárruri to move permanently to the island, but she declined.

On 15 April 1964, Ibárruri spoke at the banquet celebrating Nikita Khrushchev's 70th birthday.[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel, 35 mm, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010719/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. A Chronicle of the Day. 1964, Nº 16, minutes 06:26 to 06:33. NetFilm. On 30 April, she shared the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples, with three others.[http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1964 Efemérides 1964 en la historia del mundo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171355/http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1964 |date=2011-07-11 }}. Hispanopolis. On 22 February 1965, Ibárruri requested that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish Army, as well as the defence attorney, appear as witnesses at the court martial of former Republican commander Justo López de la Fuente, who had been condemned to twenty-three years in prison.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1967/05/03/057.html Militante comunista fallecido en Madrid]. ABC. May 3, 1967, morning edition, p. 57. Everyone expected that he would be sentenced to death. Ibárruri held a press conference in Moscow to publicise these actions. On 27 February, the Captain General of the Madrid region annulled the proceedings. However, the initial sentence remained, and López later died in prison.

Sometime in 1965, Ibárruri flew from Paris to Dubrovnik to apologize to Josip Broz Tito as president of the PCE. On 17 May 1948, the Cominform, successor to the ECCI, had expelled Yugoslavia from the community of Socialist countries,[http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1948 Efemérides 1948 en la historia del mundo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711171400/http://hispanopolis.com/bin/efemerides.cgi?Year=1948 |date=2011-07-11 }}. Hispanopolis. and Ibárruri had supported this censure. The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, held from 14 to 26 February 1956, had repudiated the charges against Yugoslavia. Now, Ibárruri came face to face with the man she had slandered. She began to apologise profusely, but Tito interrupted her, saying, "Do not vex yourself, Dolores, do not worry. I know very well how things worked in those days. I know it perfectly. Furthermore, believe me, I most likely would have done what you did had I been in your situation." Ibárruri returned to visit Yugoslavia several times thereafter.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1976/08/31/004.html Tito ofreció un almuerzo en honor de "La Pasionaria"]. ABC. August 31, 1976, Actualidad Gráfica, p. 4. In late December 1965, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Ibárruri the Order of Lenin medal.[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel, 35 mm, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010719/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. A Chronicle of the Day. 1966, Nº 1, minutes 01:56 to 03:18. NetFilm. Between 1930 and 1991, a total of 431,418 decorations were given out, but only seventeen were awarded to foreigners.[https://voenmag.com/catalog/ussr/order-of-lenin-collect-state-awards-of-ussr-and-touch-the-history-of-fatherland-with-voentorg-voenmag-replica Order of Lenin] . Voenmag.com.

Ibárruri chaired the editorial commission that wrote the four volumes of Guerra y revolución en España, 1936–1939 (War and Revolution in Spain, 1936–1939), which present the PCE's view of the Spanish Civil War. The volumes were published between 1966 and 1971.Dolores Ibárruri et al. [http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/calvel/6154.shtml Guerra y revolución en España, 1936–1939]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. 4 vols. Moscow: Editorial Progreso, 1966–1971. Note: The first three volumes are also available from Bolerium Books (San Francisco, California).

File:1972 Dolores Ibarruri visiting Bucharest.jpg during a visit to Bucharest, 1972]]

On 19 April 1969, former Republican general Juan Modesto died in Prague.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} Ibárruri delivered a brief eulogy. On 6 May 1970, the Spanish right-wing newspaper ABC reported that the PCE and the Kremlin had reached a new pact. According to the report, the Spanish party dropped its censure of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in exchange for the Kremlin's blessing on the party's wish to collaborate with non-Communist parties. The newspaper also reported that PCE president Dolores Ibárruri resided permanently in Moscow, while the secretary-general lived in Italy.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1970/05/06/028.html Nuevo pacto entre el Kremlin y el partido comunista español]. ABC. May 6, 1970, morning edition, p. 28.

On 8 November 1972, Ibárruri's estranged husband, 82-year-old Julián Ruiz Gabiña, returned from a workers' clinic in Moscow to Somorrostro, expressing a desire "to rest and die in my land."[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1972/11/08/052.html Regresa a España, desde Moscú, el marido de "La Pasionaria"]. ABC. November 8, 1972, p. 52. On 14 March 1974, Ibárruri condemned the execution of 26-year-old Catalan anarchist Salvador Puig Antich on 2 March. She also noted the revolutionary political stance taken by Bishop Antonio Añoveros Ataún of Bilbao, who publicly defended Basque cultural identity and defied Franco's decision to remove him.Dolores Ibárruri. Asesinato de Puig Antich (10 minutos). [http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/AHPCE_Audio.asp Archivo Histórico Sonoro del PCE] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523090820/http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/AHPCE_Audio.asp |date=May 23, 2009 }}, 14 March 1974, minutes 04:02 to 08:51. On 20 November 1975, Spanish dictator Franco died. Ibárruri commented laconically, "May the earth rest lightly upon him." During the week of 17 November, Ibárruri was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010719/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-1/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. A Chronicle of the Day. 1975, Nº 47, minutes 07:00 to 07:54. NetFilm. On 14 December, many representatives of Communist parties from around the world gathered in Rome to pay homage to her. The following summer, Ibárruri attended the 3rd Plenary of the Central Committee of the PCE, held 28–31 July 1976 in Rome, under the theme of "national reconciliation."

On the night of 24 January 1977, a commando unit of Spanish and Italian neo-Fascists killed three Communist labour-rights attorneys, a law student, and a manager at their law office in downtown Madrid; four others were seriously injured. On 16 February, Ibárruri asked the Spanish authorities in Moscow to allow her to return to Spain. She stated that she had travelled outside the USSR many times, that her profession was a publicist and contributor to newspapers and magazines, that she was the president of the PCE, and that she wanted to travel freely to her own country.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/02/18/033.html La Pasionaria solicita el visado para viajar a España]. ABC. February 18, 1977, p. 21. On 22 February, the still-illegal PCE announced its list of candidates for the general elections on 15 June. Ibárruri was a candidate in two electoral districts, Madrid and Asturias, to ensure her election; Carrillo appeared in three.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/02/22/026.html El "Partido Comunista" hace públicas sus listas electorales]. ABC. February 22, 1977, p. 10. Despite a climate of fear and insecurity, the Spanish government legalized the PCE on 9 April, but the authorities denied Ibárruri a visa. On 27 April, Julián Ruiz stated that he would not be at the airport to greet his estranged wife, but added, "Nevertheless, she is the mother of my children, and I wish her health and a peaceful life."[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/blanco.y.negro/1977/04/27/052.html Julián y Dolores Ruiz. A la "Pasionaria" no la recibirá su marido]. ABC. April 27, 1977, p. 52. Suplemento Blanco y Negro. The PCE arranged for Ibárruri to land in Madrid with or without a visa on 13 May; however, on 12 May, the authorities relented and provided the visa.

At 2:00 p.m. Moscow time on 13 May 1977, Ibárruri left Sheremetyevo Airport aboard an Aeroflot jet after a "very affectionate" send-off from Boris Ponomarev, Mikhail Suslov, three other civilians, and Colonel Sergeyev, the husband of Ibárruri's daughter. On the tarmac, a girl in traditional costume offered the departing president of the PCE a bouquet of flowers.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1977/05/14/pagina-3/33754292/pdf.html "La Pasionaria" llegó ayer a Madrid]. La Vanguardia Española. May 14, 1977, p. 3.[http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-2/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri CSDF (RCSDF) Newsreel 35 mm, black and white] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303010838/http://www.net-film.ru/en/films-finded-page-2/?sp=en&s=Ibarruri |date=2012-03-03 }}. A Chronicle of the Day. 1977, Nº 19, minutes 08:15 to 09:50. NetFilm. At 7:59 p.m. Madrid time, the Aeroflot jetliner landed at Barajas Airport. The PCE did not give her an official welcome, and secretary-general Carrillo was in Seville. Five hundred party members and sympathisers, some waving PCE flags and wearing red berets with a communist insignia, gathered at the airport. They went up to the observation deck to watch and cheer as she landed.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/14/025.html La Pasionaria, en Madrid]. ABC. 14 May 1977, p. 25.Francisco Frechoso and Juan Carlos Escudier: "[http://www.elmundo.es/papel/hemeroteca/1995/12/10/cronica/70115.html "Pasionaria," el mito utilizado]." El Mundo. December 10, 1995.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/15/034.html Carrillo estaba ausente]. ABC. 15 May 1977, p. 14. Ibárruri then visited the office of the Registrar General of Fuencarral and officially changed her name from Isidora to Dolores.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1988/05/25/020.html "Cosas que pasan": Doña Isidora]. ABC. 25 May 1988, p. 20.

Ibárruri's first campaign rally was held on 23 May at the Exhibition Fairgrounds of Bilbao, where she spoke before 30,000 to 50,000 supporters. She acknowledged feeling tired but volunteered to explain the workings of socialist countries, "where the workers can live very well without capitalism." However, the emotion of the day exhausted her, and an evening press conference had to be cancelled.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/24/030.html "La Pasionaria" alaba al gran "país soviético"]. ABC. May 24, 1977, p. 10. The following day, she spoke at the Suárez Puerta Stadium in AvilésPedro J. Ramírez. "[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/24/029.html Pasionaria]." ABC. May 24, 1977, p. 9. in front of "many thousands of workers." A 20-year-old eyewitness recalled, "The city wore red. 'The Internationale' was heard everywhere... the atmosphere, the silence when Pasionaria spoke, the explosion of joy that day, are unforgettable memories."Juan C. Galán. "[https://archive.today/20120906165707/http://www.lne.es/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2009041300_36_745404__Aviles-Pasion-rojo-vivo Pasión al rojo vivo]." La Nueva España. April 13, 2009. Note: Several dates given in the article are wrong.

On 25 May, at the presentation of his book Eurocommunism and the State, Carrillo told a reporter that Ibárruri reminded him of Pablo Iglesias as he knew him as a child—a sick, elderly man who participated very little in party activities and often remained silent during meetings.Pedro J. Ramírez. "[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/26/019.html La comparación]." ABC. May 26, 1977, p. 9. On 28 May, Ibárruri spoke in Sama de Langreo, and the right-wing newspaper ABC admitted that she was drawing "multitudes."[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/28/023.html Asturias. U.C.D.: Mítin bajo la lluvia]." ABC. May 28, 1977, p. 13.{{YouTube|kHWScWVHjc0|Informe Semanal – La vida de Dolores Ibárruri, "Pasionaria." Part III}}. Radio Televisión Española. 1995, 05:42 to 06:44. On 30 May, she affirmed in La Felguera that the same spirit which had motivated her in 1936 continued to drive her in support of the PCE and Asturias.J. M. Ruiz Gallardón. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/05/31/024.html Recortes de la prensa dominical]." ABC. May 31, 1977, p. 4. On 8 June, a full house (6,000 people according to ABC, 8,000 according to La Vanguardia) listened to her at the Palacio de los Deportes in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias.Méndez. "[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/06/09/034.html Asturias. Oviedo: Consultorio electoral telefónico permanente]." ABC. June 9, 1977, p. 22.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1977/06/10/pagina-11/33747092/pdf.html La campaña electoral, a tope]. La Vanguardia Española. June 10, 1977, p. 11. The following day, she appeared at the national rally of the party held in the neighbouring province of León.Iñigo Domínguez. "[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/06/09/034.html León. León: La capital, invadida por los carteles]." ABC. June 9, 1977, p. 22.

In the general elections held on 15 June, the Oviedo constituency saw 584,061 votes cast, with a voter turnout rate of 74.6%. The PCE received 60,297 votes (10.5% of the total), securing one seat for Dolores Ibárruri. The party with the most votes was the Spanish Workers' Socialist Party (31.8%), while the dictatorship's party, Falange Española, garnered a mere 0.46%.[http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=1977&province=33 1977 election results][http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/06/17/025.html Resultados provisionales: Análisis]. ABC. June 17, 1977, p. 9.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1977/06/17/pagina-18/33754545/pdf.html Relación provisional de diputados. Congreso de Diputados]. La Vanguardia Española. 17 July 1977, p. 18.

On 13 July at 10:05 a.m., as noted in her memoirs, Ibárruri returned to the Congress chamber she had left forty-one years earlier. Moments later, she took her place in the vice-presidential chair for the inaugural session.Herminio Pérez Fernández. "[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/07/14/026.html Congreso: Intensa jornada dedicada a votaciones]." ABC. 14 July 1977, p. 10.[http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20091112/20-anos-muerte-pasionaria/626939.shtml 20 años de la muerte de La Pasionaria]. Radio Televisión Española, minutes 00:44 to 00:51. The following day, Radio España Independiente aired its final broadcast, number 108,300.Final broadcast of Radio España Independiente. [http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/AHPCE_Audio.asp Archivo Histórico Sonoro del PCE] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523090820/http://www.portaldelexilio.org/apl/AHPCE_Audio.asp |date=May 23, 2009 }}, 14 July 1977, 45 minutes. On 22 July, the king opened Parliament. Ibárruri participated in the one-minute general standing ovation, though she remained seated.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1976/07/14/pagina-3/33749788/pdf.html Unas Cortes con pluralidad de ideologías]. La Vanguardia Española. 23 July 1977, p. 3. Earlier, as she entered Congress, a 56-year-old man in Falangist uniform gave the Roman salute and heckled her, saying, "Drop dead! If you had any shame, you would not have returned to Spain."[http://hemeroteca.abcdesevilla.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/sevilla/abc.sevilla/1977/07/23/018.html Anécdotas de una sesión histórica]. ABC. 23 July 1977, p. 4.

On 4 August, 87-year-old Ruiz died in a hospital residence in Barakaldo, and Ibárruri attended his funeral. She traveled to Moscow in October to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Russian Revolution and did not return until 21 November.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1977/11/22/030.html El P.C.E. de Asturias pide la sustitución de La Pasionaria como diputada]. ABC. November 22, 1977, p. 14.

Her ailing health led to her hospitalization three times during the first nine months after her return.[http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es/preview/1978/02/14/pagina-7/33748144/pdf.html La Pasionaria abandona la clínica]. La Vanguardia Española. 14 February 1978, p. 7. Her age and frail condition prompted the regional branch of the PCE in Asturias to request her retirement and substitution as early as 21 November 1977. However, the central committee argued that her symbolic presence was important,[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1978/08/09/019.html Declaraciones de La Pasionaria a una revista U.S.A.: "No hemos renunciado a la dictadura del proletariado"]. ABC. 9 August 1978, pp. 11–12. and she served out her full term. On 31 October 1978, she cast a very loud "Yes" vote for the new Spanish Constitution.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1978/11/01/013.html Una Constitución que cierra una sola puerta: la de la revolución]. ABC. 1 November 1978, p. 5. On 29 December, President Adolfo Suárez dissolved Congress and called new elections for 1 March 1979. The 84-year-old Ibárruri was not a candidate. Her life, along with that of every Communist, was put in danger on 23 February 1981, when Fascist elements of the Spanish armed forces and paramilitary police staged a coup.[http://www.rtve.es/rtve/20090123/23-f-hace-anos/223731.shtml Un 23-F de hace 29 años]. Radio Televisión Española.

Broadly speaking, the remaining years of Ibárruri's life were marked by a series of feminist rallies,Pilar Urbano. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1980/11/26/021.html Hilo directo: Vuelo con un DC]. ABC. 26 November 1980, p. 9. political gatherings,[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1983/11/10/016.html Gritos y aplausos por la "unidad" de los comunistas del PCE en el mitin de Gerardo Iglesias]. ABC. 10 November 1983, p. 16. congresses of the PSUC and PCE,Margarita Sáez-Díez. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1982/03/20/016.html Gana la tendencia "eurocomunista" en el Congreso extraordinario del PSUC]. ABC. 20 March 1982, p. 8.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1988/02/20/005.html Cada vez más difícil el relevo en el PCE]. ABC. 20 February 1988, Actualidad Gráfica, p. 5. presiding over meetings of the executive committee,[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1985/03/28/005.html El PCE, al borde de la escisión]. ABC. 25 March 1985, front page. and summer holidays in the Soviet Union.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1985/07/20/036.html La Pasionaria no irá este año de vacaciones a Rusia]. ABC. 20 July 1985, p. 36. Ibárruri denounced Enver Hoxha's stance against Khrushchev during the Sino-Soviet Split, describing Hoxha as "a dog that bites the hand that feeds him". Survivors of the International Brigades came to celebrate her 90th birthday, and the PCE held a party at the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid for 15,000 to 20,000 well-wishers.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1985/12/09/016.html Pasionaria]. ABC. December 9, 1985, p. 16.[http://www.laopinioncoruna.es/sociedad/2009/11/12/dolores-ibarruri-politica-revolucionaria-racial/334651.html Dolores Ibárruri, política y revolucionaria racial]. La Opinión de A Coruña. 12 November 2009.

In October 1987, Ibárruri requested financial assistance from Congress, as she had not contributed to the national social security program and had no pension. Congress granted her a monthly allowance of 150,000 pesetas (approximately $1,250 in US dollars at the time).J.A.S. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1987/10/20/019.html La primera pensión privilegiada, para "La Pasionaria"]. ABC. 20 October 1987, p. 19.José Antonio Sánchez. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1988/04/26/027.html El PSOE busca el consenso de la oposición sobre las pensiones para ex parlamentarios]. ABC. 26 April 1988, p. 27. On 13 September 1989, she was hospitalized with severe pneumonia.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1989/09/16/025.html Ligera mejoria del estado de salud de "la Pasionaria"]. ABC. 16 September 1989, p. 25. Although she recovered and left the hospital on 15 October, she experienced a relapse on 7 November and died on 12 November at age 93.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1989/11/13/005.html Ha muerto "La Pasionaria"]. ABC. 13 November 1989, Actualidad Gráfica, p. 5.[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/IGLESIAS/_PABLO/IBARRURI/_DOLORES/_/26apos/PASIONARIA/26apos/ESPANA/PARTIDO_COMUNISTA_DE_ESPANA/Dolores/Ibarruri/sera/enterrada/lado/Pablo/Iglesias/elpepiesp/19891113elpepinac_3/Tes Dolores, Ibárruri será enterrada al lado de Pablo Iglesias]. El País. 13 November 1989. On 14 November, thousands of people paid homage as her body lay on a catafalque. Among those who paid their respects were veterans of the Civil War, war amputees,{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} and the ambassadors of Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Yugoslavia, and China, as well as the mayor of Madrid.A. Suárez. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1989/11/15/026.html Miles de personas rindieron homenaje a "La Pasionaria"]. ABC. 15 November 1989, p. 26. On 16 November, a short cortege carried her body from the PCE headquarters to the Plaza de Colón, where Rafael Alberti and Secretary-General Julio Anguita delivered brief eulogies.[http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1989/11/17/007.html Ayer se celebró el entierro de Dolores Ibárruri, "La Pasionaria"]. ABC. November 17, 1989, Actualidad Gráfica, p. 7. She was then driven to Almudena Cemetery and interred near the grave of Pablo Iglesias. Thousands attended her funeral and chanted, "They shall not pass!"Genin Andrada. [http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/89662641/Hulton-Archive Funeral of Dolores Ibárruri] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807215033/http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/89662641/Hulton-Archive |date=August 7, 2011 }}. Getty Images. The mayors of several townships declared four days of official mourning.Ovidio. [http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1989/11/21/021.html Zigzag. Luto]. ABC. 21 November 1989, p. 21.

File:La Passionara.jpg, Scotland]]

Dolores Ibárruri served as inspiration for artist Arthur Dooley,Gary Nisbet. [http://glasgowsculpture.com/pg_biography.php?sub=dooley_a Arthur Dooley (1929–94). Works in Glasgow]. Glasgow – City of Sculpture. who was commissioned in 1974 by the International Brigade Association of Scotland to create a monument commemorating the 2,100 British volunteers of the International Brigade. These ordinary men and women joined the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War to fight against Franco's regime. The monument’s inscription is dedicated to the 534 volunteers who died in the conflict, including 65 from Glasgow, where the monument is situated.{{cite web|last=International Brigade Memorial trust|title=Roll of Honour|url=http://www.international-brigades.org.uk/content/roll-honour|access-date=2 December 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203030927/http://www.international-brigades.org.uk/content/roll-honour|url-status=dead}}

The statue was funded by money raised from Trade Unionists and Labour movement supporters.{{cite web|last=British Listed Buildings|title=Clyde Street, Statue of Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, Glasgow|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-49920-clyde-street-statue-of-dolores-ibarruri-l|access-date=2 December 2013}} However, the £3,000 raised was insufficient to cover the artist's plans to cast the statue in bronze. Instead, an armature was welded together from scrap iron and covered in fiberglass. The final version of the monument is a stylized female figure representing Dolores Ibárruri, depicted in a long dress, standing with legs apart and arms raised. On the plinth, Dooley carved Dolores's famous slogan: "Better to die on your feet than live forever on your knees." Originally used by the Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, Ibárruri gave the phrase new meaning when she used it during the miners' strike in Asturias, Spain, in 1934.

File:Busto de Dolores Ibárruri - Jódar (Jaén). 01.jpg]]

Over time, the B-listed statue fell into extremely poor condition, generating criticism from the public, elected officials, and trade unionists.{{cite web|last=Glasgow City Council|title=Restoration of La Pasionara|url=http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=6137|access-date=2 December 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012421/http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=6137|url-status=dead}} A restoration project was carried out between April and August 2010, and the monument was re-dedicated on 23 August 2010 by the Leader of the Council, Bailie Gordon Matheson, and the General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Grahame Smith, in the presence of Thomas Watters, 97, a surviving International Brigade veteran. Watters was a veteran of the Scottish Ambulance Unit, which worked on the front lines in Spain to aid wounded fighters and volunteers from around the world.

In February 2017, the People's Party of the Basque Country called for a street named after her to be renamed due to her “terrible role in the Spanish Civil War” and her close association with Stalin.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/basque-street-names-fuel-debate-around-historical-memory-1.2976931|title=Basque street names fuel debate around historical memory|first=Guy Hedgecoe in|last=Madrid|newspaper=The Irish Times}}

• Dolores Ibárruri: Speeches & Articles 1936–1938, New York, 1938.{{Cite web |title=Speeches & articles, 1936-1938 |url=https://search.worldcat.org/es/title/Speeches-and-articles-1936-1938/oclc/893862 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=WorldCat.org |language=es}}
• El único camino, Moscow, 1963. (republished in 2023 by Akal with {{ISBN|978-84-460-5325-5}})
• Memorias de Dolores Ibarruri, Pasionaria: la lucha y la vida, Barcelona, 1985. {{ISBN|978-8432043628}}
• [https://archive.org/details/theyshallnotpass00ibrr/mode/1up They Shall Not Pass: The Autobiography of La Pasionaria], New York, 1966.
• Memorias de Pasionaria, 1939–1977: Me faltaba España, Barcelona, 1984. {{ISBN|978-8432058301}}

The Brazilian punk rock band Blind Pigs included an English-language song about Ibárruri in their 2002 album Blind Pigs.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Blind-Pigs-Blind-Pigs/master/610013|title=Blind Pigs – Blind Pigs|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=2018-11-13}}

In Anthony Powell's novel Casanova's Chinese Restaurant, Norah and Eleanor have a picture of La Pasionaria on their mantelpiece.

In Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, El Sordo's unit debates La Pasionaria's motives for sending her son to the Soviet Union during the Spanish Civil War while under attack from pro-Franco forces.

The Glasgow-based fusion band Inyal included an instrumental song dedicated to Ibárruri, entitled "Pasionaria," on their 2017 album INYAL.{{Cite web|url=http://inyalband.com/music|title = Music}}

The American sculptor Jo Davidson created a portrait bust of Ibárruri in 1938. Davidson describes his sittings with Ibárruri at his hotel in Madrid in his autobiography, Between Sittings: An Informal Autobiography.{{cite book|author=Jo Davidson|title=Between Sittings: An Informal Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1bRyGlqpla4C|year=1951|publisher=Dial Press|pages=310–312}}

In 2012, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot, wore a T-shirt with the phrase "¡No Pasarán!" and an image of a raised clenched fist during her trial.{{Cite web|url=https://www.litromagazine.com/arts-and-culture/no-pasaran-how-pussy-riot-made-a-slogan-their-own/|title = No Pasarán: How Pussy Riot Made a Slogan Their Own|date = 2 January 2014}}

• Yusta Rodrigo, M. (2023). Dolores Ibárruri, Pasionaria (1895–1989): Communist Woman of Steel, Global Icon. In: de Haan, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13127-1_7

• Aurora Picornell
• Carolina Bunjes
• Jorge Semprún

{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}

{{Succession box| before = Position created| title = President of the Communist Party of Spain|years=1960–1989| | after =

Position abolished}}

{{S-end}}

{{S-start}}

{{Succession box| before = José Díaz| title = General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain|years=1944–1960| | after = Santiago Carrillo}}

{{S-end}}

{{Sister project links|commonscat=yes|q=Dolores_Ibárruri|s=Dolores_Ibárruri|author=yes|b=no|n=no|wikt=no|v=no|d=no }}

• [http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/index.htm Dolores Ibárruri Archive at marxists.org]
• [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/SPibarruri.htm Spartacus International article on Dolores Ibárruri]
• ¡No Pasarán! Speech Dolores Ibárruri's "No Pasaran!" speech translated to English

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibarruri, Dolores}}

Category:1895 births

Category:1989 deaths

Category:People from Abanto y Ciérbana-Abanto Zierbena

Category:Communist Party of Spain politicians

Category:Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic

Category:Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain)

Category:Politicians from the Basque Country (autonomous community)

Category:Spanish anti-fascists

Category:Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction)

Category:Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France

Category:Marxist journalists

Category:Marxist writers

Category:Spanish women in politics

Category:Female revolutionaries

Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin

Category:Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize

Category:Burials at Cementerio de la Almudena

Category:People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union

Category:Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the Soviet Union

Category:Spanish women of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction)

Category:Exiled Spanish politicians

Category:Spanish women of the Spanish Civil War

Category:Women's International Democratic Federation people

Category:Basque women in politics

Category:Spanish Marxists