Dolores Ibárruri

Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez joined the Spanish Communist Party at its founding in 1920 and spent the next decade rising through its ranks, writing for Mundo Obrero before winning election to the Cortes in February 1936 as a deputy for Asturias. The civil war turned her into Pasionaria, the passionate one, whose slogan at the Battle for Madrid became the Republic's rallying point. She fled into exile in 1939 as Franco's forces closed in, then led the Communist Party from abroad as General Secretary from 1942 to 1960, before being named honorary president for life. In 1977, two years after Franco's death, she returned to Spain and reclaimed her old seat in the Cortes, representing Asturias again until 1979. She lived another decade in quiet retirement before her death in 1989.