Dolores Ibárruri

Spanish Republican leader of the Spanish Civil War and communist politician (1895-1989)

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Lived 1895–1989, aged 94Spain

Spain

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Wikipedia
57 languages
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Era
1895–1989
Aged 94
Known for
Three Songs About Lenin
1934

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

She gave the Spanish Civil War its most electrifying battle cry — "¡No Pasarán!" — and became the voice of Republican resistance when Madrid was under siege in 1936.

Biography

About

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 Fr…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Dolores Ibárruri

Dolores Ibárruri

said15 Nov 1938

Comrades of the International Brigades!

— From the above speech in Barcelona on 15 November 1938, as quoted by Hugh Thomas in The Spanish Civil War (1961), p. 558

Dolores Ibárruri

said19 Jul 1936

Workers, anti-fascists, and labouring people! Rise as one man! Prepare to defend the Republic, national freedom and the democratic liberties won by the people!

— Radio broadcast, Madrid, 19 July 1936. Translation printed in The Voice of Spain (Calcutta: Eagle Publishers, 1945), p. 1. The leader of

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