A portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists
Twentieth Century Communism - Print ISSN 1758-6437 - Online ISSN 2978-1329
Volume 2025 Number 29
A portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists
Pablo Gil Valero pages 92‑118
Abstract
This article examines the formation of a new generation of communist militants, members of the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (PSUC), beginning in 1956, through one of its most unique figures: Jordi Solé Tura (1930 –2009). It explores the multi-scalar transformations – ranging from the international to the local – experienced by Spanish and Catalan communists, leading to a ‘tactical shift’ in the second half of the 1950s. In this new context, a group of young people – a generation that did not fight in the Spanish Civil War –took a stand against the Francoist dictatorship. From student activism in Barcelona to exile in Paris and Bucharest, Jordi Solé Tura rose through the ranks of the Communist Party and emerged as one of its future leaders, until his expulsion in 1964. This article seeks to situate Solé Tura’s experience within the transnational framework of Spanish and Catalan communism, to develop an actor-centred understanding in the evolution of the Partido Comunista de Espana (PCE) and the PSUC as the leading anti-francoist parties from the 1960s onward. By focusing on Solé Tura’s individual trajectory, this article offers a new perspective on the generational renewal of the Spanish and Catalan communist movements during the Cold War.
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To cite this article
Pablo Gil Valero (2025) A portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists, Twentieth Century Communism, 2025(29), 92-118