¡NO PASARÁN! |
THEY SHALL NOT PASS! |
Dolores Ibárruri, a seamstress and mother, joined the Communist Party (PCE) after reading the works of Karl Marx. Ibárruri wrote articles for the miners’ newspaper, El Minero Vizcaino, using the pseudonym Pasionaria (passion flower). Ibárruri soon became an important local political figure, and during the Spanish Civil War, she was the chief propagandist for the Republicans. On July 18, 1936, she ended a radio speech with the words: “The fascists shall not pass! No Pasaran.” “No Pasaran” became the motto for the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. This was especially popular in Madrid, the site of the last major battle of the war before the Nationalist victory that put Franco in power. This writing was used on posters and leaflets and was sung throughout the city of Madrid. Even today, Madrid, the capital of Spain, shows signs of this final great battle of the Spanish Civil War.
Source: "¡NO PASARÁN! [THEY SHALL NOT PASS]" (motto, Spain), quoted in They Shall Not Pass, D. Ibarruri. New York: International Publishers, 1983.