Jordi Solé Tura

I’m sure everyone is now in full swing of their revision?! Well as I stumbled across my Spanish notes I started learning about the Spanish Constitution of 1978. After doing a bit of background reading I discovered that Jordi Solé Tura, once leader of the Catalan communist party ‘PSUC’, sadly passed away December just gone. Jordi Tura was interestingly, one of the seven people who drew up the post-Franco constitution. Due to this he was a respected figure in Catalan society and I shall further explore his life in general.

He was the son of a bakers, born and bred (excuse the pun) in a small town in the outskirts of Barcelona. Jordi was late in starting his degree, at the age of 21, but used it go into politics. Before joining PSUC in 1957, he spent almost 20 years in underground work against the dictatorship of Franco. In 1960 he went into exile in Paris. He later left PSUC to become a lecturer at Barcelona University. He formed a student based group at the university which were highly strung over their views of the regime. He was imprisoned because of this in 1969.

He rejoined PSUC after his jail sentence and saw in the constitution alongside fascists such as Manuel Fraga, Franco’s ex-minister. Through the constitution, Jordi made sure that every Spaniard was entitled to a house and a job. In 1985 he left PSUC before joining the Spanish socialist party in 1989 and was elected in with them and stayed until 2000. Sadly, he developed Alzheimer's disease and eventually died in December 2009.

I feel the story of a baker’s son, who led a turbulent life in politics, epitomizes the ups and downs of the Catalan history. Nevertheless, his eventual impact upon Spain through the constitution highlights the strength of Catalonia.

Cheers, Jared