Biography related to historical leaders of the Spanish Socialist Party. Historiography balance and further possibilities

Abstract

This paper is organised on the basis of detailed study of canonical biographies of five leaders of the Spanish Socialist Party –PSOE– from its foundation to the Spanish Civil War and exile: Pablo Iglesias, Julián Besteiro, Francisco Largo Caballero, Indalecio Prieto and Juan Negrín. The methodology starts with critical assessment of the biographical theory available in the historiography, its evolution and its current state, using as well the existing documentary sources; we follow a chronological sequence, highlighting the main related works and their authors in each case. All this is presented from a global and synthetic perspective. Among the main conclusions, the quality reached in the biographical genre within the historiography of the five leaders studied is outstanding. However, this does not preclude pointing out, as a line for further study, the need for more work in a broader context of political history with a view to reinterpreting the above-mentioned Spanish Socialist leaders’ career.

Keywords

• socialistas
• biografía
• historia
• política
• historiografía