Tomas Meabe. The greatness of a dreamer

Abstract

The death of Karl Marx in 1883 roughly matches with the born of the main writers of the Generation of 98 and with the raise of two counter-movements in the Basque provinces of Spain: the nationalism and the socialism. Three great figures of these movements are: Sabino Arana, founder of the Basque nationalism and PNV (1865-1903), Pablo Iglesias, founder of PSOE (1850-1925), and Tomas Meabe, founder of the Socialist Youth (1879-1915). This article gathers an overview of the life of Tomás Meabe, who first militated in the nationalism but, under the influence of Sabino Arana, he joined the socialism of Pablo Iglesias aiming to study it in order to fight it. He died at the age of 36. A short but busy life with long periods in prison or in exile, always persecuted in the Basque Country by the social powers, the Army, the Roman Catholic Church and the Economy, those who he fighted in defence of the labor movement. The artist from Malaga Chema Lumbreras has created a series of sculptures and paintings based in the short life of his great uncle here included.