Celebrating Pablo Neruda - Born July 12, 1904

from Stanford University

Chilean poet and political hero, Pablo Neruda is often viewed as a visionary. While many of his poems have a political content, many do not and he is often more commonly known for his love poems, and his lyrics filled with nature metaphors. However, his political activity and membership in the communist party propelled him to political leadership. He was even nominated for president, but declined in support of Salvador Allende.

His political identity took a big leap in its development when he lived in Spain, working as consul in Barcelona. Later he lived in Madrid, all the while developing close friendships with Spanish poets including Garcia Lorca, Alberti, Guillen. The Spanish Civil War begun in 1936 disturbed and upset him; he suffered the brutal death of his friend Garcia Lorca at the hands of Franco's troops, and he witnessed bombings of Madrid. In 1937, he returned to Chile to works on his poems and to organize anti-fascist solidarity. There he formed the Alliance of Intellectuals and participated in the electoral campaign of the leftist Frente Popular (Popular Front).

"Peace rules in Chile - Pablo Neruda"
Walter Womacka (1973)

He developed his Marxist thinking in Canto General, the "General Song" of Chile, where he pays tribute to indigenous leaders of the Americas, political heroes, historical battles and the natural , political and social histories of Latin America. In 1948, Chilean President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla launched a program of open persecution of labor unions, of the Communist Party, and particularly, Neruda. Although President Gonzalez Videla was a Radical and part of the Frente Popular (an alliance of Communist and Radical Parties), and had given three seats in his cabinet to communists, mining strikes in 1946 provoked general strikes, leading to an escalating social conflict with spurred the President to impose a state of siege. US government pressure to eliminate communism in Latin America spurred the conservative in the Chilean Congress to outlaw the Communist Party, and a hunt began to arrest all involved. As a result, Neruda went into hiding and then into exile, living in France, Mexico, Guatemala, and other parts of Europe. Two-thirds of "Canto General" were written in 1948-49 while he was in hiding.