Lucía Sánchez Saornil (1895 - 1970)

Fri Dec 13, 1895

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Image: Lucía Sánchez Saornil in 1933

Lucía Sánchez Saornil, born on this day in 1895, was a poet, anarchist, and feminist who fought in the Spanish Civil War and was one of the founders of Mujeres Libres.

Mujeres Libres was an anarchist women’s organization in Spain from 1936 - 1939, associated with the anarcho-syndicalist labor union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (SIA).

In 1931, Saornil, who had been working as a telephone operator since 1916, participated in a strike by the CNT against Telefónica. The event was a turning point in her life, and from this point forward, Lucía dedicated herself to the struggle for anarchist social revolution.

With the defeat of the Second Republic, Lucía and her partner América were forced to flee to Paris, where Lucía continued her involvement in the SIA. Lucía was buried in Valencia, Spain, and her tombstone epitaph reads, “But is it true that hope has died?” (“¿Pero es verdad que la esperanza ha muerto?”).