party was to reach a dominant position in Catalonia. During the riots provoked by the centrist stance of the Alejandro Lerroux government in 1934, Maurín advocated the forming of united front Alianzas Obreras ("Workers' Alliances") throughout Spain (following a pattern that was proving its force in the Asturias). With the indecisive end of the movements, his party opened itself to an alliance with Andreu Nin’s Trotskyist Communist Left of Spain. The merger was carried out in September 1935, when the two groups formed the POUM and Maurín elected its general secretary. In line with his views on unified workers' action, the POUM joined the Spanish Popular Front in the runup for the elections of February 1936. Maurín was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies on Popular Front lists. Capture and exile With the Spanish coup of July 1936 and the start of the Spanish Civil War, Maurín found himself in Francoist Galicia. Attempting to escape through Aragon, he was captured in Jaca. His case came up for trial only in 1944, when he was sentenced to 30 years. However, he was detained until October 1, 1946, when he was paroled under an amnesty for some political prisoners, but confined to Madrid where he worked as a translator. A witness to both the rise of Francoist Spain and the crushing of the POUM by Stalinist forces, in 1947 he took exile to the United States with his close family. There he has created his own press agency and published his writings. Maurín died in New York City. Notes Further reading Andrew Durgan, BOC 1930-1936: El Bloque Obrero y Campesino (BOC 1930-1936: The Workers' and Peasants' Bloc). Barcelona: Laertes S.A. de Ediciones, 1996. Andrew Durgan, Dissident Communism in Catalonia, 1930-36. PhD dissertation. University of London, 1989. Antoni Monreal, El pensamiento político de Joaquín Maurín (The Political Thought of Joaquín Maurín'). Barcelona: Península, 1984. Alan Sennett, Revolutionary Marxism in Spain, 1930-1937. [2014] Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015. External links Joaquín Maurín biography by Pedro Bonet y Luis Alonso at the Fundación Andreu Nin (in Spanish) Joaquin Maurin archive at Stanford University Joaquín Maurín archive at Marxists Internet Archive Joaquín Maurín archive at Marxists Internet Archive (in Spanish) 1896 births 1973 deaths People from Ribagorza Communist Party of Spain politicians Workers and Peasants' Bloc politicians POUM politicians Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic Politicians from Aragon Secretaries General of