Dolores Ibárruri led a women's march in Madrid in 1936 before the Spanish Civil War.
Ibárruri, widely known by her nickname La Pasionaria, was a Spanish communist politician and a prominent leader of the Spanish Communist Party. In the tense months before the war began in July 1936, she was active in antifascist organizing and public campaigning in Madrid and elsewhere.
Her political career expanded rapidly during the Second Spanish Republic. She was elected to the Spanish parliament in February 1936, representing Asturias, and became one of the most recognizable voices of the Republican left. The march connected International Women's Day activism with opposition to fascism and support for working-class women.
Ibárruri is often associated most strongly with the Spanish Civil War itself, especially her rallying cry “¡No pasarán!” during the defense of Madrid in 1936. That later wartime fame can cause readers to overlook her earlier organizing. She remained a major communist figure after the war, serving as general secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1942 to 1960.