Pío Moa

Luis Pío Moa Rodríguez (Vigo, Galicia, 1948) better known as simply Pío Moa, is a Spanish writer and journalist. He has authored historical essays about the origins of the Spanish Civil War, the Second Republic in Spain, Francoism and the various political movements of that era.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Moa and the second or maternal family name is Rodríguez.
Pío Moa
Born1948
Vigo, Galicia, Spain
OccupationJournalist
Subject20th century
Notable worksMyths of the Civil War

Following the death of Franco and the reinstatement of a democratic regime in Spain, a slow process of opening of archives and publicizing of Civil War related documents began.[1] In the face of this process Moa started reviving the Francoist theses that the parties that formed the Popular Front were ultimately responsible for the Spanish Civil War and the rise of autocracy in Spain. Moa maintains that they have left a legacy of "moral, political and intellectual devastation", accuses the left of hypocrisy in regards to democracy and totalitarianism and claims that the material aid provided by Stalin and the Soviet Union to the Spanish Republic in the Civil War not only prolonged the war and caused innumerable deaths but also was equivalent to the help provided by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to General Franco.[2]

The polemical nature of Moa's writings have gained him much public attention in Spain and a measure of controversy as a result. His best-selling book, Myths of the Civil War, with 150,000 units sold, was a best-seller for six consecutive months.

Biography

Early years as radical

Born during 1948 in Vigo, Galicia, Spain. During his youth, Moa was a radical anti-Francoist agitator. He was a militant of the Communist Party of Spain (and its reconstituted version), as well as the clandestine Maoist terrorist-designated organisation GRAPO. It was involved in violent clashes with the government's Movimiento Nacional. Moa was present at the murder of a policeman on 1 October 1975 after the execution of two ETA and three FRAP members. Two other members of GRAPO, Enrique Cerdán Calixto and Abelardo Collazo Araújo, were also present. Cerdán shot the police officer. Moa was expelled from GRAPO in 1977 and later recalled this period of his life in About Time and a Country: The Violent Left. After the transition of Spanish transition to democracy, Moa dedicated himself to the study of contemporary Spanish history and evolved over time to a Francoist position.

Intellectual evolution and writing

His opinions increasingly changed towards conservative positions. He is an outspoken critic of the Spanish political left, which he accuses of being the main cause of the Spanish Civil War.[3]

He has also written essays on feminism, Marxism, current Spanish politics and an autobiographical book about his experiences in the terrorist group GRAPO. In his books, he strongly criticises Franco's communist, socialist and nationalist rivals.

Moa is rejected as a "pseudo-historian" by several historians,[4][5]. While disagreeing with some of Moa's theses,[6] the historian Stanley G. Payne has praised his work.[7]

He believed in a conspiracy theory on the authorship of the 11-M Madrid train bombings in 2004.[8]

He has been accused of homophobia by civil rights groups[9] and of being a defender of the Franco's regime.[4][10] In an interview in 2008 he openly refused to condemn Franco's regime.[11] However, he declares in his books that he does not defend the dictatorship but rather criticizes his rivals.

He was the editor of the historical journals Tanteos (1988–1990) and Ayeres (1991–1993) and a librarian at the Ateneo de Madrid, a prestigious cultural and literary institute in Madrid and was on its board of directors for three years.

He currently writes for online newspapers such as Libertad Digital .

Publications
  • Los orígenes de la guerra civil española (The origins of the Spanish Civil War)
  • Los personajes de la República vistos por ellos mismos (The characters of the [Spanish second] republic as viewed by themselves)
  • El derrumbe de la segunda república y la guerra civil (The collapse of the second republic and the civil war)
  • Una historia chocante – Los nacionalismos vasco y catalán en la historia contemporánea de España (A shocking history – Basque and Catalan nacionalism within the contemporary history of Spain)
  • Los mitos de la Guerra Civil (Myths of the Civil War)
  • La sociedad homosexual y otros ensayos (Homosexual society and other essays)
  • Años de hierro. España en la posguerra. 1939–1945" (Iron years, Post-war Spain 1939–1945)
  • De un tiempo y de un país, La izquierda violenta (1968–1978) (About a time and a country. The violent left 1968–1978)
  • Franco – un balance histórico (Franco – a historical assessment)
  • Franco para antifranquistas (Franco for antifrancoist)
  • 1934: comienza la guerra civil (1934: civil war begins)
  • 1936: el asalto final a la república (1936: final assault on the republic)
  • Los crímenes de la guerra civil y otras polémicas (The crimes of the civil war and other controversies)
  • Nueva Historia de España (New History of Spain)

References
  1. Miguel I. Campos. La historiografía española y la internacionalización de la Guerra Civil. Ab Initio, Núm. 5 (2012)
  2. Enrique Moradiellos García, Visiones de la guerra civil española: Acotaciones sobre una polémica a tres bandas
  3. En cuanto a mis tesis..., Pío Moa, Libertad Digital, 25 January 2007.
  4. "Pro-Franco history tops bestseller list", The Guardian, 14 November 2005.
  5. ¿Qué es un historiador?, Pío Moa, Libertad Digital, 6 November 2006.
  6. SPAIN: Pio Moa and the Civil War
  7. Stanley Payne elogia la obra de Pío Moa Archived 16 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Esferalibros, 4 July 2003
  8. "Pedro J., Hermann Tertsch, Pío Moa, Luis Del Pino... los 'conspiranoicos' del 11-M siguen todavía en activo". Público. 11 March 2016.
  9. El obispado de Jerez abre sus puertas a Pío Moa Archived 1 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, JereLesGay, asociación de lesbianas, gays, transexuales y bisexuales de Jerez, 30 March 2008.
  10. Pro-Franco book a bestseller in Spain, The Guardian, 22 April 2003.
  11. Pio Moa: “No condeno el franquismo” Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, La Nación, 17 April 2008.
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