“When My Life Goes Out …”: Biography of the Argentinian Communist Activist Fanny Edelman (1911–2011)

Abstract

This chapter examines the biography of Fanny Edelman, born Fanny Jacovkis (1911–2011). She was the most important leader of the Communist Party of Argentina and a very well-known leader in the international communist movement. A daughter of Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe who settled in Cordoba, Spain, and then in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a young woman Fanny dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. She became a Communist Party member in 1934 and married a militant, Bernardo Edelman. He joined the International Brigades in defense of the Second Spanish Republic and Fanny joined the International Red Aid (Socorro Rojo). After her return from Spain, she was involved in the Unión Argentina de Mujeres (1936), in the pro-Allied forces organization Junta de la Victoria (1941) and, from 1947, in the Unión de Mujeres de la Argentina, led by Mané Bernardo and Margarita de Ponce respectively. She also held various positions in the Communist Party of Argentina, which she presided over from 1970 until the end of her life, and was Secretary General of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) from 1972 to 1978. Likewise, since the 1947 law that granted women in Argentina political rights, she was a candidate for various political posts, though never elected.