NARCISO BASSOLS: BIOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2025

Narciso Bassols was an intellectual, politician and lawyer born in Tenango del Valle, Mexico, in 1897. He lived during the post-revolutionary era and was one of the ideologues who most tried to make education reach the most disadvantaged layers of the population.

His paternal family was descended from President Lerdo de Tejada, although Bassols had positions closer to socialism, being a firm opponent of the Church and of any kind of interference of this in teaching or politics. As an example of these ideas, he highlights his participation as one of the promoters of the so-called Cultural Missions.

Headquarters of the Ministry of Public Education, which was directed by Narciso Bassols between 1931 and 1934

These consisted of a group of teachers who toured the rural and isolated areas of the country to bring education to the children who lived there. Apart from his political positions within the country, Bassols was Mexico's ambassador to various nations. For example, he held the embassy in France and in the Soviet Union.

From the French embassy he worked tirelessly so that Mexico would open the doors to Spanish exiles fleeing Francoism. A deeply progressive man, his death in a traffic accident was considered suspicious by his followers and by some biographers.

Biography

Early years and studies

Narciso Bassols García was born in Tenango del Valle, in the state of Mexico, on October 22, 1897. His father was a judge, so they never had financial problems.

In 1907 the family settled in the Mexican capital and Narciso began studying at the Colegio de San José. Four years later he entered the National Preparatory School.

Once he earned his bachelor's degree, Bassols began a career in jurisprudence. It was the year 1916 and, from the beginning, he stood out for his performance in studies and for his ability. Likewise, already in that period he showed his ideology: radical, very anticlerical and deeply secular.

The Seven Sages

Bassols made contact during his stay at the National School of Jurisprudence of the National Autonomous University of Mexico with some of the most prominent intellectuals of the moment.

In this way, he was one of the followers of the so-called Seven Wise Men, a group that founded the Society of Conferences and Concerts. His stated goal was to bring culture to the students of the moment.

Beginning of your professional life

After graduating as a lawyer in 1921, Bassols began practicing the profession. Very soon he began to gain great prestige, which he maintained during the 10 years in which he was practicing.

At the same time he was teaching Logic and Theory of Knowledge at the Preparatory School. Similarly, she was a teacher at her old School of Jurisprudence, where she took over the chair of Guarantees and Amparo.

First public offices

His entry into public life also occurred at that time. In 1925 he was called to the post of consultant to the Department of Health and, shortly after, he became the Secretary of the Government of the State of Mexico.

However, he held those first public positions for a very few months. In June 1926 he resigned and returned to teaching and law.

Political life

The call of Plutarco Elias Valles, president in 1927, returned him to public life. That year he received the presidential commission to draft the Law of Endowments and Restitutions of Lands and Waters.

That did not mean that he abandoned his work as a teacher. His great work in this area led him to obtain an appointment as the top leader of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences. There he promoted changes in the study plans, introducing new subjects such as Agrarian Law. He was also the one who created the quarterly exams, which earned him the student response.

30's

Bassols continued to combine political assignments from the government with his teaching work. Already in 1931, when Pascual Ortiz was president, he was appointed secretary of Public Education, a position that he retained after the entry into the presidency of Abelardo Rodríguez.

In this position he made some significant achievements, giving great importance to rural education.

Despite great opposition from the most conservative sectors of society, especially the Church, he introduced sexual education in schools. This did not deter Bassols, who legislated to close those centers in which secular teaching was not respected.

Cultural Missions

One of the experiences that Bassols launched during his time as Secretary of Education was the Cultural Missions. With these, groups of teachers marched through all rural areas of Mexico.

The main purpose was to give the basic teachings to the children of those areas, but also to try to banish the old superstitions and religious influence.

Still in the same position, Bassols wrote the law that gave rise to Petromex, the Mexican company that controlled oil.

On May 9, 1934, he submitted his resignation. He immediately became Secretary of the Interior, a position he left on September 30 of that same year due to differences with the law that the government wanted to introduce to legalize nightclubs in the Federal District.

Together with Lázaro Cárdenas

The arrival of Lázaro Cárdenas to the presidency of the country made Bassols return to the government, specifically to the post of Secretary of the Treasury. From there, being consistent with his ideas, he decreed a monetary and tax reform. Even so, he spent a very short time in that position, since he left it in June 1935.

The reason for his resignation was the confrontation between General Calles and Cárdenas. Bassols was a follower of the first, so he did not want to continue being part of the executive. In any case, Cárdenas did not hold a grudge against him and appointed him ambassador to the United Kingdom.

That was the politician's first international assignment, followed by others as a representative to the United Nations.

In this post, he fiercely attacked fascism because of what was happening in Ethiopia and Spain. His work convincing the Mexican government allowed many Spaniards who escaped the Franco regime to find a safe haven in their country.

That commitment led him to trips to Spain in the middle of the civil war, along with several left-wing union organizations.

Ambassador to France and the Soviet Union

Continuing his diplomatic career, Bassols was appointed ambassador to France in 1938. Among his achievements at that stage was having organized the rescue of the republican Spanish who were in the French concentration camps. There were more than 10,000 exiles who, thanks to him, were able to go to Mexico.

After a brief step back in Mexico (during which he edited the weekly Combate), in 1944 he was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union. After two years in Moscow, he decided to return to Mexico.

This did not mean his withdrawal from public life. For example, he was sent to Paris in 1949 to the World Council for Peace. Years later, he became part of this Council thanks to his work for world peace and disarmament.

Death

Narciso Bassols died in an accident while exercising in the Bosque de Chapultepec, in Mexico City. He arrived at the hospital alive, but on July 24, 1958, his death was declared. To this day, many still suspect that it was a politically motivated crime.

References

1. Biographies and Lives. Narciso Bassols. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
2. Moreno Rivera, Emmanuel. Narciso Bassols, Mexican intellectual and revolutionary. Obtained from essayists.org
3. Tibol, Raquel. Narciso Bassols: politics and money. Obtained from proces.com.mx

4. TheBiography. Biography of Narciso Bassols (1897-1959). Retrieved from thebiography.us
5. Upclosed. Narciso Bassols. Retrieved from upclosed.com
6. Fagen, Patricia W. Exiles and Citizens: Spanish Republicans in Mexico. Recovered from books.google.es
7. Sherman, John W. The Mexican Right: The End of Revolutionary Reform, 1929-1940. Recovered from books.google.es