Writing this forum is not easy. It becomes a ball. Although remembering Antonio’s political biography is a pleasure, a source of class pride and a feeling of pride for the best that the Andalusian people have given birth to in the bosom of a humble family in the heart of Andalusia: Humilladero (that town where in 2007 approved a municipal motion to implement the Third Republic).
However, refreshing the affection he professed and the enthusiasm he conveyed hurts. Because on the left we have had a hard time (and what remains) but Antonio was always a hold on the swell and put his headlights on when there was no way out. Permanent smile, direct look into the eyes and easy hug.
From his town and with his illness he was able to be at the heart of the left’s problems. More than one would be surprised at the conversations that were being held on their phone. Everyone knows that he was an indisputable figure in the history of the left, what not many know is that until his last days he was also an indisputable figure in everyday intra-history, that which takes place behind the scenes.
He called, dictated letters, assisted where he could. His analysis was not lacking, he did not stop trying, he did not give up: he was tireless. As has also been and is his family, Antonio’s great support and to whom the left has so much to thank.
I met Antonio Romero as a teenager when everyone was talking about him in the municipal elections of 1995. He had moved to the popular neighborhood of Huelin, in Málaga, where Chiquito de la Calzada also lived and where I studied at the institute. Needless to say, I had the feeling of living in the center of the world. Antonio was like a rock star and although they did not let him govern Malaga, he did become the “moral mayor.” At that time morality in politics was in higher esteem than it is now.
Antonio Romero was a cultured, self-taught man with privileged intelligence and memory. He was the wise man in the terms that Saramago understood. He wasted anecdotes lived by him, told by others or reinvented but that served to teach lessons, encourage or point out solutions. His jokes and anecdotes were not innocent because they were loaded with intentionality and political discourse. Telling these “jokes” was his way of doing pedagogy in the face of complexity, and by doing so, he managed to get even the simplest person to participate in the political analysis and debate.
He was a good man. He exuded affection and brotherhood because he made everyone who approached him feel special, which was not a few. I remember when, during his time as a rank-and-file deputy, it was the day when someone didn’t show up at the headquarters asking for him to help him out about this or that problem. Normally vulnerable people to whom all the doors had been closed but who knew that Antonio’s was always open, like the one at his house with Carmen in Humilladero.
He established a bond with everyone and made himself loved because he showed attention and respect. His comrades joked about it and said that, if you dropped Antonio by parachute in any random town in Andalusia, he would surely be able to ask about the family, with first and last name, of the first person he came across. We were not exaggerating so much, “Andalusia smells like Romero” was more than an electoral slogan. For him, brotherhood was not an empty slogan, it was a way of life.
Antonio exemplified how joining popular organizations made simple people protagonists of History. A young day laborer at the head of the Workers’ Commissions who became a moral and political reference for the working class and leader of the PCE and IU. All this because he emphasized the importance of collective action and being organized with others of the same class. That made him the voice of the Andalusian countryside in the transition and a day-laborer deputy with a dazzling verb in Congress.
Although he had a great personality and enormous appeal among the people, unlike other leaders, in his case he subordinated his criteria and interest to collective decisions. For him, it was a priority to preserve the collective, which is why he was, in the best sense, a man of the party. The village priest already realized that he was an unusual person with a strong sense of justice and wanted him to study at the Salesians, but his father opposed it.
He told a childhood anecdote in which the priest asked him to account for not going to mass on Sundays because he spent the morning hunting with his friends. His response was that he would go to mass if the priest guaranteed him that when he left church he would have something to take home to eat. His material priorities were clear and he understood it his entire life: the dignity of people begins with meeting their needs and democracy is also found in the refrigerators of family homes, which are emptier in Andalusia than in the rest. And to that he added another truth: the passion for greyhounds.
He was a brave man. Of those who move forward no matter what the cost. He fought against the sewers of the State and against the corrupt, and together with Miguel Díaz he told of the colonization of the Costa del Sol by the mafia (the kind that exists, but about which so little is said about what exists) even though it supposed, As I warned, look at the underside of the car when I was in Marbella.
I think of Antonio and his contemporaries come to mind from so many past stories, others and other comrades who today remember battles with him, alongside him or despite him (he was very conciliatory). He was one of the extraordinary of an extraordinary generation. But I also think of those of us who arrived later and knew him from a place of admiration but, thanks to his generosity, never from a distance.
We were able to learn from him because he never left the trench and because he never abandoned the troops either. And we were able to see how, even in situations of enormous personal difficulty, you always have to hold your head high and go one step further. He did not let the illness keep him from the fight that gave meaning to his life.
For future generations, Antonio Romero Ruiz will not be just a historical figure who has an entry in Wikipedia because he has imbued the legacy of the Andalusian left with his own stamp. In this relay race for the cause of humanity, he kept the baton until the end so that others could continue advancing. A great man who always thought and loved big has gone. A communist has gone from head to toe.
#Antonio #Romero #communist #toe
