diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

Apparently Pi y Margall was one of the more important friends whomRizal came to consult rather frequently in Madrid, even visiting him in hisown home.''• But there is no doubt that the Philippine hem read the work weare now discussing, that it influenced and moulded his mind, especially hisreligious ideas. His enthusiasm for the book was not confined to mere-reflective reading, but he recommended, it with great enthusiasm to thereaders of La Solidaridad: "Go, judge for yourselves, and pick out the mostvaluable things found all over it; perhaps your judgment will be more validthan mine, fascinated, dazzled, surprised, in admiration."'"Who was Francisco Pi y Margall? What was the message of his book? Hewas born of a humble family in Barcelona on 29 April 1824. A solidhumanistic and philosophical formation he received in his youth at theseminary served him well in the later evolution of his thought. A hard andtenacious worker, he soon took up newspaper work, becoming a staffmember of publications like El Correo, the progressive daily whose editorwas Patricio la Escosura, and La Discusion, of which he became the editor.He defended militant socialism against Castelar's individualism. Hisphilosophy took final form after he had read the works of Kraus, Rousseau,and his translations of Proudhon. When the revolution broke out in 1868, Piy Margall became its ideologue, imprinting on it specific characteristics andcertain dogmatic postures incarnated in Federal Republicanism. Historiansattribute mainly to him the more radical twist the "Glorious Revolution of1868" took, neutralizing many of its authentic values, for he advocated,among other things, grabbing power to install a radically revolutionaryrepublic."6 In any case, the history of Spain in the second half of thenineteenth century is unintelligible if no account is taken of this top figurewho used to lead an ascetic life and quickly became a living myth. Soimportant and decisive was the influence of Pi y Margall's human andintellectual personality on Rizal's life and thought that I believe the latterwould remain an enigma unless one knows this famous Catalan.Las Luchas is a dialogue between Rodrigo and Leoncio. The former, aman 60 or 70 years old, had become a conservative anti-revolutionary after alife of unbelief and liberal ways and ideas. The latter, of the same age andeducated by an uncle, was a canon in Burgos, but ended up losing his faithand becoming a "federal and democratic" free-thinker. In another guise, weare reading Pi y Margall's own thoughts, especially his religious tenets. Inanother sense, it is also the genesis of at least part of Rizal's personality.101