Manuel Hidalgo Plaza

Manuel Hidalgo Plaza (5 April 1878 – 20 December 1967) was a Chilean trade union leader and politician. Throughout his career he was affiliated with several left-wing parties, including the Democratic Party, the Socialist Workers' Party, the Communist Party, and later the Socialist Party.

He served as senator for the northern provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta during the 1933–1937 legislative period and held ministerial and diplomatic posts in subsequent decades.

Biography Hidalgo Plaza was born in Santiago on 5 April 1878, the son of Manuel Hidalgo and Mercedes Plaza. He married María Rojas, with whom he had three children.

He completed his early education at the public night school “Benjamín Franklin” and later attended the Liceo Amunátegui. He subsequently studied drawing at the night school of the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril. His working life began as a jewelry employee, and in 1908 he established his own gilding workshop.

Political and public career Hidalgo Plaza began his political and trade union activity in 1902, initially joining the Radical Party and, in 1903, the Democratic Party, in which he served as secretary and president of a communal party center. In 1908, together with intellectuals, teachers and workers, he helped found the University Extension program at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

He presided over the Chilean Social Workers’ Congress in 1910 and, in 1912, participated in the founding of the Socialist Workers' Party. In 1922, he was among the founders of the Communist Party of Chile, though he was expelled in 1930 after leading the Trotskyist faction within the party. He later belonged to the Communist Left and the Radical Socialist Party, and in the 1940s joined the Socialist Party of Chile.

He was elected municipal councillor of Santiago in 1913 and again in 1924, both times with the highest vote total. He also served as president of the Igualdad y Trabajo Society and represented workers at the 1920 Labour Convention in Concepción. He took part in the Subcommittee on Constitutional Reforms responsible for drafting the 1925 Constitution.

During the government of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, he was deported in 1927. In the 1931 presidential election, he ran as a candidate, obtaining 1,343 votes (0.44% of the total).

Hidalgo Plaza served as senator for Tarapacá and Antofagasta between 1926 and 1932 and was re-elected for the 1933–1937 term. This shortened four-year senatorial period was part of the institutional adjustment following the revolutionary events of June 1932.

Between 1939 and 1942, he served as Ambassador of Chile to Mexico. During the presidency of Juan Antonio Ríos, he was appointed Minister of Public Works and Communications from 19 December 1942 to 4 February 1943. He later served as Minister of Economy and Commerce between 15 March and 6 September 1946. From 1950 to 1953, he was Ambassador of Chile to Panama.

Death and recognition Manuel Hidalgo Plaza died in Santiago on 20 December 1967. He was awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle, First Class, by the government of Mexico.