Marmaduke Grove

Marmaduke Grove Vallejo (July 6, 1878 – May 15, 1954), was a Chilean Air Force officer, political figure and member of the Government Junta of the Socialist Republic of Chile in 1932.

Early life Grove was born in Copiapó, Chile, the son of lawyer, José Marmaduke Grove Avalos and Ana Vallejo Burgos. His first studies were in School Nº 1 of Copiapó and later at the local Liceum. In 1891, his father, a leader of the local chapter of the Radical Party, was imprisoned for criticizing President Jose Manuel Balmaceda.

From a very young age he was interested in the army, and in 1892, was accepted to the Chilean Naval Academy. In 1894, he was expelled from the navy for participating in a student revolt against directors of the academy.

Presidential candidate During the presidential elections of 1932, Grove was nominated as a candidate by the Socialist forces. He was only able to return from his exile on Easter Island two days before the election, but still managed to finish second, behind Arturo Alessandri, with 17.7% of the vote.

Later life

On April 19, 1933, together with Oscar Schnake, Salvador Allende, and Carlos Alberto Martínez, Grove founded the Socialist Party of Chile. He became General Secretary of that party in 1938 and president of the Popular Front coalition that won the presidential election that same year with the candidate Pedro Aguirre Cerda.

Grove was elected Senator on May 9, 1934, in a by-election held to replace deceased Senator Eugenio Matte Hurtado, who had died in January of that year. His slogan was, "From the jail to the Senate", because he had to campaign from jail, where he was kept for conspiring against President Alessandri. As senator he proposed the first plan of Agrarian Reform in Chile in 1939. His slogan this time was, "Neither land without men nor men without land" (Ni tierra sin hombres, ni hombres sin tierra). He was reelected as a Senator in 1941. He was defeated by Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and retired from the Senate in 1949.

Grove died at the age of 75 on May 15, 1954, in Santiago, Chile.