"I came and fought. I am a man!"

Abstract

This article is an analysis of Francisco Fernández del Riego’s existential experience in the city of Vigo, filtered through the perception of someone who conversed with him during walks and table talks and participated in different activities that he organised. His works before the creation of the Galaxia publishing house and the relationships established by Del Riego in the city with former Galician militants, fishing industry entrepreneurs, cultural figures and visual artists are assessed. The political activities that he undertook and in which he participated, the attempt to rebuild the Galicianist Party and the formation of a committee of the Union of Free Intellectuals that led to his imprisonment and, during the Transition, his role in the foundation of the Galician Socialist Party are also examined. Several paragraphs are devoted to his annual task of chairing the negotiating table for the Citroën agreements from 1980 to 1990. The article ends with some samples of writers who regard him a teacher from whom they learned about Galician history and literature.