His father taught him the craft of
fan making, but he devoted his life to political activism. It is not known if he received any formal legal training. He may have been a
notary, but this has not been firmly established. He began his political involvement with the
Federal Democratic Republican Party. Later, he joined "Fomento de las Artes", a center for popular education, becoming its First Secretary and one of its most influential members. In 1869, under the influence of
Giuseppe Fanelli, he became one of the first members of the new provisional section of the
First International (AIT) in Madrid, Following the dissolution of that organization in 1873, he and
Tomás González Morago established '''' (The Command), a clandestine journal that was published from 1875 to 1878. In 1881, the "
Federación de Trabajadores de la Región Española" (FTRE), a legal organization, was established. It operated until 1888. Serrano represented Madrid at the group's meetings from 1882 to 1885. In addition to his journalistic work, he was a prolific writer on social and legal issues. His best work is generally considered to be the
utopian novel
Pensativo (roughly, "Thinkable") which was widely distributed and, in 1885, won first prize at the "Primer Certamen Socialista"; a promotion of the FTRE in
Reus. Its narrative involves a group of people who explore and settle an inhospitable valley; transforming it into the "promised paradise" by employing collectivist principles. ==References==