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Carrillo was born in Asturias, and his father was Wenceslao Carrillo, one of the founders of the Spanish Socialist Party. His political involvement began through his membership in the Socialist Youth (Spanish: Juventadas Socialistas). Frustrated by the Socialists’ reformism and after visiting Moscow, Carrillo joined the Spanish Communist Party in November 1936. He was in charge of public order in Madrid, and some held him responsible for the massacre of prisoners at Paracuellos in November of that year. After the Spanish Civil War he went to the Americas, and he later spent many years in Paris. He participated in the founding, in July 1974, of the Junta Democrática Española, which partially united the opposition to the regime of Francisco Franco, and in March 1977 he helped found the Coordinación Democrática, which incorporated the opposition parties and Spain’s regional autonomy movements.