Ibárruri's first campaign rally was held May 23 on the Exhibition fairgrounds of Bilbao before 30–50,000 supporters. She acknowledged feeling tired, but volunteered to explain the workings of Socialist countries "where the workers can live very well without capitalism"; however the emotion of the day exhausted her and an evening press conference had to be cancelled. The next day she spoke in the Suarez Puerta Stadium of Avilés in front of "many thousands of workers." A 20-year-old eyewitness remembers, "The city wore red. 'The Internationale' was heard everywhere... the atmosphere, the silence when Pasionaria spoke, the explosion of joy that day, they are unforgettable memories." On May 25 at the presentation of his book, "Eurocommunism and the State", Carrillo told a reporter that Ibárruri reminded him of the Pablo Iglesias he knew as a child, "a sick elderly man who participated very little in the activities of the party and who often kept quiet during meetings." On May 28 Ibárruri spoke in Sama de Langreo and right-wing newspaper "ABC" admitted that she was drawing "multitudes." On May 30 she affirmed in La Felguera that the same spirit which had moved her in 1936 lived on to fight for the PCE and for Asturias. On June 8 a full house (6,000 people according to "ABC", 8,000 according to "La Vanguardia") listened to her in the arena "Palacio de los Deportes" of the Asturian capital Oviedo. The following day she appeared at the national rally of the party held in the neighbouring province of León.