Trained as a teacher, he became a leader of the Spanish Regional Federation of the First International and was a prominent participant in the 1873 Petroleum Revolution general strike in Alcoy.

In his early years, following the 1868 Glorious Revolution, Albarracín joined the leftist Republican Youth of Valencia.

[1] He participated in the Jura Federation,[4] meeting Peter Kropotkin, James Guillaume, and Paul Brousse during his exile.

Under the name Gabriel Albagès, Albarracín was twice elected to the International's federal council that year but stepped down to work as a painter plasterer in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

[3] After an aborted attempt to translate Guillaume's Historical Sketches into Spanish and not finding other work, Albarracín returned to Spain in 1877.