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Spain Communist Party of Spain
The Communist Party of Spain (Partido Comunista de
Espana--
PCE) had its beginnings in Spain during the revolutionary
upsurge
that followed World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in
Russia.
The Spanish communists did not become so strong a force as
their
counterparts in other European countries, however, largely
because of the existence in Spain of strong socialist and
anarchist movements that already occupied the left end of
the
political spectrum. PCE membership, never very large in
the
party's early years of activity, declined dramatically
under the
repression carried out by the dictatorship of Miguel Primo
de
Rivera in the 1920s
(see The African War and the Authoritarian Regime of Miguel Primo de Rivera
, ch. 1). Communist
influence on
the left increased when the PCE ceased attacking the
Socialists
and other leftist organizations and shifted toward a
popular
front strategy in 1934.
During the Civil War, the leftist forces were again
divided.
The communists were intent on finishing the war against
the
fascist forces before beginning their social and political
revolution, whereas other leftist organizations were not
willing
to postpone the restructuring of Spanish society. The
communists
were brutal in their suppression of competing leftist
organizations, which led to the party's ostracism by the
other
anti-Franco forces in the post-Civil War period.
In the mid-1950s, the PCE began vigorous efforts to
break out
of its isolation and adapted policies designed to bring
together
a broad coalition of parties, under PCE leadership, to
oppose the
Franco dictatorship. Ironically, it was the Franco regime
itself,
by focusing its attacks on the PCE, that enabled the party
to
become a rallying point for dissident students and
workers. The
party built a political base around the trade union
movement
known as the CCOO, and by the end of the Franco era the
PCE,
under the leadership of Santiago Carrillo, was the most
effective
political organization in Spain.
The PCE failed to take the initiative as this
authoritarian
regime drew to a close, however, and expectations of a
hegemonic
role for the PCE on the Spanish left were not realized.
Although
PCE membership multiplied following the party's
legalization in
1977
(see Transition to Democracy
, ch. 1), the PCE
received only
9 percent of the popular vote in the elections held that
year;
dominance on the left went to the rival PSOE. After the
PCE's
share of the vote fell to 3.8 percent in the 1982
elections,
internal tensions within the party reached crisis
proportions,
and Carrillo's leadership began to be questioned.
As had been the case for the PSOE, the PCE found that
the
burden of dogmatic Marxism reduced its appeal for the
electorate.
Carrillo had succeeded in eliminating the word "Leninism"
from
the PCE statutes at a party congress in 1978, over
substantial
opposition. He continued to be criticized by the
pro-Soviet
militants within the party, who urged him to take a more
revolutionary approach. At the same time, a more Europeanoriented group, known as the renovators, agitated for
modernization and for more internal debate within the
party.
In addition to ideologically based dissension, there
was also
general dissatisfaction with Carrillo's increasingly
inflexible
leadership. His repeated purges of those members who
opposed him
further decimated and demoralized the party. Following the
PCE's
decisive defeat in the October 1982 elections, Carrillo
resigned
as secretary general of the party; he was replaced by
Gerardo
Iglesias.
In succeeding months, splinter groups broke away from
the
PCE, further depleting its support to form pro-Soviet or
MarxistLeninist parties. Among these were the pro-Soviet
Communist Party
of the Peoples of Spain (Partido Comunista de los Pueblos
de
Espana--PCPE) and the Communist Party of
Spain--Marxist-Leninist
(Partido Comunista de Espana--Marxista-Leninista--PCEml).
Within
the PCE, Carrillo strongly opposed Iglesias's policies. He
was
particularly critical of the latter's proposal to form a
coalition of all progressive forces that were to the left
of the
PSOE. This conflict led to Carrillo's expulsion from the
central
committee of the party, in April 1985. He subsequently
organized
and led the Committee for Communist Unity (Mesa para
Unidad de
los Comunistas--MUC), which in December 1986 formed a new
proSoviet party named the Spanish Workers' Party-Communist
Unity
(Partido de los Trabajadores de Espana-Unidad
Comunista--PTE-UC).
By the end of 1987, there were indications of efforts on
the part
of the PCE, PCPE, and the PTE-UC to unify the three
communist
parties in time for the next general elections. The PCE
and the
PCPE, together with several other small leftist parties,
formed
an electoral coalition, the IU, to contest the national
elections
in 1986 as well as the regional and municipal elections in
1987.
The PCE convened its Twelfth Party Congress in February
1988
amid mounting agitation for a major revitalization of the
party,
which was plagued by financial problems and by a lack of
unity.
Although Iglesias had initiated the policy of a united
left and
had ended the decimating party purges, critics felt that
stronger
measures as well as more effective leadership were
necessary to
mobilize the left and to improve the PCE's showing at the
polls.
At the party congress, Julio Anguita was chosen to succeed
Iglesias. Party members reaffirmed their commitment to
workers'
interests, and they adopted policies aimed at attracting
environmentalists and pacifists to their ranks.
Data as of December 1988
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