Communist Action ( es, Acción Comunista, ca, Acció Comunista) was a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

organisation in Spain founded in exile in 1964, during the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. The organisation produced a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

entitled ''Acción Comunista''. Among its members were Carlos Semprún and José Antonio Ubierna. In 1970 AC came in contact with workerist organizations like UHP and CRAS (Comunas Revolucionarias de Acción Socialista).Borque López, Leonardo. «Las Comunas Revolucionarias de Acción Socialista (CRAS)», en Un sendero de lucha: José Luis García Rúa en la Academia de Cura Sama, Gesto y CRAS. Llibros del Pexe, Xixón, 2002. In 1976 some of its members, especially in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, joined the

POUM The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( es, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; ca, Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil ...

. AC was legalized in Spain in 1977. In the first democratic elections AC participated in the

Front for Workers' Unity Front for Workers' Unity ( es, Frente por la Unidad de los Trabajadores, FUT) was a Spanish party alliance formed to contest the 1977 general election by the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), Communist Action (AC), Organization of Communis ...

, with the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), the

Organization of Communist Left Organization of Communist Left (in Spanish: ''Organización de Izquierda Comunista'', in Basque: ''Ezker Komunista Erakundea'', in Catalan: ''Organització d'Esquerra Comunista'', in Galician: ''Organización de Esquerda Comunista'', OIC) was a ...

(OIC) and the

. After an unsuccessful process of merger with the

, AC held a congress of self-dissolution in 1978.

Ideology

Communist Action was influenced by the

English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

New Left, specially by the American ''Studies on the Left'' and the British ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal covering world politics, economy, and culture, which was established in 1960. History Background As part of the British "New Left" a number of new journals emerged to carry commentary on m ...

''. AC didn't practice democratic centralism and was influenced by

Situationism The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

Council communism Council communism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. Strong in Germany ...

and Luxemburgism. Among the most relevant authors for AC there were:

Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the ...

, Rosa Luxemburg,

Otto Rühle Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First and Second World Wars as well as a council communist theorist. Early years Otto was born in Großschirma, Saxony on 23 O ...

Andreu Nin Andreu Nin Pérez (4 February 1892 – 20 June 1937) was a Spanish communist politician, translator and publicist. In 1937, Nin and the rest of the POUM leadership were arrested by the Moscow-oriented government of the Second Spanish Republi ...

Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist the ...

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

Joaquim Maurín Joaquim is the Portuguese and Catalan version of Joachim and may refer to: * Alberto Joaquim Chipande, politician * Eduardo Joaquim Mulémbwè, politician * Joaquim Agostinho (1943–1984), Portuguese professional bicycle racer * Joaquim Amat- ...

, Karl Korsch,

Paul Mattick Paul Mattick Sr. (March 13, 1904 – February 7, 1981) was a German-American Marxist political writer and social revolutionary, whose thought can be placed within the council communist and left communist traditions. Throughout his life, Mattic ...

Anton Pannekoek Antonie “Anton” Pannekoek (; 2 January 1873 – 28 April 1960) was a Dutch astronomer, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary. He was one of the main theorists of council communism (Dutch: ''radencommunisme''). Biograp ...

Claude Lefort Claude Lefort (; ; 21 April 1924 – 3 October 2010) was a French philosopher and activist. He was politically active by 1942 under the influence of his tutor, the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty (whose posthumous publications Lefort late ...

Cornelius Castoriadis Cornelius Castoriadis ( el, Κορνήλιος Καστοριάδης; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, social critic, economist, p ...

, Guy Debord, etc. AC was a rather eclectic party, that did not aspire to be the vanguard party of the

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

, nor its "point of reference", but was a supporter of ideas like "workers' democracy" and "self-management socialism". There were rigid criteria for the selection of aspiring militants and it was necessary to go through an initiation process to be able to belong to the association.

References

* Carrillo Linares, Antonio. ''Subversivos y malditos en la Universidad de Sevilla (1965-1977).'' Centro de Estudios Andaluces,

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, 2008. pp. 244–246, 326-327, 419, etc. Defunct communist parties in Spain Anti-Francoism Libertarian socialist parties Left communist organizations {{Spain-party-stub