Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (''Party for the Basque Revolution'') or EIA was a Basque Country/

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

between 1977 and 1982.

History

The party was founded in April 1977 in Gallarta (

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

) after the 7th general assembly of

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

, during the

Spanish transition to democracy Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. Its ideology was based on a blend of "independentism" and

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

- originally, they tended to be rather Marxism-Leninism, but subsequently moved towards

Eurocommunism Eurocommunism, also referred to as democratic communism or neocommunism, was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more rele ...

. EIA made a coalition with the Basque section of the Communist Movement of Spain (''Movimiento Comunista de España''), creating a coalition named

Euskadiko Ezkerra Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE; en, Basque Country Left) was a Basque socialist political organisation. It was founded as a coalition of Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (EIA, ''Basque Party for Revolution'' or ''Party for Basque Revolution'') and other Ba ...

. They won a seat in the

Spanish Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

, occupied by Francisco Letamendia (also known as "Ortzi") and another in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, occupied by Juan María Bandrés. It campaigned for the "no" in the 1978 referendum to approve the

Spanish constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...

, but in favour of the

Basque Statute of Autonomy {{Politics of Basque Country (autonomous community) The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1979 ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoko Estatutua; es, Estatuto de Autonomía del País Vasco), widely known as the Statute of Gernika ( eu, Gerni ...

in the referendum held in 1979. EIA disappeared in 1982, when Euskadiko Ezkerra became a political party.

References

* Gaizka Fernández Soldevilla, ''Agur a las armas. EIA, Euskadiko Ezkerra y la disolución de ETA político-militar (1976-1985)'', in ''Sancho el sabio''. Revista de cultura e investigación vasca, ISSN 1131-5350, Nº 33, 2010, pp. 55–9

* Javier Merino, ''El espejismo revolucionario: la izquierda radical ante ETA'', in ''Cuadernos Bakeaz'', nº 94, 200

{{Authority control Defunct communist parties in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Defunct nationalist parties in Spain Secessionist organizations in Europe 1977 establishments in Spain Political parties established in 1977 1982 disestablishments in Spain Political parties disestablished in 1982 Left-wing nationalist parties