![Partido-comunista-revolucionario mural argentina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Partido-comunista-revolucionario_mural_argentina.jpg)
The Revolutionary Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Revolucionario) is a
Marxist–Leninist–Maoist in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
The party is part of the
Frente de Todos
The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") is a coalition of Peronist and Kirchnerist political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner.
Fernández won the 2019 gene ...
coalition that supported the presidential candidate
Alberto Fernández
Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer and professor, serving as president of Argentina since 2019.
Born in Buenos Aires, Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he earned his law ...
during the
2019 Argentine general election
General elections were held in Argentina on 27 October 2019, to elect the president of Argentina, members of the national congress and the governors of most provinces. Former Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández of Frente de Todos (2019 coalition), Fr ...
.
History
Beginnings as PC(CNRR)
The party emerged from a split in the
Communist Party of Argentina
The Communist Party of Argentina ( es, Partido Comunista de la Argentina, also simply known as "PC") is a communist party in Argentina. The party now forms part of the Frente de Todos, the ruling coalition supporting President Alberto Fern ...
in 1967.
[Partido Comunista Revolucionario de la Argentina. ]
Fundado el 6 de enero de 1968 – Partido Comunista Revolucionario de la Argentina
' On January 6, 1968 (the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party) the dissidents formed the Communist Party – National Revolutionary Recovery Committee ( es, Partido Comunista-Comité Nacional de Recuperación Revolucionaria, abbreviated PC(CNRR)).
The founders of PC(CNRR) came mainly from the Communist Youth Federation (FJC), although the group also included some Communist Party cadres.
Leaders of PC(CNRR) included Jorge Rocha, Carlos Echagüe, Lucila Irene Edelman, Ricardo Helman, José Ratzer, Antonio Sofía and Otto C. Vargas (veteran leader of FJC and erstwhile secretary of
La Plata
La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...
Zone Committee of the Communist Party).
PC(CNRR) published ''Nueva Hora''.
PC(CNRR) rejected the Communist Party line of building a broad democratic front, accusing the Communist Party of 'conciliation with imperialism' and 'class conciliation'.
In contrast to the democratic front line of the old party, PC(CNRR) called for the building of a national liberation front.
PC(CNRR) sought to work within the Communist Party, to gain followers amongst its ranks.
PC(CNRR) was active inside the
Argentine University Federation
The Argentine University Federation ( es, Federación Universitaria Argentina; FUA) is the most important student organization in Argentina.
The FUA was created on April 11, 1918 within the University Reform student movement originated in Córdob ...
(FUA).
In late 1967 the Communist Party dissidents (that soon would form PC(CNRR)) set up the Textile Organizational and Struggle Command (COLT) as its front group amongst textile workers.
[''Política Obrera''. ]
La crisis del COLT y el CNRR
'
On January 10, 1969 the name PCR was adopted,
marking a definite break with the old Communist Party.
Development towards Maoism
Initially PC(CNRR)/PCR had a '
guevarist
Guevarism is a theory of communist revolution and a military strategy of guerrilla warfare associated with Marxist–Leninist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a leading figure of the Cuban Revolution who believed in the idea of Marxism–Len ...
' orientation.
The party turned towards Maoism following a visit to China by a PCR delegation in 1972.
The development of a Maoist identity of party led to a split, in which the adherents of immediate armed struggle were expelled from the party.
Involvement in automobile industry unions
PCR sought to organize workers in the automobile industry, by distribution of pamphlets at factory gates and sending some of its cadres to take up employment at factories.
In the wake of the 1969
Cordobazo
The Cordobazo was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, at the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, which occurred a few days after the '' Rosariazo'', and a year after the global protes ...
, the PCR identified the Perdiel plant as a priority for union organizing.
Soon the PCR-dominated left opposition began gaining influence at the plant.
On May 12, 1970 PCR activists took a group of French supervisors hostage at the Perdriel plant of
IKA-Renault.
This action was done in protest against the removal of leftist candidates in the local union election.
The factory management caved in and reinstated the leftist candidates.
The May 12, 1970 factory occupation marked the start of more militant industrial struggles in Argentina.
In late 1971, ahead of the 1972 Union of Automotor Transport Mechanics and Similar Trades (Smata) union election in Córdoba, PCR and other left groups (Communist Party,
Communist Vanguard, ''
Palabra Obrera ''Movimiento de Agrupaciones Obreras'' ('Workers Groups Movement', abbreviated MAO) was a political labour organization in Argentina. MAO was founded in mid-1957 by a Nahuel Moreno's Trotskyist tendency (which had been organized in the Revolutionar ...
'', ''
El Obrero
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...
'',
Peronismo de Base
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of ...
and non-affiliated leftists) launched the Trade Union Recovery Movement (MRS).
On April 30, 1972 PCR won various leadership posts in the Union of Automotor Transport Mechanics and Similar Trades (Smata) union election in Córdoba.
The MRS brown list defeated the
Peronist
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...
green list.
René Salamca, a
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
member of the party, was elected general secretary of SMATA-Córdoba, accompanied by Roque Romero as assistant secretary.
FRA and the 1975 crisis
Ahead of the
March 1973 general election, the PCR formed the ''Fuerza Revolucionaria Antiacuerdista'' (FRA, "Revolutionary Anti-Accord Force") together with Communist Vanguard and independent left groups.
In 1975, the PCR called for support to
Isabel Perón
Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas, 4 February 1931), also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine politician who served as President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads ...
's government.
After the return of democracy (since 1983)
PCR set up the
Party of Labour and of the People
The Revolutionary Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Revolucionario) is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist in Argentina.
The party is part of the Frente de Todos coalition that supported the presidential candidate Alberto Fernández during th ...
(PTP) as a separate entity to build a broader, legal base.
PTP contested the
1987 legislative election.
In the
1989 general election PTP supported the candidature of
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...
for president and his Frejupo alliance. Clelia Íscaro of PTP (i.e. PCR) stood as a parliamentary candidate for Frejupo.
PTP contested the
1993 legislative election.
Following the struggles after the events in
Santiago del Estero
Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surf ...
in 1993, the PCR developed a line of electoral abstention (calling for
blank vote
A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or " none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms ...
) and call for insurrection.
The PCR today
Involvement in the Piquetero movement
![Graffiti Rosario - Argentinazo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Graffiti_Rosario_-_Argentinazo.jpg)
Within the onset of the
1998–2002 Argentine great depression
The Argentine Great Depression was an economic depression in Argentina, which began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted until the second quarter of 2002. It followed the fifteen years stagnation and a brief period of free-market reforms. ...
, the party assigned
Juan Carlos Alderete
Juan Carlos Alderete (born 19 September 1952) is an Argentina, Argentine trade unionist, social activist and politician, and the leader of the Corriente Clasista y Combativa (CCC), the Trade unions in Argentina, labour wing of the Revolutionary C ...
to build a section for unemployed within the
Corriente Clasista y Combativa (CCC, the PCR trade union front organization).
Thus the CCC became the key element of the activity of PCR in the
piquetero
A ''piquetero'' is a member of a group that has blocked a street with the purpose of demonstrating and calling attention over a particular issue or demand. The word is a neologism in the Spanish of Argentina, coming from ''piquete'' (in English ...
movement
CCC formed a tactical alliance with the
CTA-linked piquetero group FTV, and the FTV-CCC alliance emerged as the dominant bloc in the piquetero movement 2000–2003.
The FTV-CCC bloc carried out several mass protests in the
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
urban area against the social and economic policies of the government.
In 2003 the alliance between FTV and CCC broke apart over differences on how to relate to the
Nestor Kirchner
Nestor may refer to:
* Nestor (mythology), King of Pylos in Greek mythology
Arts and entertainment
* "Nestor" (''Ulysses'' episode) an episode in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses''
* Nestor Studios, first-ever motion picture studio in Hollywood, ...
administration, as FTV favoured cooperation with the new government whilst CCC rejected it.
Rural movements
PCR maintains networks within agrarian movements such as Movimiento Mujeres en Lucha (MML), Juventud Agraria and
Federación Agraria Argentina The Argentine Agrarian Federation (in Spanish, ''Federación Agraria Argentina'', FAA) is a private institution that serves as a business organization for small and medium agricultural owners of means of production (land, farms, etc.) or rural entr ...
(FAA).
Outreach
PCR publishes ''Hoy'' as its main organ.,
and counts with a youth wing of the party called Revolutionary Communist Youth (''Juventud Comunista Revolucionaria'', JCR).
JCR publishes the monthly ''La Chispa''.
References
External links
Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina{{Argentine political parties
Anti-revisionist organizations
Communist parties in Argentina
Far-left politics in Argentina
Maoist parties in Argentina
Political parties established in 1968
1968 establishments in Argentina
Maoism in South America