Malagasy Communist Party (french: Parti Communiste Malgache) was a

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. PCM was formed in 1958 and its First Secretary was René Anselme Randrianja. It held its first party congress in

Antananarivo Antananarivo (French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("An ...

March 18-March 20, 1960. It appears that the PCM had been founded without being endorsed by either the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

or the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Randrianja travelled to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in 1960 to seek recognition, but was not invited to participate in the international conference of communist parties held there. Afterwards he travelled to China, where he was received by the Chinese communists. During the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the China, People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by Doctrine, doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications ...

, PCM sided with China. It was however rapidly eclipsed by the pro-Soviet AKFM. The PCM published a forthnighly organ, ''Ady Farany'' in

Malagasy language Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th c ...

. R. Ratsimazda was the editor of the publication. Between 1958 and April 1, 1966, 235 issues were published.http://www.codesria.org/Links/conferences/general_assembly11/papers/randrianja.pdf ,

CODESRIA The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is Pan-African research organisation headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. The current President of CODESRIA is Dzodzi Tsikata. Background CODESRIA was established in 19 ...

References

Communist parties in Madagascar Defunct political parties in Madagascar Political parties established in 1958 1958 establishments in Madagascar Maoism in Africa {{Madagascar-stub