Revolutionary Communist League (in

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, Can ...

: ''Liga Comunista Revolucionaria'' (LCR), in

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

: ''Liga Komunista Iraultzailea'', in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

: ''Lliga Comunista Revolucionària'', in Galician: ''Liga Comunista Revolucionaria'') was a

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 ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It was founded in 1971 by members of the Catalan group ''Comunisme'', a split of the Popular Liberation Front (FLP). The LCR had a

trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

ideology, adopting more heterodox political positions in the 1980s.

History

Foundation and clandestinity

The LCR was founded in 1971 by members of the Catalan group ''Communisme'', a split of the Popular Liberation Front (PLF or Felipe). It was the Spanish section of the

Fourth International (post-reunification) The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, following a ten-year schism, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International C ...

, one of the fractions of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...

. The LCR had the purpose of being a revolutionary party that rejected

class collaboration Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization. Fascist support Class collaboration is one of th ...

and advocated a model of territorial organization based in a

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

of republics, recognizing of the right of

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

for all the peoples of

. In 1972 the LCR suffered a split called Communist League (LC), which joined the LCR again in 1978. In 1973 it merged with a split 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, ...

after VI Assembly called for that very ETA-VI: the majority of the members of that organization, revolutionary communists, decided to abandon

armed struggle War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

as a way of fighting against 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 ...

and decided to seek unity with similar groups in the rest of Spain. With this union the LCR gained presence in the Basque Country, which until then the LCR had not just presence, using the name of LCR-ETA (VI).

Transition

The death of

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

, and partly because of the difficulty of explaining outside the Basque Country that reference to

, LCR-ETA (VI) changed again its name to LCR. A new independent, but fraternal, organization was founded in the Basque Country with the name of

Liga Komunista Iraultzailea Revolutionary Communist League (in Spanish: ''Liga Comunista Revolucionaria'' (LCR), in Basque: ''Liga Komunista Iraultzailea'', in Catalan: ''Lliga Comunista Revolucionària'', in Galician: ''Liga Comunista Revolucionaria'') was a political party ...

(LKI). The first meeting of LKI, held in

Arantzazu Arantzazu (Spanish, ''Aránzazu'') is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo ...

, in 1977 and still in clandestinity, ended with the arrest of all the assembly (150 people), although shortly after the arrest they were released and the party began to be tolerated. After the first democratic elections, legalized. In that elections the LCR supported 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 ...

(FUT), that gained 41,208 votes (0.22%). One of the militants LKI in those years was Germán Rodriguez, which was murdered by the

Spanish police 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 ...

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

on July 8, in the incidents of the . The following years the LCR supported several local electoral platforms, although in the mid and late 1980s the party generally campaigned in favor of abstention. Thus, in 1978 in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, the LCR supported the

United Left of the Valencian Country United Left of the Valencian Country () is the Valencian federation of the Spanish left wing political and social movement United Left. Marga Sanz is the current General Coordinator and Ignacio Blanco Giner its spokesperson. The Communist Party o ...

(EUPV) along with the

Communist Movement The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least ...

of the

Valencian Country The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid ...

, and

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

groups, such as

Valencian People's Union The Valencian People's Union (in Valencian: ''Unitat del Poble Valencià'', UPV) was a political alliance created in 1982 when the Left Grouping of the Valencian Country (AEPV) and the Nationalist Party of the Valencian Country (PNPV) merged to co ...

. In 1980 the LCR supported Unity for Socialism for the autonomic elections in Catalonia, and in 1982 again in Catalonia, supported the

Communist Front of Catalonia Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a Far-left politics, far-left Political sociology, sociopolitical, Political philosophy, philosophical, and Economic ideology, economic ideology and current within th ...

to the Spanish general elections.

Unity with the Communist Movement and ideological changes

In the Basque Country,

Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia ( en, Party of the Revolutionary Patriotic Workers, LAIA), was a Communism, Communist political party of the Southern Basque Country and Basque nationalist ideology that was born during the last years of th ...

and Nueva Izquierda formed the coalition

Auzolan Auzolan (''neighborhood labor'' in Basque) was a political coalition in the Southern Basque Country, created on 26 March 1983. It was a coalition between the Liga Komunista Iraultzailea (LKI), Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia (LAIA, one o ...

, which also received support from the EMK. The LCR-MC unit had great importance in the Spanish politics of the 1980s, as they were some of the main promoters of the mobilizations against the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(through the Anti-NATO Commission and the Civic Platform) and later against the US bases in

, in the trial of the GAL, in the insubordinate movement against the compulsory military service, in the development of the

feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality b ...

or even the first manifestations of the gay pride day. Both groups campaigned for

Herri Batasuna Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale, left-wing, socialist, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was r ...

(HB) outside of the Basque Country in the elections to the European Parliament of 1987. Collaboration with HB was not without tensions, as both organizations were very critical of the methods of

. HB finally gained a seat in Brussels.

Dissolution

In 1991 MC merged with LCR and formed Alternative Left (''Izquierda Alternativa''), which had a brief existence.

References

* Martí Caussa: ''Historia de la LCR (1970-1991)''. Editorial Viento Sur,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. 2014. {{Authority control Political parties established in 1971 Political parties disestablished in 1991 Communist parties in Spain Trotskyism in Europe Anti-Francoism