The Spanish Communist Workers' Party (, PCOE) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It was founded in 1973, when

Enrique Líster Enrique Líster Forján (21 April 1907 – 8 December 1994) was a Spanish communist politician and military officer. He participated in the Spanish Civil War as an officer in the People's Army of the Republic and rose to the rank of major gen ...

(a Republican general in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

) revolted against the

Eurocommunist Eurocommunism 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 relevant for Western Europe. During the Cold War, they sough ...

line of

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

(PCE)

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Santiago Carrillo Santiago José Carrillo Solares (18 January 1915 – 18 September 2012) was a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain (main), Communist Party of Spain (PCE) from 1960 to 1982. He was exiled during ...

. The party published ''Análisis''.

History

A catalyst for the split was the condemnation by the PCE of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968. PCOE was legalized in 1977, during the

Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

. Its sister organisation in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

was the Partit Comunista Obrer de Catalunya. PCOE had a youth organization called the

Communist Youth Federation of Spain Communist Youth Federation of Spain (in Spanish: ''Federación de Jóvenes Comunistas de España'') was the youth wing of the Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE). FJCE published ''Lucha Juvenil''. In 1982 FJCE published ''Enríque Lister 19 ...

(''Federación de Jóvenes Comunistas de España''). In the 1983 regional elections in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, PCOE obtained 6,416 votes (0.34%). It had an electoral pact with

Partido Comunista de España Unificado The Unified Communist Party of Spain (, abbreviated PCEUMartínez de Sousa, José. Manual de estilo de la lengua española'. Gijón: Trea, 2001. p. 515) was a political party in Spain. PCEU was a pro-Soviet rival to the Eurocommunist Communist Par ...

ahead of the regional elections in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

of the same year. When PCEU and other groups unified themselves as the

Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain () is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Spain. PCPE was founded out of the unification of several Marxist-Leninist factions. The youth organization is called the Communist Youth of the Peoples of Sp ...

, PCOE chose not to participate in the merger.

Reintegration in the PCE and split

In 1985, the majority faction, led by Enrique Lister, decided to dissolve the party and rejoin the PCE, in a congress where the 10,000 members of the PCOE were represented. The majority of the members followed Lister and rejoined the PCE; however, a minority faction decided that they weren't going to join the PCE and kept the party alive, although severely weakened. Today, the party publishes ''Teoría Socialista'' and ''Análisis''. The continued PCOE contested the 2015 Spanish elections, fielding candidates in two constituencies (

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

and

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) 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. Seville ...

), and gaining 1,906 votes in total, and also competed in the

2016 Spanish general election A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 26 June 2016, to elect the members of the 12th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate. No party had secured a majority in the ...

, again only fielding candidates in

and

. In 2018, the party contested the Andalusian regional election, competing in the constituencies of

(975 votes, 0,26%) and

(2,230 votes, 0,25%). At the April 2019 Spanish election, the PCOE improved its election results compared to 2016. The party contested eight constituencies and gained 9.094 votes. In 2021, the PCOE is forming the Coalition for Communist Unity with the PCPE in the Madrid regional election.

Electoral performance

{, class="wikitable" , +

Autonomous communities The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Spa ...

!Election !Community !Votes !% !Seats !Notes , - !1980 ,

, 12,963 , 0.48% , , , - !

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, 7,891 , 0.28% , , , - !1983 ,

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

, 1,509 , 0.49% , , , - !1983 ,

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, 1,974 , 0.14% , , , - !1983 , Castilla-La Mancha , 579 , 0.06% , , , - !1983 ,

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

, 1,463 , 0.26% , , , - !1983 ,

, 4,473 , 0.19% , , , - !1983 ,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, 5,945 , 0.31% , , , - !1984 ,

, 2,593 , 0.09% , , , - !

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, 3,205 , 0.09% , , , - !

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, 878 , 0.02% , , {{Small, As part of the Coalition for Communist Unity together with the PCPE

References

External links

Party website
Political parties established in 1973 Communist parties in Spain Anti-revisionist organizations Stalinist parties Far-left politics in Spain